Flourless Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Sauce.
I mean come on. You gotta check the recipe out at Today’s Housewife! You won’t regret it. 🙂 It’s glorious. Absolutely divine.
Happy Thursday!
SRC: Quinoa Pancakes
Another month, another dose of the Secret Recipe Club. 🙂 My favorite Monday of the month, by far. If you’ve missed my other SRC posts, the premise is this: you’re assigned a different member’s blog every month. You visit their blog, choose any recipe you want, then make it and share it on your blog. It’s a great way to find new blogs and expand your repertoire with new recipes, cooking styles, etc. Then, everyone posts about their assigned blog on the same day. It’s so fun–if you have a blog, definitely check it out and consider joining! I highly recommend it.
For March, I was assigned Rachel’s blog, Not Rachael Ray. While perusing her site, there were so many things I wanted to try [that is, when I wasn’t sidetracked by the precious photos of her baby daughter]. I’ll have to come back later when it’s rhubarb season to make this cake. I’m also very intrigued by these pumpkin cheddar muffins–that’s one pumpkin combo that I have not experienced! But for March, I decided that a cozy, comfy breakfast was in order… hence, Quinoa Pancakes.
I love breakfast, I love quinoa. Why not put the two together? I know it sounds a tad bit strange, but take away your side-dish associations with quinoa and just think of it as the “grain” that it is. And I say “grain” because it is actually is a seed and a relative of spinach and Swiss chard, unlike our modern connotations. Check out this link for more info on this nutritious addition to your new favorite pancake recipe.
These pancakes were nutty and filling–just sweet enough to be satisfying, but not that over the top sweet that a little extra maple syrup and fresh blueberries would be considered overkill. Nope, not at all. Ben and I both loved these pancakes and are sure that you will too! Thanks, Rachel, for the new addition to our breakfast rotation. 🙂
Quinoa Pancakes
from Not Rachael Ray
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice [approximately 1/3 cup dry cooked in 2/3 cup water]
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup skim milk
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg white
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the skillet [I used canola oil]
- 2 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, optional [I used about 2 teaspoons because I only have a hand crank grinder and my hand was tired!]
Directions:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
In a large bowl, mix together quinoa, flour, and baking powder. In a measuring cup, measure milk, then add in eggs, butter, and maple syrup. Whisk together, then fold into the quinoa mixture. Stir in flax if using.
Add butter or oil to skillet, then drop batter on skillet. [see yield for size info] Cook on first side for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes, or until bubbles form, then flip and cook until golden brown. Serve with fresh fruit, preserves, and/or more real maple syrup.
Click on over to check out other posts from today’s reveal of the SRC. Have a great day!
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Menu Plan
Week of March 5
Monday: Chicken Paprika
Tuesday: Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Wednesday: class…Ben fends for himself.
Thursday: tacos
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: out to eat
Sunday: dinner with family
~~~
In Review: Week of February 27
- teryaki meatballs, broccoli, and rice–so great! but I didn’t get a photo. this will be made again ASAP!
- pancakes–recipe coming tomorrow!
- everything else we ate was pretty average. 🙂
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10 Minute Lunch #3: Extraordinary Grilled Cheese
Another 10 Minute Lunch for you! So, what makes this grilled cheese extraordinary? Let me give you a hint.
It starts with bacon.
and ends with avocado…
and has some bell pepper in there too.
Whoa.
ohmygoshiwantanothernow. Please?
So my inspiration for this quick Wednesday lunch was derived from all those fancy grilled cheeses and quesadillas and stuff that I’ve seen on Pinterest [follow me!] but never think to make. I didn’t want to take the time to look up recipes… so I just improvised. To make my Extraordinary Grilled Cheese, I paired flavorful white cheddar cheese with creamy avocado, crisp bacon, and sweet bell pepper strips and grilled it up on the stove real fast. A filling, fun lunchtime entree to brighten up a dreary day of graduate schoolwork. Works for me!
Sorry it’s not packable. Melted cheese never really is… sad day. But this is awesome [even if it’s not awesomeforyou], so you can enjoy it on days you will be home. Like tomorrow. Saturday=grilled cheese day. If that’s not a tradition, it should be.
And if you have more time, maybe add some caramelized onions or roast those bell peppers up. More depth of flavor is always welcome in my book. 🙂 But it’s also great as-is, and is a nice change up from your regular friend to tomato soup.
Hope you enjoy!
And in case you want some lunchtime reading, my husband, Ben, has recently started contributing to a video game blog. Check out his review of Assassin’s Creed Revelations here! [Not that I really know much anything about video games, but hey… maybe some food-lovers are also video game addicts too! :)]
Extraordinary Grilled Cheese
Ingredients:
- 2 slices wheat bread
- butter
- white cheddar cheese
- bell pepper slices
- 2 slices bacon, cooked
- avocado slices
- freshly ground black pepper
Non-directions:
- Heat skillet over medium heat.
- Butter one side of each piece of bread.
- Assemble sandwich, with butter side out, with cheese and peppers on one slice of bread and bacon, and avocado on the other [put avocado next to bread so bacon sticks].
- Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper over the avocado.
- Cook in skillet, flipping after a few minutes, until both sides are golden brown and cheese melts.
- Enjoy!
Time: 10 minutes or less.
Yield: 1 delicious lunch.
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Sausage, Apple, and Egg Casserole
Happy Leap Day! Speaking of holidays, my family always has the same egg casserole, Easy Cheese Souffle, on Christmas morning. [Yes, I know it’s February, and I’m talking about Christmas. So what? And is Leap Day a holiday? I’m pretty sure it is, right?] It’s a pretty simple make ahead egg casserole dish–full of layers of cheese, eggs, and bread with a little bit of spice. There’s so much cheese in Easy Cheese Souffle that it rivals the eggs for prominence in the name. In fact, cheese is such an integral part of my Christmas breakfast experience that I have a hard time reconciling breakfast casseroles that include meat and do not include cheese. Even if I’m eating said egg casserole and it’s not Christmas.
So it came to me as a shocking surprise that I was drawn to this recipe for Sausage, Apple, and Egg Casserole.
No cheese? Whaaaaat?
Did I read that right?
I had to check myself from throwing some cheese in there out of habit when I was prepping it on a Friday night for Saturday’s brunch with friends. And you know what? I am so glad I didn’t add any cheese.
[Cue another “whaaaaat?”]
See, not adding cheese allowed the other flavors–bread, sausage, apples, eggs, onions, milk, and pepper–to stand out. And with only seven ingredients [and no cheese], everything had a chance to shine in every bite. The maple sausage added an extra level of wow to this dish, and it’s definitely going to be a keeper in my breakfast repertoire–even without cheese!
Question of the day ~ Are there certain recipes you feel just have to be so, like me and egg/cheese casserole?
Sausage, Apple, and Egg Casserole
from The Brunette Foodie [blog disabled now]
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground maple sausage
- 1/3 baguette, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 2 Gala apples, diced
- 1/2-1 1/2 cups skim milk
- 8 eggs
- freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Then, cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking the sausage as it cooks. Meanwhile, place the baguette cubes in a single layer in the baking dish, then evenly add onion and apple on top.
After sausage is cooked, drain grease then add sausage to baking dish. In a bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup milk and eggs, making sure that yolks break. Pour mixture over top everything else, and add up to 1 additional cup milk if needed. I used more of a softer baguette [which is more like Italian bread], but if you use a true baguette you probably won’t need the extra milk–mine just needed more moisture.
Top with some freshly ground black pepper, then cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then bake, uncovered, for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.
The Pajama Chef 