Pancake Mix

Can you really call a "pancake mix" a recipe? I suppose it meets the definition - get a bunch of stuff together and combine it. I always have the ingredients in my pantry and it's nice to have some pancake mix ready! 

It takes longer to measure out the ingredients than it does to mix it all together. Sure, picking up a box of pancake mix at the store would be easier, but I like that there are less than 10 ingredients...and I can pronounce them all.

A double batch fits nicely into a glass canister......and I am a huge fan of the glass canister. I loved them from the moment I saw them in the Barefoot Contessa's kitchen!

Pumpkin muffins for dinner with this mix is our favorite. It works great in a pinch if you're running short on time or (God forbid) you didn't plan anything for dinner. 

Pancake Mix 

from Jackson Hole Foodie

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup oatmeal
3 Tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1. Mix ingredients together and store in airtight container.

Ditch the Cow

Peter is seven weeks old and I haven't even talked about him here since he was born! It's hard to write a blog post one-handed! He is a GREAT baby. He's much lower-key than his sister - I love you Shelby, but, man oh man, you were a demanding baby! My only complaint is that his little digestive system can't handle cow's milk. And, that means Mama can't have any dairy. Say WHAT????


No milk, cheese, yogurt, chocolate, or ice cream??? OMG. WTF. Dairy is everywhere. Read some of your labels and you'd be surprised where you'll find it: our go-to pancake mix, granola bars (even non-chocolate ones), meatballs (parmesan, remember?). My boss put it the best, "That must be really hard for a foodie like you." You would think so. No doubt it's a huge change. But, with the vegan movement becoming so popular, cutting dairy out is probably a lot easier now than Mamas had it in the past.

I turned to the vegans for help because they are experts at eating delicious food without dairy! There seems to be a lot of focus on satisfying the new vegan's craving for dairy since that is harder to cut out the diet than meat (in my personal opinion). With the dairy cut out, I'm figuring I'm only one documentary away from becoming a full-fledged vegan (I am very susceptible to their scare tactics!). But, I have a freezer full of chicken and cheese (more on that later). When that stash depletes, we'll see what happens.

Challenges
Cooking for a "blended family:" Shelby and Scott LOVE their cheese. So, now I prepare a lot of individual portions for dinner: pizzas, casseroles, sauces to accommodate both parties.

Snacking: I love to grab a yogurt or cheese/crackers for an easy, healthy snack. Now, I find myself grabbing carbs for a snack. It's a lot of empty calories for not so filling of a snack. I guess I should listen to Mom and "grab a piece of fruit" for a snack. Funny enough, I find myself pushing fruit on Shelby for a quick snack, too. Maybe Mom was right?

Freezer Stash: I've been known to be a bit organized. And, I've also been known to cook up a storm to put up in my freezer. So, needless to say, my freezer was full when Pete made his arrival. Unfortunately, that freezer was full of dishes that contain dairy: ricotta-stuffed shells, parmesan-laden meatballs, pizza dough to be a vehicle for mozzarella....you get the idea.

Good Things (Unexpected or Otherwise)
Taking off the Baby Weight: While not being able to eat dairy is a big change, it's also great for not being able to easily grab a mountain of ice cream at night. And, while an extremely tasty ingredient in many dishes, cheese can add a lot of fat and calories....if used properly, of course. :)

Almond Milk: A lot yummier than I thought it might be. Also, it contains twice the calcium of cow milk. Seriously! Who knew!

Creativity in the Kitchen: Recently, I've been eating a lot of greens (kale/spinach/chard), roasted vegetables and grains (polenta, quinoa). And, I've been eating them in some delicious combinations. Fantastic!

Vegan resources:
    - Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi became vegans and hired a personal chef - Roberto Martin. He is not a vegan chef by training, but adapted many recipes to eliminate the animal products. The title of his book hooked me: Vegan Cooking for Carnivores. He's got some incredibly tasty and filling food!
    - Vegans are avid bloggers. And, they have some great dairy-free substitutes for popular dishes. Also, my favorite cooking blogs often tag their posts as "Vegan" or "Vegetarian." So, it's easy to find new ideas.

Personal Pans

I've been looking for individual ramekins/gratin dishes to serve pot pies and other individual oven entrees in for a while. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for (shocking). Most were too fancy; some were too big. They just weren't right. One day I was taking a stroll through Williams Sonoma with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

I saw a set of four personal pizza pans and thought: Hmmm, sturdy, heats evenly & dishwasher-safe. Love it! I've used them for several dishes - especially with Freezer Cooking recipes.

For stuffed shells, I made them and froze them in groups of five or six. When I was ready to serve them, I popped a bagful into the pan, covered with marinara sauce and cooked them up.

For Chicken Pot Pies, I made up a batch of the filling. Then, I lined the pans with plastic wrap and filled them up with the filling. I popped them into the freezer until the pot pie filling was completely frozen. Then, I pulled the "hockey pucks" out of the pans, wrapped them in the plastic wrap and stored in a freezer bag. This freed up my pans for the next dish! When I wanted to cook the pot pies up, I unwrapped the "hockey puck" and let the filling defrost in the pan.

I've also used a pan to test out a half batch of Cauliflower Sformato I was thinking of serving for Thanksgiving. It was pretty yummy, but wasn't a favorite for the whole family. By using the small pan, I wasn't stuck finishing up an entire souffle all by myself! Only a small amount of leftovers.


I have a lot of friends who are having babies this winter and spring. I've been so excited about my pans that it got me thinking. What a better gift than the gift of dinner! A set of pans plus "hockey pucks" of various varieties and prep instructions! More to come!

Freezer Cooking - October

My freezer cooking extravaganza is going to take place next Thursday or Friday. I have a couple days off around Shelby's birthday. The princess is turning two, and we're making progress with getting her to eat what we're eating. The girl loves meat (red meat, chicken, ribs,...it doesn't matter). So, this month will have a larger focus on "hiding" veggies in yummy foods that will be acceptable to our expressive toddler.

I have been bookmarking recipes that I'm excited to try! It's an ambitious plan, but boy does it help having dinner just a quick thaw away!


Here's my plan!
- Wheat Pizza Dough x3 (from Smitten Kitchen)
- Hamburger Buns x2
- Stuffed Shells (from This Week for Dinner)
- Minestrone Soup (from Pioneer Woman)
- Green Meatballs
- Chicken Pot Pie (since it's getting to be decent weather again!)
- Sweet Potato Gnocchi (from Three many Cooks)

Freezer Cooking - September

I've done my September freezer cooking in steps. I haven't had any days off work lately. So, I'm doing a little every weekend. I'm starting to get a bit more bold and adventurous with what I'm freezing. You never know until you try, right?!

Here is what's on my agenda:

- Hamburger buns (2 batches) - done

- Pizza Dough (4 servings) - done

- Eggplant Parmesan (2 batches) eggplant plank frozen separately from the ragout - done

- Curried Carrot Soup (1 batch) stored in 1-serving containers - done

- Peach Jam (1 batch) - waiting for the peaches to ripen!

- Chicken marinated in Schezuan sauce (4 servings) - tomorrow

- Asian Lettuce Wrap filling (2 batches) tomorrow

Knife Skills

Once I recovered my wallet from my felonious toddler on Tuesday, I headed off to a cooking class at Publix Apron's Cooking School! Mike and I had talked about finding a knife techniques class, and surprisingly, Publix offers one! Publix keeps five chefs on staff to teach these classes!

The class was simply fantastic! There is a test kitchen with room for about a dozen student cutting boards. The kitchen was outfitted with Wolf appliances, and the chefs had the best ingredients from the store in their kitchen. There were only six of us in the class. The chef had laid out some cheeses for us to nibble on during the class.

The first thing I learned was my knives are not sharp. I mean, I thought they were. But, after using professionally-sharpened knives, I feel like I've been cutting my vegetables with a ruler! Then, we learned the proper way to cut with a chef's knife. I realized I had the basic idea of how to handle the knife from watching Food Network, but I certainly learned some great cutting mechanics.

We spent two solid hours chopping, dicing, mincing, julienneing, and chiffonading. We started off easy by rough-chopping leeks, onions, parsnips and carrots. By pushing down and forward on the knife, chopping was so much more efficient!

We minced garlic and ginger by smashing the heck out of it with the side of the chef knife on the board then mincing the pulp. Less than a minute to mince three cloves of garlic!
Kitchen Tip: You can peel ginger with a spoon!

We moved on to small-dicing tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, potatoes and green beans. It was a challenge to get everybody the same size!

We finished up with chives, scallions and parsley. How many times have you chopped up a scallion only to have the little pieces still connected? I have done it many times. But, after I'd practiced my knife skills for two hours, my garnish came out very clean and crisp! I was so excited!!

The next thirty minutes were spent cooking up our dishes. The class' focus was really on chopping. So, the sous chef did most of the simmering and cooking while we learned with the executive chef. At the end we got to sit down and enjoy all the food. Everything was fantastic!!!

The class menu:

Orange Glazed Carrots
featuring: onion, carrots, garlic, ginger, parsley
Potage au Pistou (AKA Vegetable Soup)
featuring: red potatoes, brussel sprouts, green beans, tomatoes
Pico de Gallo
featuring: tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro
Vegetable Broth
featuring: onion, leek, celery, carrot, parsnip
Potato Vichyssoise
featuring: leeks, garlic, potatoes, chives

By the end of the class, I was ready to quit my job and work full-time in the Publix kitchen! I had such a great time! I could definitely be a prep chef in my next life. Need fifty onions diced by daybreak? Not a problem: I'm qualified. I took a class.

Freezer Cooking - July

Ahhhh, vacation again! I have a couple free days before we leave for Cleveland (minus LeBron) to visit family and go to a wedding!

Last month was my first foray into once-a-month freezer cooking. Overall, I think it was a success. The dishes all turned out very yummy. We only had chicken pot pies leftover. But, it was just too hot for pot pies in June!

I have a couple recipes I want to try this month. I got a pizza stone last month. So, I think I will put it to the test!

Pizza Dough x one million! (we are just in love with homemade pizza!)
Hamburger Buns
Schezuan Sauce - for marinade and sauce
Green Meatballs
Vegetable Soup (from Cooking Class!)
Spinach Lasagna
Breaded Chicken Nuggets (if I'm ambitious)

Freezer Cooking....Take One!

I was on "vacation" this week. My father-in-law deftly asked me, "Did you find time to relax this week?" I certainly did....I have some pink shoulders to show for it, too! I also dipped my toe into the Once A Month Cooking concept at LifeAsMom. It's an intriguing thought. I think some of it is a bit over board, but that's my humble opinion.

But, I thought I had some time and some recipes that would lend themselves well to having on hand. So, I was a busy girl this week! And, she's right: it doesn't take too much more time to make 2 pot pies than just one. And, I found out I could be working on two recipes at once. So, now my freezer is stocked!

Here's what I made!
- 6 Stuffed Peppers
- 1 Meatloaf
- 2 Chicken Pot Pies
- 1 batch Curried Carrot Soup
- 1 batch Green Meatballs (most of them didn't make it to the freezer...)
- 1 Lasagna
- 2 Pizza Crusts

And, surprisingly enough, this only took about 6-7 hours throughout the week. Now that I know what I can do in only a couple hours, this may be a regular event. Maybe not "once a month," but maybe I can make a couple servings (or three or seven) of a dish over a weekend.

I'd rather do the work up front, and have yummy, quick & home-cooked meals throughout the month. You know it was a big cooking event when I went through an entire 5-lb onion bag and a Costco-sized ground beef packet!!

Stuffed Peppers

I grew up with a Grandma who made stuffed peppers, and I also grew up not liking stuffed peppers. Don't know what it was, but I've always had an irrational dislike of them. I tried making them once, but they weren't a hit. I decided to give them another try after I saw this recipe posted on one of my favorite food blogs: This Week for Dinner. It's worth trying when readers reply with comments like: "Everyone raved about them and I kept hearing 'just one more.'"

Rochelle and I made them for dinner on Sunday night. We were commenting on the healthy dinner we were preparing, and she said, "It's vegetables stuffed with vegetables. It's got to be healthy?!" When I tried making the peppers before, I used rice, but they were so bland! This time, I used corn and mushrooms, instead. And, I seasoned the ground beef well with garlic, basil, chili powder, and cumin (insert your favorite seasonings here). They were fantastic!! The corn and mushrooms made the dish a bit heartier and a smoky flavor. The red peppers were sweet, but still a little crispy. This is another great dish for "clean out the crisper drawer." I'm thinking to add some zucchini and carrots and celery next time for a little more veggie-ness.

Scott actually said, "Please make this again!" I'm even thinking this might be a good candidate for a freeze-ahead meal....



Stuffed Peppers
From This Week for Dinner

- 6-7 bell peppers of various colors, 1 3/4 to 2 pounds....red is the sweetest, in my opinion
- 2-4 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground beef (optional)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cobs corn, kernels cut off corn
- 8oz mushrooms, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 8-oz. cans diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut tops from peppers and remove seeds and ribs. If your peppers don’t want to stand up nicely, cut off part of the bottom as well to level the base of the pepper. Try not to cut through to the inside, but if you do it’s not the end of the world. Brush outside of peppers with olive oil.

In a medium frying pan, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms, corn, and cook 2-4 minutes, or until softened. Crumble ground beef into pan and cook, stirring to break up lumps, until it begins to lose its pinkness, 5-7 minutes. Drain the fat (use a slotted spoon or pat with papertowels).

Slightly beat egg in a large-ish mixing bowl. Add parsley, cheese, salt, pepper and beef/veggie mixture. Mix well.

Stuff the bell peppers with filling, mounding top slightly. Place peppers in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish. Mix tomatoes with water and pour into dish around peppers. Bake 45 minutes.

Kitchen Tip: Another reader commented that using a Bundt pan helps the little guy stand up while cooking. I used a high-walled casserole dish, and they stood up just fine.
Serve with tomatoes as a sauce and sprinkle with parmesan.

Homemade Pizza

We love pizza. We've had it twice in a week before without blinking an eye. A DiGiorno has been our go-to-we-don't-feel-like-cooking meal. Pioneer Woman had a recipe for California Pizza Kitchen BBQ chicken pizza with homemade dough. We cooked. We ate. We loved!

If I had known the dough recipe was so easy, I would have been making this on my own years ago! the only problem was that the bottom of the pizza was never crispy enough for my liking - always a little mushy.

Scott sent me this article from the NYT on homemade pizzas. Foodies everywhere are sounding off on the best way to make a pizza at home. I didn't put two and two together to realize that high heat is the best thing for a pizza. Using the cleaning cycle to prepare food is definitely a creative use of the stove (and not necessarily one I'd jump to use!)! This week I put the sheet pan on the very lowest rack in the oven (almost touching the heating element), and cooked the thing on 475 for 18 mins. It was perfect! The crust was crunchy and the cheese was bubbly and almost charred (like at the pizzeria).

I have the other half of the dough recipe in my freezer just waiting for the next chance to make some!!!

Recipe Manager?

I am looking for a good recipe manager program. I frequent many websites and blogs trying to find my next meal. I have 'recipe boxes' and starred posts on the Google Reader. But, I have no coherent method for compiling them into one neat little package (I know...shocking that I would want such a thing. Give me a break: I'm an engineer!). I have a little recipe box with 3x5s on my counter. So, if worse comes to worse...

I don't want a 1000 recipes to come with it or other features I'll never use. Just a way to copy a recipe into the program, and can search on key ingredients (because who can every remember the name of any recipe?). Any ideas out there?

Kitchen Logic

425 degrees is hot.
Not all ovens are hot.
All skillet handles in ovens are hot.
425 degrees burns skin.
Conclusion: I need a Le Creuset dutch oven.