Buttermilk Pancakes

So I'm reposting this as part of Wardeh's Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival and also because we've enjoyed these pancakes at least 3 times since I tried the recipe conversion the first time. It's SO easy & tasty. Especially with chocolate chips! (I buy Trader Joe's, which although they have Soy Lecithin as an emulsifier, apparently theirs is Non-GMO). They are great as leftovers too, to pack for a to-go breakfast.

I am also working on a Sourdough starter & planning to render my own Milk-fed Heritage pork fat into lard. Stay tuned!

Good Morning! How about some scrummy blueberry pancakes?

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to overmix the batter; it should not be beaten smooth.

If serving these pancakes with bacon, reserve half a teaspoon of bacon drippings to grease the griddle instead of butter.

(Can you believe MS said that?!?!?!)

Ingredients

Makes nine 6-inch pancakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1/2 teaspoon for griddle

Directions

1. Heat griddle to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
2. Heat oven to 175 degrees. Test griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter or reserved bacon fat onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
3. Using a 4-ounce ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
4. Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes on a heatproof plate in oven. Serve warm.

I used the Martha Stewart Buttermilk Pancakes recipe, but of course, I changed out a few key ingredients: homemade raw buttermilk, farm fresh eggs, organic sugar, kerrygold butter, and sprouted soft white wheat...

I had Organic Blueberries in the freezer, Cascadian farms (from Costco! believe it or not)

We like our pancakes, less cakey & more crepe-like, so I added a splash of raw milk to thin the batter & also poked a whole in the center (after flipping) to sort of deflate....

You seriously could not tell these where whole wheat, or 'healthy' in any way, they were SO tasty! We served with more kerrygold butter, real maple syrup or homemade blackberry jam.

Soaked Oatmeal Cookies Pt. 1

This is a NT-Style adaptation of Martha Stewart's fabulous "Oatmeal Raisin Cookies"....

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Any dried fruit can be substituted for the raisins. Be sure the cookies are completely cool before storing in an airtight container.
INGREDIENTS Makes about 3 dozen. 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup packed light-brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 3 tablespoons milk 2 large eggs 3 cups old-fashioned oats 1 cup raisins	DIRECTIONS In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter with both sugars, and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, milk, and eggs, and mix well. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Remove bowl from the electric mixer, and stir in oats and raisins. Place dough in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours or overnight. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough, and shape into a ball; place on one of the prepared sheets. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing balls 3 inches apart. Press down to flatten into 2-inch diameters. Transfer to the oven, and bake until golden but still soft in center, 16 to 18 minutes, rotating the pans between oven shelves halfway through baking. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week First published Copyright 2009 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ok, so obviously I had to try to change a few things... and I'm seriously interested in your input in case you have other ideas on how to convert these even more....(like "can you really just use rapadura instead of Brown Sugar?" Seems like a texture issue...)

• I used Sprouted Soft White Wheat Wheat (freshly ground) that I order from Azure.
• I used Craisins (gotta use them up, then when they are in season I plan to make my own!) sad to say I bought at Costco.
• I ground the cinnamon fresh (in the coffee grinder, after cleaning!) I got it from Azure, not organic.
• I made my own Vanilla (it's SUPER easy!
• My eggs are farm fresh (Healthy Family Farms) & a tad on the smaller side this week, but I figured that was better because of the extra liquid on the oats...
• 2 nights prior, I soaked the oats in the smallest amount of buttermilk I could to just "wet" them. (Homemade RAW Buttermilk & Organic Oats, of course!) This way they were not sopping wet, just a tad fluffier than when originally dry.
• I omitted the milk. (But the Buttermilk was made from Organic Pasture's Raw Whole Milk.)
• I also added Crispy Pecans, about 1/2 cup, chopped. (From Azure)

I put in tupperware & refrigerated overnight...
Another thing I like to do (if I have the time, like on a Saturday morning) is to drop the cookie dough onto a sheet pan, covered with my precious Silpat or Parchment as if I'm going to bake them. Cover tightly in plastic wrap (optional I guess) & freeze. Once frozen, I put the frozen balls of dough in to Food-saver bags & vacuum pack (quickly) and re-freeze. (Don't forget to label it so you know where to find the baking instructions!)

I'll have to do a Part 2 to let you know how they come out...

Stay Tuned! (Ain't I a tease?)

**Update**

I baked a dozen on 2 separate occasions & the flavor is great, but they are super soft & crumbly.... So after some research & consultations with other bakers, I've determined to try it again, this time adding 1 more egg & more flour. Stay tuned to another update...

New Toys!!

Ok, I'm just bursting to share & who better to share these things with than YOU?   I've been so busy that I am SO far behind on my blogging!  

Last weekend I got a used Chest Freezer off Craiglist for agood price, it's almost liek new & works great!  It's about 4 ft wide, I think it's about 14 cubic ft...?  Anyhoo, it works GREAT!  I was so excited to transfer everything to it from my small stand up freezer & the tiny one in the house!  It looked very nice & organized for about 5 minutes! Naw, just kidding, it's still looking pretty good, I just REALLY need to get a 'working inventory list' going & stick with it so I always know what's in it!  See in the top left corner?  That's the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment I just got last week (WHAT???  I had a gift card!)  So far I've tried an all RAW creamy Peach Ice Cream, Peach Sorbet & Strawberry Sorbet, I love that I can use honey in them!  Now I just need a source for raw goat's milk & I can give Laloo's a run for their money!  EIGHT DOLLARS a pint at Whole Foods (and ya can't get it anywhere else locally!) I don't think so! 

On Wednesday I received my Kitchen Mill!  I already used it! ;)

On Friday I noticed sprouts in my garden that I just seeded in the last 2 weeks!  YIPEE!

Today I received my dehyrator!   You can buy from Excalibur directly, I got a Refurbished model, because they come with a 10 yr warranty & the lower price on it allowed me to get the bigger, better model.  It has 9 trays!   I also got some of those Paraflexx sheets for it, so I will working on some Fruit leathers & stuff like that! 

I knew it was coming so I had wheat berries ready for it!

Azure Standard

Ok, so last month was our first GO with Azure & I think I can speak for Tami when I say we are in love!  *smile*

Here's a few snaps of our loot:

Tami is dividing up the grains (we shared Soft White Wheat, Hard Red, Kamut, Spelt, Oat Groats & Rye

We Split a 25 lb tub of Raw Honey (my leftover 32 oz Agave Nectar jugs worked out great for that!)

We split a box of pears, Tami took hers home & the Chu Babies devoured them in short order.  I made about 2 gazillion batches of jam. ;)

This was my share of grains!

We also split a 10 Doz. box of Fertile Eggs three ways (with Terri), they are huge & wonderful!  After a month, Tami only needed to buy another dozen form TJ's before our next order, Terri still had plenty  & I had just run out.  This month just Tami & I split, so 5 dozen each!  Woo hoo!

As I said, this was January, so we've ordered again, Tami bakes bread 2-3 times a week, so she was thrilled to get a 50 lb. bag of Red Wheat for like $30!  She's also kept up using Soft White for all her baked goods like cakes & cookies, etc... with a noticeably finer texture!  Awesome! 

The Grain Silo

So... my cup runneth over.  Joe looked at me the other day & said "I think I need a project, I need a creative outlet every now & then..."  So I said, "Make me a storage bench."  And so he did.

When we bought the stools for the Bar in the kitchen, I bought 3, but we really only needed 1 or 2... so Joe used that '3rd wheel' as a frame for the bench...

Joe doesn't have a table saw & several other tools necessary, so he took the whole project over to the Chu's & Tony was very helpful!  (Thanks Tony!)

This is what the stool looked like, before he cut it in half! (Pay NO attention please to my filthy dishwasher in the back round!)

Ta- Da!  Here's the finished product! 

Here's Joe, reluctantly posing for a "proud moment" snap.

Here's the back, and the genius of the design:  If we need extra seats at the table, we can pull it away from the wall & use the back as the front (on the bench) so whoever is sitting on it can still put their feet on the bar...but when it's a storage area, it will fit my bread maker & several big sacks of grain!  Perfect timing too!  My big Azure order will come in a week!  I can't wait to fill up my new "grain silo"

A day to brag about!

Well, I had originally taken today off to hang with my boys since they were already off for MLK Jr Day... but Joe got a call to go help a buddy with a house project, and Kanan opted to go with so he could play with Rambo (our friend's baby chihuahua).  So I ended up with a bonus Kitchen day!! Wahoo!

So after brunch (I had thawed a batch of Kelly's Cinnamon rolls & baked them up - they were great hot out of the oven, but both the boys were like "where's the icing??" so I made a quick small batch made with butter, powdered sugar & maple syrup- I wasn't sure the maple & butter alone would do it..), the boys left me all alone....

Yogurt:

I started by finally tackling Yogurt - I've been a bit scared to try it, but I found an easy crock-pot recipe that I felt I could handle... It's incubating (is that the right term??? Eww!) right now! Can't wait!  I'll probably leave half plain & sweeten the rest with Maple Syrup - Trader Joe's has their own brand of Granola, one of the flavors has crystallized ginger in it - I'm seriously in love!! Anyone have any idea how to duplicate that??  Anyhoo, I love to add a scoop to my oatmeal or yogurt, or sometimes I combine all three!  I take oatmeal packets to work currently, but one day I hope to figure out how to make my own & make it easily portable...

Kombucha:

I've had a Kombucha SCOBY for months in my fridge for a few months (I ambitiously bought one when I found Kefir Grains on eBay from the nicest man who goes by the alias of 'Bacteria Pimp' - cute eh?)   Anyhoo, I started making Kefir as soon as my package arrived & my grains seem healthy despite my many attempt to kill them lol...I just didn't ever get around to researching the art of Kombucha & have the time (or so I thought!)  So today I decide that was IT - no more excuses - just DO it!!   It was easy.  I ended up following the recipe in NT, I had some lovely Organic Pastures "Living Tea" - which is my favorite store bought...so I hope mine will come out like theirs!  One thing I am not sure of:  I did not have any organic tea.  And I didn't have access to a car to run to the store... so I used what I had & just hope it's ok... next time!

Dairy:

I had some Raw Cream on hand that was starting to go, so I started a bowl of Sour Cream!  We love this & use it as regularly as I can keep it stocked!  I was inspired by Ann Marie to try the Kefir again.  I don't know where I got this, but I've been using my soured milk to make Kefir... does that make sense to anyone?  I honestly cannot remember if someone told me to, or if I just decided it was a logical thing because you let the milk sit out & 'sour' to an extent anyway...???  Anyone?  One that subject, does anyone have any uses for sour milk?  

Grains:

On Friday night I had started a bunch of grains to soak, so today they were sprouted enough to start drying.  Thankfully, my oven is gas & goes as low as 100 degrees, so it's not hard to let my grains dry overnight or all day while I'm at work.  I tried the 100% Sprouted Wheat Bread recipe from Marilyn Moll last week & we loved it!  It's my favorite so far.  I made a double batch (in the Kitchen Aid, as it was WAY too full for the bread machine) because Joe's boss has offered t buy it from me she liked it a lot!   I added sesame & sunflower seeds for some extra texture & appeal.... it looks gorgeous & tastes pretty good...I think I'll try a bit more next time, but I think I also need to up the liquid a tiny bit...

I also soaked a cup of Almonds on Sat morning, so today I threw them into the VitaMix to make Almond Milk.  I always try to use the left over pulp in a soaked grain muffin recipe, so I have that (about 1 cup) with about 2 cups mixed whole grains soaking to make muffins tomorrow evening....or maybe Wed morning (although it's awfully ambitious of me to think I'll get up early & make them!  But I bought some fresh berries, so it sure would be nice to use them in a muffin.  We'll see...

Meat:

Saturday morning I went for Raw Milk again, as I was short on Milk.  I bought enough this time to (hopefully!) last a month.  I also ran to Costco to stock up of stupid things I like best there like TP & Cat litter...I ran a bunch of other errands & made bread.  On Saturday night I had roasted a chicken.  (Thanks for the inspiration, Erica!  I bought the Coleman's organic ones at Costco for about $12 each!  I'm going to shoot for 1 every other week!) On Saturday we'd eaten an extremely gourmet bowl of cereal early on, so when the chicken was done, we just wanted a snack, so I cut up one of the breast & we just nibbled on that - it was SO yum!  I roasted it breast side down so the white meat would be super moist!

So then the rest went right into the fridge & today I stripped all the meat off & started stock.  It was even easier than usual because I'd been keeping a freezer bag of veg scraps for the last couple weeks...I can't wait to see how this batch turns out!  There were mushrooms, bell peppers, leeks, onion, broccoli bottoms, you name it, it was in there!  It's been smelling so good all day!  Ok, so with the meat I stripped off, I chunked all the dark meat & made Creamy Chicken Enchiladas with them for tonight's dinner.  The remaining breast got cubed & I made a small bowl of Chicken Salad for sandwiches this week.  I added mayo, mustard, cayenne, craisins, chopped celery & chopped pecans - YUM!  I would have added apples too, but I don't have any at the moment...

Freezer Meals:

I ran across a nice easy recipe here for Egg Cups, so I made those, wrapped up 3 for the fridge & the rest are freezing as I type for future To-Go Breakfasts... Yum!

Meal Plan

I keep reading every one's Meal Plans & it seriously seems like such a good idea!  I just haven't felt 'ready' to begin.  Yet.  I think I'm almost there...I have a partial list, but I'm really having some challenges because I already know that we will be out of the house Tues & Thurs nights for Book Clubs at friend's houses.  So I'm trying to think of quick dinners for those nights (don't forget that we've taken on the oh-so-important challenge of "No Eating Out" this month, and normally that would be my solution...  I'm working on it, but I think I'll see how it goes before attempting to join the official "Meal Plan Monday"... 

Well, the boys got home at 6-ish, we had dinner & now I'm all caught up!  Must go strain my stock, now - g'night!