A Tale Of Two Pancakes

It's another gray rainy afternoon, and here's another one from the draft folder. Notice a pattern here?😄

So Dad & I don't go out for breakfast much; but when we do, Cracker Barrel is one of our favorite places. Why? Well, besides the usual good food, good atmosphere, good service, *relatively* good prices, etc. etc., they serve an absolutely amazing breakfast called Stuffed Cream Cheese Pancakes. After having this delight once, I googled the recipe, as all good thriftsters do, and found one that is remarkably close. The cream cheese filling is completely delicious... and these pancakes are very addicting.

Stuffed Cream Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened 

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Pancakes

Fresh blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries and/or strawberries

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl, mix cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar.

Fry your favorite pancake batter into a nice big pancake, and smear cream cheese mixture over half of the pancake. Fold it in half, add a little strawberry jam or syrup, and top with a dollop of real whipped cream. Add fresh fruit if you happen to have some on hand ... or enjoy without! 

So yeah. This is the best way to enjoy pancakes, because it kind of turns it into a justifiable dessert. (It's breakfast, right??!)

And omy do I love pancakes. But since pancakes, breakfast or not, are still panCAKES, I have to watch how many I eat.... or do I?

I have been a fan of Trim Healthy Mama for years, although I don't always agree with or follow all their suggestions. THM is an informative cookbook which, in a nutshell, pairs protein with either carbohydrates or fats (not both in the same meal) to facilitate weight loss or gain in a safe healthy way. It's really not a diet; it's a way of eating which is kind to your body. Since I can't eat sweets and carbs unchecked like I used to, this book/concept has been helpful for me to get my sweet tooth fix with healthier options; I've actually lost some weight that I've been battling for about 15 years. It's a good feeling. Like I said, I don't follow all their suggestions. The two authors are moms of many (like me) who are in their mid-50s (like me), with growing kids and grandkids (like me); so it's been interesting to follow their health journey for the past many years. Their mom, Nancy Campbell, has a ministry to encourage mothers, and I've appreciated her magazines and books for as long as I can remember. And that's where I learned about THM. 

At any rate, Serene and Pearl can be a little - or a lot - too crunchy for me; but as with anything in life,

  Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!

 I've tried many of their recipes; some are home runs and some are definitely not even fit for the dog lol. This one - their pancake recipe - is my most oft-used home run. As in, I have these almost every morning. Packed with protein and low in carbs, these taste amazing. If I was Truly Crunchy, I would pair this with fruit or granola or greek yogurt or something equally Truly Crunchy; however I am not Truly Crunchy so I enjoy it with butter and real maple syrup (Yes. That is a carb and a fat which the program discourages for weight loss... but it's not much of either and it is very filling).

Anyway. That got long. Sorry for the ramble. On to the recipe.

Here is my version (I double the original recipe and measure out all the "to tastes" in their recipe).

THM Pancakes

Ingredients:

1.5 cups rolled or quick oats

1.5 cups egg whites

1.5 cups cottage cheese

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon Truvia

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

In Vitamix or blender, blend oats to powder. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Fry in greased skillet.

That's it! Add Truly Crunchy or not-so-crunchy toppings and enjoy!

I usually fry these with blueberries because I like them, but you do you. I've thought about adding cream cheese filling... but I'm not sure I want to go there. That would kind of undo the whole point of eating these healthier pancakes... even though I'm pretty sure they would be AMAZING...

haha

life is so tough, isn't it??

So there you have it, my tale of two pancakes.

The End.

Easy Energy Bars

 Many weeks (months??) ago (spring? summer? too far back to remember ha), I went with Dad to a business meeting in Arthur, IL; we made it kind of a DayAway and thoroughly enjoyed our day. While there, we stopped at an Amish grocery store and I bought a homemade-looking-granola/energy bar which was delicious. Once home, I promptly googled it and found a recipe which has become a favorite healthy sweet treat. Come to find out, lots of people know about this recipe, but it wasn't in my world or in my cookbooks. The recipe is called Energy Bars but I tend to think of them as Protein Bars because in addition to giving energy, they are high in protein; thus they satisfy my hunger and sweet tooth both.

Ingredients:

1 cup quick oats

1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup ground flax meal

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients. Roll into 24 balls and refrigerate. Not too tough!

My tweaks:

I multiply this by 3 and press into a greased 9x13 pan. Cut into squares/rectangles, I freeze them 4-6 bars to a pint freezer box and pull them out like that; or I have wrapped them in plastic wrap and then frozen them too. Makes a really convenient and delicious snack for on-the-go.

Also, for a triple recipe, I use 3/4 cups of the mini cc and 3/4 cups of mini mnms just because I like the crunch and color of the mnms.

Go ahead, give it a try. You'll be glad you did!

Fettuccine Alfredo

Three recipes to remember in one afternoon?? What's with that? 

Well, it's a wonderful rainy day, and ironing and laundry and patching are done, and apples are bucketed, and supper is in the instant pot, and I've had these recipes in my draft folder for long enough now, and so it's time to share them.

*notice I did not say my cleaning is done? That's bc cleaning is never done😏

Anyway, while this recipe is not a Golden Oldie, because I just found it a month ago, it very quickly became a recipe to remember because, quite frankly, 

It. Is. Fabulous. 

I found this recipe here and while I definitely wouldn't die for this, it is arguably one of the most delicious meals I've ever made or eaten. Be aware though, like author ErinMarie says in her post, it is not for the health-conscious!

Ingredients:

24 oz fettuccine pasta

1 cup butter

1.5 cups heavy cream

salt & pepper to taste

1 dash garlic salt

3/4 cup grated Romano cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions: 

Cook pasta according to package directions. While it is cooking, melt butter into cream in a large saucepan over low heat. Add spices to taste. When butter is melted, add cheeses and stir until melted. 

My tweak: 

This was runnier than I like, so if you want a little thicker sauce, whisk 2 tablespoons flour into 1/2 cup cold milk; then add this mixture to the sauce. 

Serve with cooked pasta and Roasted Chicken from Val at Prairie Creek Pastures for one of the best meals you've ever had.

Go ahead. Give it a try!

Bar-B-Q

 So these last few months I've been getting requests from our kids for various recipes that aren't on here. Don't get me wrong here, I love hearing from all kids at all times ... but for ease of sharing with everyone at once, I'm going to *try* to post a few of the oldies but goodies (ie: lasagna). Here's another.

This one is from Grandma Steiner. Super easy and delicious. Of course. It has brown sugar in the sauce 😆😏😋

5# ground beef, cooked, crumbled, and drained

3 cups ketchup (38oz bottle)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 tablespoons mustard

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup water

1 cup onion (I usually skip this)

Mix sauce ingredients then mix with meat. Simmer until onions are tender. I often make this ahead of time and put it in the crockpot to be used later. Can also be frozen and pulled out for a quick supper. 

Lasagna

This has been in my draft folder patiently awaiting completion since June. Today is the day.

Idk where I got this recipe. It probably evolved because my family does not like ricotta cheese or cottage cheese or spinach or anything else in their lasagna. Just four plain ingredients: meat, sauce, noodles, and cheese; and they're happy. So this recipe is really just for my kids reading this; bc usually people prefer lasagna with a few more bells and whistles. Nope. Not us!

I've adapted and adjusted this recipe over the years but find that I still prefer to make two pans and freeze one. Even with only five of us eating, leftovers don't last long. I always make this early in the day (or the night before) so the noodles can absorb liquid and soften before they're baked. If you overbake or put too many noodles in and it's dry, serve with spaghetti sauce. It's a great disguise😏

Ingredients for two 9x13 pans:

3 jars Aldi spaghetti sauce

2 quarts tomato juice

5# cooked, drained ground beef

1.5# mozzarella cheese

~16 lasagna noodles

Instructions: 

Mix spaghetti sauce and tomato juice with ground beef. It will be sloppy.  Layer in greased 9x13:

1 cup meat mixture

lasagna noodles (uncooked)

2 cups meat mixture

2 cups cheese

Repeat layers, ending with cheese on top.

Repeat with second pan. If you have extra meat mixture, freeze it for chili or tacos or haystacks or spaghetti or just stick it in the fridge and someone sometime will joyfully discover it and cook up some noodles and eat it right up😋

Anyway.

Refrigerate until ready to bake. Bake 350d for an hour or so. 

And I forgot to get a picture of it after it was baked, so here's pre-baked. Owell. 

Enjoy!

People Puppy Chow

 from Janice Koch

Pour half a pound of powdered sugar into a brown paper grocery bag and set aside (about 3 cups).

Measure 7 cups rice chex cereal and set aside.

Combine in large microwave-safe bowl:

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

Microwave 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and stir until peanut butter is melted. Add cereal to chocolate mixture, and stir gently to coat all cereal pieces. Pour chocolate-coated  cereal into grocery bag and shake gently to coat all cereal pieces. Spread on jelly roll pan to cool. 

Ready to roll~

Such a great recipe for summer because literally 1 minute in the microwave is all the heat you're adding to your already hot life.

Add the peanut butter~

Mix until nice and smooth,

Add cereal.

Mix gently.

(notice I switched spoons? That's just how I do it. Not required 😊)

When cereal pieces are thoroughly coated with delicious chocolatey goodness, dump into Aldi bag (previously filled with 3 cups of powdered sugar).

Shake gently but thoroughly.

Dump into cake pan to cool ~~ snitching at this point is irresistible

😋 

Store in airtight container or ziploc bag.

(as if there will anything left to store 😆)

(or quick freeze some so you have it to pull out on a busy day when kids drop in)

AJill's Garlic Bread And More On Bruschetta

Awhile ago I posted about a new favorite food around here: Bruschetta. I'd had it a couple times at restaurants and really liked it. When we had an abundance of cherry tomatoes this summer, I came up with my own recipe after scouring the internet and not finding one I liked. This one fits the bill and satisfies the craving.... even if I have to buy cherry tomatoes to make it. My last post about bruschetta didn't really have a recipe which is fine - kinda - because it's hard to mess it up - but so I have something a little more repeat-able, I wrote down what I did. Here it is.

Bruschetta

1 loaf garlic bread

1 recipe AJill's Garlic Butter

 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in halves or fourths

1 tablespoon garlic (optional: brown in garlic butter)

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

8 basil leaves, crushed (about 2 teaspoons basil (?))

1/4 teaspoon salt

few shakes pepper

shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese

Butter both sides of a slice of French bread with AJill's Garlic Butter. Toast in skillet until crispy and golden. In a small bowl, combine all other ingredients except cheese. Top toasted bread with tomato mixture, then top with cheese. Technically this should all be drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar or Glaze but I don't really care for it so haven't used it. 

*This amount of tomatoes makes about half a loaf worth of bruschetta; it's hard to judge bc some ppl like less or more of the tomato mixture.

AJill's Garlic Bread

1 loaf French bread, sliced

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon oregano

Add spices to butter and mix well. Butter one side of each slice of bread, keeping all slices together as a loaf. Wrap loaf in foil. Bake @ 350 for 15 minutes or until bread is hot and butter is melted.

Enjoy!

TXRP And Snow Days

 For the record. Josh made this blanket ladder for me a few years ago but it's been slowly dying for awhile now. I think it suffered quite a bit of abuse in the playroom. So I took this picture in case it broke as I attempted to repair it... which I did and which it did 😒

Anyway, it was such a special gift that saw many years of use and I want a record of it.

These are frozen slabs of Pioneer Woman roll dough which were previously rolled out and cut into squares and frozen on greased waxed paper. So that I could pull them out frozen, thaw them, and bake them fresh for supper...

Like this.

 I let them rise a couple hours before baking them about 15(?) minutes at 350.

Absolutely. Delicious. 

They look like pillows; so I've been calling them Texas Roadhouse Pillows, or TXRP. Oh - and google any random recipe for cinnamon honey butter if you want the next-best thing to True Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls.

  Mmmm  they are good!

1-27. My sweet Monday helper😍

So glad Sarah was willing to take him outside because I just really wasn't. It was cold.

Tuesday 11-28.

High forecast 28d; high reality 24d.

Wednesday 11-29. Much warmer and this crowd had a blast. 

All px from Sarah as I didn't go out. It wasn't that warm😏

Skye Rocket

Ok so well I guess I did get a walk in. It was 44d which was a LOT warmer than 24d but still not exactly warm... 

beautiful walk though.

Friday 12-1.

thanks Sarah for the px

Crazy Crust Pizza

 So Idk where GrandmaK got this recipe, but Dad was raised on it and loves it. I like it too but prefer yeast crust pizza which I've usually made; thus the kids prefer yeast too. Lately there have been more Friday nights with just Dad and me; so I've been making this pizza more often. 

Just for kicks I googled this recipe and found out that it's actually online so it's definitely not unique to Kaisers; but certainly it's not common!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Batter will be runny as in the picture. Pour into greased jelly roll pan, and sprinkle with meat. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350d. Top with sauce, pizza toppings, and cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes more until cheese is melted.

*I did 1/4 recipe for a 9x9 for Dad which is about perfect. Can also do 1/2 recipe for a 9x13.

Enjoy 😋

Cute Kids, Wiener Roast, Bruschetta, And More

 💗

💗💗

Picnic and kickball with friends. Thanks Kochs!

Saturday September 9. Cleaning day at Ben & Coreena's new house!

Levi's hosted us for a wiener roast then later that day. It was a beautiful evening.

A few friends came for s'mores on a beautiful Sunday evening.

😲

Somebody is five!

Same somebody was intrigued with hummingbird visitors. He wondered why he couldn't hold one. Uhhh buddy you can if you can catch it!

He then noticed my windows were dirty (!!) and proceeded to wash windows for the next while. He did a great job :)

Garden Gold Mine is still in high production.

And omy that dirty face😆😍

That night we celebrated a special couple with a shower at the FH.

Wednesday at the mine.

Skye was excited to meet Milo💗

"Driving Uncle Randy's combine p'tend"

My latest favorite food - bruschetta.

Garlic toast topped with a mixture of diced tomatoes, garlic, basil, and a splash of red rice vinegar. Top with a sprinkling of parmesan or mozzarella cheese.

Amazing😋