Blueberry Pancakes

My daughter adores blueberries, and she loves everything bread-y, so I though she'd love these.  However, that was not the case, which is fine by me because I liked them, so more for me :)

I'm no pancake expert, but these seemed pretty light, fluffy and yummy to me.  Hopefully you'll enjoy them too!

Source: Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients:

- 1 1/4 cups flour (I did 1/2 cup of white whole wheat and 3/4 all-purpose white)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tbs baking powder

- 1 1/4 tsp sugar

- 1 egg

- 1 cup milk

- 1/2 tbs melted butter

- 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen)

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Directions:

- Sift the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together.

- Beat the egg and mix in to the flour mixture, along with the milk, then butter then blueberries.

- Let it sit for 1 hour.

- Heat a little oil in a pan or griddle and scoop a spoonful of batter in.  Let it brown, then flip.  Remove when both sides have been browned and the batter is cooked through.

- Serve with syrup, butter or whatever other toppings you like.

Beef Enoki Rolls

This one is super quick and easy, but oh so yummy!!!  I definitely recommend giving this one a try.

Ingredients:

- Thinly sliced beef (I used hotpot beef)

- Enoki mushrooms

- Mirin

- Soy sauce

- Sugar

- A splash of cooking wine (optional - I used sake)

Directions:

- Mix the mirin, soy, sugar and wine.  It should be slightly sweet, but not overly sweet.

- Cut off the ends of the mushrooms and wash them.  

- Take one or two slices of beef (I used two, slightly overlapping each other) and wrap the mushrooms.

- Heat a pan with a bit of oil and lay the rolls in a single layer.
- Once one side has been cooked, flip them and add the sauce.
- After the meat and mushrooms are cooked through (it shouldn't take long at all since it's so thinly sliced), remove the rolls and set aside.  You don't want them to overcook.
- Cook down the sauce until it's a little syrupy and then pour it over the rolls.
- Serve immediately.

Fish Nuggets

First off, sorry for the lack of posts lately, but baby #2 came along and this blog got neglected.

And just because baby #2 is here, that doesn't mean baby #1 doesn't have to eat :)  Here's a quick and easy fish nugget that I made for her.  You can make it out of chicken too.

Ingredients:
- Fish (I used tilapia)
- Egg
- Flour
- Seasoning Salt
- Panko crumbs


Directions:
- Cut the fish into bite sized chunks.
- In a shallow bowl or plate, sprinkle some seasoning salt into the flour and mix.
- Scramble an egg in another shallow bowl or plate.
- Place panko crumbs in a third shallow bowl or plate.
- Dust the fish in a thin layer of flour, patting off the excess.
- Dunk the flour-coated fish in the egg.
- Cover the fish with panko crumbs and set aside on a foil lined baking pan.
- Repeat for each piece of fish.
- Toss it in a 350 degree oven until the fish is cooked through (I put them in for 25 minutes or so).
- Serve plain or with a dipping sauce.

Sugar Cookies

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Duncan Hines cake mixes.  Because I got so many samples, I kept looking for alternative things to do with it because I don't really eat cake.  But I do eat cookies!!!  This was another super easy one and surprisingly tasty too.  I didn't think cookies made out of cake mix would be any good, but these were!  I'm definitely doing this again in the future.


From Skip to My Lou
Ingredients:
- 1 box of cake mix (I used White Cake Mix)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- Strawberry frosting (optional)


Directions:
- Mix the cake mix, eggs and oil together.
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Scoop out 20 portions of the cookie dough on a silpat (smooshed down a bit) and bake for 10-13 minutes
- When the cookie has completely cooled, frost it if desired.

Pumpkin Devil's Food Cake

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Duncan Hines cake mixes.  I've seen this on Pinterest.  It looked easy and tasty so I decided to give it a try.  All you have to do is mix the cake mix with a can of pumpkin puree and follow the rest of the directions on the back of the box.  No eggs, oil, etc, so it's healthier too!

Ingredients:
- One box of cake mix
- One 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree


Directions:
- Mix the cake mix and pumpkin puree until fully incorporated.  The consistency will be super thick and brownie like.  You'll probably be tempted to add something to it because it just doesn't look right, but keep with it.  It'll work, I promise.   
- Follow the rest of the directions on the back of the box.  In my case, I lightly oiled and floured a pan and poured the batter in and baked for 35 minutes.

- And even though the batter is thick like a brownie, the completed product is more like a moist cake and yummy too!

I wonder if this would work with other purees like sweet potato or butternut squash?  If you've tried it, let me know!

Ji Se La Pi

This isn't the prettiest dish, but it's a tasty dish that is great for leftover turkey.  This shredded chicken and mung bean sheet cold salad is best served fresh, ie not after being refrigerated.  Refrigeration tends to make the noodles hard.  And, another thing to look out for it getting the right kind of noodles.  I'm not sure what to tell you here because that's where I screwed up.  The kind that I bought was way too thick.  It said something like TianJian style on the bag if that helps.

So keep from refrigerating this and buy the right noodles and you'll be sure to enjoy this!  :)

Ingredients:
- Mung bean sheets
- Shredded chicken (or turkey)
- Cucumber
- Peanut butter
- Water
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar (rice vinegar or regular is fine too)
- Wasabi (optional)


Directions:
- Cook the mung bean sheets according to the package directions.  Run them under cold water and then cut them into approximately 1"x1" pieces (though shape and size really don't matter).  Set aside.
- Shred the chicken/turkey and julianne the cucumber.
- In a separate bowl, mix the peanut butter and a bit of water until it's nice and creamy, about the consistency of a thick gravy.  Heating the water will help it mix.  If you put too much water, just pop the bowl with the water and peanut butter into the microwave for a bit and stir.  It's better to have it too thick than too watery.  You'll get more liquid from the other flavorings and the noodles/cucumbers will give off water too.
- Add soy, vinegar and wasabi to taste.
- Mix the sauce with the cucumber, chicken and noodles and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

So I've decided to jump on the bandwagon again and try another recipe that I've been seeing all over the internet lately.  This one was a bit disappointing though.  Not that it wasn't good, but it wasn't as amazing as I expected based on all the accounts I read.  It tasted like sweet hummus, not cookie dough.  Maybe if I didn't know it was made out of chickpeas, I wouldn't have thought that, but I did.

Even though I generally like to make healthy alternatives whenever possible, I think this is one of those times the real deal with all the unhealthiness is worth it.

Ingredients:
- Chickpeas
- Peanut butter
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Sugar
- Honey
- Chocolate chips


Directions:
- I used canned chickpeas, so I drained 2 cans of chickpeas while reserving the liquid from the can.
- Put the chickpeas in a food processor along with the peanut butter (about 2 tbs), vanilla extract (2 tsp), salt (a pinch), sugar and honey (I don't know how much I used because I just kept adding it until it tasted like I wanted it to).
- Puree the mixture until sooth and creamy.  I found it to be a bit dry, so I added a bit of the liquid from the can until I got the desired consistency.
- Stir in chocolate chips and then top it with a few more as a garnish.
- Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers.