Speaking of Pancakes...

It seems there is a theme here this week at Ate Is Enough.  Pancakes!  (Completely unintentional, but it's one of the few food items that I can always count on Joe to eat!)

I found THE best pancake recipe-- again, from KAF- Baker's Companion cookbook.  I've been making this recipe for a few years.  It has a wonderful texture and taste. 

The Problem:  It uses buttermilk and heavy cream.  I call it a "problem" not because of the calorie count (heavens, no). I call it a "problem" because I don't always have buttermilk or cream on hand, so I can't make it spur-of-the-morning. It seems that the buttermilk around these parts has a short shelf life in the grocery stores.  The heavy cream can be bought as "ultra-pasteurized" so it can stay in the refrigerator longer, but I don't use it much either (and it's expensive) so I find it still goes to waste before I can use it up-- and then I don't buy any the next time I'm at the grocer.

The Solution:  As seen on Pinterest, I could just freeze buttermilk into my ice cube trays and take them out as needed.  Yes, this would be one solution.  But, because I'm thinking of an even faster way to enjoy these flat lovelies, I decided to cook them up, then freeze them in batches instead.  That way the school age boys can heat them up in the microwave before heading for the bus, and momma can heat them up when Joe is ready for breakfast.  No," Leggo my Eggo" here-- this is quick breakfast the made-from-scratch way!

After allowing the pancakes to cool, I separate them by using my Emerald Deli Paper.  I have plenty of this left over from the coffee shop, but if I didn't have this, I'd just cut up squares of wax paper to use.  It's microwave friendly :)  It's important to separate the pancakes in the freezer or you won't be able to break off one individual pancake when frozen-- they'll all be stuck together!

I typically get about 20 pancakes out of this recipe. 

Zephyr Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2-1/2 T sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3 large egg yolks
• 1-1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1-1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 T butter, melted (I use salted butter for this)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Whisk together the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.  Combine until a few lumps remain in the batter.

Preheat lightly greased skillet.  You want the skillet to be hot, but not so hot that the outside of the pancake gets brown, but the middle is still wet batter! Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter onto the skillet.  Turn over when light gold brown color and edges start to look dry. 

Of course I serve this with a side of bacon!

Free Range, the End and the Beginning

I am a chicken farmer. 

I like how that sounds. It makes me feel very earthy and organic. 

This last summer I got it in my head to turn our "rustic" storage shed into a hen house.  The shed was piece-mealed together by Mr. Ate many years before I met him.  Another unfinished project, but I felt it had potential.  Three walls made from half timbers (the fourth wall plywood), a working double hung window, a leaking flat-top roof.  All salvagable, in my opinion.



Next, the chicks.  (Is it "Chicks" or "Chics"?) This was the easy part.  Aren't all chicks cute?  I say "Yes".

A kids plastic pool and one mail-order later, I had my chics.

The thing is, chicks grow.  And they get to be too big for a kiddy pool.  So what do you do with them until they're ready for their hen house?  A trip to Fleet Farm proved to be useful-- there I found the transition home I needed-- a hen hutch to hold these growing ladies. 

Then Mr. Ate came home for a visit.  He wanted the "Chick Experience" too.  So away we went to our local feed mill where hundreds of chics awaited homes-- chicken chicks, Guinea Hen chicks, Duckling chicks.  We came home with 7 more chicks.  I blame him.

As the chicks grew, we noticed the new chicks were not as friendly, and one even seems a bit aggressive.  That's when we had an inkling we had ourselves one rooster.

Here's the demon when he was still cute and somewhat innocent.

 Now for this next part, viewer discretion is advised....

Our little chicks grew into mini-hens and were able to stay in their new digs-- the converted hen house and new attached pen.  They were loving the pad and enjoyed  being turned out into the yard to find woodticks and other delicacies.  They started turning out eggs.  Lots of eggs.  Very pretty eggs.

All laid the pretty eggs, except one.  One who grew into a beautiful long-tailed, colorful, big-red-comb-having rooster.  And he was mean. He drew blood on several of the hens. But he wasn't just mean to "the girls", but to humans, too! 

(My iPhone crashed and I lost all my mobile pictures, so I no longer have any pictures of said rooster)

So there came a day, when I went out to feed my feathered friends and I ended up fending off a crazed, lunatic, beady-eyed rooster with the lid from a garbage can and some swift foot action.  At that point, I called my father-in-law and hinted that if the rooster was not around when I returned home from work, that would be perfectly okay.

The next night, my in-laws invited us over for chicken dinner.  The end.

PS-- the "girls"are very happy.

Amaze Your Kids with THIS!!

It's the simple things.

Like watching a skillet of yellow "goo" rise up in the oven to become a puffy, golden miracle of science--  fun to watch, but equally fun to eat (yum, yum).

Call your kids over to take a gander in the oven, right before you pull this baby out, and they will think you are really one amazing mom (or dad) to be able to create such a thing.

Dust it with some confectioner's sugar and serve it with a side of bacon.  Viola! 

It's okay to get a little messy with the confectioner's sugar.  Really, it is. 

Puffy Pancake (aka Oven Pancake, German Pancake, and others):

• 6 T unsalted butter
• 6 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 C flour
• Confectioner's sugar

In a cast-iron skillet (or a glass 13 x 9 pan), melt butter in oven pre-heated to 400-degrees.

Meanwhile, combine eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add flour.  Mix well.

Pouregg/flour mixture into melted butter in skillet.  Put back in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until puffy and golden brown. (Note:  my pancakes usually get much puffier than what you see in these pictures, so don't be alarmed if it looks as though the Goodyear Blimp parked in your oven!)  Using a metal sieve, dust the pancake with confectioner's sugar to taste.  Cut into wedges and serve with maple syrup, fruit or jam.

Mama Mia!

You've probably noticed by now my blog is mostly about food.  I mean, who doesn't like food, right? It's a topic we can all relate to.  Along those same lines, who doesn't like pizza?  I can say with much confidence that it is probably the favorite cuisine of most of my family members.  Aww, who am I kidding?  It's everyone favorite!  And especially with mamma's homemade crust and sauce! 

So last night we had a pizza party.  And guess who "helped"?

 

Oh yes, he was rolling out the flour.  And sharing some with the dog.

 

And who hasn't had the urge to taste flour?  When you're two years old, anthing is fair game.

And what's a pizza party without a toddler grabbing a fistful of the remaining shredded cheese and shoving it in his mouth? 

Now that's what I call a party!  Oh yeah, the pizza was delicious, too!



I'm a little Nutella

As most everyone who has access to the internet knows, Pinterest is all the rage.  I like it too.  It has some great DIY projects, recipes and just some pretty cool things.

I think it's funny how people post recipes, but never make them.  So I created a board called "Tried and Tasted" which contains the pins of recipes I've actually made. Some good, some, well...we won't try those again.

 

 

This little ditty is called a Chocolate Nutella Popover.  I'm a Nutella freak (creator of the Nutella Frappe and every other recipe I can use it in!) It was very simple to make and the kiddos enjoyed it thoroughly (as did the mama unit).

 

The players:  Biscuit dough, Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, and Nutella (Mmmmm!) You can use any brand of refrigerated biscuit dough, though the recipe calls for Pillsbury Grands Honey Butter. 

 

 

You'll want a non-stick rolling pin and a non stick surface to roll the dough out on.  Begin by rolling out each bisquit to approximately 1/4-inch in thickness.

 

 

 

Next you'll want to spread some of the sweet, nutty, chocolatey, delicious, tastefully sinful Nutella onto the rolled out dough.  Use as little or as much as you want.  Next sprinkle with the mini-chocolate chips.  I decided that next time I'm going to omit the chips and use a tad more Nutella. I would like to taste more Nutella, than chocolate chips.

 

 

 

Next, roll up that little Nutella dough tostada.  Then slice it into approximately one-inch chunks. You should get three chunks out of each  roll up.

 

 

 

 

Plop each chunk into a mini-muffin pan that's been sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray.  Bake according to package directions.

 

Meantime, you can mix up a little vanilla glaze to top these babies.  I do it up with powdered sugar, a little butter, pure vanilla extract and some half 'n half.

 

 

After baking, allow to cool, then drizzle with the glaze.

 

 







 

These are the perfect size for popping in your mouth! 

 

This should make 24 mini-popovers.  You can combine 3 chunks into a full size muffin if you're feeling like you need a larger portion. 

 

 

This recipe came from shakentogether.blogspot.com.  That's where I re-pinned it from, but I'm not sure if that is the original source.  Enjoy these!



 



13

This is a boy who just turned 13.  Yep.  13.  It's quite a big deal for this boy.  He (thinks) he may now purchase and play any Rated-T game (Mom may have a thing or two to say about this).  He graduates from the "tween" to "teen" label. He no longer has to ask if watching a PG-13 movie is okay. He feels he is nearing the point of getting a driver's permit.  He refers to all younger children as "the little kids".

Little does this boy know that he should savor every moment of being young.  Of being free from responsibility. He doesn't understand it when mom says "Slow down, you don't have to grow up so fast!"  He does not see that when he grows up, he most assuredly will want to be young again. But of course, that is the way things are...when you're 13.

Stray Sheep

Several months ago (maybe even a year or more??) I started to attend my church less often.  At first it was because I was too terribly exhausted-- running the coffee shop and playing the role of "single mom" left little mental or physical energy left.  Something had to give.  Well, in hindsight, several things were compromised. 

One very large compromise I made was that I attended church less.  Not just the Sunday morning service. No, I completely stopped going to Adult Bible Study (ABS), which meant my children no longer attended Sunday School.  Wednesday night Awana and bible study?  Forget it. Fellowship at "extracurricular" church events?  Hardly. Quiet time reading scripture?  Not a chance.

Was I that busy?  Well, maybe at first.  But as I look back, I realize I began to detach myself from my church all on my own.  I'd find myself thinking 'maybe I should start looking for a new church', 'nobody even notices that I'm not attending-- I guess they don't care', 'they are all too clicky-- no wonder I don't feel a connection'.  Easy to have these thoughts when you're not attending on a regular basis and letting your relationship with the Lord slip away!!

Since the coffee shop closed, I've had time to think about this process.  And time (thank you!) to realize that the sheep does best with its flock and shepherd. I must get back to my flock. I strayed a little bit too far and evil took advantage of that, creeping in and trying to tell me that I was on the right track. 

It's soooo important to stay connected with other Christians, keep in the word and attend worship service-- this allows the Lord easier access to your heart and guides you in the right direction in every other area of your life!

PS-- sheep are one of my favorite animals. Baaaa!