Summer: Kids in the Kitchen

E loves crepes. So much so, that the recipe is taped inside the kitchen cabinet where our pancake recipe is posted.

So tonight the dinner he chose to make and learn was crepes. He got a lot of spatula practice, and stovetop/hot pan practice, and while waiting for each to cook, he set the table and got toppings on like I do. Excellent. He was so proud of himself, and rightly so.

Bunny Pancakes

Gramma Irene's Pancakes

Thanks to Anna for posting this today, we had a delicious breakfast of buttermilk pancakes this morning. Yes, there is no sugar in these at all. I'm so glad that I had a quart of buttermilk in the fridge for a muffin recipe that I was planning to make.

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup oil


It makes "the right amount for two people" (which means 6 generously-sized 4-inch pancakes), and they are fabulous. 

Or, the 12-cake version:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil 

You can also add pureed, steamed sweet potato or beet for orange or pink pancakes (just add some cinnamon too). 

A Zesty Souvenir

So, there is this fantastic cafe in Kailua Kona on Alii Drive called Island Lava Java. Jen and I ate breakfast there every morning that we were in Kona, except for the two mornings that we ate papaya at our condo. My objective, pretty much every day in Hawai'i was to eat a papaya half, try a local specialty, and enjoy a tropical cocktail oceanside. I excelled at these goals. 

Waipi'o Stack Breakfast with 1/2 papaya and a 20 oz. Kona coffee - heaven...

Island Lava Java's fantastic menu

One of the most delicious things on the Lava Java menu (besides their 20-oz. cups of Kona Coffee) was the Waipi'o Stack Breakfast, which I've been attempting to re-create. It was a stack of goodness, starting with toasted homemade wheat bread, slathered with chipotle aioli, sliced tomatoes, spicy rocket (arugula), smoky bacon, over-easy eggs, and ripe avocado. Pure brilliance. I think I've finally got the chipotle aioli down... There's a chance that I may move on to their ginormous cinnamon roll recipe next (they're so popular, they let you reserve them ahead of time).  

Best Cinnamon Roll on the island... they sell out early. We paid for this one the day before, planning to pick it up on our way to Hilo the next morning. We picked it up and decided to stay for breakfast. Mmm... good choice.

Katrina's Chipotle Aioli for a Waipi'o Stack Breakfast at home... 
(makes enough to share with a friend)

1.5 c. good light mayonnaise 

4 whole chipotle chiles (canned in adobo sauce from the Mexican section of the grocery)

Juice from one medium lime
1-2 Tbs. honey or agave (to taste - I used one)

2 cloves crushed garlic (or two cubes of frozen crushed Dorot from TJ's)

1/4-1/2 tsp. Hawai'ian sea salt (I did slightly less than a 1/2 tsp) 

Whiz this all up in your food processor (or Magic Bullet like I did) and enjoy!! Add more chiles for more kick (or a little more of the adobo sauce from the can), or use full-fat mayo if you want (or regular sea salt, I just have some from Hawai'i). Heck, you could even make your own mayo, but I just don't have the time for that... 

This was pretty good tonight on top of my cooked potato with a dollop of Greek Yogurt and a tablespoon on this zesty goodness. I'm totally giving a little jar to Jen ASAP!! 

Right on Alii Drive... ocean-view with live music everyday - hard to beat!

*Sigh* Kona Coffee Perfection with a side of Aloha!

Crepes? Oui, Merci!!

You really can't beat a piled-high platter of crepes for brunch. Add a buffet of topping/filling choices like lemon or lime slices to squeeze, powdered sugar to sprinkle, lingonberries, whipped cream to top, butter, syrups, Nutella, bananas, berries, peaches, sauteed apples, yogurt, chocolate chips, dried fruit, or savories like cheeses, sliced ham, and chopped fresh herbs... use your imagination! Add a plate o' bacon, or a platter of sausage, and some tasty beverages and you are set.

So, the best advice for crepes? Mix them up in a blender! Pour directly from your blender into your pan. Use whatever sized pan you want, but a lighter pan is easier to manage when you're tilting and swirling the pan to coat the bottom with your batter. Especially if you are working two pans at once (and feeding a crowd). Brush the bottom of your pan with a tiny bit of melted butter as needed to prevent sticking too.

I've made this recipe for years, and it is a favorite of my best bud, Jamie, whose birthday it is today! Happy Day Jame!!

Jamie's Favorite Crepes

2 c. milk
3 large eggs (or 4 smaller ones)
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. melted butter
1.5 c. flour

Add the ingredients to your blender, wet first, then dry, and blend until smooth (scrape down if needed). You can chill mixture in fridge briefly, or even overnight if making it ahead of time, or just get cooking. Blend the batter briefly right before you start pouring. 

I usually use about 1/4-cup of batter per crepe so the 9-inch pans I use, but adjust as you go to get thin, but sturdy crepes. Cook over medium heat, but adjust temperature as you go if they're browning too fast. 

This makes about a dozen crepes, and I often double the recipe. They freeze wonderfully, just stack them on a plate with a piece of waxed paper between each crepe. Enjoy!! 

Hot Pink!

The kids adore pancakes, and I love them to eat as many veggies as possible, so... this past week I made Beet Pancakes and Sweet Potato Pancakes for breakfasts. They loved 'em all... the heart shapes didn't hurt either (they're free-hand, using a muffin scoop). 

I love the bright pink of the beet ones, they were delicious (I didn't even use syrup for mine, but the kids swear by the raspberry syrup with these babies). The recipe is from Weelicious, right here. 

The Sweet Potato Pancakes is a family-favorite recipe, from a spot in Atlanta... Highland Bakery. I'll post it when I get a chance.

I look forward to trying Carrot Cake Pancakes and Zucchini Bread Pancakes, plus, latkes over the holidays (or before) because the kids love them. And... Spinach Muffins from Weelicious too. I'm not a big fan of hiding veggies in other things, because I think kids should learn to love and appreciate whole foods that fuel their bodies, but, hey... if I can healthy-up their favorite breakfast and keep them guessing on how I get them to be such cool colors and so darn delicious?? That works for me. Madeline even said, "Wow! Mama is magical!!"

Mmm... Gingerbread

I don't know what it is with me and gingerbread, but I love it. And, I've been craving gingerbread cookies lately. So, what to do? Incorporate those fantastic flavors into a healthy (and sometimes old-hat) breakfast! 

I give you, Gingerbread Oatmeal! I will tweak to perfect, but this first go was pretty tasty. A little molasses-heavy, but it's full of iron, so that's OK. 

Gingerbread Oatmeal


1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk


Cook according to directions - 3-5 mins. in the microwave, then stir in: 


1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. molasses
1 tsp. dark brown sugar
and a dash of cloves, sea salt, and fresh-grated nutmeg


I cooked for 30 more seconds, and splashed on some milk to eat. Delish!! I might add some hemp seeds or toasted pecans at the end next time, and adjust the molasses (1.5 tsp maybe?) 

Orange Delicious

A delicious and refreshing accompaniment to a Summer Brunch get-together, from Jamie's sister-in-law, Anne... Enjoy!

Anne's Orange Yogurt

2 pints plain yogurt (strained for 3 hours or overnight) = 4 cups
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. chopped, toasted walnuts
1.5 t. vanilla
1/4 c. good honey
1 orange, zested
1/2 to 1 c. freshly squeezed OJ

Mix everything into the thickened yogurt, thinning with OJ until desired consistency. Garnish with orange sections, orange zest, raisins or walnuts if desired.

Pepita Fig Berry Nut Granola

I love the kids' cookbook, Salad People by Mollie Katzen (of Moosewood Restaurant fame). I've gifted the book to a few kids in the last couple years, although our copy here is from the library. Today, after school, we decided to make the granola, which we (of course) adapted. Neither of our kids like to eat oatmeal, so there's a method to my madness here... I hope it works!

I love that Salad People has really clear steps, for kids to follow along...

Madeline loved measuring things in to the bowl,
and mixing the dry ingredients with her hands

Erik loved snipping the figs with kid scissors

And, in the end, we got some delicious and beautiful granola!

I must admit though, I did adapt this recipe according to Deb's granola recipe from Smitten Kitchen (so less oil, some cinnamon, watching the baking time...) — her recipe is right here.

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes... Mmm...

Happy Father's Day to Joel... Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from Big Red Kitchen were a hit (although I used my own recipe for pancakes, and added maple extract to the cream cheese icing).

The Best Waffles Ever.

So, there's this wildly popular blog by the name of Orangette that you've probably read before, and Molly at Orangette also has an amazing book called A Homemade Life (read this book - it is wonderful!). I recently started reading the book, and love it. It's fabulous writing, and great recipes. We had her French Lemon Yogurt Cake last weekend, and it was amazing. Glorious. My favorite lemony cake ever. The recipe is online right here. And, along with marvelous desserts, she has numerous salad and vegetarian main dish recipes on her blog, as her husband is vegetarian.

And, this weekend, I tried one of the two waffles recipes that she recently posted here. I meant to do the overnight version, but ended up going to bed without making the batter, so... I tried the "morning of" recipe, and Oh. Oh, heaven. I've been looking for a waffle recipe that would rival the waffles the kids had eaten (and we'd tasted) at a cafe in downtown Olympia that is now out of business... they were the best waffles I'd ever had. Crisp on the outside, even after being adorned with butter and syrup and devoured by the kids. The remains that we tasted on their plates were still outside-crisp and inside-tender and delicious after 30 minutes of brunch eating... crazy good.
This is exactly what I was looking for, and it's not surprising that this recipe is often referred to as the Waffle of Insane Greatness. I'm interested to try the overnight recipe now since Molly at Orangette thinks it's superior. Either way... whip up some waffles this weekend!!

Holy Flapjacks, Batman!

I've been searching for a great pancake recipe for a long time. In high school, in South Africa, I found a wonderful recipe in a library book about Au Pairing. But, of course I lost that recipe long ago, and the source is a bit far away. And mixes really don't do it for me. I mean, I've used mixes and they are okay, but... I think I must've been spoiled in my formative years with awesome pancakes.

About six years ago, Miki made her mom's recipe at the office when different teams were planning breakfast for everyone. They were divine, and she gave me the recipe. But, when I made them, they weren't the same. However, last Fall when she made them at my house, again, they were heaven. So, I thought maybe it's just me and pancakes – bad luck. Or, maybe it's the fact that food is nearly always better when someone cooks for you!  I do feel the need to tackle Miki's mom's recipe again though... clearly, there's something I'm missing there.

But thankfully, this morning, I tried a new recipe for pancakes that is easy, makes light and moist pancakes, and they are utterly delicious. The trifecta of perfection. This is my new recipe. Mmm...  And, a good thing too, since Madeline adores pancakes. Seriously, she's always begging me to make them, and would eat them for every meal if she could.

The Best Pancakes Ever
(AKA Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes, not adapted at all from The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond)
Makes a dozen 4-inch pancakes


1 c. sour cream (I used light, they were fab)
7 Tbs. flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Butter and real maple syrup


Heat a cast iron pan over medium low while you make the batter. Do not be impatient (like me) and turn the heat up, although these cakes are good even if they do get a little charred. Anyway, in a medium bowl, mix together the sour cream, flour, sugar, soda and salt. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix. 


In a separate bowl, mix eggs and vanilla, and then pour this into the sour cream mixture. Again, mix until just combined.


Melt about 1 Tbs. of butter in the pan, and then cook the pancakes. Be patient. They are worth the wait. Delicious!

Heart-y Scones

The kids helped whip up some heart-shaped orange-vanilla scones for Valentine's Day brunch. Along with bacon and fruit, it was a tasty little meal.

The finished product! Mmm...

Ready for the oven...

Mixing...

Erik loves the pastry blender... and the Microplane (he's irritated that I won't let him us the Microplane alone).

Buh-NON-Uh Goodness... Mmm...

I've found the ultimate in banana nut muffins... healthy, delicious, yummy, good-for-you... really! The recipe is from O magazine this month (the only issue I ever buy of O - the summer reading special one...) anyway, there was a recipe from The Tassajara Bread Book for Spiced Banana Walnut muffins that inspired me to make my own version (even healthier). They are utterly divine!
Spiced Banana Pecan Muffins

1/2 stick softened, unsalted butter (1/4 c.)
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1 c. (3 medium) smashed, ripe bananas
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
zest from 1 medium orange

1 c. white whole wheat (or whole wheat pastry) flour
4 Tbs. ground flax
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cardamom (finely ground)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 c. toasted, chopped pecans

+plus, a handful more nuts to sprinkle on the tops of the muffins before baking

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in the rest of the "wet" ingredients.

Mix the dry stuff in a medium bowl, then gradually add it to the wet in your mixer. Scoop into 8-10 standard-sized muffin tins, lined with paper muffin cups (8 generous muffins, or 10 smaller ones).

Nutrition per muffin (8/batch): calories-200, fat-10g, protein-4g, carbs-24g, fiber-4g.

Sous Chef, Erik

The other day Erik said, "I gunna make you pancakes for dee-ner, Mama!" And, so we did. We made teddy bear, smiley face, heart-shaped, a jelly fish (for M) and all our initials with pancake batter. E was an excellent helper. We used the Multigrain Pancake Mix from Trader Joes, which is delicious and healthy, but the important part was the shapes (and the speed - E wanted them NOW)!!
My Nonnie used to make us Teddy Bear Pancakes, which then meant my mom had to as well (and she would do Mickey Mouse, etc. too). Great memories there growing up, and I think my wee sous chef is catching on to loving to create in the kitchen! Yes, he's the one that ran to find his little chef's hat.

Alphanumeric Flapjacks

The easiest way to crank out pancakes in intricate shapes... Cut the top down a little on an empty squeeze bottle (like this Agave Nectar one), to make a larger opening, fill with your fave pancake batter, and go to town! The occasional "mistake" (AKA happy accident) when shaping letters and numbers can be turned into a flower, a snowman, or a shovel with the flick of the wrist and a little imagination!

Lickin' Good

So, I don't have a pic of the fab Caesar salad I made last night because we ate it too fast. The recipe is from my friend Amanda's husband, and it is excellent. And even I licked my bowl clean. Happily, it was accompanied by my all time fave beer (aside from Guinness, of course)—Buffalo Bill's Brewery Pumpkin Ale. It's already at QFC, so I snapped some up pronto.

My daughter is clever and knows me so well, "Mama, can we make Gruffalo Crumble?" (If you've not read The Gruffalo, check it out at the library!) Anyway, I had to make that "recipe" up. I used fresh apricots that we had (he has orange eyes) and purple blackberries (purple spikes on his back) and one tart apple (he was supposedly surly, right?). I used the crisp recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook as a base, and it turned out wonderfully.

And, this morning, I made the Cappuccino Hazelnut Scones recipe from The Baker's Apprentice (sequel to Bread Alone, by Judith Ryan Hendricks, both of which are great and recommended to me by Jerrie), although I altered it for the non-coffee guy in our house, and made Maple Pecan Scones. They are hands down the BEST scones I've ever had. This recipe will be a keeper. There are indeed 6 Tbs of butter in it and 3/4 c. cream, but you divide it into either 8 or 16 servings, so it's really not that big a deal. I've got another recipe for scones that uses 12 Tbs. of butter and cream and buttermilk, and they don't come close to the texture and excellence of this recipe, and they're "lighter" relatively speaking!

So, the recipes:

Godwin Garlicky Caesar Salad Dressing

4 (or more to taste) cloves of freshly pressed (or chopped) garlic
3/4 cup light mayo (olive oil mayo is great)
2 Tbs. grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Mix and serve with romaine leaves, grated parmesan, crouton and chicken if you like. Makes 6-8 servings.
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Gruffalo Crumble (adapted from Moosewood's Fruit Crisp)

Five chopped fresh apricots
2 pints fresh blackberries
1 peeled and chopped tart apple
1/3 cup sugar

Topping:
1 c rolled oats
1 c flour
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg and allspice or cardamom
1/4 tsp. salt
5 Tbs. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375. Mix fruit and sugar in 8x8 pan. Mix topping ingredients and pat down firmly on top of fruit. Bake 35 mins or until fruit is bubbling up around the edges and topping is browned.

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Maple Pecan Scones (adapted from Cappuccino Hazelnut Scones from The Baker's Apprentice)

2 c. unbleached flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
6 Tbs. unsalted butter cut into small cubes (very cold)
3/4 c. toasted and coarsely chopped pecans (or hazelnuts if doing original recipe)
1 1/2 Tbs. Maple extract (or 2 Tbs. instant espresso powder if making CappHaze Scones)
3/4 c. cream
1 large egg, beaten
Cream and sugar for glaze

Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Toast chopped nuts (in a loaf pan) while you are chopping fridged butter, then put butter in small bowl and put in freezer while you whisk the dry ingredients together. Next, cut the butter into the dry stuff with a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Then in a small bowl, beat the egg, and add the cream and maple (or espresso powder) and mix. Add the cream mixture to the butter mixture and mix with a fork until nearly combined, then gather into a moist shaggy ball and put on prepared pan and flatten into a circle that's 1- to 1 1/2-inches thick. Score the circle into eight wedges with a very sharp knife. Brush with cream and sprinkle with a little sugar, then bake for about 20 mins. (deep golden color and toothpick in center should remove clean). Remove from oven, cool for five mins, cut along score lines, then brush with a little more cream (mixed with a little sugar) - about 2 Tbs. of cream and 1 tsp. sugar only. Let cool an additional 5 minutes then serve. (Can be frozen and then baked without thawing; just allow 5-10 extra minutes of baking time.)

Waffles In A Can

So, when I saw this new product on the shelf near the eggs, I was intrigued. And, reading the ingredients, it really is just stuff that you'd put in batter yourself. So, why not give it a try? It's in a spray can like ReddiWhip whipped cream, and you just plug in your waffle iron, shake up the can, and spray on the iron. Cook as usual. Rinse off the top and put the can back in the fridge. It was three breakfasts for the four of us (we only do one waffle a piece though, the kids have 1/2 each).

Anyway, how was it you ask? Pretty decent. This isn't going to be my preferred method for waffles, but if you were going camping, or wanted something fast and easy for fresh (vs. frozen) waffles on weekday mornings, this is pretty good. I mean, add some good syrup, and your golden, right?

The down side was that they were not very "fluffy" — or rather they turned out pretty flat. Spraying the iron each time made them pretty crisp on the outside and they stayed that way for awhile, but if not, they got soft quickly as they cooled. So, the verdict: I missed the wonderful flavor of something more (vanilla, malted waffles, etc.) and the loft of really good homemade waffles, but for what this is... waffles in a can... it was good. And, the convenience factor was high just before and after our vacation. I'd buy it again, if it was on sale.

Goin' Bananas

My mom's banana bread recipe is excellent. My earliest memory of these is eating them warm from the oven, slathered in butter, when I was three years old. Just smelling them baking is reassuring and feels like home.

I couldn't find my white recipe binder tonight (shocking because it's huge...), but Mom & Vesa were over (helping with dinner, and playing and cleaning) and Mom of course knew the recipe by heart so scribbled it down on my fridge notepad. Erik, the little monkey, couldn't resist scrambling up to investigate as soon as I moved these from oven to cooling rack. I warned him they were hot — he knows that word well now, but touched one anyway. Sure enough. "Hot Mom-mee!" and here he is signing Hot to me too.

Monkey Muffins (aka Grammy's Banana Bread)

1 stick softened butter
1 -1/2 c. sugar
5 T. sour milk (4 T. milk + 1 T. citrus juice)
2 eggs
3 mashed (very ripe) bananas
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
(1/2 c. chopped nuts, optional)

Bake in muffin tins for about 17 mins. Makes about 22 muffins.

Sam I Am!

My version of Green Eggs and Ham, in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday today... without running to the store. My poor kids—wouldn't I be the mom who is out of food coloring, but happens to have organic Italian kale and dried dill on hand for "green" eggs. Hmm... if only I'd had some pesto... maybe next year. Madeline pointed out to me that they are "green and yellow eggs, Mama..." and of course the "ham" is seedless watermelon. Add some breakfast reading, and I think we're close enough.

I made muffins too since one of M's other fave books right now is If You Give A Moose A Muffin, so there you have our very literary breakfast.