Pancake Tuesday 2011

Tonight was one of my favourite nights on the calendar: Pancake Tuesday. AKA Shrove Tuesday, AKA Mardi Gras, AKA Fat Tuesday. As usual, I had a dinner, but this year it was only my dad and me. Because he likes things made with whole grains, I made whole wheat and oatmeal pancake recipe, and because I don't have a griddle or a frying pan of decent size, I turned these into waffles. My dad, as usual, supplied some locally-made sausages & bacon. In this case, they were buffalo English sausages, and the bacon was something a friend of his was experimenting with, but it was way too salty for my taste and it cooked up very strange, causing quick burning & a lot of smoke. There must have been something in the curing solution that made this happen. And of course there was tons of maple syrup!

The recipe for the pancakes/waffles is here, from the February 2008 issue of Gourmet Magazine. and also constitutes my third magazine recipe of the week! I am three for three! I'll be submitting this to Magazine Monday for sure! The recipe turned out great and I'd definitely make them again.

Happy Pancake Tuesday everyone! :)

Haz Waffles!

For Christmas, I asked for and received a lovely new waffle maker! It was a gift from my SIL's parents, C&R, who have always been very kind to me. The new gadget is a Cuisinart, and let me tell you, it makes awesome waffles! Very easy to use, with an alert that tells you when it's heated up, 5 darkness settings, and an alert that tells you when your waffle has been cooked to perfection! And it is truly non-stick. I love this thing so much I have been eating way too many waffles. For the time being, in order to use up stuff in my pantry, I have just been using pancake mixes, but the recipe book that came with the waffle maker contains some seriously amazing-looking stuff that I cannot wait to try!

Magazine Monday #53: Pancakes!

Our MM hostess, Ivonne of Creampuffs in Venice, commented recently that I should be on Canadian Living's payroll, since my MM posts predominantly come from Canadian Living Magazine. And you'll probably see even more CL recipes on here, now that Gourmet is defunct.

So, what's on the menu for today's MM? Well, how about pancakes? I made this recipe from the July 2009 issue of Canadian Living: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (without the compote included in the recipe - I'd rather have maple syrup, thank you very much). Instead of blueberries, I used some of my locally-foraged huckleberries.

These were delicious - light and airy and cakey. Perfect! The recipe made way more that one lone coyote could eat on her own, so I took the leftovers to my brother, who gladly ate them up.

A recipe for the "keeper" file for sure!

Huckleberry Pikelets

As you might have read, I have an abundance of huckleberries kicking around my freezer and I'm looking for new and interesting things to do with them. I came across a post by Bellini Valli of More Than Burnt Toast, a fellow BC foodblogger, featuring blueberry pikelets, and my interest was piqued. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I went down and made them immediately.

For an explanation on pikelets, you can read Bellini Valli's information about this treat here. I also found an interesting article on pikelets here, baking up Bellini's assertion that there are a lot of contradictions around these things. The Hub UK site has a recipe for pikelets that uses yeast, and this seems far more crumpet-like to me than the recipe I used. I grew up in a pretty British household, but had never heard of pikelets before; I must ask my dad if he remembers them.

The pikelet batter I used, got from Bellini's site here, was very much like a pancake batter, though slightly thicker. Initially, I didn't use rings because I didn' think they would be necessary, but I had a bit of a disaster with my first batch that made me rethink that strategy. I then unpacked my English muffin rings, buttered them well, and had far better results.

These are, essentially, a thick pancake. They were wonderful! Not terribly exciting or exotic, as the name might suggest, but they were certainly yummy. Thanks Bellini Valli!

Full Flickr set here.

Huckleberry Time!

On Saturday, I got to go out into the bush and pick huckleberries. You can read more about that here.

I got 10 cups of huckleberries! So, now what? Well, yesterday morning I made huckleberry pancakes, using Nigella's homemade pancake mix. The pancakes were totally excellent and I still think this recipe makes the best pancakes I've ever had.

So, now what do I do with all these other remaining huckleberries? Yeah, there's muffins and pies...But I want to do something different.

Hucklberries are quite tart in comparison to blueberries. I'm thinking goat's cheese; I'm thinking pork loin; I'm thinking spinach!

Any ideas? Let me know!

Full Flickr set from the berry-picking spree is here.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

I often feel guilty about eating pancakes - except on Pancake Tuesday - because they're such a junky meal. I don't eat them that often as a result. But, when I came across this recipe on a new food blog I discovered called Colleen's Recipes, I was wowed. Guilt-free pancakes! Who'd've thunk it?

The recipe can be found here.

The only substitution I made was an equal amount of maple syrup instead of the honey. I am low on honey and am hoarding it because it's expensive. Otherwise, these were great pancakes. Though a bit crumbly, they still managed to be light and cakey despite the whole grains.

Thanks Colleen!