Walnut Whole Wheat Pancakes w/ Blueberry Syrup

Just like everyone else that ate one too many desserts in the previous year, I'm starting the new year out right with some healthy new recipes and meals for my family.  My daughter wants nothing but pancakes, french toast and waffles for breakfast every single day.  Most mornings we have 1 hour for me to get everyone up, dressed, fed, showered and out the door before her bus picks her up.  That doesn't leave an abundance of time for me to cook breakfast.  So I decided to try to make my normal pancakes a bit healthier.  That was a success, she said they were the best pancakes she had ever had.  My next step was trying to get her to use blueberry syrup in place of our normal 100% Pure Maple Syrup.  That was not a success.  Everyone else loved the syrup but as you can see from the picture below she wasn't going to budge.  New pancakes, fine.  New syrup, no thank you.  My son on the other hand loved the pancakes and the blueberry syrup.  I also made these pancakes dairy free as I'm trying to get away from using dairy in my house.  I actually liked these pancakes so much I ate a few more than I should have!  My daughter hates nuts so the trick to get that extra added protein and the benefits of nuts was to grind them and use them as part of the dry ingredients.  Gave the pancakes awesome texture.   These also freeze really well so on school days you can just pop them in the microwave for about 30 seconds each side and you are all set.   

Walnut Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour 

1/4 c. ground walnuts (or other nut of your choice)

3 tbsp. sugar (honey or agave nectar can be substituted) 
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs, separated & room temp.
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 1/3 cups almond milk (original or vanilla)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
Pinch cream of tartar 

*Blueberry Syrup, recipe below

Add about a cup of walnuts to your food processor and pulse until finely ground.  Then add flour, ground nuts, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks, oil, almond milk, lemon juice and vanilla into a separate bowl and whisk to combine.  Allow to sit for about 5 minutes giving the chance for the lemon juice to work its magic (lemon juice and almond milk together take the place of buttermilk). Place the room temperature egg yolks into your mixer fitted with a whisk and add the pinch of cream of tartar.  Beat on a medium to medium high until nice relatively stiff peaks form.  Add wet almond milk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until just barely combined.  You don't want to whisk until all the lumps are out.  Once the egg whites are at relatively stiff peaks fold them into the pancake batter until just combined making sure to be easy enough to not deflate the egg whites.  Allow the batter to sit for a minimum of 20 minutes before pouring onto a hot skillet or griddle.  I like to use a 1/4 c. measuring cup to scoop out my pancakes and pour onto a griddle to make sure they are all relatively the same size.  Spray with a bit of non-stick cooking spray first.  Once you see bubbles on the top of the batter they are ready to flip.  

Blueberry Syrup

1/2 bag of frozen blueberries

zest and juice from 1 lemon

2 tbsp. maple syrup

Bring frozen blueberries, maple syrup and lemon juice and zest to a simmer on medium heat in a saucepan.  Allow to cook until thick and slightly reduced, about 8-10 minutes.  If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water.  If it is too thin you can cook longer to reduce or always cheat just a bit by adding a teaspoon or two of cornstarch with a bit of extra lemon juice.  

* A trick to get quick room temperature eggs.  Take your eggs out of the fridge and place in a large cup or bowl and fill with hot water from the tap.  Allow to sit in the water for 5-10 minutes.  Then dry off the eggs and use. 

Japanese Ginger Dressing

I absolutely LOVE this dressing.  I'm not big on making salads because I hate store bought dressings and I get tired and bored with simple vinaigrette that I make at home.  Recently while staying a few nights in Tokyo we ate at a Japanese restaurant and they had this amazing ginger dressing.  Reminded me of the ginger dressing you get at the Japanese steakhouses back in the states that I use to visit quite often.  So I started searching the internet for a recipe so I could make this at home.  I definitely will be eating more salad now that I found this recipe.  This recipe makes enough for about 3 large salads with more dressing than necessary on them.  If you go light on your dressing it'll go further.  I also ate a salmon salad with one of them and this was absolutely amazing on top of my salmon as well.   This recipe was adapted from All Recipes.  I made only a few slight modifications to it such as using tomato paste instead of ketchup, as I hate ketchup in recipes and I omitted the water and added a bit less oil.  

Japanese Ginger Dressing 

1/2 cup minced onion
1/3 cup peanut oil
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons minced celery
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 teaspoons soy sauce
3 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a blender, combine the minced onion, peanut oil, rice vinegar, water, ginger, celery, tomato paste, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Blend on high speed for about 30 seconds or until all of the ingredients are well-pureed.  This tastes good freshly pureed but even better after sitting in the fridge an hour or two. 

Bacon Infused Mayonaisse

So I don't do this often but my husband is in heaven when I actually make homemade mayonnaise.  I don't eat or like mayonnaise so this isn't usually high on my list of priorities when making things.  Plus, I find it slightly aggravating having to drip one drop of oil at a time into a food processor.  I like things that I can do quickly and one handed with kids running around, screaming, pulling at my legs, yelling "Uppppppp" and things of that nature.  So having my 1 year old pulling at my leg yelling he wants "Uppppp" while I'm using a liquid measuring cup trying to drop one single drop at a time for a full cup of oil isn't easy.  Not only is it not easy, it takes SOOOO long!  Of course, the look on my husband's face when he takes a bite of a sandwich and realizes the mayonnaise was homemade is worth it, well almost. My little secret trick with this is I used 1/4 c. of bacon grease and 3/4 c. of oil.  It gives it a slight bacon taste to it which I'm told is amazing.       

Bacon Infused Mayonnaise

2 room temp. egg yolks
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 pinches of sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. bacon grease (still warm not solidified)

Add yolks, salt, mustard, sugar, lemon juice and white wine vinegar to food processor.  Combine the bacon grease and vegetable oil.  Add the oil one droplet at a time for about the first ½ c. then add at a slow (SLOW!) stream until thick and creamy.  This must be done very slowly or it won't turn out.  This will keep in fridge for up to 4 days. 

Texas Roadhouse Rolls w/ Honey Butter

 My daughter woke up this morning and asked me if we could make rolls today.  Sure, why not!  No reason is ever really needed to get in the kitchen and get my hands in some dough.  Plus, I love that my daughter knows we make that kind of thing from home and it isn't something we buy from a store or only get at a restaurant.  I originally saw this recipe on Chef in Training a while ago and them my sister sent me an email from a different blog she saw with Texas Roadhouse Rolls and mentioned how good they looked so I decided it was time to give these a try.  Both my children helped me make these so we didn't have little rolls but big giant rolls as they were in charge of rolling the dough into balls.  My son just tried to squish dough everywhere and eat flour off the wooden spoon while my daughter actually helped me roll the dough.  There are few things in life that bring me more joy than baking with my children.      

Texas Roadhouse Sweet Rolls

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

6-8 cups flour

2 Tbsp. melted butter

2 whole eggs

2 tsp salt

Honey Butter

1 stick room temperature butter (1/2 cup)
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. honey

Activate yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. While yeast is activating, scald milk and cool to lukewarm. Once yeast has doubled in volume, add yeast, sugar, and milk to a large bowl and add 3 cups of the flour which will give you a pancake batter consistency, or maybe slightly thicker.  Beat thoroughly.  Let stand alone until light and fluffy, roughly 20 minutes. Add melted butter (which has been cooled), eggs, and salt.  Beat well.  Add 3-4 cups of flour, one cup at a time to form soft dough ball.  If ball is too sticky add the fourth cup of flour, if it isn't don't.  Add plenty of flour on the counter top for kneading the dough as well.  Sprinkle small amount of flour on counter and set down on it to rest.  Meanwhile, grease a large glass bowl with butter, set aside. Knead dough until smooth and satiny. Cover and let rise in a warm area until double in size.  Once double in size punch down.  Turn out on floured board.  Divide into individual rolls.   Place on greased baking sheets and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.  Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes for small rolls and 15-20 minutes for larger rolls.  Makes 8-10 large rolls or 13-16 small rolls.

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup honey

Allow butter to come to room temperature.  Place in a bowl and add in powdered sugar and honey and whip to combine.  Let set at room temperature until ready to use.  

Flank Steak Tacos

Since living in Japan we are quite limited in Mexican restaurants to choose from so I wanted to start working in making my own.  I will say we do have on Mexican restaurant right off base here in Yokosuka that is really good but still, it is nice to be able to do it myself.  I went all out and marinated a flank steak and thin sliced it, made homemade tortillas, homemade salsa and guacamole.  It was a good day in our house! This marinade was incredible.  One of the best I've ever had.  My 3 year old took the spoon and drank the meat "juice" off the plate!  She isn't big on meat but she devoured this. I served our tacos with sauteed onions, refried beans and queso fresco cheese.

Flank Steak Marinade

3 lbs. flank steak
1/3 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. soy sauce
4 minced garlic cloves
2 limes, juiced
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. chili powder

Take out flank steak and use a fork to pierce holes in both sides.  Add to large ziplock bag.  Combine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic cloves, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, paprika and chili powder in a small bowl and whisk until combined.  Pour over flank steak.  Allow to marinate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Place flank steak on aluminum foil on a baking sheet under high broil for about 10 minutes on each side.  Allow to rest 10 minutes.  This makes a 3lb. flank steak medium with just slight pink throughout.  Slice very thinly at an angle against the grain for best results.   


Guacamole

1 large avocado
1 lime, juiced
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of salt & pepper

Mash avocado with lime juice until the consistency and texture you like, add in the garlic powder, salt & pepper.  Keep plastic wrap on until ready to use.  Guacamole doesn't keep well so use very shortly after making.  Push the plastic wrap all the way down until it actually touches the top of the guacamole so the top doesn't turn brown.  

Homemade Salsa

3 whole tomatoes
1 whole spanish onion
1 dried ancho-chili
4 garlic cloves
lime juice
salt & pepper
1 jalapeno
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Core your tomato, and rough chop your onion, remove the top off your jalapeno and peel your garlic cloves.  Place tomato (whole), onion, jalapeno and garlic on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.   Roast roughly 20 minutes or until tender and very fragrant.  Meanwhile pour hot, almost boiling water in a bowl and place your dried ancho-chili pepper into the bowl to reconstitute the pepper.  Allow to sit at least 20 minutes in the water.  Once your remove your tomato and vegetables from the oven, allow to cool slightly and peel your tomato (personal preference).  Pour your tomato, jalapeno, onion, garlic into a blender.  Remove the top off your ancho pepper and add to blender as well.  Blend until desired consistency, whether smooth or chunky.  Add in lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.  If you like it really spicy add additional jalapenos.  I found one was just enough heat for me.  I didn't add cilantro to mine because I personally don't care for it, but if you like it, add it!

Nachos Supreme

My husband has been asking for Nachos for a while now.  Usually he waits until 9:00 pm at night after I've spent all day chasing after my two little ones and cooking and cleaning all day.  By then all I want to do is sit down and put my feet up for 30 minutes before I go to bed.  So he convinced me to make him Nachos for dinner tonight.  This was the first time my 3 1/2 year old has ever had Nachos before.  Seeing the combination of cheese and chips (both of which she rarely eats) on one plate had her sitting at the table just giggling.

You can use any kind of tortilla chip you like for this recipe.  I put mine all on a baking sheet and stick them in the oven at 300 degrees while I make everything else so they are warm when served.  I washed my canned black beans and put them in a small pan with chicken stock and cumin and simmered for about 10 minutes.  I did nothing fancy with our chicken.  I used thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts and simply put a bit of taco seasoning on each side and seared them off in a pan and then shredded.  The only real work was making a cheese sauce and getting some guacamole ready.  With my guacamole I find simple is the best for us, especially since my 8 month old loves to eat it too.

Nacho Cheese Sauce

1 1/2 c. half and half
16 oz. of cheese (I use PepperJack)
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/8 c. chopped jarred jalapeños

Melt butter in a saucepan.  Add in flour and whisk until well combined.  Slowly pour in half and half while whisking to prevent lumps.  Once heated add in the cheese, jalapeños, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer to allow to thicken.  Pour over your nachos or use for a dipping sauce.  If your sauce is too thick add a bit more milk, if it is too thin add a bit more cheese.

Guacamole

1 ripe Avocado
1 fresh lime, juiced
Salt & Pepper to taste
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of onion powder

Simply scoop out the Avocado and place in a bowl with lime juice.  Add in the other seasons to taste.  This is a recipe I usually just eyeball so taste as you go to not add to much garlic or onion powder as I honestly don't measure, this was just a guess.

Pile your nachos high with all your favorite toppings and enjoy!