Free Pancakes at IHOP

Yes, that's right, FREE pancakes at IHOP! On February 24th from 7am to 10pm, all participating IHOP restaraunts will give you a "short stack" (3) free pancakes. You will have the option to give a donation to a Children's Hosptial or whatever charity your particular IHOP is supporting, but it's only a suggestion. Let your concience be your guide on that. Here's the link with more details. Woohoo for free food!

Harvest time

So we all know I love bacon...obviously. But, shhhhh, don't tell Mr. Tocino, I'm seeing someone one the side. Pumpkin rocks my world. I had some old bread in the fridge and decided the time had come for me to experience pumpkin bread pudding. After perusing multiple recipes online, I came up with one that is a mixture of the best.

Harvest Bread Pudding

What you need:
6-7 cups cubed whole wheat bread
2 eggs
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
7-8 oz pumpkin puree
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract

What you do:

Pre heat: 350. In a large bowl toss the bread, cranberries, and walnuts together. In a medium bowl, whisk together the rest of the ingredients. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, and allow it all to hang out for about 10 mins, though the longer it hangs out, the tastier it will be! Grease a casserole dish or 8x8 inch baking dish. Pour the pudding in and bake 30ish minutes, or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce

Cinnamon Caramel Sauce:

This is my own invention...I'm kind of infatuated with it.

The players:

1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
1/4 cup powdered milk (you could use regular milk or cream, but you need to warm it first)

The game plan:

Melt butter in small saucepan, add sugar and cinnamon. Allow the mixture to boil, then WHISK in the milk (again, if you're using regular milk or cream, warm it before adding it to the sugar mixture or it will curdle and leave lumps in your sauce). If you're using dry milk, it won't take long for the sauce get to the right consistency (4-5 mins). If you're using the regular stuff, it may take longer. You'll know what consistency you're looking for.

That's it folks! Serve the pudding warm with the sauce. Happy eating!

Sunday's roast becomes Monday's stroganoff

So I really enjoy giving leftovers a makeover (that's a mouthful). It's fun making something completely new and different from something old, and possibly mundane. I am afforded this opportunity quite often thanks to getting leftovers from catering. Today, I made beef stroganoff with some leftover roast beef.

What you need:

Leftover roast beef (however much you have)
1 can (14.5 oz or so) beef stock
1 can (10 oz or so) cream of mushroom soup
chopped mushrooms
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
cooked egg noodles

What you do:

Mix together the first 5 ingredients in a large skillet (or big pot, if you've got lots of roast). If the sauce needs to be thickened, mash 1 tbs. butter and a teaspoon or two of cornstarch together, and add it to the sauce. ***Using a fat to add the thickening agent to a sauce makes for a smoother sauce.*** Simmer for about 15 mins, and toss w/noodles.

Enjoy!

Heads down, thumbs up, lets eat 7 up

Yesterday was a friend's birthday, and of course, I felt the occasion should be marked with cake. He hinted around that his favorite cake was a 7up cake made by his grandmother. I grew up hearing about 7 up cakes, but I've never made one. I googled it, and the results were fairly consistent in that most of them had you make a basic lemon cake and add the 7up to the batter rather than milk or water. I was in a pretty big time crunch, so I thought I'd use a mix instead (I know, how horrible!). In hindsight, I think actually making the cake from scratch would have been just as time efficient as using mix.

Anywho, I had the problem of trying to figure out what sort of cake mix I wanted to use. I thought white cake wouldn't really help with the lemon-lime flavor I was going for. Yellow cake would have too much of a buttery taste. The recipes I read seemed like they'd make a yellow cake (since many called for 5 eggs), but they also called for a good amount of lemon extract. So I went with a lemon cake mix and decided to keep the balance between lemon and lime fairly close.

The players:

1 box Lemon cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup lemon-lime soda
2-3 tbs fresh lime juice
zest of two limes
zest of one lemon

Game plan:
Preheat oven to 350 (or 325 for dark/coated pans). Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl for 1 1/2 mins on high. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 35 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to sit in pan about 7 mins, then flip out onto cooling rack and allow to cool until it no longer feels hot.

Icing:
lime juice, confectioners sugar

Start with about a cup and a half of sugar and add about two tablespoons of juice. Keep mixing in sugar and juice until it has a good icing consistency...meaning until it can run down the sides of the cake slowly, but get firm once it cools.

I decorated the cake with zest from a lemon and a couple of limes.

Enjoy!

Rainbow Meatloaf

So I've been experimenting again. This time, meatloaf was my victim. Everyone knows you normally put finely minced onion and green bell pepper in meatloaf, but why not add more veggies? Meatloaf can actually be quite healthy with a little extra effort.

The team:

1/2-3/4 cup pureed (or finely minced) carrots.
1/3 cup pureed zucchini
1/4 cup pureed roasted red peppers
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground turkey
salt & pepper
Italian bread crumbs 1/2 cup...maybe more, enough to make everything stick together
Milk, 1/3ish of a cup
Worshire Sauce, 2 tbs at most
1/2 cup plain, all natural, yogurt
1/4 cup wheat bran
tomato sauce (small can)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Mix everything but the tomato sauce. Dump into slightly oiled pan (I use EVOO). Bake about 25-35 mins or until done. top with sauce and bake another 5 mins. Enjoy.

Give me some of that sweet potato love

I love, love, LOVE baked/roasted sweet potatoes! They have got to be one of the healthiest, tastiest, simplest foods around. Seriously, all you have to do to enjoy the yummy-goodness of the orange tuber, is wash the outside well with warm water. If needed, scrub the skin and remove any growths. You may also need to trim off the ends. I'm a big fan of naked roasting or baking...naked referring to the potato...not the cook (if that's your thing, though, we won't judge you). Covering a potato with foil before roasting, really isn't necessary. For a white potato, you can just stick it in the oven, but since sweet potatoes tend to ooze a sugary syrup while baking, you should at least put it on a cookie sheet or pie tin. If you're roasting your potato, add a nice drizzle of olive oil (virgin or dirty girl, doesn't matter). Crank the oven up to 400, and let it hang out for 15-20 mins, though I'd keep checking on it since the temp is so high.

I know people love to accessorize their sweet potatoes...marshmallows, pecans, brown sugar, etc., but sweet potatoes, like women, are beautiful all by themselves...no need to adorn them with anything. Seriously, you need to try eating a sweet potato plain. The flesh is creamy and rich, the skin (yes, I eat the skin) is practically sweet enough to be candy! Did I mention how healthy sweet potatoes are? They're packed with fiber, beta-carotene, Vitamins A & C, and Potassium. All that, in one tasty, low-fat package. What could be better?!

One last thing...sweet potatoes are fairly easy on the pocket, and once baked, can be stored in the freezer for about 3 months. So my challenge to you is to go out, and show sweet potatoes the love and respect they so richly deserve!

Love, peace and bacon grease, y'all!

Depression Dinning

So I've been bitten by the need to organize my eating/cooking habits. I'm guilty of occasionally (once or twice a month by myself) eating out for convenience. I'm also bad about sometimes letting things sit too long and go bad. Anywho, I've decided to start portioning and freezing food. Portioning cuts down on defrost time and, of course, helps with portion control/over eating. Not to mention it looks neater in the freezer. My goal is to have enough food stored up, so that I won't have to do any major grocery shopping for at least two months. It may sound far fetched, but from the looks of my freezer, and my ever increasing knowledge and research on freezing foods, I think it's doable. This idea come from the fact that my income tends to fluctuate (sometimes wildly), so my ability to buy groceries also tends to fluctuate. I purposefully over spent my grocery budget to stock up on things like meat and produce to take advantage some super deals. With the way the economy is, it's a good idea to plan ahead. Things will get worse before they get better.

Over the course of last night and this morning, I've made, bagged, and frozen several batches of waffles. I came across a delish new waffle recipe, and was able to use a very brown banana I had left over from making banana bread. Woohoo! It was almost like a two for one deal! The recipe I found makes extremely light and fluffy waffles...delicate and delightful. Anywho, here's the recipe:

Whole wheat waffles
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbs. sugar (I used sucanat)
1 tbs. baking powder
2 eggs (or 1 egg and 1/4 cup applesauce)
1 3/4 cup milk (you can do half milk, half water as well)
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup fruit or veggie puree (I used banana)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix wet ingredients together in a small bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add wet to dry.

NOTES: I added a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg for an extra boost to the banana flavor. YUMMY!

Here's a hint on what will be making the trek to my freezer next: Idaho.

Eat well, be well.