Almond Baked Pancake

So this morning I made the most amazing discovery! Did you know you can back pancakes? This doesn't really fit with my new eat healthy lifestyle but I couldn't resist... and Betty loves it so it's a win for my house.

What you need:

The Sauce
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup + 4 drops almond extract (or maple syrup if you want to be traditional about it)

The Cake
1 1/2 cups bisquick
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 drops almond extract.

1. Put all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl and microwave until melted and dissolved. stir several times to help it along
2. Pour the sauce into the bottom of a casserole dish
3. Mix the cake ingredients with a fork our whisk and pour over top of the sauce in the casserole dish.
4. bake at 350 degrees for 36 minutes. check to make sure it's cooked all the way through.
5. I didn't have any, but instead of syrup put cherry pie filling over top.Cherry almond baked pancakes! yuuuummmmmmm!

here's what mine looked like.




This recipe was adapted from a recipe found on this site.

Aunt Rita's Butternut Squash Lasagna

Last November Chad and Betty and I made our way up to Maine before moving to Georgia (where we lived for a mere three weeks before Chad got a job offer back here in Maine.) We came to Maine on that trip to visit my Mother's side of the family and My Aunt Rita made Butternut squash Lasagna for us. It was Amazing! We both loved it just as it was but Chad has tweaked it a little to make it more masculine (he added sausage.) We've made this several times since then and always love it so we thought we'd share the recipe with you!

Ingredients:

•  a splash of olive oil.
• a big ol' butternut squash.
• water to add to the squash while it's cooking... like a cup or so.
• White sauce. Chad makes his own and I use the canned stuff. sometimes I finangle something out of cream of mushroom soup. Here's a good recipe.
• 1 pound pork sausage (we use the spicy Jimmy Dean kind but we've also used vegan sausage and it was good.)
• 15 lasagna noodles
• 3 cups mozzarella cheese.
• spices (nutmeg, salt & pepper and Italian seasoning - I don't have exact measurements but add what tastes best.)
• butter for pan.

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees then cut and peel your squash into small cubes. This is a lot more work than one would think but it's worth it. Put all of your cubes in a large frying pan and coat them in water and your olive oil and then season to taste. cover your frying pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until all of your pieces are tender and squishy. Once your squash is cooled a little you can add a dash of nutmeg and then mash your squash - I only mash it a little because I don't like it to be completely smooth.

                             

     2.   In small frying pan begin frying sausage on medium/low heat. Fry until cooked all the way through  and then set aside.



          3.      Start preparing your white sauce. If you're doing this by hand then you definitely want to start this now because all of the other hard stuff is done if not then it's not a big deal when you start preparing it.

         4.  Boil your lasagna noodles! You can buy the no-boil kind but I haven't tried them before. after your done boiling them make sure to seperate them right away so they don't stick together.

      5.   Once all your prep work is done you can prep your casserole/lasagna dish by buttering it and then spreading a thin layer of your white sauce along the bottom.

   

      6. Build your lasagna by alternating layers of noodles, sauce, sausage, squash and mozzarella. I added in basil leaves wherever I could and then topped it off with salt, pepper, italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.





My little one for Chad's lunch the next day.




       7.    Bake on the center shelf of your oven for 30 minutes (add more time if the cheese on top isn't brown yet.) let cool for ten minutes and enjoy!

Yummm!

If you try this please check back and let me know what you think! Enjoy!

I can't decide whether I get more excited over food or television... either way I think I need real-life friends

 FOOD!!!!

I was going to take a break from posting my own thoughts today and just read some of my favorite blogs but in doing so I was bombarded with excellent ideas and was inspired not to share. My parents just flew in today from Ketchikan and I was half expecting/hoping to make dinner for them so I had some really fun ingredients, like lobster, on hand. They had other plans but that's okay - more for Chad and me! Today was an unbearably hot day for me (it's only May!) and so I thought it was time to bust out some summery recipes!. I got some inspiration from Yessiree Petunia. You should read it, It's delightful. I read her post about brie grilled cheese with apples and berries. I immediately went out and bought the necessary ingredients and it was a complete and delicious success. Betty even ate it willingly and that rarely ever happens. Yay!

In addition, I made a lobster pasta salad with broccoli, yellow bell pepper, onion and dill. I used bleu cheese dressing instead of mayo and added a ready-made seasoning packet. super easy meal with really impressive results. Chad even joked that we should mark it on our special day plate ( a plate one writes on to commemorate special life events) to mark the day when I made a good meal. He's got jokes, folks!



Yummy


I almost forgot. In the teacup is a strawberry smoothie type drink I made in my food processor ( I need to get a blender.) All in all I'm quite proud of myself for this meal and I'm full. I feel like Winnie the pooh after he finishes a jar of honey and pats his belly going "numnumnum." It may be a problem that food is such an emotional event for me. oh well.

I also discovered today that I can get my favorite drink (Soy matcha powder latte) as an iced beverage! SCORE!

Back to the subject of my parents coming to visit ( probably should have been the more important subject of this post, I guess...Sorry mom & dad.) here are a couple cute pictures from today's reunion.

I know this one doesn't have either of my parents in it but I'm really proud of it and they were there too. Watching me take the picture.

This post was all over the place. I hope you still found it interesting. Happy Thursday, everyone!

How-Tuesday!

Aunt Judy's Amazing Cherry & Almond Scones!

The first time I met Chad's aunt Judy she had made these scones for us. Chad and I were both hooked. She sent us home with a bag of about twelve scones and we ate each one before we pulled in the driveway of his parents house. She gave me the recipe, along with several other amazing recipes, In a cute little recipe box for a bridal shower gift. I'm so grateful she's given me permission to share this recipe with you and I'm sure it's going to be one of your new favorites. It's a keeper for sure.

What You'll Need

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup Butter (or smart balance or vegetable shortening)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 3.5 oz. marzipan or almond paste
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1 egg (slightly beaten)
• 4-6 tbsp coconut milk (or buttermilk)
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

What You'll Do

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar & baking powder. Cut butter and marzipan into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. 

3.  Stir in cherries then add the egg and enough coconut milk so that the dough leaves the sides of bowl.

4. Turn dough onto lightly floured pastry board and knead. Shape into ball and cut in two.  Press each section into half-inch thick circles and cut into wedges.

5.  Place on cookie sheet or Silpat and brush with a mixture of egg-white and almond extract.

6.  Place in oven and bake for 10 - 12 minutes. remove from cookie sheet immediately and place on rack to cool.

hehe... My oven is sooo small :)  you don't have to arrange the scones to look like bow-ties but it makes me smile so that's what I did.

7.  Enjoy!!! please tell me what you think or let me know if you try anything new! If you get really excited about it, take a picture and post a link! Happy Home-making!



P.S. There are endless variation possibilities with this recipe. Try chocolate chip & vanilla extract, orange zest & dried cranberries, banana & walnut. try out something new and let me know what you think!

Chad's Corn Chowder Pizza Recipe

I love my husband and he is always surprising me. Sometimes when he cooks I can be a little wary. My husband, like many men, Is a cheese, red meat and butter kind of guy and I'm a broccoli, salmon and quinoa kind of girl. It's caused some menu planning problems in the past. One night; however, Chad struck gold and concocted what is now one of our family's favorites - Corn Chowder Pizza. We (Chad and myself) would love to share his recipe with you.

What You'll Need

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Total Cook Time: 35 Minutes

Yields 1 large pizza

• 1 Crust. Chad uses store bought crusts but you can get frozen crusts too or if you want to be really domestic about it here's a great crust recipe.
• 1/2 package of bacon
• 1/2 small onion
• 1/2 can of corn ( I hear there's fresh corn coming up in Michigan now! if i were using fresh corn I'd probably use 1 ear.)
• 1 cup of milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tsp basil (fresh basil also makes a great topping)
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
•  1/4 tsp salt
• enough mozzarella cheese to cover everything....I'd say about one cup of shredded cheese but don't feel bad if you use more. Chad uses a ton of cheese.

note: this recipe is really easy to double. Chad usually makes two pizzas at once (I'd be careful about doubling the garlic. make sure you taste it before you add more)

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or whatever your method of crust calls for)
   Chop the bacon and onion into small, pizza-topping-sized pieces and saute on medium heat in a saucepan with butter. When the bacon is fully cooked add corn and cook until warmed through. Then remove from heat and set aside.

     2.  Meanwhile, In a small heavy saucepan, melt 3 tbsp of butter over low heat and blend 3 tbsp of flour and one minced garlic clove into the melted butter. Then add 1/2 tsp of salt.

     3. Cook over low heat stirring constantly for several minutes then slowly pour in 2 cups of milk. (Sometimes it's best to do this in little stages.) Continue stirring constantly until smooth and thickened.

    4. Once thickened, add basil and Italian seasoning. Salt and pepper to taste.

    5. presuming that your crust is prepared to bake in the oven with toppings on, brush crust with olive oil and then cover with white sauce.

    6. add toppings ( Corn, onion and bacon)

    7. cover with cheese.

    8. Bake at 425 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes (or whatever your specific crust method calls for.)

    9. Enjoy!



Chadder is not a fan of celery but I really think this would be awesome with some celery. Maybe you can try it and tell me what you think. As a matter of fact, if you try anything different please let me know how it works out for you. I hope you like this as much as my family does! Happy pizza-making!