Somebody's Grandma's Pancakes....

Conference weekend is upon us again. As luck would have it, I have Saturday off! I'm still recovering from a very challenging rotation (Cards 1). The funny thing is that I'm now on the General Medicine service which is not quite as challenging, but is also known as one of the more challenging rotations. This being said, I'm enjoying not having 30-hour shifts and instead having more of a 7 to 7-type of schedule.
Bryn-Erinn bought some 100% maple syrup in hopes of making pancakes before the morning session of conference. However, late last night she discovered that the bag of pre-made mix was almost gone. I however saw this as another opportunity to do some good cooking and make something better than what can be made from a mix.
When I have made pancakes from scratch in the past, they have usually ended up a bit brick-like. I'm okay with this, but I wanted to make something special for my Love, that she would actually enjoy eating, so I jumped on-line and found a recipe labeled "Grandma's Pancakes". I have modified it a bit below. I suggest cooking in a well-seasoned cast iron pan or skillet.

3 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of white flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1-2 table spoons of sugar
1 1/4 cup of milk
1 orange peel zest (optional, but tasty)

Mix the the above and let sit for at least 30 minutes then add:

1 egg
3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

Cook on a buttered cast iron pan. Add any pan cake topping - try 100% maple syrup. Enjoy!

A night in....

As you all know, life is busy. Right now I'm on "Cards 1" (i.e. acute cardiac care). This, along with "Cards 2," is the worst for long hours and being very busy. I have been averaging 80-90 hours each week. On top of this I'm on q4 over night (30 hour shift every 4th day). As a result I have missed many things, like being w/ Bryn-Erinn, going to church, the Zirker NCAA bracket, and cooking. I don't think it has to be said, but days off are highly coveted.

Today we went to Barnes & Noble to look at books (money is tight so we promised we wouldn't buy anything. However, looking over the cooking books gave me some inspiration. For dinner we had homemade pizza and pudding. If you want to give the pudding a try here is the recipe. I'll save the pizza recipe for later. :-)

Chocolate Pudding (serves 6-8)
4 cups (500 ml) half-and-half
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup of cocoa
1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Mix all ingredients in a large sauce pan and mix well. Then turn on the heat to low/warm (about a quarter turn on the dial). Mix, mix, mix and mix. If you don't mix thoroughly, it will burn in the bottom of the pan. When the mixture gets just to the boiling temperature, pour to into individual cups and chill for 2-3 hours until firm. Enjoy!

Hot Cocoa...

So it is wintertime, and almost Christmas (four more days). We had a great church service today, with talks about our savior Jesus Christ and great musical numbers. Bryn-Erinn performed a great arrangement of "Silent Night". She was a little nervous, but did a great job. She was going to play an arrangement of "What Child is This", but someone else had planned to do the same number so Bryn-Erinn changed at the last minute. We got home and started cooking, as we are going to have a crowd of seven in our house on Christmas day. Our house smells like homemade rolls and mashed potatoes.
Since it is a chilly -10 right now, I decided to make some homemade Hot Cocoa. The idea came to me after I had a discussion about Hot Cocoa vs Hot Chocolate with a fellow church member (one is made from cocoa powder and the other from melted chocolate, Swiss Miss would technically be a Hot Cocoa mix). Before I go further, I consider meself a great lover of Hot Chocolate, although my palate isn't particularly refined. I like it in all its forms from the church cannery mix to Swiss Miss and all the others. Over all it is like pizza to me (I'll eat and enjoy it all). Also, because of the quantity I consume, I have a "special" cup. Only the picture can do it justice (the cups' centers are in the same place). Bryn-Erinn got it for me so I would stop using a bowl. It holds about a 400 cc (almost half a liter) of liquid. I found this great recipe on-line. It is very simple and tasty, and now I'm passing it on to you.

Hot Cocoa

4 cups of milk
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa

Heat in a sauce pan until smooth, but do not boil. Stir often, so as not to burn the bottom (I have done this many times). If you want it richer, add cream. You may also add whipped cream to the top. I prefer mine topless.

The Christmas Cake...

In Japan they have a unique tradition of having a cake on Christmas day. This is also something that is done in Europe and it is likely that the missionaries in the 1600's brought the idea of Christmas as they were teaching about Christ in Japan (this was before Japan closed it boarders to all foreigners or gaijin). Now a days, it is strange that they would do this as they are primarily a Buddhist country. However the history is quite interesting and a nice way to get friends together. You can link into a brief history about the Christmas cake here. So now it is the Christmas season. For our ward Christmas party they asked those who had lived abroad to help out and bring a treat and a tradition to the party. So I made two Japanese Christmas cakes. They turned out well so I though that I would post the recipe.

Ingredients:

• For sponge cake:
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter
• For topping:
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 4 tbsps sugar
• Various fruits (strawberries, peaches, cherries, and so on)

Preparation:

Whisk eggs in a bowl (for a long time) you want them to at least double in size. The more you whip the fluffier your cake will be. Place the bowl over warm water in another large bowl and whisk further. Add sugar little by little. When the egg mixture becomes light yellow, sift flour and add to the bowl. Mix the flour lightly in the egg mixture. Mix butter in warm milk. Add mixture of melted butter and milk in the batter and stir gently. Preheat the oven in 350-degree. Place baking wax papers inside of a round cake pan (18cm) or use a fat (i.e. butter or crisco) to line the pan. Split the batter between two 9 inch round pans and in the preheated oven for 20-25 min or until a knife can be placed and removed with out any batter sticking. Remove the cake from oven. I let the cake cool in the pan and then remove it to further cool on the rack. Mix heavy cream and sugar in a bowl. Whip the cream well. Take the half of the whipped cream and mix with chopped fruits. Place the cream on top of a round cake slice. Place another cake slice on top of the cream. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on top and around the cake. Decorate the cake with colorful fruits and Christmas decorations. Enjoy.

Celery...

So I have found a new favorite ingredient. Celery. I have long underestimated how great a cooking flavor this is. For years I have known this stick of food as something you eat when you are dieting. A food that uses more calories to digest than you get from eating from it. If you have a wild hair, you can put peanut butter on it and call it a snack. Or if you are my wife you can have "ants of a log" (peanut butter and raisins). On a whim I decided to buy a bunch of celery ($1.25) for a vegetable curry that I was making. The curry turned out super great. As I was preparing it, Bryn told me something that I didn't know (which happens often). Naturally, celery has a high salt content. To put this it into perspective a bottle of Gatorade has the same amount of salt as one stick of celery. So I have been snacking on it all this week, especially when I'm fighting the munchies.

Today, this being fall, I made an acorn squash soup. And, of course, I used celery. Bryn didn't like the fibers in the soup that is normally smooth, but the taste was leaps and bounds above any other acorn squash soup that I have made previously. I even garnished it with lemon thyme. Yes, I took the picture above before we ate. It was a nice, yummy fall time dinner. I put the recipe below, just in case you want to give it a try.

Acorn Squash Soup

• 3 acorn squash, take out the seeds and cook for 55min at 325 so you can gut it
• 5 carrots, scraped and sliced
• 3-4 sticks of celery
  
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 3-1/2 cups canned chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 tablespoons margarine or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup half-and-half or sour cream
  
• Fresh thyme for garnish

Cook in a crock pot for 3 hours and then blend until smooth. Enjoy.