Waffles!

If you've been reading my blog, you'd know that pancakes are my number one favorite breakfast food.  Waffles are a very close second.  I love how they can be so versatile - I use them in place of toast for an egg sandwich, they can be made as a dessert (chocolate!) and can even be made savory (cornmeal chive!).  I just love waffles!

I decided to make waffles last week for a change from the usual pancakes.  I went to my go to site since I know I'd seen a few waffle recipes in the past.  I opted for a simple buttermilk recipe but I know there are a few recipes on that blog that I will be trying soon. The waffles came together pretty quickly (other than the 30 minutes wait time after making the batter).  One of these days I will purchase a better waffle iron, but until then, my $10 Target iron will have to suffice!

The outside of these waffles were crisp while the insides remained tender and airy.  I served these up with fresh strawberries and maple syrup.  I remember when my mom used to make Belgian waffles, she would combine the butter and syrup and warm it on the stovetop.  This way, you could ensure you had butter and syrup in every little nook and cranny of the waffle!  My mouth is watering just thinking about these.  I may have to go whip up a batch now.

 I also found that these froze very well.  I easily reheated them by popping them in the toaster so this is a good recipe to multiply to ensure you have leftovers.

Waffles
Adapted from Annie's Eats


¾ cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
¼ cup cornstarch
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1½ tsp. sugar
½ cup whole milk (I used skim milk)
½ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¾ tsp. vanilla extract

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Whisk together to blend.  In another mixing bowl, beat together the whole milk, buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just until incorporated and few lumps remain.  Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat a waffle iron.  Fill waffle wells and cook according to the manufacturer’s 
instructions.  Cook until crisp and golden.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Irish Bread

I'm excited to share this family recipe with you.  It's one of my favorites and I look forward to making this every March.  My mom calls this bread scawn, but I just don't like the name.  It's...  Weird.  So, it's my blog and I will refer to the bread as just Irish bread.  :)  Every year I look forward to St. Patrick's Day because of this bread.  My family may be the only one that associates this holiday with food but you would too if your mom made this every year for as long as you can remember!

I dug out the recipe and decided I wanted to adapt it to make a healthier version - There are a few swaps that can be made to beef up the nutritional value of this recipe.  I replaced part of the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour.  I also used skim milk and only half the amount of sugar.  Truth be told, I was unable to tell I used less sugar and I plan on using my version of the recipe from now on.  Good thing my mom doesn't know how to surf the web so she won't see that I prefer my recipe over hers!  ;)

Irish Bread
Serves: 1  :)

4 cups all purpose flour (You can substitute up to half of the flour with whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 - 1 cup sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups raisins (I used a combination of golden and Thompson)
2 eggs
About 1 1/4 cups skim milk (or fat free buttermilk)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup granulated or green sanding sugar
Water
Nonstick spray

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare two 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pans by spraying with nonstick spray and set aside.  Tip: I find using the 8x4 disposable foil pans are great for this recipe as I usually give away one loaf.  I also prefer the smaller pan as the loaf bakes up a bit taller than when you bake the bread in the 9x5 loaf pan.

Combine flour through raisins.  Add the eggs to a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and beat together.  Add enough milk so that the eggs and milk equal 1 1/2 cups.  Add the vanilla and add the mixture to the dry ingredients.  Stir until just combined.  The dough will be sticky, so resist the urge to add more flour.

Evenly divide the dough between the prepared loaf pans and bake for about 40 minutes.  Optional: While the bread is baking, combine the sugar and enough water for a thin glaze (You can also sprinkle sugar directly on the dough before baking).  It's not necessary to add the sugar, but it adds a nice crunch to the top.

After 40 minutes of baking, brush the top of the bread with the glaze and bake for another 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This bread is great toasted and topped with some delicious Irish butter.

Sláinte

Carrot Cake Pancakes

I highly recommend making these - and soon!  I love carrot cake and I love pancakes.  It's only natural that I married the two, they had a baby and that baby was a big, steaming pile of carrot cake pancakes!  That's not creepy sounding, is it?

I really don't have much to say about these other than they are really, really good.  They're not too sweet and because I used whole wheat pastry flour in place of whole wheat flour, these were light and fluffy.  They have to be good for your, right?  The pancakes have carrots, pineapple and whole wheat pastry flour.  That automatically makes them healthy!  :)

Because of the sweetness from the carrots and the pineapple, I used less sugar than I usually do in pancake recipes.  I also found I didn't need much syrup either.  In fact, I ate one plain while I cooked the rest of the pancakes and drizzled just a small amount of syrup on the other two I had.  Again, I recommend making these soon!

Carrot Cake Pancakes
Serves: 5 (3 pancakes per serving)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated (about 1 cup)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup pineapple, finely diced (I used fresh but you can use canned - just make sure it's well drained)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut (if you use sweetened, reduce amount of sugar)
1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1 egg
Scant 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
Nonstick spray

Preheat skillet on medium.  Place carrots on paper towel to absorb any extra moisture.

Add ricotta, egg and sugar to a bowl and combine.  Stir in the carrots, pineapple and coconut.  Add the flour, cinnamon, powder, soda, salt and buttermilk.  Stir until just combined.  Don't over mix or you'll risk the pancakes being too tough.

Once the skillet is heated*, spray with nonstick spray.  Using a 1/4 cup measure, pour batter onto the skillet.  Cook for a few minutes until small bubbles appear.  Flip and cook another minute or two - Until the pancake springs back when you gently press on it.  Repeat until the batter is gone.  I got 15 pancakes from this recipe.

These would be great served with some maple cream cheese sauce (thin out some softened cream cheese with some milk and maple syrup).  But, as I previously said, these are great on their own or with a drizzle of maple syrup.  I bet these would be great with a schmear of peanut butter too!

* Tip to check if skillet is heated - Splash a small amount of water on the skillet.  The water should dance around.  If it does, it's ready for pancakes.  If not, heat a bit longer.

Happy National Pancake Month!

When I found out February is National Pancake Month I got really excited - Maybe a little too excited!  But I don't care.  I LOVE PANCAKES!  :)

To celebrate, I hope to either try a new pancake recipe each weekend for the next month or create new recipes.  When I thought of recipes I'd like to try, I immediately thought of the whole wheat chocolate chip sweet potato pancakes I saw on Eat, Live, Run.  I mean, they're super healthy because they have whole wheat flour, dark chocolate and sweet potatoes, right?  Well, maybe not super healthy, but definitely healthier than pancakes made with all white flour and oil.  These pancakes have the perfect amount of sweetness too.  They only have 1T of brown sugar and a ton of chocolate chips so they're just sweet enough.

I would definitely make these again and if you wanted to make them even healthier you could use all whole wheat (pastry) flour.  I can't wait until next week to try a new recipe - I'm thinking carrot cake pancakes?

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Pancakes


1/2 large sweet potato, baked then mashed with a fork (I used just shy of 3/4 of a cup of canned pumpkin puree and increased the flour by 2T to account for this)

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup + 2T whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/2 cup (heaping) dark chocolate chips

Butter (or nonstick spray) to grease skillet

Maple syrup for serving

Grease a large skillet with butter and head over medium high heat (I used nonstick spray).

Combine all ingredients, mixing JUST UNTIL COMBINED and drop by quarter cups onto hot skillet. Cook for about two minutes each side then serve with warm maple syrup.

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

I think I mentioned the last time I posted a pancake recipe that I really, really love pancakes.  I also really, really love pumpkin.  This morning I decided to make pumpkin oat pancakes as I have a four mile training run ahead of me and I wanted something that would stay with me during the entire run.

A lot of people think to use pumpkin only in the fall, but pumpkin is a great low fat, low calorie food and it adds a great flavor to pancakes.  Canned pumpkin is a staple in my pantry and I use it year round.  I love using it since it adds no fat and I can feel better about inhaling a stack of pancakes!  :)

I noted that this recipe serves five to seven.  Since oat and wheat flours are used, the pancakes are a bit heavier and more hearty than say, buttermilk pancakes.  The recipe makes 15 pancakes and I figured two pancakes would make a good serving since they are on the heavier side.  However, this morning I had three since I am using my training run as an excuse to eat more!  :)

One great thing about these pancakes is they freeze well so you can make a batch over the weekend and warm them up during the week to have a quick, healthy meal on the go.

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

Serves: 5-7

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oat flour*

1 cup canned pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 

2 egg whites

1 3/4 - 2 cups of nonfat milk

1 T molasses

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

Preheat a griddle or skillet and spray with nonstick spray.  To tell when the griddle is ready for use, I use a tip my mom taught me when growing up - Splash the griddle with a bit of water.  If the water sizzles, dances and evaporates, the griddle is ready. If not, it still needs to be warmed.

Add the dry ingredients to a bowl.  Add in the pumpkin, molasses and egg whites.  Start by adding 1 3/4 cups of the milk.  Whisk together and add more milk as needed.  You want the batter to be thin enough to easily pour onto the griddle, but not so thin that they'll run all over the griddle.  I used almost two cups of milk to get to the right consistency.

Once it's heated, pour the batter onto the griddle.  I find it easiest to use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop. It makes more evenly shaped pancakes and it's just less messy than using a ladle.  A 1/3 cup measure also does the trick.  Since these pancakes are a bit heavier than others, you can't use the bubble test to know when to flip them (top of pancake is covered in small bubbles).  I find they take about two minutes and then they're ready to flip.  You can lift one up and check for doneness.  If they're a golden brown, they're ready to flip.  If not, give them another 30 seconds or so and they should be ready.  Cook for another two minutes until done.  A good way to check if they're done is by lightly pressing on the center of a pancake.  If it springs back, it's done.

I served my pancakes with fresh blueberries and a bit of maple-agave syrup.  During the week, these would be great smeared with almond butter - Sort of a pumpkin-almond butter sandwich.  I would even serve these with some pumpkin butter, but I am definitely a sucker for 100% maple syrup!

Enjoy!

*I made my oat flour by placing steel cut oats in a food processor and pulsing until the oats were finely ground.  You can also buy oat flour but I figured since I already have oats in the pantry, it would save me money by just making my own.

Nutrition info (based on three pancakes):

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 199 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  231 Calories from Fat  16

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  1.8g 3%

Trans Fat  0.0g

Cholesterol  2mg 1%

Sodium  781mg 33%

Total Carbohydrates  44.3g 15%

Dietary Fiber  4.0g 16%

Sugars  8.4g

Protein  9.9g

Vitamin A 156% • Vitamin C 4% Calcium 24% • Iron 18%

Nutrition Grade A

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Spinach and Asparagus Frittata

I love frittatas!  They're quick, easy and versatile.  Best of all, you can use whatever you have in the fridge. It's a great way to use leftover veggies from last night's dinner!  This frittata has the asparagus that was leftover from last night as well as the egg whites I had set aside when I made ice cream (post to come soon!).  :)

Like many frittatas, this one came together pretty quickly.  From start to finish, it took about 15 minutes which would make this a great weeknight meal or a last minute brunch dish.  Frittatas are great since you can add just about anything and can be served at any meal - Hot or cold!  The best part is that one serving of this frittata is 210 calories.  I served it along some Ezequiel toast (yum!) and grapes for some added, delicious fiber.

Recipe:
Serves 2

2 whole large eggs
3 egg whites
A couple tablespoons of water (optional)
1 cup raw baby spinach
1/2 cup cooked asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese (or any cheese you like)
Nonstick spray

Heat a nonstick, oven safe skillet and coat with nonstick spray.  Preheat broiler on high and move one of the racks directly under the broiler.

Beat the eggs.  If you'd like to slightly increase the volume, add 1 - 2 T of water (I added about 1T).  Once the skillet is warm, add the asparagus and heat through.  Add the spinach and toss with asparagus to wilt slightly.  Pour eggs over the veggies and stir slightly and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook until the eggs are almost done and sprinkle with the cheese.

Place the skillet under the broiler and cook for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and browned.  I usually leave the door propped open while the frittata is cooking because the frittata can go from browned to burned in a matter of seconds!  Cool slightly and cut frittata into quarters.  Enjoy!

Lightened Up Ricotta Pancakes

One of my all time favorite foods is buttermilk pancakes.  I tend to think of myself as a pancake snob.  I grew up with my mom making pancakes from scratch - No mix.  From scratch.  Fluffy, tender buttermilk pancakes.  From scratch.  I tend not to order them at a restaurant because 99.99999% of the time, I'm disappointed and really annoyed that I wasted my calories on bad pancakes!

Over the years I've tried different variations of pancakes - Sweet potato pecan and banana chocolate chip, to name a couple.  Lately I've been hearing or reading a lot about ricotta pancakes, so I felt it was a sign that I should finally make them (not to mention it was a great way to use up my almost expired ricotta cheese!).  :)  With all this snow and cold we've been having lately, I've been craving warm, hearty breakfasts during the week.  I usually try to have light breakfasts on weekdays and keep the pancakes for the weekends.  However, since ricotta pancakes are made with whipped egg whites they are lighter than most buttermilk pancakes.  Last Friday was the perfect time to make them.  They come together pretty quickly so I was able to make them before sitting down on my sofa to work from home.  :)

I modified the recipe I found on Williams Sonoma which called for ricotta cheese and milk.  I assumed both the cheese and milk were the full fat version, so I used fat free instead.  Also, this recipe makes 12 - 14 pancakes, but I stretched mine to make 20.  Topped with a blueberry sauce I made (about 25 calories for 1 T), these end up being around 300 calories per serving (3 pancakes and 2 T of blueberry sauce).

These pancakes are light and fluffy and the lemon zest adds a nice, clean flavor.  The blueberry sauce is sweet, without being overly-sweet, which compliments the tanginess of lemon in the pancakes.

Yield: about 20 pancakes
Ingredients:
For the blueberry sauce:
6 oz blueberries, rinsed and drained
2 T sugar
1 1/2 t cornstarch
1 1/2 t cold water

For the pancakes:
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1 cup skim milk
3 large eggs, separated
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1½ cups cake flour*
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup sugar

*You can substitute ¾ cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per 1 cup of cake flour.

Directions:
To make the blueberry sauce, combine the blueberries and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries begin to release some of their juices and the mixture is simmering.  Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl; whisk until smooth.  Add the cornstarch mixture to the blueberries and mix well.  Reduce the heat to medium and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens slightly.  Remove from the heat and keep warm if desired.  The sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do the sauce justice.  It's a beautiful blue but you can't really tell against the red tablecloth background.  :(

To make the pancakes, combine the ricotta, milk, egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk to combine.  Add in the cake flour, baking powder and salt and mix just until incorporated.  In another clean, dry mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy.  Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and continue to beat, adding the sugar gradually, until medium-soft peaks form.

Fold one third of the egg white mixture into the ricotta mixture with a spatula until completely incorporated.  Add in the remaining egg whites and fold in gently until the mixture is smooth and light.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  Grease as needed.  Ladle a scant ½ cup of batter onto the cooking surface for each pancake.  Allow to cook until bubbles begin to form on the top surface.  Use a large spatula to carefully flip the pancake and cook the other side until light golden and cooked through.  Repeat with the remaining batter.  If desired, keep finished pancakes warm in a 200˚ F oven until all the batter is cooked.  Serve warm with fresh blueberry sauce.

Source: pancakes from Williams Sonoma, blueberry sauce is a CB (Cate's Bites) original

Nutrition info (per pancake): 77 calories, 2g fat, 3.6g protein.  2T of sauce: 52 calories, 0.1g fat, 1g fiber, 0.3g protein