Bake Sale crunch? Quick..... Bread

The day before the school bake sale I open my pantry, frig and cupboards with a slight panic in my stomach.
For those of you who have not experienced a the bake sale eve crunch, let me explain.
Making a treat for a school bake sale is not a simple matter of baking cupcakes and bringing them to school. There is an underlying social pressure to bring something amazing, creative and glamorous. It should be kid friendly, fun and eye catching. Of course this mortal terror of the 'mom competion' talking. My son doesn't care what I bake, he doesn't care if I bake. It's all about me.

So... here I am the day before the bake sale with no ideas looking for inspiration from my magic pantry. I thought about Spring and images of lovely delicate Pear and Lavender scones came to mind. But, there was no butter, no pears and only crunchy whole wheat flour. My visions of scones was smashed by some very bare pantry shelves. What could I do with no butter or shortening? I didn't want to use a nut butter as we are very nut allergy conscious here in Ontario. A quick bread my kitchen muse whispered in my ear.

According to "The Food Lovers Companion"
Quick Bread: Bread that is quick to make because it doesn't require kneading or rising time.  That because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

I had canned pumpkin, dark chocolate chips and whole wheat flour. Chocolate chip Pumpkin bread was the answer. This recipe came from my friend Tina.

3 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 c vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3c milk
2 c mashed cooked pumpkin
3c extras like (walnuts, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, raisins or other dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 350F

In large mixing bowl sift together all dry ingredients, then stir in the extras.
In a separate bowl whisk together oil, eggs and milk. Add in the pumpkin and stir until well blended.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and stir until moist.
Pour the batter into 2 greased loaf pans (9 x 5 x 3) or greased/paper lined muffin tins.
Loaf Pans: Bake @ 350F for 1 hour or until golden brown and tooth pick comes out clean
Muffins: Bake @ 400F for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tooth pick comes out clean

Well the bread was a hit. I sold one loaf at the sale and kept one loaf home for dessert the next day. We served it in thick pan toasted slices with Carmel ice cream.  A real treat!

The Zen of Pancakes

I’ve decided to begin each post with a definition from Barron’s “Food Lover’s Companion”.

Pancakes (Crepe, Hot Cake, Griddle Cake, and Flapjack): As one of humankind’s oldest forms of bread, the versatile pancake has hundreds of variations and is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and as appetizers, entrées and desserts. Pancakes begin as batter that is poured into rounds, either on a griddle or in a skillet, and cooked over high heat. These round cakes vary in thickness from wafer thin French crepe to the much thicker American pancake breakfast.

 The ritual of weekend morning pancakes brings me as close to my Spiritual center as an hour on my cushion. To me a day of rest is not about doing nothing (although I like those too), it is about letting the organic flow of the day carry me from place to place. So spending some extra time preparing a plate full of home cooked goodness is a little bit of all right in my book.

Pancakes are amazing when you think about it. They can be simple or complex, fancy or humble and they are an excellent place to practice the "something old in a new way" principle of soul food.

Before you start you’ll need to know a few 'Basic Pancake Best Practices'.

1 Find and claim your Pancake Pan. Go through your collection of skillets and choose a heavy bottom solid pan or griddle. It should be about 8-10 inches in diameter. This will allow enough room for 2-3 silver dollar size cakes at a time. Teflon or some other 'non stick' surface is your choice. I have my opinions about non-stick and I choose to never use them.
Once you've chosen a pan, try it out with a basic batter (formula below). If you're happy with the results claim this as your Pancake pan. You can hold a little inaugural ceremony in the kitchen if you like, but that is up to you. My pancake pan was my great grandmothers. It is now about 113yrs old, cast iron and weighs about 8 pounds. And it is awesome.

You know those things you would save on the way out the door if there were a fire or earthquake? Well my cast irons are that for me. I can't cook without them. And having seen Disney's "Tangled" a number of times now, I see them as my new self defence weapon of choice. 

2 Heat + Time = Pancake Heaven. Yep it's that simple. You must have the right amount of heat and the right amount of time to make the perfect pancake. Although heat & time may change a little with batter consistency, ingredients and environmental conditions, the formula is basically the same. Here is my basic sequence for making pancakes… experiment with your pan and favourite basic batter.  Find your own rhythm and pace. Then away you go to Pancake Heaven.

·       Heat pan over high heat until for about 3-5 minutes (that is how long it takes mine anyway)

·       Then turn it down to a medium-high heat (this will be where you cook from)

·       While it is heating, make your batter

·       Let the batter set up for 3-5 minutes or so

·       Test a few drops of batter in the pan

·       Wipe it and start dropping pancakes

·       Watch the bubbles form around the edges and into the middle of each cake

·       Wait for the edges to start to become ‘dry’

·       Flip with a thin spatula

·       Wait about 3 minutes

·       Presto Chango, pancakes!

Batter UP

Mix or scratch is up to you. I do both in my kitchen. Some mornings the mix comes out of the closet. I most often use Bisquick mix. It’s versatile and easy.  The cakes themselves are nothing special, but I never just make the mix as is.

I add:
            Butter
            Butter milk in replace of plain milk
            Cinnamon
            Maple syrup
            Brown sugar
            Lemon zest
            Oats
            Walnuts
            Berries
            Mashed Banana
            Chocolate Chips

All of these will pretty up a basic box mix adding flavour, texture and
There are A LOT of pancake batter recipes out there.  Here is my favourite from “The Silver Palate New Basic Cookbook”

1 C Unbleached all purpose flour (I use whole wheat and it works great too)
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp fresh grated nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
¾ C milk, butter milk (or half & half)
6 Tbs milk
3 Tbs light brown sugar lightly packed
2 Tbs unsalted butter melted & cooled
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp lemon zest

Mix dry (except the brown sugar) ingredient in a large bowl & set aside.
Mix melted butter, milk, brown sugar, lemon zest & egg in another bowl (I use a 2 cup measuring cup w/a pour spout)
Slowly pour the liquid into the dry while mixing by hand. Mix until almost smooth, if there are a few lumps this is ok.

Fold in your extras… berries, nuts, oats, choc chips…
Let batter stand loosely covered for up to 20 minutes.  Then drop onto prepared & heated skillet and cook as usual.

These are GREAT sprinkled with fresh squeezed lemon juice and confectioner sugar. 


The thing I love about pancakes is the flexibility and fun you can have experimenting with different combinations.  Here is one of my recent ‘keepers’.

All day belly bomb cakes
Basic Pancake mix (Boxed or scratch)
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1c milk (cow, buttermilk, soy)
2/3 c Rolled Oats (Irish add body & crunch, commercial add weight)
1/3 c Raisins (I've found 'green raisins' not dried in sun so they are juicier)
1 Tbs orange zest
3 Tbs walnuts chopped
Blueberries (frozen or fresh)

Mix everything in the bowl EXCEPT the blueberries.  Drop you batter on the hot pan and evenly distribute the berries on top of the cake.  Turn carefully and let

AND The very best part about pancakes is sharing them. 

Creativity principle #1: Never stop trying, you might get lucky

I just realized my last post had NOTHING to do with food.  Sure, I could stretch it and say that gardening has everything to do with food. But frankly, I'd be way off in left field counting the petunias if I did that. 

SO Here are a few words on food.

While I was gardening my wonderful hubby asked if I wanted a sandwich.  'Sure', I said and put my nose back to the grindstone.  About a half hour later a plate with a very simple 'guy' sandwich showed up on the steps with a bottle of "steam whistle" beer next to it.  (a 'guy sandwhich' is an uncut, flat meat no thing fancy constructed sandwich)

Now, my husband is NOT a foodie. His idea of a great meal is anything someone else has cooked. His favourite dessert is grape jello, so I wasn't expecting much.

I took off my gloves, sat next to the plate and looked at it with sceptical eyes. I picked it up and gingerly lifted the top slice of bread with my grimy fingers, pinkie high, nose wrinkled for deliberate effect. And what did I find? Two slices of deli turkey, dry bread and wait, what is that on top of the turkey?  Olives? Sliced garlic filled olives. Now that is interesting.

I took a big swig of my beer to get grounded. I picked up the sandwich with both hands and took a big bite. And it was good. Really good. Not only because it was, something old in a new way. (how many times have you eaten turkey sandwiches in your life?) It was good because my wonderful, non-foodie husband took the time to be creative with food. Not because it mattered to him. (I've seen him eat 'wish sandwiches and be happy) Nope, he did it for me.

And that is why I love him. Because although he may not often hit the mark, he never stops trying.

Making a difference in my own front yard

I spent the morning working in my front yard today.  I've been avoiding even the thought of doing it lately.  The project frankly overwhelmed me to the point of tears.

You see, we've put our house up for sale this winter and now that the snow is melting the 'deferred maintenance ' that has been going on in our yard is a blaring testament to our busy, aka: lazy, lifestyle.  Wow, that feels really good to say that out loud.

So, I spent the morning raking, bagging, digging, cutting, bundling twigs and all in all, preparing my yard for the next phase of transformation. Adding curb appeal is as easy as those TV shows make it all seem.  There are big decisions and big bucks to be spent. Adding a few decorative touches in a room can be fun and not too expensive.  A few throw pillows, an area rug, a cool vase are all easy and won't break your wallet.  But outside projects are not that. 

First, your canvas (the work space) is massive. The size is not contained like in the house by a floor and a ceiling. The work is back breaking. It just is, lugging dirt, rock, and mulch my arms, legs, shoulders are all not very happy with me in the moment. And most important is, it's DIRTY. 

Second, the design elements, plants, rocks, mulch are all expensive and because of the massive canvas you need a lot to make an impact.

Finally, I'm nervous about doing it wrong. Now, for those reading this who know me you are most likely thinking, 'You nervous about doing it wrong???’  Yes, even I have moments of confusion and fear. I just am worried that it won't look good. It will look crazy or stupid or just not enough.

Now, I know that I will work through all of this. That when I let go of my fear, anxiety and confusion I will fall gracefully into the arms of creativity and the outcome will be spectacular.  But, until then I'm going to make another cuppa tea and do a little web surfing about plants and grass seed that loves the shade.

Photos to follow when I'm a little further along.

Welcome to a new way of eating...

Sure, everyone promises that, "a new way of whatever"  Uugguguhhhh. Enough with the promises!
Let's actually do something different today.  Let's just choose to do it different.

Eat something new! that's OLD.
Try eating something old in a whole new way. Now there is a novel idea.

here's your canvas... make it tasty

Fruity & Salty  
Really melon and salt.  Why does melon and salt taste so good together? 
I discovered this magikal combination sitting on my grandma's back porch w/my 6 other cousins eatin watermelon and spittin the seeds. My grandfather walked out, plunked down next to me, sprinkle salt on his slice of melon and let me take a bite (yes, I was his favorite and he let me have the juicy heart bit at the very end... but he knew I was special). 

The melon was suddenly transformed into a taste explosion in my mouth and I smiled wide when he handed me the salt shaker and walked away.  A foodie was born on a hot summer afternoon.

Here is my recent mix of melon & salt

Ripe cantalope cut into bite size chunks and perfectly chilled in a crisp blue bowl. (yes, it's about the color as well... welcome to my madness)
Topped with a good portion of cottage cheese (at least 1%)
Sprikled with 1/2 a slice of crispy bacon chopped 

Thats it.. a big spoon and you're set. 
Warning, you're going to want a second bowl

In Joy