Amazing Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes!

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend and Father's Day. We start celebrations around here with breakfast and I thought I would share with you this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G  oatmeal buttermilk pancakes. It can also be made gluten free!

Sorry for the poor picture, we ate them so fast I almost forgot to take a picture and had to snag this last one before my husband ate it!

Here is the recipe!

Amazing Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

*requires prep time of a minimum of 2 hours or overnight

2 cups old fashioned oats (pulsed a few times in a food processor)

1/2 cup flour (I used a gluten free flour and it turned out great)

3 tablespoons sugar (or sucanant)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups buttermilk ( I used original unsweetened almond milk with two tablespoons of lemon juice to make my own buttermilk)

2 large eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted (it says "no substitutes"so I didn't try it with any!)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

oil (for frying) or butter (for frying) (I just used a regular electric skillet and they turned out fine!)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine the first 6 dry ingredients.

In another smaller bowl whisk together buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla until well blended; add to the dry ingredients, whisk until blended (there might be some small lumps that still remain).

Cover and chill for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

In the morning give it a quick stir. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet, and start cooking!

Makes approx 15 pancakes

Try it for breakfast this week! Have a great day!

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Spinach salad with poppy seed dressing

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had such a great time with family and friends, and there is always amazing food! This year I was asked to make the salad and I thought I would share it with you.

 

Spinach Salad
Serves 8-10 people.  (You can add more spinach to make it enough for 12-14 people)  
1 head iceberg lettuce or green leaf lettuce
1 bunch spinach 
(or you can use 2 bunches of spinach instead of mixing with other lettuce)
       * both rinsed well, dried and torn into bite size pieces

3/4 lb. sliced mushrooms
3/4 lb. grated swiss cheese
1 thinly sliced medium red onion
1/2 lb. cooked and crumbled bacon
3/4 cup sliced almonds or cashews
 ( I like it best with Cashews, but we have people with allergies so we used almonds)

All these ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and then mixed together right before serving.


Poppy Seed Dressing

3/4 Tbs poppy seeds
1/3 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbs mustard (not dry)
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 Tbs grated white onion

Mix and blend (or shake) together or mix in blender 1-2 minutes. 


 This can be prepared the day before or hours before to allow the ingredients to blend in.   Yummy!
Do you have any favorite family dishes that you  made this weekend?



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Supermarket tricks...

In my whole foods group this coming month we are discussing the books In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and The China Study by Thomas M. Campbell II .


I don't post much on things like this but in our attempts to eat healthier here are some supermarket tricks for you.

What are some of your supermarket tricks? I always have to make sure I have eaten recently and am hydrated before I go.

Have a healthy and fun filled weekend! Pin It

Asian Cabbage Salad

Today's recipe is quick, easy,delicious and it gets better the longer it sits in the fridge. And it is perfect to help get you back on track if you happened to overindulge in all the Super Bowl food this past weekend. I originally made it for a light dinner but it works just as well for lunch the next day or two.

via our best bites

Here is the recipe, I made a few substitutions.

Asian Cabbage Salad Recipe by Our Best Bites Ingredients: 




1 14 oz bag coleslaw mix
(I doubled the rest of the veggies)
 1 rib celery, sliced
 1/2 cucumber, sliced 
1 small handful sugar snap peas (about 20 baby ones) 
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced 
1/4 of a small red onion, thinly sliced 
1 T toasted sesame seeds* I omitted this
1/3 C slivered or sliced almonds, toasted * I used raw ones


Optional: 1 1/2 C cooked, shredded or diced chicken 


Dressing: 
2 T canola oil 
2 T cider vinegar 
1/4 C seasoned rice wine vinegar 
2 T sugar (or equivalent of sugar substitute) * I did half this amount
1 t kosher salt 
2 t soy sauce 
1/4 t garlic powder, or one small garlic clove, minced 
1/4 t black pepper 1/2 t sesame oil 


Instructions: *If using toasted almonds or sesame seeds, place them (not together, do one thing at a time!) in a dry skillet over medium heat. Turn constantly until golden brown. Let cool before using. 


Begin by making dressing. Combine all ingredients in a sealed jar and shake shake shake. Store in the fridge until ready to use. You can definitely do this part a few days ahead of time. Place all salad ingredients in a bowl You need to pour on the dressing and toss to coat at least 30 minutes before you’re ready to serve. When you pour the dressing on you might think it’s not quite enough, but just wait. When it sits and marinates, it combines with the veggies and draws out liquid and there will be more than plenty of dressing after it sits. After you’ve poured on the dressing, place salad in the fridge to sit for 30-60 minutes. Right before serving mix in toasted almonds and sesame seeds.

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What are you bringing to the Superbowl?

It's Superbowl weekend. Whether your team is playing or not, it's a great time to get together with family and friends!

Here is a delicious and easy appetizer I got from a friend. She called them jalapeno poppers, but don't worry they aren't fried. But you will be popping them into your mouth over and over again!

 

via blogchef

24 jalapenos

1 brick cream cheese

1 pkg bacon, strips cut in half

pinch of brown sugar

Cut jalapenos in half, lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds and veins. Fill each little jalapeno boat with softened cream cheese. Wrap one piece of bacon around the jalapeno, securing the bacon with a toothpick. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the jalapenos and bake them at 350 degrees for 20 min, or until the jalapeno starts to shrivel on the ends.

Enjoy!

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Pinterest. It's what's for dinner.

Have you heard of Pinterest? It is a wonderful online "pinboard" where you can pin anything from books read, and vacations you want to take to wedding ideas and you guessed it, ideas for dinner.

I am always on the look out for new recipes. A study recently showed that the average mother relies on just nine different meals to feed her family. I am all for keeping things simple, but sometimes you get bored of the same old thing and need something different to shake things up.

Enter pinterest! A cooking group that I am a part of on Facebook gave us the challenge to include a recipe for dinner this week that we found on pinterest.  I had already been doing this, but it was fun to see all the variety that is out there!

I recently made the Orzo Stuffed Peppers from Jessica at The Novice Chef. It was relatively inexpensive and fun to make. The kids and husband liked it too!

 Orzo Stuffed Peppers

Yield: 4 stuffed peppers

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped

1 (15 ounce can) can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup orzo 

4 large yellow/orange bell peppers (I used green to save a little money)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for two more minutes. Stir in the spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.

Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and stir in the spinach mixture. Set aside.

Meanwhile, bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook for five minutes. The orzo should be only partially cooked because it will finish cooking in the oven. Strain the orzo pasta, making sure you save 1 cup of the vegetable broth.

Stir the orzo into the tomato spinach mixture. Stir in the cheese, oregano and season with salt and pepper.

Pour the vegetable broth into a medium sized baking dish. Slice the tops off the peppers and remove all ribs and seeds. Cut a very thin slice from the base so the peppers will stand up in the baking dish.

Place the peppers in the baking dish and spoon the orzo mixture into the peppers. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the top of each pepper with additional Parmesan cheese and continue baking until the cheese is golden, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let peppers sit for five minutes. Serve warm.



Next time you are in a rut with dinner, try something from Pinterest!

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