Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Pancakes!!

I LOVE pancakes!!

I could eat them everyday for breakfast.

I love them for dinner too.

I love them with fruit in them (i.e. strawberries, bananas, blueberries).

I love them with chocolate chips in them.

I love them spiced up with oatmeal and cinnamon.

Have you tried them topped with applesauce and cinnamon instead of the traditional syrup?

YUMMY!

What about topped with syrup and whipped cream or ice cream?

Oh. my!!!

I have always made my pancakes from scratch.

I think that I have used the Bisquick type pancake mix maybe once or twice, but it's sooo easy

to whip up your own that it never made sense for me to spend the money on that.

Plus, I have mixed all the dry ingredients together for the following recipe and put them

in serving size quantities into my freezer. Then all you have to do is add the liquid ingredients and you've made your own pancake mix!!

My recipe for pancakes is not unique to me or my family.

It was not handed down through generations of pancake makers.

I did not land the magic recipe from some bitter waiter at IHOP.

I got it from Betty.

Betty Crocker that it.

Page 30 in my cookbook.

It's a very basic quick bread recipe, but because it is so basic, I like to ramp up the goodness with a few of my own little touches.

Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup (unsweetened, vanilla almond) milk

1 T. pure cane-sugar cyrstals or honey

2 T. olive oil

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

That's it. Pretty basic.

Beat egg until fluffy, and then beat in the remaining ingredients until smooth.

Heat up your griddle and pour a good size spoonful onto it.

Cook until bubbly on top. Flip it over and finish cooking it until nice and brown.

Serve while really hot with your favorite topping (fruit sauce, syrup, whipped topping, ice cream, etc.)

Here's what I like to add:

1. A splash of vanilla flavoring. The options are limitless on this one....maybe a little almond flavoring, or butter, or strawberry??? Mmmmm!

2. I like to toss in a couple of scoops of ground flax seed to boost up the Omega-3's for my children.

3. You could also toss in a scoop of quick oatmeal too, but I usually don't because of the texture issues my children have.

4. I really like my pancakes thick, so make sure you have fresh baking powder on hand. I also add just enough milk for the consistency of the batter to be a bit thick instead of very runny.

5.  Mini-chocolate chips!!!

5. I usually triple this recipe AT LEAST!! The bigger around your pancakes are,

the more batter you'll need if you're making for lots of hungry kids!!

ENJOY!!!!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Chocolate Zucchini Cake

**This is a repost from the archives that definitely needs revisiting!**

Here, once again, I'm sharing one of my mom's recipes. This is a recipe that I've only ever seen my mother make and have never had it ever, anywhere other than at home. It deserves to be shared with the world.
While I was growing up my parents had a ginormous garden every year. It was something like a full acre.......for my parents and my sister and I. During the peak of the growing season we had tons of zucchini. (Who doesn't have tons of zucchini when they plant it......it's like a weed that just proliferates everywhere!) So in an effort to use it all up and get the most benefit from all this bounty of zucchini, my mom would experiment with all kinds of recipes. We would have things like zucchini lasagna (NOT one of my favorites), zucchini pie (like a quiche), zucchini relish (think like pickle relish),  zucchini bread (FAVORITE), stir-fried zucchini, and then other recipes would have zucchini added to it. For instance, zucchini would come floating up in veggie soups, it was added to spaghetti sauce, and then this recipe which I am about to share with you would surface. This is by far my MOST favorite way to use zucchini. I'm not sure if my mother created this recipe on her own, or fudged with an existing recipe, or got it from somebody else......but it's something I think only my Mom would try. I LOVED it. My children and husband don't even realize it has this lovely vegetable in it, and they inhale it almost as soon as it's out of the oven. Very moist because of the added zucchini and lovely flavor!! You've got to just try it to believe it!! DELISH!!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. oil
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour milk (or buttermilk)
2 1/2 c. flour
4 Tbs. baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves (optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chocolate chips (or more to your liking)
1/4 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 325' and grease your 9 x13" baking pan.
 Cream together the butter,
oil, and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, milk and beat well.
 Sift together the flour, cocoa,
baking soda and powder, spices, and salt.
 Blend into liquid ingredients. Fold in the shredded zucchini. 
 Pour into your prepared 9 x 13" pan.

Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over all.
 (I always omit the nuts due to allergies.)

Bake at 325' for 40 - 45 minutes. Let cool before slicing and eating. 
 If you can stand the amazing aroma.

(Can you see the little pieces of zucchini anymore? They magically blend in!!)

ENJOY!!!!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: "Healthy" Chocolate Frosting

We have our last birthday of the season coming up in about 3 weeks.

Since moving toward a more vegetarian/vegan diet, I have not come up with a delicious

alternative to the traditional boxed or heavily sugared homemade cupcake and frosting combo.

So when I saw this......

**Katie's Photo from Chocolate Covered Katie

.......I just knew I would have to try it!!

It's so super easy to make it's almost ridiculous that we don't already KNOW how to do this.

It just takes a can of coconut (and let me tell ya.....not all coconut milk is created alike!!)

some cocoa powder, a smidge of vanilla, and a sweetener of your choice to your taste.

Easy!!

I tried making a batch from each of these cans just to see what the difference would be.

The can on the left (the generic, runny, store brand) made a voluminous amount of frosting,

but it had more of the consistency of say.....chocolate mousse!

It was delicious.....no doubt about it.....but it did not hold its shape once piped onto

my mini-cupcake bites.

(See photo below)

The batch I made with the "Thai Kitchen" brand was much firmer and more frosting like.

(See the difference below?)

When I took both cans out of the refrigerator this morning,

the generic brand was still quite jiggly and did not separate from the liquid.

The "Thai Kitchen" brand was nearly hard and I had to scoop it out of the can.

But, after separating from the liquid, I got only about 2/3 of a can of firm coconut milk,

so the batch made only about 1/2 as much as the fluffier version made with the generic brand.

I did end up using about 5 TABLESPOONS of Xylitol to get the frosting as sweet as we like it.

But that way it has hardly any carbohydrates per serving.

Super yummy...and it was even better when I put the frosted little gems in the FREEZER!!

Mmmmm.....

For this delicious recipe...go here!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Strawberry Spinach Salad!!

I must confess from the get-go that I'm probably misrepresenting this recipe when I advertise it as a
"Fabulous Family" recipe.
My husband is not a fruit lover.
I think I remember only one of my children even touching this.
It's more for the ladies.
I love it.....but more importantly......so did my mother-in-law!!
I tasted this recipe once at a newlywed friend's apartment like 20 years ago, and I've kept her recipe ever
since......intending to use it again one day because I was so impressed with it.

Well, since we're trying to eat more fresh, plant based recipes around here, this recipe came to mind
for an easy-to-prepare-ahead-of-time dish for our Easter Sunday lunch.

**Photo by Taste of Home 

I put the spinach and strawberries together the day before, and mixed up the dressing a day ahead as well.

When we arrived home from Easter Sunday Services, all I had to do was toss the dressing with the salad and we were good to go!

This combination is so pretty, amazingly delicious, and a such a lovely spring time dish!

I followed the recipe found here........with these alterations:

I did not use the chopped onion (though that would've been delish!).

I also left out the Worcestershire sauce and the pecans.  (though I'll probably add the pecans next time)!

I also substituted Xylitol for the sugar.

Yumminess!

Happy Spring!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: "Bird Nests"

Okay, so this instantly became my new FAVORITE edible spring craft last year!!

I saw the recipe for this cutie little child-friendly treat in the April-May 2011 edition of Taste of Home magazine, and knew right away that we needed to add this to our repertoire of fun things to do to celebrate the spring season!!  

This year, I'd like to really concentrate on separating out the celebrating and enjoying the "Season of Spring" from Resurrection Sunday.

As I'm getting older, I'm learning to appreciate at an even deeper level the ultimate gift of God that is salvation from the penalty of our sin and the corruption it infects us with which results in permanent separation from our Holy Elohim.

At Easter, which I'm preferring to call Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave in which he was buried three days after His crucifixion for our sin.

If He hadn't risen, then all He had promised would be a lie.  Everything He said He was and His purpose for coming to this earth would have become void.

It has become much more sacred, much more of a lavish demonstration of God's grace and love to us, that I'm becoming more inclined not to confuse it with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.  

Certainly not with colored eggs!

I'm leaning more towards keeping that Sunday a precious day, full of joy and awe at the wonder of His power.

But I still think it's so much fun to celebrate the turning of the season from winter to spring, and enjoying the gorgeous pictures of this new life found in Christ (life from out of the grave of our sin!!)!

So I'm collecting ideas for  a "Spring Fling" to have with our children either before or maybe even after we remember Resurrection Sunday!!

This idea is on the top of the list!!

Bird Nests

Here is what you'll need:

2 packages of white baking chips (10 oz. each)

10 oz. package of pretzel sticks

25 Peep candy birds

Candy eggs (can be the malted chocolate eggs, jelly beans, etc.)

Melt 2 packages of white baking chips.

(I only used one because I didn't need that many nests!!)

Stir the package of pretzel sticks into chocolate until well coated.

Scoop 25 nests onto waxed paper (or tin foil, if you're out....like me!!);

use two forks to arrange coated pretzels into a circle.

Dip a peep candy into some of the melted white chocolate and place onto each nest.

Arrange the candy eggs onto the nest while the chocolate is still warm

so they will stick to the nest.

Makes 25 if you follow the recipe and use all the white chocolate 

and the entire bag of pretzels.

(We only did about half the recipe and still had enough to share with our neighbors!!)

 

You can see this idea also at Taste of Home,

as well as at Mommy's Kitchen!!

(You can click on those names to reach their website!)

(edited repost from the archives)

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Fudge Babies!!

These are my new FAVORITE, energy packed, chocolaty bites of deliciousness!!

Fudgey goodness!!

Gluten free, dairy free, and no sugar added.

4 simple ingredients, and voila'!!

My children loved these and begged for more.

I was delighted to let them eat as much as they want.....well, in moderation.

I believe everything is better in moderation!

This recipe is what you would consider a "raw" dessert.

The more I learn about preparing raw foods, the more I love it!

So much easier and quicker and healthier for you.

What's NOT to love?

For the recipe.....click here!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Southwestern Salad!

I found the recipe for this amazing meatless dish several months ago and filed it away to try at a later date.

Well, I put it at the top of the pile recently and it was a HIT!!

I did not like the name of the original recipe so I did rename it for our family.

I think our name more accurately reflects the flavors that are represented in this dish.

It is cool and refreshing to eat, and super easy to toss together.

It's also very transportable and would be easy to take to a church potluck instead of 

a box of fried chicken strips or chocolate cake!!

I also just LOVE how colorful this salad is,

and how pretty it is on your plate!

It's even better the next day because the flavors have had more time to blend!

We just love it.

I have found several children who enjoy this as well!

The recipe can be found here.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Moroccan Vegetarian Stew

In keeping with the adventures of trying different ethnic flavors, I knew I had to try this recipe when I found it.
It did not disappoint either.
It is very fragrant and just looked so beautiful with all it's colors blending together in the pan.
Another thing I've found about experimenting with plant-based dishes is that using lots of bright colors makes the dishes so aesthetically pleasing that it just invites you to try it.
The recipe calls for potatoes, but I had some extra sweet potatoes laying around so I just used those.
That added another burst of color and I think it gave it more flavor.
Next time I'm going to add a bit more pink salt to really enhance the flavors.
Serve it over steaming hot brown basmati rice with a flavorful salad and you've got a fabulous meal!!
Find the recipe here!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe: Cuban Black Beans

Let me just say at the outset that this is bar none....one of THE best recipes I've come across in YEARS!
One of my "resolutions" for 2012 was to experiment with more plant-based recipes to expand my repertoire of dishes for our lunch and dinner meals.
When switching from processed food with lots of animal products in the mix, you really need to present your family with lots of different color and flavor choices so they don't get bored too easily.
I don't want them feeling deprived of all their old favorites, so I would like for them to get to try something new as often as I can find something!!

So when I found this recipe.....I knew I had to try it.
It looked really good to me.
And I wasn't disappointed.
It is so fragrant and delicious!!
The very first day I made this, my husband walked in the door from work, practically ran into the kitchen and said,  "Whoa!!  What smells so GOOD?!?"
After he actually tasted it....he told me {jokingly, of course} that if I didn't put this recipe on our regular rotation that he would divorce me!!
I have really enjoyed trying flavors that come from other ethnicities.
I'm learning that thinking outside my "comfort zone" of cooking has broadened my appreciation of other cultures and their food choices!!
We love this dish served with or over brown basmati rice with fresh sliced tomatoes or a salad!!
Find this amazing recipe........here.

**As a side note....I substituted {2-3} 15 oz. cans of black beans for the dry beans.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe!! Favorite bean soup...

When I think of bean soup, I always think back to my childhood and the bean soup my mom used to make.
It had white beans and ham in it, and on a cold, snowy afternoon this makes your house smell ah-MAZING while it cooks on the stove.
I have tried to reproduce this dish with HER recipe, mind you, but it NEVER turned out right.
I had all but given up hope of having this wonderful homemade soup again until......
I found the best recipe e. ver!  EVER!

Since we're trying to stick to a plant-based diet as much as we can, this recipe was a great fit.
I just left out the ham, and splashed in some bottled liquid smoke instead (I used Colgin's Natural Mesquite)!
I also used an organic vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth, and "Better Than Bouillon" chicken base instead of chicken bouillon granules.
It is so delicious, it knocked our socks off!!

I found the recipe in my Taste of Home magazine, but you can find it here.

As a disclaimer, only 2 or 3 of my children will eat this delicious soup. 

But these are also the same children that refuse to eat anything but peanut butter and jelly.

Just so you know.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe

We've been working our way to a more plant based diet in the last couple months,
and I've found that one of the easiest meals to prepare within those parameters are "Soup and Salad!"
Recently, I found this recipe in my newest Taste of Home magazine and knew immediately that I had to try it.
It did NOT disappoint.
In fact, my husband and I are crazy in love with it!!
My children....not so much.
But then they don't like anything that isn't a carbohydrate....specifically vegetables, casseroles, and salads!!

This dish is so fragrant and comforting and hearty.
It's perfect for frosty cold afternoons and evenings!!

Comforting Tomato Lentil Soup

The recipe is online here at the Taste of Home website!!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe!!

Every year, in the fall, I like to pull out one of my favorite, all-time recipes.
I love anything with pumpkin in it.
I have lots of amazing recipes with pumpkin in them.
Desserts, breakfast dishes, but this bread recipe is the BEST.
I have made these little gems and given them as gifts.
Most of the time though, I can hardly make enough of them before my children vacuum them up!!
They are lovely for breakfast.....especially on a crisp, Sunday morning.
Or even with your Christmas breakfast.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup of margarine, softened

3 eggs

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, cream sugars, butter and eggs.  

Add flour, pumpkin, water, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cloves.

Mix thoroughly.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into 4 greased and floured 6x3x2 inch loaf pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until breads test done.

Yield: 4 mini- loaves.

Here is how I have embellished this recipe to make it healthier (and oh, so. d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s!) for my family:

2 cups of organic cane juice crystals

2/3 cup of margarine, softened

3 eggs

2 1/3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

Several scoops of cold-milled flax seed

The entire 15 oz. can of pumpkin

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. of baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon

Dash of salt

1/2 of a 12 oz. bag of mini-chocolate chips

(Not as sickly sweet with chocolate that way...unless of course....)

Follow the same instructions above, except drop into greased mini-muffin pans

and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until muffins test done.

YUM!!!

** Repost from the archives.
I've been making these many mornings here lately
because they are so comforting on chilly mornings.
Even without the chocolate chips they are delightful!!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipes: Warm Apple Crumb Pie!!

Oh this is my FAVORITE!!
I've loved this recipe since I was a girl living in Mennonite farm country in Northwest Ohio.
It just TASTES of fall.....
and is really wonderful for dessert on Thanksgiving Day.
It has graced many of my tables!!

I've always, always used the recipe found in this:

It starts out looking like this....

and then this......

......until it's warm and fresh from the oven looking like THIS!!!

So delish on it's own but especially with vanilla ice cream!!!

Here's the recipe:

Apple Crumb Pie

P.S.  I never used the lemon juice or the raisins.  The recipe in my old book doesn't call for that.

And after you turn your oven down to 350 degrees, it only takes another 30 minutes before my pies are done and amazing!!!

Enjoy!!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe.....A Double Header!!

Today I include not one, but two new recipes that have become favorites in our house over the last couple weeks.
The first is a recipe that was shared with me by a sweet friend who is married to one of my husband's fellow police officers.  When she shared on her facebook that she had made a crockpot full of this, I knew IMMEDIATELY that I would love it!!
And I did.....and still do......and so does my husband.
He's crazy about it, and never complains that I make it once a week now!!
Several of my children enjoy it too.
My "texturally challenged" eaters....not so much.....too much goin' on in one pot all at the same time!!
I love this too because it adheres to all of the diet changes we implemented a while ago.....no high fructose corn syrup, gluten free (though we're not gluten free.....more gluten-reduced), no artificial dyes, not a lot of sugars, and lower in carbs!!  Of course, it is high in sodium so be careful!
So without further adieu........

Debbie's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Gather together:

1 family size can of Chicken and Rice Soup

2 (15 oz.) cans of chicken broth

1 can of Rotel

1 (15 oz) can of sweet corn

1 (15 oz) can of black beans

1 (15 oz) can of original Ranch style beans

2 Large cans of chicken breast 

(Debbie suggested cutting up a deli rotisserie chicken, and that

is what I do.  Delicious.  Add as much chicken as you like!)

Drain only the corn and the black beans.

Empty all the other cans into your crockpot and then add the drained corn and black beans,

and your chopped chicken.

Since it all is already cooked through, you only need leave it in the crockpot until warmed through.

Mine will warm it nicely on high in about 3 hours.

If you need it warmed quicker, you can follow the same instructions in a soup pot on the stove.

Or you could leave the house in the morning, turn the crockpot on low and have it ready

for lunch!!

Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla chips!!

 Warning:  Highly addictive!!!

Enjoy!

Okay, so this instantly became my new FAVORITE edible spring craft this year!!

I saw the recipe for this cutie little child-friendly treat in the April-May 2011 edition of Taste of Home magazine, and knew right away that we needed to add this to our repertoire of fun things to do to celebrate the spring season!!  I'm tucking this idea away for NEXT spring too.

Next year, I'd like to really concentrate on separating out the celebrating and enjoying the "Season of Spring" from Resurrection Sunday.

As I'm getting older, I'm learning to appreciate at an even deeper level the ultimate gift of God that is salvation from the penalty of our sin and the corruption it infects us with which results in permanent separation from our Holy Elohim.

At Easter, which I'm preferring to call Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave in which he was buried three days after His crucifixion for our sin.

If He hadn't risen, then all He had promised would be a lie.  Everything He said He was and His purpose for coming to this earth would have become void.

It has become much more sacred, much more of a lavish demonstration of God's grace and love to us, that I'm becoming more inclined not to confuse it with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.  

Certainly not with colored eggs!

I'm leaning more towards keeping that Sunday a precious day, full of joy and awe at the wonder of His power.

But I still think it's so much fun to celebrate the turning of the season from winter to spring, and enjoying the gorgeous pictures of this new life found in Christ (life from out of the grave of our sin!!)!

So I'm collecting ideas for next year and a "Spring Fling" to have with our children either before or maybe even after we remember Resurrection Sunday!!

This idea is on the top of the list!!

Bird Nests

Here is what you'll need:

2 packages of white baking chips (10 oz. each)

10 oz. package of pretzel sticks

25 Peep candy birds

Candy eggs (can be the malted chocolate eggs, jelly beans, etc.)

Melt 2 packages of white baking chips.

(I only used one because I didn't need that many nests!!)

Stir the package of pretzel sticks into chocolate until well coated.

Scoop 25 nests onto waxed paper (or tin foil, if you're out....like me!!);

use two forks to arrange coated pretzels into a circle.

Dip a peep candy into some of the melted white chocolate and place onto each nest.

Arrange the candy eggs onto the nest while the chocolate is still warm

so they will stick to the nest.

Makes 25 if you follow the recipe and use all the white chocolate 

and the entire bag of pretzels.

(We only did about half the recipe and still had enough to share with our neighbors!!)

 

You can see this idea also at Taste of Home,

as well as at Mommy's Kitchen!!

(You can click on those names to reach their website!)

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe

A couple weeks back our church celebrated its 57th Anniversary.
And what would a good Baptist event be without "dinner-on-the-grounds?"
We were asked to bring some food for a potluck, and I immediately knew what I wanted to bring.
The only time I have ever really "craved" a food was when I was pregnant with my babies.
But I can say that I almost "craved" this dessert.
It sounds so amazingly delicious.
And it doesn't have an ounce of chocolate in it......GASP!!!
That's usually a no-no for me.
So I made this exact recipe for Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

And I loved it.  My mother-in-law loved it.

My husband......not so much.  "Too old-school," he said.

I think he was referring to the texture and weight of the cake.

None of my children would touch it......I think because of the cream cheese in the frosting.

The only thing I did not like about this recipe was it's use of shortening (too hydrogenated), and the corn syrup in the frosting (too much HFCS).

So I did a google search for other Banana Cake recipes and found "my new favorite!!"

And I printed this recipe off and used it exactly as written for 

Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting!

My mother-in-law thought it was better, and so did my husband.

My children gobbled this up.

It's our new favorite.

I can't use it too often though because it is steeped in sugar, but I love it for those special occasions where I can share it with others which will leave no leftovers sitting around that cause us all too much temptation!!!

YUMMY!

.