Flapjacks, pancakes, big plates of deliciousness.

Cold weather demands warm breakfasts.  It's a simple as that.  And seeing how we've been living in a world of snow, I've been heating up the frying pan.  Pancakes are a favorite around here. Warm and fluffy, dripping with syrup and a pat of butter melting on top.  Yuuuuum.

I grew up with eating my mom's basic pancake recipe, and I'm still surprised that anyone feels the need to buy pancake mix when making them from scratch is so easy.  Here's the simple form:

Diana's Basic Pancake Goodness

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

2 cups milk or buttermilk

Mix it all together and fry up some golden brown goodness on a lightly oiled pan.

Most days, that's the recipe I use, but I frequently embellish it with blueberries or toasted pecans.  I like to add a teaspoon of vanilla and a bit of nutmeg.  Mr. Dog likes to add orange extract.  It's a forgiving recipe.

Today I took it one step further, and the result was outstanding.  Since we'd just had pancakes a day or two ago, I decided we needed some variation.  I looked in the fridge and pantry and concocted this:

Laura's Apple Pie Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup cake flour

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp apple pie spice (if you don't have this use 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves)

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups milk

Mix it all together and fry up a batch of spicy apple-y breakfast cakes.  Top with syrup and butter and watch as your kids devour them.

Gimme a big pot o' pie.

Cold weather makes me want to make baked dinners. Things submerged under bubbling cheese. Things wrapped in filo. Things sealed up in pie crusts. Yum. Thing is, while I've got the bubbling cheese and the filo down, the pie crust, well I pretty much suck at them. Can't make a pie crust to save my life. And yet, I manage. For example, on Monday night, I made the tastiest veggie pot pie. Sure I cheated. I used a premade crust, but whatever. It was gooooooood.

Big Pot o' Pie:
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper cut into strips
4 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup cut green beans (feel free to use frozen)
1 large carrot, sliced into thin rounds
1 medium cauliflower cut into chunks
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley
1/2 tsp dry thyme
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups veggie broth (I like Better Than Bullion, 1 tsp per cup of water)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 9 inch roll out pie crusts. (not the kind in the pan, the flat kind)

Preheat your oven to 350.
Put one pie crust into a pie plate (N0! I did not use that pie plate!) and set it aside.
In a medium sized sauce pan, melt your butter and saute the onion chunks until they are transparent. Add the bell pepper and cook until slightly soft. Add the flour to the butter onion and bell pepper and cook for about one minute. Add the green beans, carrot, thyme, parsley and cauliflower. Continue to cook until slightly soft. Add the broth and stir until the gravy starts to thicken. Taste it, then add salt and pepper to taste. (If you really want, you can add extra Better than Bullion instead, which I have been known to do.)
Dump this mixture into your pie crust and top with the other flat pie crust. Crimp the edges and slash the top in about 5 places to let the steam out.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until you can't stand to wait any longer.

Next time I make this, I'm going to try the same combo, but top it with puff pastry instead of putting it in a pie crust. Yep, I'm a rebel.

Spaghetti-Oh-my-god-this-is-tasty. (Get it? Like spaghetti-os)

Ok, that probably isn't a great name for a new product. But seriously, I whipped up a little dinner last night by scrounging in the fridge and it got the complete child and husband seal of approval. Big Dog demanded I put it in his lunch for the next day and specified "in the big container" of his Laptop Lunchbox. Mr. Dog had seconds and Little Dog, well, he had eaten about 4 pumpkin muffins by dinner time, so the fact that he ate any of the meal was more or less a ringing endorsement. Want to hear the best part? It was so damn easy.

Spaghetti-Oh-my-god-this-is-tasty.
1 package of Anelli or Anellini pasta (little rings, like spaghetti-0s) I got mine at Trader Joe's, but I'm sure you can find them other places, or substitute other small pasta, like Alphabet or Stelle or something kids will adore.
4 oz goat cheese
1/4 cup of oil preserved sun dried tomatoes, drained. (I used the julienne cut sundried tomatoes from Trader Joe's)
2 Tbsp butter.
1/2 pasta water
flat leaf parsley.

Boil your pasta according to package instructions. While the pasta is cooking, combine the goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and butter. Puree them until they are smooth and they take on a pretty pale pink color. I used a stick blender to do the job, but a food processor or blender would work too. Add the pasta water to thin the sauce. Toss the sauce with your cooked and drained pasta. Top with chopped parsley. Sit back and wait for the praise of your family.

Tasty pie full of fish. Yum.

I know, it's been a while. And I'm sorry. Really I am. But when it comes right down to it, I haven't been doing much cooking lately. Doing a lot of travel, but not much cooking. So I'm back and ready to buckle down on the care and feeding of my family. Tonight, for example, I tried something new. Jamie Oliver's Fish Pie. And wow is it ever good.

Try to divorce yourself from the idea of pie crust and think more along the lines of a Shepard's pie. Now you have the picture. Granted, I made a few modifications, changed some ingredients and had to convert grams to cooking measurements I understand (which I'll include below) but the end result is so good, I can't stop wanting more.


Jamie Oliver's Fish Pie (with my modifications)
You can find the original recipe here if you want to compare, or just find a ton of other awesome recipes.
Serves 4 - 6

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2.5 lbs potatoes (I used Yukon gold, and they rocked)
3 carrots
2 stalks of celery
6 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
1/2 chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
11 ounces cod fillets, skin off and bones removed
1 lb smoked salmon fillets, skin off
olive oil (which Jamie measures in "lugs", so I'm not going to measure it either)

Heat your oven to 400°F.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cube your potatoes, I don't bother peeling them.
Once your water is boiling, dump the potatoes in and cook until tender.
In a baking pan, shred your carrot, celery and cheese. Add the zest of your lemon and the chopped parsley. Cut your fish into bite sized pieces and put them in the pan. Squeeze the lemon juice over the mixture, add a good drizzle of olive oil, a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix it all together.

Drain your cooked potatoes and return them to the pan. Add a good "lugs" of olive oil, some salt and pepper and mash until they are nice and smooth.
Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the veggie and fish mixture. I added little fork ruts in mine and drizzled a bit of butter on top, which made it all golden and crispy, so I highly recommend it.
Bake for about 40 minutes. Eat and enjoy.

Jamie recommends serving it with a salad, or katsup and baked beans. I just ate it straight, but that was mostly because I was wiped out today. Next time, I promise, there will be something green on the plate.

My blog just got tagged. Really!

My new best friend (who doesn't know she's my best friend yet) Astrogirl, from Notes from the Bunker tagged me. The deal is, I get to tell you 6 random things about me, and since this is my cooking blog, I'm going to make them all food related. How's that for an awesome twist?

So here we go:

1. I took my first cooking class when I was in 1st grade (mom correct me if I'm wrong on this). The big fancy main course was an apricot glazed roasted chicken that basically involved roasting a chicken slathered in apricot jam. I get queasy just thinking about it.

2. I used to hate tuna in all shapes and forms. No tuna sandwiches, no sushi, no seared ahi. Couldn't stand the stuff. Then I got pregnant with Big Dog, and I craved it non-stop. His favorite sandwich now? Tuna. I also used to hate peanut butter. Got pregnant with Little Dog and couldn't get enough. His favorite sandwich? Peanut butter.

3. While I like peanut butter now, I don't like peanut butter with sweet stuff like jam or chocolate. I like it salty. My favorite peanut butter sandwich is peanut butter and siracha on whole wheat. Yum.

4. I hate eating leftovers. I always cook so we have them, but I hate to eat them. I get freaky about food that has been in the fridge for more than a few days too.

5. I love chex mix. Even the prepackaged junk. Especially if it is the extra bold recipe.

6. On our honeymoon in Belize, we fell in love with Marie Sharp's hot sauce. One of our souvenirs from the trip was a case of the stuff. It took about 2 years to eat it all, then Mr. Dog found a source online and bought two more cases.

Now comes the tagging:

GeekyMummy

Cutie Booty Cakes

52 Faces

Green Yogurt

Robin from Around the Island

KD @ A Bit Squirrelly

House of Crazy

Feel free to crown me Queen of Split Pea Soup.

Sometimes I even amaze myself. Like today. A crappy overcast, windy Seattle day outside, I decided to make soup for dinner. Something hearty, something that really tastes like Autumn. Split Pea. I like split pea soup even though I loathe peas. Go figure. Or don't, either way, make this soup.

Split pea soup is one of those classic comfort soups for me. It is warm and filling, goes great with a nice slice of fresh bread, and is actually really simple to make.

Queen of Pea Soup
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chopped carrot
2 cups dried split peas
7 cups water
7 tsp Better than Bullion
1 tsp dry thyme
2 bay leaves

In a large soup pan, melt your butter and briefly saute the onions, celery and carrot. Once they are slightly soft, add your dried peas (wash and sort first, then just dump them in) add your water, Better Than Bullion, thyme and bay leaves. Turn heat down to medium low and cover your pan. Leave it alone. Sure go stir it once in a while, like every 20 minutes or so, but don't hover. It is completely unnecessary. The peas will cook down and dissolve, as will the onions and celery. The carrots never fully commit, but they end up partly cooked away, only flecking the soup with their beautiful autumn gold in the pot. If that offends you, or if you prefer a perfectly silky soup, use your stick blender to beat those carrots and other small chunks into submission.

When the soup is more or less soupy (about an hour), you can fish out the bay leaves, or if you're lazy like me, make up some kind of "If you get the bay leaf you have to kiss the chef" game and avoid dining with people you'd rather not kiss you.

I like to serve it with a nice hot slice of fresh bread, but you don't have to. Sure, people will talk, but do your own thing.

My take on Marie Anoinette. The cake part, not the choppy head part.

So I promised I'd post the new cake recipe if you left enough comments at From Stage Dives to Station Wagons. You did your part, so I guess I have to keep up my end of the deal.
This recipe is lifted from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. If you don't already have it, I'd heartily recommend it. It makes a single layered dense almost brownie-like cake. She calls for marmalade in her recipe, but I've made it with both apricot and raspberry jam, and they both rock.

Nigella Lawson's Pantry-Shelf Chocolate-Orange Cake
1/2 cup butter
4 oz bittersweet chocolate (I probably use closer to 6 oz, but that's just how I roll)
1 1/3 cup good quality marmalade (I subbed Trader Joe's Organic Reduced Sugar Apricot Jam the first time, and TJ's Organic Reduced Sugar Raspberry Jam the second, both with excellent results, so feel free to experiment)
1/2 cup bakers sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self rising cake flour (yeah, I'll tell you how to whip that up)

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter and flour an 8 inch springform pan.
Over medium heat, melt your butter in a medium saucepan. When the butter is melted, lower your heat and add your chocolate. Melt until smooth and combined completely. Add the sugar, jam and eggs then beat in the flour. Pour into your prepared cake pan.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until the pick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

You can top it with a dusting of powdered sugar, or slap on some barely sweetened whipped cream, or just eat it. Your choice.

Self Rising Flour (so you don't have to try to buy it)
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

So what are you waiting for? Go eat some cake already!