Cran-Apple Pancakes-Mandi

1 1/2C flour
3T sugar
1 3/4tsp ground cinnamon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1T margarine, melted
1C skim milk
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
1/2C fresh or frozen thawed cranberries

(Note about the cranberries: we had to pull a really ghetto move with this, but it worked. Our store here only carries cranberries-both fresh and frozen-around the holidays. So we took two cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, dumped them in the strainer, and sprayed the "jelly" part off them... leaving just the berries. Silly but it was fine!)

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix well. In a medium bowl, combine egg, margarine, and milk. Mix well. Stir in apples and cranberries. Stir fruit mixture into flour mixture until just combined (batter will be lumpy). Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Pour batter into skillet making 3-inch rounds, repeat with remaining batter. Cook until tops are bubbly, about 2 minutes. Flip pancakes. Cook until golden, 1 minute longer. Place on a plate, cover to keep warm.

Another note: These cooked on the outside just like pancakes we normally make (Saturdays are pancake days here) but they ended up a little undercooked on the inside. Next time we'll cook them on a little lower temperature than we normally do-my guess is to accommodate the fruits!

Farmer's Market Lasagna-Mandi

This is a recipe I found I think in Parents magazine a couple of years ago-it's a favorite of ours, and better lasagna than one with meat, in our opinion!


1 zucchini, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2C carrot, shredded
3C baby spinach
1 jar pasta sauce (I tend to use a bit more)
lasagna noodles
15oz Ricotta cheese
1C shredded Mozzarella (I use a bit more of this too... of course!)

Combine zucchini, pepper and carrots in a bowl and pour in 2T water. Cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes; drain (or you can do like we do and just put it in a pot with a tiny bit of water on the stove till it gets all nice and steamy). Stir in spinach. Layer a bit of sauce, then noodles (I don't cook mine before-personal preference), then half of the veggies, then half of the Ricotta. More sauce, a third of the Mozzarella, noodles, the rest of the veggies, the rest of the Ricotta, another third of Mozzarella, noodles, the rest of the sauce, and then the rest of the Mozzarella (I go heavy on the sauce each time since I don't pre-cook the noodles). Cover tightly with foil. Cook for one hour on 350 degrees if you precook noodles, an hour and a half at 320 if you don't. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Paula Deen's Cheesy Squash Casserole-Mandi

This is another one we had at Lady & Sons on Mother's Day-we've had it twice and it SURE is delicious! This makes a LOT-a lot more than the three of us can eat at one sitting so feel free to back off on the squash use if you need or want to.


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 medium yellow summer squash, thinly sliced
1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sleeve crackers, crushed medium to fine (recommended: Ritz, or I sprinkle mine with French's French Fried Onions)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the squash, onion, and butter until soft. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan, Cheddar, and sour cream. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Place in the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the cracker crumbs evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.

Bison Burgers-Mandi

This one I have to hand to Patrick-this pregnancy has practically turned me into a vegetarian and I hate handling meat let alone eating it. I found the recipe but that's about all my involvement. He LOVED them and surprisingly so did Maya (who is 2 1/2-she's a little adventurous when it comes to food, thankfully!).

1 egg
4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup loosely packed, finely chopped, green onion (about 4 to 5 onions)
2 tbsp prepared horseradish
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 lb ground bison (approx 10% to 20% fat)
vegetable oil

These are the instructions he followed (for the most part):

In a medium sized bowl, lightly beat the egg. Blend in the Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, sea salt, black pepper, garlic, green onion, and prepared horseradish.

Add ground bison. Mix by hand until meat and seasonings are evenly blended.

Shape meat into 6 patties. Place patties on a cookie sheet or serving tray. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Pre-heat the barbecue to medium-high.

Brush a little cooking oil on the top side of the burgers. Quickly grease the preheated grill with a rag or paper towel soaked with some cooking oil. Place the burgers on the pre-heated grill, top side down.

Except when the burgers are being flipped, the barbecue lid should be closed during cooking.

Grill burgers for 4 minutes on one side without disturbing.

Flip burgers over and cook the opposite side for another 3 minutes.

Flip again, cook over reduced or low heat for 6 to 7 minutes.

To finish, flip one more time and cook over low heat for a final 6 to 7 minutes for medium-well to well done burgers.

Paula Deen's Tomato Pie-Mandi

What?! An actual post?! That's right folks. There have been a couple of times in this pregnancy where I have cooked... unfortunately the other times it's been something I've already blogged about or I was just too hungry to remember to stop for a second and take a picture. Hopefully after these babies arrive and stop feeding off my brain cells I will make a return to cooking!

For Mother's Day this year Patrick got us reservations at The Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah (we live nearby). There were a couple of things we tried that were SO GOOD-this being one of them! You'd think by the picture and the measurements that the cheese mixture on top would be too much-but it was actually fine because of how tomato-y it is. It could actually stand to have more crust to it, in my opinion-I think when I make it next time with Paula's crust recipe I'll roll the crust a bit thicker.



4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced (I used 2-but mine were MASSIVE)
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 (9-inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell (or use Paula Deen's pie crust recipe, which I highly recommend-recipe at the bottom. I didn't have time to this day but will for SURE next time, as it made an amazing crust for an apple pie I made last year!)
1 cup grated mozzarella
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes.

Layer the tomato slices, basil, and onion in pie shell. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the grated cheeses and mayonnaise together. Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

To serve, cut into slices and serve warm.

Paula's Perfect Pie Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, (1 1/2 sticks) cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1⁄2 cup ice water

In a large mixing bowl,sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball. When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

Yield: 2 (9-inch) pie crusts

Mayonnaise - Elizabeth

It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I learned that real mayo isn't bright white & tastes much better than any miracle.

Making your own mayo takes hardly any time & tastes much, much better. Check for pasteurized eggs in case raw yolks make you nervous.





Ingredients
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups safflower oil [I used canola]

Directions
This can be done by hand, but is much easier with a beater/mixer
1. Whip together yolks, lemon juice, mustard, cayenne, salt & pepper
2. Whisk on medium & slowly add oil - the mayo should get thick & emulsified. (If it separates/curdles/breaks, pour the mix into another bowl, add another yolk to the mixer bowl and then slowly add back in the broken mayo.)

That's it!
Enjoy!

Angel Food Cake with Strawberry Lime Sauce - Elizabeth

Gosh it's been awhile! Although there was baking going on over here, life was pretty crazy as I finished grad school and worked a bit over half-time at work.

HOWEVER,
I'm back & better than ever!

1 - NO MORE HOMEWORK EVER! This leaves lots of time for making goodies!
2 - I got a new camera!!! This means better food pictures.
3 - I got a stand mixer! A combined birthday & graduation gift from two sets of parents - it's amazing!!! [In the green apple color I wanted & everything].

My very first creation with the new mixer was angel food cake. Whipping up egg whites was no easy task with my 3-speed handheld mixer & I can't believe how EASY it was with the Kitchenaid.



Also, we had a box of strawberries at home that I used for a sauce, but added some lime for a bit of a twist.

Cake: Ingredients
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
11 egg whites
1 tbsp warm water
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 375
1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour & 1/4 cup of the sugar
2. Put egg whites & water into a mixer bowl. Beat until foamy.
3. Increase speed & add vanilla, cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form.
4. Add in the remaining 1 cup of sugar, in 3 additions, until stiff, glossy peaks form.
5. Reduce to slow & add flour mixutre in 3 additions, just until incorporated

Spoon into ungreased angel food cake pan. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn pan upside down & allow to cool {suspend from glass bottle, if needed, to keep off surface}. Let cool completely, then run a knife along edges of pan and slowly release.


Sauce: Ingredients
16oz strawberries {1 small container}
1 cup sugar
1/4 water
Juice from two limes {optional}

Directions

1. Combine everything in small sauce pan

2. Heat at medium heat, let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until thickened

Modifications

Don't worry about being accurate with the strawberry sauce - berries + sugar = delicious. 

I juiced two limes for the sauce & added the zest to the cake, although you couldn't really tell the difference. 

Enjoy!









Don't worry - two recipes to use up those egg yolks are on the way!