Sunday Brunch/Easy Sunday Crepes

A year or so ago, I made pumpkin pancakes for our Sunday breakfast. I had made enough so that there were 3 leftover for my husband's Monday morning breakfast. 

When we had finished our breakfast, I grabbed my cup of tea, and went over to watch a Sunday morning news program. My husband had taken our plates to the sink. All of a sudden I heard him scream, "NOOOO!!!" I looked over to see Berkley standing on the bench with his front legs on the table, eating the pancakes. When my husband screamed, rather than jump down, he began to eat faster! I guess he thought, "I'm in it now, I may as well get it all!" ;) This little dog absolutely LOVES pancakes...of every type.

I have been going through recipes that I've posted in the past, and there are a number that I feel I need to revisit, and have them so that you can easily print them. I originally posted this recipe in 2012...8 years ago :/ Wow! I really wanted to post it now as the holidays are coming, such a wonderful time to do something lovely for your family, and such a wonderful excuse to sit down and really connect.  

Crepes are so easy to make. They are nice and light, so you don't get up from the table feeling as though you need a nap. And, the fillings can be tailored to the likes of everyone who comes to the table. 

The recipe is below.

Once the mix has been made, heat a skillet or crepe pan. If you don't have a crepe pan, you don't need one! A skillet will work just fine. Add a small pat of butter to the pan to season it. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan. Swirl the pan to distribute the batter as evenly as possible. Cook until the batter is no longer runny, about a minute.

Flip the pancake and cook on the opposite side for no more than another minute.

Place the crepes on a warm plate, and then continue with the rest of the batter. This recipe makes approximately 10-11 crepes.

 

I made a lovely cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. I use ginger, a stick of cinnamon, 1 orange, and the entire orange peel. If you would like the recipe, just let me know, and I'll be happy to post it. Since I had leftovers, I decided to serve the sauce as the filler for the crepes. Soooo delicious!

Just place a little in the center of the crepe, fold over, and then put a little on top, and finish with a dust of powdered sugar. Then, dig in and enjoy!!!

Berkely got a few scraps :)

Easy Sunday Crepes

downloadable recipe

ingredients;

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups Almond Milk(or milk of choice)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 cup flour

directions; 

Place eggs in blender, and blend until smooth. Add milk and vanilla extract. with blender running, add melted butter. Add flour, and blend until smooth.

Heat skillet or crepe pan. Season with a small pat of butter. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe mixture onto hot skillet or crepe pan. Swirl batter to evening distribute around bottom of pan. Cook until batter no longer runs, about a minute. Flip crepe and cook for a minute longer on opposite side. Place on warm plate and repeat with remaining batter. Makes about 10-11 crepes.

Serve with favorite filling and powdered sugar.   

You can see my original post HERE. In that post I made a strawberry/rhubarb sauce. 

As always, if you give the recipe a try, I hope you enjoy it!

Just a quick story to close. A friend of mine visited with me last year along with her 7 year old daughter. While they were with me, her daughter was always by my side, and whatever I was doing, she wanted to participate, including setting the table for our meals. My friend told me that she recently had a day off, and decided to make a lovely meal, set the table, and serve the food in serving bowls. Her daughter came to the table and exclaimed, "it's just like at Rhonda's house! It all looks so pretty." 

Happy Eating :)

Rhonda

Sunday Brunch/Whole Grain Turmeric Corn Cakes

After a lot of just plain ick in my life of late, I had the best news this week. My optometrist told me that unless I notice a change in my sight, I no longer need to see him on a six month, or even a yearly basis. I do need to continue seeing the retinologist so that he can monitor any growth of the moles on my retinas, but other than that, I am in great shape! WooHoo!!!

Since I was diagnosed with moles on my retina, I have become all the more conscious of eating foods that are high in vitamins that are good for the eyes. Believe it or not, turmeric is a spice that is great for so many things, but eye health is near the top of the list.

This morning I decided to try my hand at a pancake recipe that contains turmeric. The pancakes have a delightful orange color. 

Turmeric, on its own can be rather bitter, but paired with ginger, delicious! 

I began with 2 cups of cornmeal, 1 cup of whole grain wheat flour, 3 tablespoons of baking powder, salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. 

3 eggs, along with 2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk, and 1 tablespoon of fresh minced ginger were added.

The final ingredient, 3 teaspoons of turmeric powder.

The griddle was greased with oil, and 1/4th cup of batter used for each cake.

Once the bubbles began to pop, the cakes were turned and allowed to brown on the opposite side.
  

I served the cakes with good maple syrup. But fresh cooked applesauce would be great too!

Whole Grain Turmeric Corn Cakes

4 hearty servings

downloadable recipe

ingredients

2 cups corn meal

1 cup wholegrain wheat flour

3 tablespoons baking powder 

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

3 teaspoons ground turmeric powder

2 cups unsweetened coconut milk

directions

Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.

Add eggs, ginger, and coconut milk to dry mixture. Beat well until the batter is smooth.

Heat griddle over medium heat. Use a vegetable oil of choice to grease griddle. 

Place 1/4 cups of batter per cake on hot griddle. Bubbles will appear. When bubbles begin to pop, turn cakes to opposite side and cook for another minute, or until golden brown. Place cooked cakes on plate and repeat with remaining batter.

Serve with warm maple syrup. Fresh, warm applesauce would be another delicious option.  

If you give the recipe a try, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Happy Sunday!

Rhonda  

Sunday Brunch/Baked Apple Pancake

I love to make a special breakfast on Sunday mornings. Just seems like the perfect way to begin the day :)

I gave my husband a few choices for today's brunch/breakfast, and without a skipping a beat he said, "apple pancake!" 

I originally posted the recipe HERE, so this is a repeat. But, things get lost in a blog, so I thought reposting it, especially since I just made one this morning would be a nice reminder of something that's delicious, and easy to make.
   
This is a fabulous recipe when you have a number of mouths to feed. I like to double the recipe. When doubled, it will easily feed 6, and if you include a few other items on your brunch table, it will stretch to 8.

Baked APPLE PANCAKE
serves 4

Ingredients;

3 medium apples peeled and sliced, I used Fugi Apples
1/4 cup of raisins or dried cranberries
1/4 cup of chopped pecans or nut of choice
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 milk (I use unsweetened Almond milk)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Peel and slice apples. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet. Add apples and saute until tender. Add raisins or cranberries. Add nuts of choice and cinnamon. Stir well. 

In a blender, blend eggs until frothy. Add milk and extract and continue to blend. Add flour 1/4 cup at a time and blend well. Pour batter mixture over apples.

Place skillet in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until pancake begins to crack and is lightly browned.

Place large serving dish over the top of the skillet and invert pancake. Replace any apples that may have stayed behind in the pan.
Slice and serve with powdered sugar.

Be sure to print out the recipe. Once you make it, you'll make it over and over again! And too, you can slice it up and freeze the slices for later!

Happy Sunday!

 Rhonda

Patty Cake Rice Cakes

My hometown is surrounded by rice fields. I can remember being amazed when the fields were flooded in the early spring. How could anything grow in so much water? And then, as if by magic, the rice would begin to emerge.

Rice has been a staple in my life from the time I could eat solid food. I grew up eating rice as a cereal, as a pudding for dessert, in soups, with butter, and smothered in gravy. When I would come to the table and see that rice was on the menu, I was a very happy girl. As long as there was rice, I could somehow choke down whatever else was there that I didn't care for. Just to show you how crazy I was, I would carefully move my rice to one side of my plate so that the other items on my plate that I did not like would not "contaminate" my rice. I know, crazy ;)

I still LOVE rice, and I am quite satisfied with a bowl of rice and a wonderful item that I get in Chicago called giardiniera. Here's a recipe for Italian Giardiniera that looks fairly authentic. As much of this stuff as I eat, I need to see about making a batch! Anyway...when I make rice, I always make much more than I can use at one sitting as I want leftovers. An item that I love to make with the leftovers is rice cakes. I love these things!!! I will eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and all in the same day! 

  

The cakes are super easy to make. Just begin with 2 eggs, whisk them until frothy. 

Add the rice, shredded cheddar cheese, bread crumbs. I stir this mixture together and then add finely chopped spinach, onion, garlic, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper.

Combine all of the ingredients, and then measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture and form into round patties. The mixture can be a bit sticky, so I just keep my hands wet with water as I form the patties. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Place patties in the oil and cook for at least 3 minutes without touching. Turn and press lightly to flatten out and cook another 3 minutes, or more to obtain a golden brown.

For breakfast, I serve the patties with poached eggs, and sprinkle them with fresh chopped parsley.

YUM!!!

For lunch, I will place the patties on salad, or I just top them with giardiniera. For dinner, I like to make a mushroom or tomato sauce for the patties. So, they are quite versatile, and delicious anytime of day.

Patty Cake Rice Cakes

ingredients;
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic minced
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs ( I like bread crumbs with Italian seasoning)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and black pepper to taste
Enough oil to cover the bottom of cooking pan

directions;
Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add rice, cheese, bread crumbs and mix well. Combine onion, garlic spinach, oregano, red pepper flakes and stir into rice mixture. Add salt and black pepper to taste. 

Heat oil in large pan over medium heat, enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Measure out 1/4 cup of the rice mixture and form into patties. Keeping hands wet will help to keep the rice mixture from sticking to your hands. Place patties in hot oil and brown on each side for at least 3 minutes, until golden brown. Turn patties, press lightly to flatten out and cook on opposite side until golden brown.
Place cooked patties on paper towels.

Leftover uncooked patties can be place on waxed paper and frozen to cook at a later time. 

Patties can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For breakfast, top with a poached egg. For lunch, place on top of salad. For dinner, top with a mushroom or tomato sauce.

___________________________________________ 

I grew up eating plain ol' regular white rice. When I cook rice these days, I typically use brown rice, but I also love red rice, forbidden rice, and wild rice. I just love having the opportunity to try so many wonderful varieties of rice :)

If you give my rice cakes a try, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

 Rhonda 

Sunday Brunch/Biscuits Part 2

Treasures. What really constitutes a treasure? For some, it's money. Others value jewels. And then, there are things. All of these can be gone in the blink of an eye, but what can never be taken from us are our memories. Now, true enough, some suffer from debilitating diseases that can destroy the mind, and wipe away memories. But, even then, I think the mind can have moments of remembering. When my uncle was suffering with Alzheimer's, I found it interesting that he could have beautiful moments when he remembered something. Maybe it was just the touch of my aunt's hand. The far away look in his eyes would change, and for a moment, I could see that there was recognition. It was like a small gift to my aunt especially, but I think to him as well.

I thought I would share a few "treasures." In my last biscuit post, I talked about a tiny iron skillet that was mine. When I would visit with my grandmother, this little skillet was for my biscuits, and mine only. In the picture below, you see that tiny little skillet, my grandmother's biscuit cutter, and my great-great grandmother's wooden biscuit bowl. I used it this morning :) My great-great grandmother died at the age of 96 in 1960, so the bowl is quite old. 

  

My grandmother made biscuits each and every morning for breakfast. Her recipe is simple, nothing as elaborate as the Joanna Gaines biscuits. They can be made in a flash. After making the Joanna Gaines biscuits, which were good, but quite a bit of work, I decided to make up my grandmother's recipe and compare. Maybe it's because this is what I grew up eating, but I like my grandmother's the best :)

As I said, the recipe is simple, 

Begin by pouring oil into a cast iron skillet and heating until piping hot. At the same time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix 1 cup of self-rising flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 tablespoon of oil.

Mix in just shy of 1 cup of buttermilk(between 3/4 and 1 cup). Mix the batter together and place on a floured surface. 

Pat out the dough and cut into 2" or so sized biscuits. Do not over work the dough.

Place the biscuits in the hot oil. Quickly turn the biscuit over, coating both sides with the oil.

Place in oven and bake until golden brown. Approximately 15 minutes.

What I love about placing the biscuits in the hot oil is that you get a crunchy bottom. Yum!

Elvera's Biscuits

ingredients;
1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon oil
1 scant cup buttermilk
Extra oil for cast iron skillet

directions;
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Heat at least 2 tablespoons of oil in cast iron skillet until skillet is piping hot. 
Combine flour, baking soda, oil and buttermilk. Place on a floured surface. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough and pat dough out to about 1/2" thick. Do not over work the dough. 
Cut into 2" biscuits.
Place in hot oil and turn over, coating both sides of the biscuit. Place the skillet in preheated oven. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until biscuits have browned.
Serve piping hot!

_____________________________

I have the sweetest memories of my grandmother. I loved how she would sing as she worked. Even under the worst circumstances, she always had a song in her heart.  

As this year draws to  a close, I hope that you will find some lovely memories to reflect upon, and maybe even a sweet song in your heart.

Rhonda

Sunday Brunch

We have our first dusting of snow covering the ground here in Chicago. Flurries are flying outside the window and I have a fire going. It's winter :) On days like this, my thoughts turn to dishes that will warm my body and my home. I posted this dish quite some time ago, but I thought I would repost it since so many of you are new to the blog since the last posting. If you love apples and cinnamon, I think you'll love this dish. I had to smile a little at my husband this morning when I told him that I thought I would make an apple pancake for our breakfast. His eyes got wide and he said,"well, that would be great!"

APPLE PANCAKE

Ingredients;

3 medium apples peeled and sliced, I used Fugi Apples
1/4 cup of raisins or dried cranberries
1/4 cup of chopped pecans or nut of choice
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 milk (I use unsweetened Almond milk)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Peel and slice apples. Melt butter in a nonstick skillet. Add apples and saute until tender. Add raisins or cranberries.

 Add nuts of choice and cinnamon.

 Stir well.

In a blender, blend eggs until frothy. Add milk and extract and continue to blend. Add flour 1/4 cup at a time and blend well.
Pour batter mixture over apples.

Place skillet in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until pancake begins to crack and is lightly browned.

Place large serving dish over the top of the skillet and invert pancake. Replace any apples that may have stayed behind in the pan.
Slice and serve with powdered sugar.

The recipe will serve 4.
Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the pancake on the serving dish. It makes a lovely breakfast presentation and would be great for any special occasion.
You may have noticed that I did not add sugar to this recipe. If you would like a sweeter dish, add a little brown sugar to the apples just before you pour the pancake batter over the apples.
Enjoy!
Rhonda

Sunday Brunch

Blueberries are at their peak and over the last few weeks, I have had more than my fair share. I can open a container of blueberries and eat the entire thing. I've had them in my morning cereal, in salads, smoothies, if I can put a blueberry in it, I will :)

I have a recipe for Blueberry Bread that I have had forever and I have no idea where it came from, but it is a favorite, especially this time of year. It is not an overly sweet bread. Make it up the night before and it will be ready the next morning for slicing and toasting. 

Blueberry-Orange Nut Bread

Ingredients;

3 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 eggs

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

2/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, or desired nut

For a more robust orange taste, add 1 teaspoon of orange oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs, milk, orange juice and grated orange peel. Gradually blend in flour mixture. Fold in blueberries and nuts.

Grease and flour a 9x5x3" loaf pan. Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake 1 hour or until cake tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Wrap in aluminum foil and store in refrigerator over night before slicing.     

The bread is best toasted in a toaster oven. Once toasted, spread it with butter and sprinkle on a little cinnamon sugar or honey, sink your teeth in and enjoy!
The bread freezes well, so make a couple and save the other for a fall or winter treat.