Pancakes and Poop Angels

Saturday morning, for this homeschooling mom, is a little slice of paradise. It’s the one morning out of the week where I have no lessons to teach and no place to be so our whole family tends to stay in our pj’s at least till noon, sometimes the whole day. And most Saturday mornings my fantastic husband gets up with the kids to allow me to have a little time to myself, sleeping in or just reading a book.

Well, this past Saturday, my husband was away so when Sammy, our youngest, stirred at 6:45am, I was on duty. But even 6:45am on a Saturday feels different than that same time any other morning of the week. I decided since I was up, I might as well do something fun, like cook. My kids LOVE chocolate chip pancakes and we very rarely have them, so feeling in an especially generous mood, I decided to whip up a batch before they all stumbled into the kitchen with bed-heads and hungry bellies.

When it comes to a chocolate chip pancake recipe, well, up until now, I never really had one. I just kind of winged it and hoped it all turned out okay. So while I was concocting in the kitchen, Sammy was waddling around the kitchen and our bedroom, wielding utensils like swords, babbling to himself, and drooling like a St. Bernard.

“It’s a good morning,” I thought to myself, smiling as I chopped up the chocolate.

I finished mixing everything together, and since Sammy’s diaper was hanging down between his knees, I figured I should change him before I started cooking the pancakes. So I walk into our bedroom where we keep our little crate of diapers and wipes, and what a surprise met my eyes: Sammy, covered from head to foot in poop, and his handiwork smeared all over the carpet.

Normally, I wouldn’t have handled the situation all that well. During the week, I feel like I have so much to get done and so little time to do it that any variation from the plan can through me into a complete frenzy. But not on a Saturday. I had nothing on my schedule, and if bathing a little baby and cleaning carpet needed to be done, well, I couldn’t think of a better time to do it. So Sammy got a good splash around in the bath, I got my carpet scrubbed, and my pancakes turned out to be one of the best batches I’ve ever made. It was a good morning.

And here, for your enjoyment, is that recipe. I finally wrote one down and I hope you like it.

Mai’s Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 eggs
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. chocolate chips or pieces (This last batch I made, I didn’t have any chocolate chips but I did have a bag of milk chocolates in my cupboard so I just chopped those up and added them to the batter. I liked how it put little tiny bits chocolate throughout the batter. Yum.)

Mix together the first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Then add the remainder. Give it a quick stir, just to combine everything; it will still be lumpy. Pour onto hot griddle, cook about 2-3 minutes on each side, and breakfast is ready. I like mine slathered with butter, but my kids just like ‘em straight up.

Just so you know, I am aware of the fact that when setting this plate before my children, I am basically serving them giant chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. That’s why we do not have these very often. It is what we call a “treat breakfast”. I mean, c’mon, folks, let’s face it: life is hard-- your 1 year-old will make poop-angels on your bedroom floor from time to time and you occasionally need to lighten up and eat a mammoth cookie for breakfast. Well, at least I do.

A Hero To Rescue You from Your Appetizer Fears

Here’s the scenario: You’re invited to a get-together and when the hostess starts passing out dishes for everyone to bring, you get tagged with the elusive “appetizer”. I don’t think there is any other course of a meal that can send my insecurities into a flurry than appetizers, and here’s why.

You certainly don’t want to be the schmuck that shows up with a jar of salsa and a bag of tortilla chips because, well, frankly, when the main course of beautifully seasoned salmon hits the table, your offering looks like a pile of wood chips with a motor oil dipping sauce. But preparing a good appetizer can seem overwhelming because a lot of really good, and impressive, appetizer recipes take time, especially if you’re really hoping to “wow” your friends.

To everything there is a season. There may come a day, once again, when I have 4 or 5 extra hours just floating around in my day where I can spend time making fancy little apps without children shimmying up and down my legs and asking for snacks on a continuous basis. That day will come. But it isn’t a reality in my life at the moment so I’ve gotta find shortcuts that get me what I want but with half the effort and time. If you’re looking for the same sort of deal, for similar or very different reasons, I’ve got a little something special for you.

This recipe is a beautiful, yet easy, little appetizer that my sister-in-law passed my way, and I got to try it out a couple of weekends ago. These individual quiches are so tasty and cute, and, bonus, there are no troublesome pastry crusts to get you all worked up into a lather. You do some simple sautéing, a brief mix of all the ingredients, and pour into your tartlet pans. A word of caution, however. To make your life easier and these little babies as cute as they can be, make sure you rub down your tartlet pans with plenty of butter to help the tartlets come out easier.

Suzanne’s Mini Spinach Quiches

1 tbsp. butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1, 10oz., pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
6 eggs, beaten
½ c. heavy cream (This ingredient was not in the original recipe but I just can’t pass up a chance to add a little extra creaminess to any recipe.)
2 c. shredded Colby-jack cheese
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Give your tartlet pans a good coating of butter.
In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic until soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking till excess moisture has evaporated. Let mixture cool slightly while you mix eggs, cream, cheese, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Pour into mini tartlet pans and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

When I made these a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t really have time to experiment with garnishes. I was literally scooping them out of the pans while my husband and kids were waiting in the car, ready to leave for the dinner party. But I imagine that a side of fresh salsa or even a small dollop of sour cream and a tiny sprig of cilantro would gussy up these little ladies even more.

Thanks, Suzanne, for this great recipe! Have a delicious weekend, everybody!

A Fond Farewell to Sweets

Well, I’m back and, folks, I don’t even know where to begin with all the gastronomical soul searching I’ve been doing over the past almost two weeks: swearing off sweets, vowing to kick the “chain restaurant” habit, nearly devouring the actual menu at my new favorite eatery because absolutely everything on it looked divine… I could go on but this is all such good fodder for future blogs that I will pace myself.

So I begin at the beginning…my week long fast from sweets.

I made it!

Technically.

Okay, actually, I took kind of a Jewish approach to the topic. In the Jewish tradition, a day actually begins and ends at sundown so the fact that I didn’t eat a plate full of assorted desserts until the sun went down on Sunday could qualify as a successful completion of my task.

Folks, throw me a bone here. I passed up a foot-high (no lie) chocolate and peanut butter cake mounded with Reese cups at the bridal shower on Saturday; I earned a loophole for Sunday.

Anyway, all that to say, while I loved each bite of the desserts I had on Sunday and all of last week while we were on vacation, I came to the supernatural realization that eating sweets just makes me feel like crap. I get headaches, I feel nauseous, my emotions are all over the chart. While my week without sweets was definitely hard, I physically felt so good.

Therefore, I’m setting up a challenge for myself, and I’m expecting you all to hold me to this new standard: I want to keep sweets for special occasions instead of what they were becoming in our household—a staple. My goal is to keep all cookies, ice cream, candy, and pastries out of our house, so they become treats we can enjoy occasionally instead of everyday.

However, there is one thing I will not give up so I'm warning you now to just save your breath: Ghiradelli’s 60% Cocoa Chocolate Chips. I did a little research online to try and strengthen my case for these being a health food, but chocolate has to be 65% cocoa before it’s classified as a true dark chocolate with all the healthy goodies.

Nonetheless, I’m not letting go of them. I mean, it’s 5% away from being pristine and full of antioxidants. And one serving (no, I do not eat more than one serving in a day if you must know) has only 6 grams of sugar, a whole heck of a lot less than all those “healthy” yogurts out there, sporting sugar contents upwards of 30 grams. So, there, I’ve made my case and I feel good about it.

Alright, the main reason I love these chocolate chips so much is because they are an essential ingredient in my homemade rustic granola. (This is the recipe I alluded to last month when my food budget was running low and couldn’t sustain a large purchase of nuts.) So as a trade-off for allowing me to keep the chocolate chips in my cupboard, I offer to you my beloved recipe.

Note: This granola is not for the weak-jawed. There are lots of nuts in it, and I keep them all whole because I find it keeps them from getting too dark in the oven and, more importantly, because I love crunchy food. Should all the chewing and crunching be too much for you, just chop them up.

Mai’s Rustic (and Nutty) Homemade Granola

5 cups old-fashioned oats
1 ½ c. walnuts
1 ½ c. pecans
1 ½ c. almonds
1/3 c. canola oil
1/3 c. honey
½ c. flaked coconut
2/3 c. dried blueberries
1 c. Ghiradelli’s 60% dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix oats, walnuts, pecans, and almonds in a large bowl. In a glass measuring jug, combine oil and honey and zap in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just to get it nice and runny. Pour the oil/honey mixture over the oats and nuts in the bowl, and mix till everything is coated. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. After you bring the granola out of the oven, add the coconut and blueberries. Cool completely and then add the chocolate chips.

I actually passed up a Reese Cup Sundae in exchange for this granola tonight. That’s saying something. I guess there’s hope for me yet.

Baked Oatmeal: The Perfect Marriage of Breakfast and Cookies

“She’s gotta be lying”, “Well, I never…”, “Oh, come on. This is a joke.” These are the typical responses I predict will occur when you read the following line:

At the age of 27, I took my first bite of baked oatmeal.

Shocking, yes, but truthful nonetheless. I always loved my bowl of hot oatmeal in the mornings and oatmeal cookie dough is my favorite raw batter treat, but for almost 3 decades of my life, I never even knew a hybrid of these two staples in my diet existed. I mean, I'm sure you do know that’s what baked oatmeal is: an oatmeal cookie formatted in such a way that it qualifies as a breakfast food—beautiful.

I’ve had a lot of baked oatmeal recipes in the 5 years since my first bite, and honestly, the first recipe I ever had is still my favorite. The recipe is from my dear friend, Becca, who got it from someone else, but since I don’t know that person, I’ll just save us all the trouble and call this recipe:

Becca’s Baked Oatmeal

2/3 c. oil
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
4 c. quick oats
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ c. milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix oil, sugar, and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into 9x13 inch pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Folks, there really isn’t a whole lot that wouldn’t taste spectacular on this. I’m going to give you a short list of baked oatmeal toppings I have enjoyed in the past and let you mix and match as you choose: fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh fruit salad (as pictured above), flaked coconut, dried cranberries, and milk. This recipe is such a lovely way to showcase the yummy berries in season right now, and I feel semi-healthy when I eat the baked oatmeal/fresh fruit combo so that’s just an added bonus.

And in tomorrow’s post, I share about the highs and lows of my “treat-free week”, a sentence imposed by my seven-year-old son, Cade.

Too Much Month and Too Little Money

So it’s July 9th and I’ve already blown over half of my month’s allowance for food. Not good. At this point, Mama (meaning me) has to start looking for ways to stretch what’s already in her fridge and pantry. Well, at the moment, I have an overabundance of zucchini (and now cucumber) from the garden, but that’s just not cuttin’ it when the Mama has a sweet tooth.

Now, I’m trying to cut back in the sweets department simply because I tend to go a bit overboard with it. In my mind, a simple scoop of ice cream is a complete waste of my time. But, if you up it a scoop or two, drizzle that bad boy with some peanut butter sauce, and break up a couple Reese’s cups on top, now we’re talkin’. Unfortunately, I was speaking that language about every night for the past 3 months, and while it feels great going down, I wasn’t feeling so great in the mornings, all groggy and achy from what I’m sure was 3 days’ allotment of sugar being consumed in one sitting.

So I’m cutting back. But I still have a sweet tooth that needs assuaged. I know, I know. All you saintly eaters out there are saying, “Just grab a piece of fruit. That cures my sweet tooth every time.” Personally, I don’t think you have the slightest notion of what a sweet tooth actually is so I’m going to kindly ignore your comments and deal in the realm of reality. I need sweet, not fruit.

The one thing that’s been scratching my itch for the past couple of weeks is a bowl of homemade granola every night after dinner. I was getting to the place where I really loved it and my memories of those decadant ice cream sundaes started to fade. Then the money ran out. See, my homemade granola is chock full of all kinds of yummy nuts and dried berries, none of which are in my pantry at the moment, and all of which cost money, something I’m running low on. So I got creative and here’s the result: some stinkin’ good peanut butter granola that’s massaging the heck out of my sweet tooth and using up the contents of my pantry.

Sweet Tooth Peanut Butter Granola

4 ½ c. old-fashioned oats (I don’t think the results would be disastorous if you used quick oats but I like the chunky texture old-fashioned oats provide)
1 c. peanuts
1/3 c. peanut butter
1/3 c. honey
¼ c. peanut oil (I’m currently out of vegetable oil so it was a toss between peanut and olive—I went with the obvious choice and I wouldn’t change it for anything. I think it adds an added kick of peanutty flavor which I really like.)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. (Now, I differ with a lot of homemade granola makers out there in the temperature I like to use. I keep the oven heat nice and low because I hate my granola to get even slightly burned. It does take a tad longer to get to that golden brown color, but I don’t mind pampering the old girl a bit to get what I want.)

In a big bowl, mix the oats and peanuts. In a separate small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, honey, and oil. Pour oil mixture over oat mixture and mix till coated. Spread on baking sheet and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool granola by spreading on a sheet of foil, then store in a sealed container.

I’m not sure how my heart feels about adding some chocolate chips to this cooled granola, but my belly says, “Yes, please!” I’m gonna leave that call up to you. I’m afraid that if I start with the chocolate chips, before you know it, I’ll be adding M&M’s and broken up candy bars to it and still trying to pass it off as a healthy alternative to my monster sundaes. You’ve got to know where to draw the line for yourself. I trust you to make the right decision.

Before I sign off till next week, I just wanted to say a heartbreaking farewell to a dear friend who passed away on Wednesday after battling cancer for the past 5 years. Jen Hudson was a 36 year-old wife and mother to three beautiful children and an inspiration to so many who watched her fight this disease courageously, and she was also a food lover like all of us. So, Jen, here's to you. I know you are now enjoying a far better feast than any of us here on earth could imagine, and you finally have a body well enough to fully enjoy it. You will be greatly missed, my friend.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy this gift of life. I know I will.

Mai's Quiche: A Celebration of Friendship and a Moral Dilemma

About nine months ago, our family moved from Northern Virginia to my husband’s hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Perhaps, you’ve made a move before and can identify with the insecurities that often accompany the task of finding new friends after a move. Personally, I found my mentality mysteriously transformed to that of my fourth grade self in the late eighties when I attended a new school, wondering if my bangs were teased to the proper height or my jeans rolled tightly enough around my ankles. But instead of being a nine year old girl, I’m a thirty-one year old with four kids, still worrying if I’m cool enough for people to like me.

But then all those anxieties evaporate everytime I have the wonderful occasion to spend an afternoon with two of my best girlfriends from college who live about an hour away. We get together once a month, and my visits with them soothe my soul. So every time they come, I prepare something scrumptious for them to eat as a thanks for their beautiful friendship.

This recipe is from the brunch we had together a couple of weeks ago. I usually have qualms (I’d almost go so far as to say “a moral issue”) about putting chicken in a quiche. I’m not sure why, but I think any digging around there might uncover some mental tendencies in me that could put my new friendships in jeopardy so we’ll just move on.

Anyway, I found this quiche recipe that called for chicken, and it sounded so good that I decided to suspend my ethics and give it a try. What I present to you below is a recipe I concocted using hints from the original. It’s mind-boggling good and super easy, and-bonus-it doesn’t require a pastry crust like the traditional quiche! Beautiful!

Chicken and Ham Quiche

¾ c. chopped onions (My husband abhors onions so if you have a husband, or friends, with similar tastes, this is not the dish to serve to them, unless you are attempting to end the marriage/friendship.)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. butter
6 eggs
¾ c. heavy whipping cream
½ lb. deli chicken, chopped (The original called for shredded, cooked chicken but I was short on time so I just made a quick stop to my friendly local deli counter and let them do the work.)
¼ lb. deli ham, chopped
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
½ tsp. salt
Dash ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Cook onions and garlic together in butter over medium heat until onions start to soften. In a large bowl, scramble eggs with heavy cream, then add in chicken, ham, cheese, onion mixture, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour into pie plate and bake for 30 minutes, or until eggs are cooked.

We ate our quiche with a delicious fruit salad of fresh cherries, blueberries, blackberries, mangoes, and strawberries, and decided that fruit salad with melon in it is no longer chic. Perhaps you agree. Perhaps you are a die-hard melon lover and take great offense to the very thought of melon-less fruit salad. Please, enlighten me with your opinion. I’m interested in the melon/no-melon debate going on out there.

Salmonella vs. Raw Cookie Dough: My Own Personal Catch 22

I must admit, you folks have seriously upped your play with the zucchini suggestions. I’m super excited about some of these ideas, but I’ll maintain the suspense till Friday when I announce who dazzled me the most with their recipe. It’s certainly not too late to submit an idea if you didn’t get a chance to yesterday.


I don’t know about all of you out there but I love batter. I mean any batter: cookie, brownie, muffin, bread, cake, etc. If it’s sweet and raw, I want to eat it. I’ve been known to actually forgo eating for the entire day just so I can sit down and eat as much cookie dough as I please after the kids go to sleep (I mean I’ve got some scruples; I would never want my children to see my indulge in such wantonness).

I used to have a relatively clean conscience about this little indulgence until I took a Health and Food Safety Class from a matronly little English lady. At first glance, she seemed harmless with her floral blouse and timid demeanor. But I soon realized it was all a ruse. Before long, she disclosed that she trusted no hands but her own to prepare her food and she detested visiting her niece because she felt her niece’s handwashing practices were below par.

Then she told the story of a mother who, while baking a birthday cake for her son, carelessly tasted the batter, only to die days later from salmonella poisoning. That one floored me. First of all, I felt so guilty that I, who have consumed raw eggs by the hundreds in my years of batter addiction, was still alive and kicking. I felt I had dodged a serious bullet there. But then my mind began wondering whether it was time to hang up my spatula and stick to eating things that have been baked thoroughly. I’ll be honest, that story threw me off my game for a while.

Thankfully, that was 8 years ago and I’m happy to say I’m back to my old ways again, but it’s all far less innocent this time around; that story continues to linger in the back of my mind. But on a happier note, I’ve found a new batter that I’m thoroughly enjoying at the moment, and while that fact alone would never warrant a recipe making it to my blog, the fact that I curbed my eating of this batter because I wanted to save myself for the baked version instead, well, that’s saying something. And it’s a great way to use all those beautiful blueberries that are floating around the markets these days. Enjoy!

Blueberry-Coconut Muffins courtesy of Miss Paula Deen

½ c. butter, softened
¾ c. sugar
2 tsp. lemon zest
2 large eggs
5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 c. flour
½ c. sweetened flaked coconut
½ c. fresh blueberries

Heat your oven to 350 degrees and grease the insides of 6 jumbo muffin cups (I use jumbo here because I feel better about myself if I’ve only eaten one muffin instead of two or three; it’s just a mind game I play with myself so feel free to use 9 or 12 regular size muffin cups and shorten the cooking time).

In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar till smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Add cream. Beat in flour just enough to combine everything. Then turn off the mixer, grab the spatula that you will be licking like a dog in about 10 minutes time, and stir in the coconut. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin cups, pop in the oven to bake for 20 minutes, and then stand over your sink scavenging for every last trace of batter out of the bowl. I have heard of people sticking their entire heads inside a mixing bowl and using their tongues to lick it clean, but I would never partake in or condone that sort of behavior. Never. I mean it.

Now perhaps you have glanced over this recipe a couple of times and noticed that there is no leavening agent listed in the ingredients. It is not a typo. I had the same thought the first time I made these. Have no fear, they will come out completely muffin-esque with the signature golden brown dome. I don’t know why, but I don’t need to when they taste this good.

Wild Card Wednesday: A Cure for The Grandparent Hangover

Have you ever heard of the Grandparent Hangover? Probably not because I just made it up.

The Grandparent Hangover is the condition I find children in after spending over 2 weeks at their grandparents’ house eating and doing anything their sweet little hearts desire, only to return home to reality and rules and non-sugar cereal. There’s a lot of whining when their requests aren’t met immediately, continual cries of “that’s not fair”, and shaking fits from the sudden lack of dyes, artificial flavoring, and sugar in their diets.

When we visit with my parents, I make a commitment to pause my label-reading tendencies and allow my mom and dad to spoil my children as they please. I feel they’ve earned the right since they brought me into the world, fed and clothed me for 18 years, and then paid thousands of dollars for my college education. This is the very least that I can do in return. So I turn a blind eye as my children consume a vast array of unhealthy foods, from potted meats to Krispie Kreme Doughnuts because I know I have an ace in the hole when we get home and detox begins: Oatmeal Pancakes.

Just the thought of these pancakes makes me feel good, and their tastiness has an amazing ability to ease the effects of The Grandparent Hangover because the kids don’t notice that they’ve gone from eating Meme and Pawpaw’s food to eating mine. Better yet, they’re easy and healthy enough to add to your normal breakfast rotation. Best of all, they’ll keep you “regular”, if you know what I mean.

Alright, on that note, let’s get to the recipe. But first a quick note about pancake syrup. Our family made the transition from pancake syrup to pure Maple syrup about a year ago and I haven’t looked back since. I know it’s more expensive, but if you read the label on pancake syrup, it’s disturbing, and besides, maple syrup just tastes better and real. Disagree with me if you like, but I’ll stick to my guns on this one.

Okay, now the recipe:

Oatmeal Pancake

2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk (If you don’t have buttermilk, relax; there are alternatives. Just pour about a tablespoon of vinegar in the bottom of your measuring jug and then add enough regular milk to reach the 2 cup mark. Let it set for about 5 minutes, and ta-dah, homemade buttermilk.)
1 cup quick-cooking oats (not instant)
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. molasses or honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Maple Syrup and/or butter

In a large bowl, mix eggs and buttermilk. Add oatmeal, oil, and molasses/honey, and mix. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix till combined. I cook these on my trusty little countertop griddle, and they come out beautifully golden brown every time, and the aroma is simply sensational. Go ahead and up the healthy rating of these by throwing some fresh fruit on top. Good-bye Grandparent Hangover…for now.