Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Happy Louis Riel Day! I'm celebrating with a leisurely Monday morning. I woke up without an alarm, shuffled around a bit, tidied a little, and decided to give these Cottage Cheese Pancakes a try. I’d enjoy them while watching into the sunny back-yard. I can hardly wait to enjoy my first summer in that yard.

I don’t eat a lot of pancakes – they slow me down. I don’t know why, I just know they do.

Along came a recipe that looked like a try. I liked them! I think I might make a few extra and freeze them for quick breakfasts.

Here is the recipe (from here: http://hurrythefoodup.com/cottage-cheese-pancakes/):

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

½ cup cottage cheese

½ cup rolled oats (I used quick-oats)

3 Eggs

Whisk eggs together and add cottage cheese and rolled oats.

Fry in pan with oil on medium heat.

I used a 1/3 cup measure of batter for each pancake. This made 5. I think I will switch to a ¼ cup measure in the future. 2 was just a little too much for breakfast. (And it will probably make 6 this way, too.)

Enjoy!

Update: 3/6/2016: I made these again this weekend. The 1/4 cup measure worked like gangbusters. Plus, I used the immersion blender to make a more smooth batter, and that also improved them. They are wonderful with unsweetened applesauce. Also, I've collected the nutritional info for them:

Nutritional Info With Applesauce

Nutritional Info Without Applesauce

Margherita Polenta Casserole

Doesn’t this look amazing? Cheese, tomatoes, basil. It should be amazing. It’s marginally better than okay.  This would be a great way to use garden tomatoes. Maybe add more. Maybe add more basil. Maybe have the salad I planned to have, but didn’t, alongside it.  Maybe use less parmesan. Maybe the parmesan would be just fine if it didn’t come in a generic cardboard container from superstore. J

I would make it again. I would make it for company, provided I had enough other things to go alongside it. So...... I encourage you to try it, if you’re looking for a new weeknight meal.

Here goes:

Margherita Polenta Casserole

4 ½ cups water
2 cubes chicken stock (or vegetable)
1 1/2 cups purity cornmeal
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
3 tablespoons butter, plus extra for baking dish
5 leaves basil, roughly chopped
 
Preheat oven to 350º F and butter your baking dish.

In a medium pot, bring chicken stock and generously salted water to a boil. Turn heat down to low and slowly whisk in cornmeal. Let simmer and cook, continuously stirring, until tender. About 10 minutes. Whisk in butter.

Pour 1/3 of polenta into casserole dish and spread a layer of mozzarella and cheddar on top.

Repeat with another layer of polenta, then cheeses, and continue with remaining ingredients. I put the first 1/3 cup of cherry tomatoes in this layer, plus a little parmesan.

Top final layer of polenta with chopped basil, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until cheese is melted and polenta is golden.

Enjoy. 

No Bake Granola Bars

Ok. Seriously cool. Not only is this similar to the granola bars I’ve fallen in love with at the Reh-Fit Centre, they’re also a more reasonable size, and I found a nifty “Nutritional Information Calculator” do-dad on the internet!  (http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php) These took a couple of tries to get them to as tasty as desired, and might take a few more to establish how many the recipe should actually make. This time ‘round, they were sliced into 12.

The original recipe found on the internet can be found here: http://www.pbfingers.com/2014/02/04/no-bake-and-easily-customizable-granola-bars/  The author of this recipe makes suggestions to customizing the bars – and so I added and took away and such until I came up with this:

No Bake Granola Bars

Ingredients:
¾ cup peanut butter (chunky, all natural)
1/3 cup honey
1 ½ cups rolled oats
¼ cup shredded coconut
½ cup sunflower seeds, toasted, unsalted
1 tbsp millet
1 tbsp toasted buckwheat
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
½ cup dried fruit
4 shakes of salt (no idea how to measure that)

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients except peanut butter and honey.
Microwave peanut butter and honey until warm. Stir together.
Add peanut butter mixture to oatmeal mixture.
Pres into a pan lined with saran wrap.
Freeze for 45 minutes.
Cut into bars; enjoy. (Nutritional information is provided below for both 9 bars or 12 bars. However many you decide to cut them into.)

(Store remaining bars in refrigerator. Wrap individually in saran for easy portability.)

Enjoy! 

(And I couldn't figure out how to get these to go side-by-side. Sorry pals.)

Nutritional information at 9 bars per recipe.

 

Nutritional information at 12 bars per recipe.

Sharesies Chilli

Chili and a movie on a snowy Winnipeg afternoon.
Does it get better than that?

So – this whole blog gig – it’s more of a curiosity for me. First off, I needed a place to keep my recipes. I was saving everything to my favorites. (Crazy. I had pretty much the entire collection of internet recipes in my favorites.) And secondly, I was curious to see if it would make it past my own eyes. And sure enough, I’m surprised, and happy, to say that people have been looking at it, and occasionally trying some of the recipes. (Actually a few people have been making a lot of the recipes! Cool!)

There are about 5 really neat things that have happened with the blog. One of which, was a kid who I used to baby-sit – and enough time has passed that we’re pretty much the same age now. J (Weird how that happens.) Well – he’s been honing his cookery skills, and using some of the recipes to practise. And even cooler, he’s shared a recipe for me to try.

Thus, here is the first sharesies recipe post!




Sharesies Chilli

I tried out dried beans for this recipe.
Neato!

In a small pot prepare:



1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

Bring to a boil, turn heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes.

 

In a large pot, sauté:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small-medium onion (add at your own peril. I didn’t.)

3 cloves garlic

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

(I’ve started chopping up a stalk of celery wherever onions should go. I know I need to ditch the onions, but it doesn’t feel natural. So, the celery gives the same action, and probably time-frame, as the onion.)

Meanwhile, chop:

1 jalapeño pepper – pith and seeds removed

1 large peeled carrot

2 celery stalks

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 medium zucchini

Add the chopped veggies to the sautéed garlic and celery.

Also add:

2 (19oz) 540 ml cans black beans

1 cup dried kidney beans, reconstituted (this worked out to probably 2 cans worth – way more than expected.)

2  796 ml cans diced tomatoes, processed with immersion blender

1 can tomato sauce

2-3 tablespoons chilli powder

1 tablespoon cumin

Let simmer for at least 1/2hr

Stir in Quinoa

Notes:

I forgot a can of corn. That’d have been tasty.

Add sour cream and cheese as desired. I’ve forgot to do this each time I’ve had it.

It takes a LOT of room in pots. I used 2 Dutch ovens to cook this.

I also put the quinoa in right at the very beginning. It didn’t seem to bother anything.

It didn’t actually need any salt.  Or broth. Huh!

You'll note this dish is both vegan and gluten free. Who knew you could eat so “free” and tasty at the same time?

Chili Con Carne and Cornbread

Autumn has arrived. Chili season begins now.

The Chili:  I have made chili from memory for as long as I can remember. At one point, one of my brothers and I ran a canteen at the local skating rink. My main job was the chili making. And I used to like it. Over the years, the chili has become more and more spicy. I have also liked it less and less. So... I figured I’d try it one last time. And I cut back the spicy by 2/3.  Sonofagun, if that didn’t become a tasty dish! It could use just a smidge more, but at least there is a new starting point.

The Cornbread:  Lots of goings on at Club Lupy these days – one of which is experimenting with different selections from the cereal/bread food group.  So... I looked up a flourless cornbread recipe.  It was so disappointing on the first day that the idea of publishing the recipe on the blog was aborted. But over the course of the week I have had it a few times, and... it really has potential.  Something went wrong, and it seems like someone poured corn-sand in the middle.  BUT... the rest of it is almost perfect! If you have any suggestions on how to fix my sand-in-the-cornbread quandary, it would be most appreciated.  I think the recipe is a good enough start to use as a starting point.

Update 1/24/2015: The addition of a third egg, and an extra step of soaking the cornmeal in milk for 10 minutes solved the "sand" issue. Yahoo! Thanks for the help!

Cornbread

1 ¾ cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tbsp honey
2 cups milk
2 tsp melted butter (or bacon grease)

Preheat oven to 450º.  Grease a 10” cast iron skillet, 8x8 pan, or 10” pie plate.

 Combine 1 1/2 cups cornmeal, honey, and milk. Let soak 10 minutes.

In separate small bowl, mix 1/4 cup cornmeal, baking powder and salt.  Whisk with a fork to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with fork.  Add cornmeal/milk mixture and melted butter.
Add in dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool before cutting.

As a variation, add a finely chopped jalapeno pepper and sharp cheese.

 Chili Con Carne

600 grams lean ground beef (about 1 ½ lbs)
1 onion chopped finely – if you’re the onion using sort.
1 796 ml (28 oz) can stewed tomatoes (blend in a blender)
1 540 ml (19 oz) can red kidney beans - rinsed
1 ½ tbsp chili powder (I used 1 tbsp. It was almost enough.)
1 tsp salt

Brown ground beef. (And onions, if you’re using them.)  Puree the tomatoes in a blender or with an immersion blender.  Add to browned ground beef.  Add rinsed kidney beans, chili powder and salt. Simmer for 45 minutes, or until thickened.

Top with grated cheese.

Carrot Raisin Almond Flour Muffins

About a month ago, I tried out my first bit of almond-flour bakery.  They were a compilation of a few recipes, and they worked out really well – even if they were a little too sweet.  (Cherry Chocolate Muffins – recipe here:  http://lupylulu-cookeryandsuch.blogspot.ca/2014/06/cherry-chocolate-almond-flour-muffins.html). 

Within days, I knew I wanted to try again, but not with dried cherries. And I love the chocolate, but the chore of eating the remaining bag of chocolate chips after preparing the recipe seemed a bit onerous. J  Enter a next-favorite muffin – the Carrot Raisin Muffin.  I wondered if I could make this work, and correct the sweetness of the first recipe. 

Truly, this recipe is very flexible.  I haven’t messed with the baking powder or the cider vinegar – I think they are the “working” ingredients.  But the flour has went up and down depending on how much I’ve had, same with the additions (cherries, chocolate, carrots, raisins, etc.).  If you’re looking for something to experiment with – this is definitely your recipe!

And so – here is the follow up – so far, my favorite.  (That is... probably my favorite until I try pumpkin!)

Carrot Raisin Almond Flour Muffins

Prepare “additions” for recipe.  Boil ½ cup of raisins for 5 minutes.  Remove raisins from pot, and reserve liquid.  In reserved liquid, boil enough carrots to end up with 2/3 – ¾ cups mashed carrots.

In a small bowl mix:

2 cups almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder

In a large bowl mix:

4 eggs
2-3 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp cider vinegar
 
To wet ingredients add:
Almond flour mixture
Prepared carrots and raisins

Mix until combined.

Scoop into 10 lined muffin tins – starting with about ¼ cup at a time.  The more level you are able to fill the muffin cups, the nicer they will look.

Bake at 350ºf for 15 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Almond Flour Muffins

I resist it every chance I get – but when it comes right down to it, change is good.  I’ve missed muffins.  And I’ve found some that seemed to work for me – the restaurant wasn’t 100% willing to give out the recipe.  But thankfully, they did give out the ingredients! So I searched out the ingredients online, put together a couple of recipes, and this is the end result.  I haven’t even tasted them yet – but I’m really excited to do so.  (They are cooling in the pan at this very moment.)

Without any ado, here is the recipe:

Cherry Chocolate Almond Flour Muffins

2 cups blanched almond flour
4 eggs
¼ cup agave syrup
½ tsp baking soda
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
¼ cup (scant) chopped dried cherries
¼ cup (scant) chopped semi-sweet chocolate

In medium bowl, combine flour and baking soda.

In large bowl, combine eggs, honey and vinegar.  Add and combine cherries and chocolate.

Stir dry ingredients into wet – mix until combined.

Scoop into 8 lined muffin tins – starting with about ¼ cup at a time.  The more level you are able to fill the muffin cups, the nicer they will look. (So sayeth the lady at the café.)

Bake at 350ºf for 15 minutes.  Wait an absolute eternity with them in the pan.  (30 minutes.)

Enjoy!