Oatmeal Pancakes the Loser Way

More snow and howling winds…

God with a snowblower drives along top of a cloud, sending snow down...  Robert Mankoff

 

We got another 8-inches of snow yesterday.  It’s snowing now, this morning, with another 1 to 3-inches in the forecast for today, and more predicted for tomorrow and Friday!

OK, enough already, snow and wind gods!

It’s a good morning for pancakes and this recipe intrigued from the minute I heard about it.  I really like oatmeal and cottage cheese, but pancakes made with those ingredients ~ couldn’t imagine.  

It was surprising!  They were actually pretty tasty!

Of course, I put a pat of butter and drizzled a little syrup over the top.  I don’t know if that’s “The Biggest Loser” way or not, but after all, they’re pancakes!  And I’ll make them again!

By the way, you should seriously consider purchasing a Ninja Master Prep, if you don’t already own one.  Over the years, I’ve bought more food processors than I care to mention, and very rarely use any of them. 

Then, Bubba, my older son, gave me a Ninja one day, telling me I wouldn’t believe how great it is. He was so right!  It's set of double blades allows it to  evenly chop, mince, blend, dice, and puree in an instant, without turning food into mush, and crushes ice in a flash.

It’s powerful, just like a Ninja, easy to use and clean.  It has a permanent spot on my kitchen counter, taking up little space, unlike any food processor I own. The Ninja Master Prep is now my favorite hassle-free kitchen gadget!*

Ninja Master Prep

Oatmeal Pancakes 
Adapted     

Ingredients:

6 egg whites

1 cup rolled oats, dry

1 cup 1% cottage cheese

2 teaspoons Splenda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

In a blender, blend all ingredients until smooth.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium-low heat and coat with non-stick cooking spray.

For each pancake, pour ¼ cup batter into skillet.

Flip when they start to bubble.

Cook until golden brown.

Serve

Makes about 10 pancakes

ENJOY!!!

*This is just my opinion of the product.

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes! 

Garlicky Shrimp and Linguine Bake

There’s something about shrimp and pasta that appeals to me, and there’s also something about not spending all day in the kitchen slow-cooking dinner…

This shrimp and linguine dish fills the bill on both counts.  It not only tastes good, it looks good too, plus it’s easy to pull together. The peas, tomatoes and green onions, are perfect flavors for the big succulent shrimp, all tossed together with linguini.

There’s no heavy rich sauce here, just a lighter alternative for you to enjoy.  Serve this with a green salad and crusty bread for an appetizing meal. Bill had sweet praises for this dish ~ me too!

Garlicky Shrimp and Linguine Bake

Ingredients:

1 to 1½ pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons sherry

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

1/3 cup green onions, sliced

1 cup frozen peas

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon seasoned pepper

8 ounces linguine, cooked and drained

1½ cups mozzarella cheese

Method:

In a medium bowl, toss shrimp with garlic.

Cook linguine per package directions.

Spray a 2-quart casserole with cooking spray.

Spoon half the tomatoes over bottom of casserole.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet or same pot as linguine was cooked in, melt butter with olive oil over medium heat.

Add onions and cook for 1 minute.

Add shrimp, peas, sherry, salt and pepper and remaining tomatoes.

Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Pour shrimp mixture over linguine and top with cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove foil and continue baking for 5 minutes, until cheese is golden.

Serves 4

It’s dazzling simple and delicious!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes! 

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

On these chilly days, we ♥ pot pies ~ homemade, that is!

This is a savory comfort food dish, from scratch, that will please you and yours. 

Make the pot pie with a bag of frozen vegetables, or approximately 3 cups of leftover vegetables or your favorite fresh veggies.  Your choice! 

Make your own pie crust, or buy packaged refrigerated crust ~ you know ~ Pillsbury’s.  I cooked 3 chicken breasts for it this time.  You can make it with thighs, and it could be even easier using rotisserie chicken. 

Decisions, decisions!  However, you make it, it will be great for sure, because it’s homemade ~ it beats the pot pies in the freezer section!

If I still lived in the South, I’d be swooning over this…

Double-crust Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-size pieces

1/3 cup butter

½ cup onions, chopped

1/3 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon seasoned pepper

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika

2 cups chicken broth

¾ cup half and half, or milk

1 (10-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables

1 large potato, cooked and diced

2 prepared piecrusts

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter over low heat in a large saucepan.

Add onions and sauté for a couple of minutes until tender.

Blend in flour and stir well.

Remove from heat; add salt, pepper, celery seed and paprika.

Whisk in broth and half and half.

Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.

Continue boiling for 1-2 minutes.

Reduce heat.

Stir in chicken and vegetables, combine well and set aside.

Line a 9-inch pie plate with bottom piecrust.

Spread chicken mixture onto crust.

Top with remaining piecrust.  Crimp edges and cut 4-5 slits in center to vent.

Place pie on a baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 50-55 minutes, until crust is golden brown (if piecrust edge browns too quickly, place foil around rim.)

Let stand for 15 minutes.

Cut into slices and serve.

UMMM, mmmm, good!!!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes! 

Red Velvet Cake Roll with Buttercream Filling for Your Valentine

Red Velvet Cake Roll 

is one dessert that 

screams

 “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Although red velvet may be associated with the South ~ remember the red velvet groom’s cake, shaped like an armadillo, in the 1989 film, Steel Magnolias ~ the origin of the cake and recipe is well-known from New York City’s famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. 

Red velvet is everywhere and in everything from whoopie pies, to ice cream, to coffee, cupcakes and this red velvet cake roll.  The Republic of Tea makes a Red Velvet Chocolate Tea that tastes like devil’s food cake and gets its red tint from beets, instead of food coloring, and Rooibos, a South African tea known as red bush. 

Whether red velvet obtains its coloring from beets, or red food coloring, it’s a cake with a distinct red tint.  This moist cake roll, with just a hint of chocolate, is rolled around a luscious buttercream filling that will make your taste buds happy. 

Do not hesitate in making this; it is not difficult.  Just be sure to place it on the towel immediately after removing from the oven, and wrap it tightly to avoid cracking.  This recipe is adapted from a Domino Sugar cake roll recipe.

Seeing “red” is a good thing sometimes!

Red Velvet Cake Roll with Buttercream Filling

Cake roll ingredients:

4 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce red food coloring

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
¾ cup cake flour, sifted
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a jelly roll pan with cooking spray.

Line with waxed paper and coat with cooking spray.

Beat eggs for 5 minutes.

Slowly add sugar and oil, beating well.

Add buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and food coloring.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Add to liquid ingredients slowly.

Beat 2 minutes, until well combined.

Pour batter into pan and bake for 12-15 minutes, until cake springs back when touched in center.

Sprinkle a cloth towel with confectioner’s sugar. 

Immediately, place cake on towel; peel off waxed paper.

Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel tightly.

Place seam side down on rack to cool for 30 minutes.

Unroll cake gently.

Spread buttercream filling over cake, leaving a ½” border on the long side.

Trim any rough edges, and re-roll cake without the towel.

Place seam side down on cookie sheet.

Dust with confectioner’s sugar.

Cut into slices with a serrated knife.

Serve

Buttercream filling:

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg white

12 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk egg white and sugar in a large bowl over simmering water.

Whisk constantly until the sugar melts into the egg white.

Keep whisking until there are no sugar granules remaining, when rubbed between your finger and thumb.

When well-blended, transfer to a stand mixer and whip until it doubles in volume.

Add vanilla.

Add butter, a little at a time, until the mixture has thickened to a buttercream icing consistency.

It’s irresistibly delicious!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO YOU ALL!!!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes! 

From Hungarian Pork Chops to Paprika to Flamingos

I like it when paprika shares the spotlight with other ingredients in a recipe ~ not only for the great color, but also the sweet spicy taste.

These pork chops are browned quickly in a skillet, and then simmered in a sour cream sauce loaded with paprika, sherry, ketchup, caraway seeds and more.  The aroma is outstanding while they simmer, ending with a tender mouthwatering chop!

Paprika is made from dried ground chile peppers, capsicum annuum, which originated in southern Mexico.  Christopher Columbus gets the credit for introducing the chile to Europe. 

These peppers reached the Balkans in the 1560’s and were called peperke or paparka.  The peppers quickly made their way to Hungary, now renowned for its paprika.  Kalocsa, Hungary is even home to The Paprika Museum, with the city celebrating its famous spice at the Paprika Festival each year in October. 

The Paprika Museum

Paprika history

Chile peppers hanging in museum

For sale

Paprika Festival

Western kitchens became familiar with paprika years later, in the mid-1900’s.  South America, Spain, Mediterranean regions, India, and California join Hungary as major producers of paprika.
 

Paprika is used as a coloring agent in foods and cosmetics. The flamingos in zoos have paprika included in their feed to keep their pink plumage bright and beautiful!

Serve these Hungarian pork chops with buttered egg noodles to soak up the scrumptious sauce, or mashed potatoes, or rice ~ about anything, really!  

Good sauce!

Starting to simmer

Hungarian Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 pound boneless pork loin chops

¼ cup flour

Salt and seasoned pepper, to taste

2-3 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup sour cream

1 cup chicken stock, low salt

¼ cup dry sherry

¼ cup ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1½ tablespoons sweet or hot paprika, your preference

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Method:

Season pork chops with salt and pepper.

Dredge in flour.

Heat oil in skillet and brown seasoned chops.

In a medium bowl, combine the sour cream with the remaining ingredients and pour over chops.

Cover and simmer gently over low heat for about 45 minutes to an hour, until fork-tender.

Serve

ENJOY!!!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes!