Grandma Hinrichs's Pancakes

There's nothing quite like waking up on a Sunday morning.  It's relaxed, peaceful, and content.  Sundays don't have the same get-up-and-go feeling as Saturdays do.  So I love to lounge around with a giant mug of coffee, read the Sunday paper, and eat breakfast.  But Sundays in St. Paul are nothing compared to Sunday mornings at my grandparents' house up in Osakis.  The country air knocks me out at about 9pm so I wake up around 6am, the smell of coffee, bacon, and pancakes as my subtle alarm.  For as long as I can remember, staying at my grandparents' house meant big country breakfasts with family in pajamas.  If I'm up early enough, I get to enjoy a steaming cup of coffee with my grandma, just the two of us. 



Grandma Hinrichs and me, circa a long time ago!

As soon as the rest of the family wakes up (and there are a lot of us on the Hinrichs side!), the kitchen bustles, the sausage starts sizzling, and the pancakes are flipping.  I've grown up with my grandma's pancakes.  I eat them at my grandparents' house, my parents' house, and now at my St. Paul apartment.  There's nothing quite like them and no matter how many recipes I try, nothing compares.  These pancakes have a certain comfort about them, bringing me back to mornings up at the lake, holiday breakfasts with my family, and funny stories about my grandpa's use of pancakes as sandwich bread.  They are perfect rounds -- not too sweet, not to cake-y.  The batter also gets better with time.  Making pancakes with day-old batter yields even better pancakes than with day-of batter.  It's a delightfully easy recipe and I made a batch this morning in about 6 minutes.  Love Sunday breakfasts with grandma's pancakes!

Grandma Hinrichs's Pancakes

makes about 15 medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients

3 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites in a separate bowl)

3 tablespoons sugar

2 cups of milk

2 cups of all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour to give the pancakes extra heartiness)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

Add all of the ingredients in order and mix together.  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are light and frothy.  Gently mix the egg whites into the pancake batter. 

Heat a large pan or griddle over medium heat.  Grease the pan with cooking spray or butter.  Using a ladle, spoon equal amounts of the pancake batter onto the pan, in as many rounds as can comfortably fit on your pan. 

Once the sides of the pancakes start the bubble and the bubbles set, they are ready to flip!  Cook the other side until golden brown.  Continue cooking pancakes until you have as many as needed.  Serve with butter and syrup. 

Blueberry Muffins with Sugar Lemon Crust

The other day I volunteered to bring blueberry muffins to a breakfast birthday celebration at work.  And since many of my coworkers know about my food blogging, I didn't think I could phone it in with some bakery muffins or even muffins from a box!  Obviously, I needed to start from scratch.  But there was one problem -- there are approximately seven million recipes for blueberry muffins out there in the internet universe.  How's a girl to sift through all of those ideas?!  At the end of the day, I decided to smash together two muffin recipes, one from Barefoot Contessa and one from Cooks Illustrated.  The result was delicious!  Barefoot Contessa's muffins were heavy and almost cake-like in their consistency (probably why they were titled "Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins") and to be honest, I think I liked the fridge-cooled leftovers even better!  They were kind of dessert-like in texture.  Instead of fresh blueberries, I opted for frozen, and I doubt it made any real difference. 

But the sugary lemon topping courtesy of Cooks Illustrated was key.  The sugar crisped up in the oven, creating a crust on top of the muffins.  And the hint of lemon zest on top added an extra punch of flavor, kicking up these muffins to another level.  Served warm with butter, they are a fantastic breakfast.  Served cold with wine, and you've got a pretty good dessert!  You can do no wrong! 

Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Sugar Crust
Makes 16-18 muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz sour cream

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

2 tbls sugar

zest of one lemon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare two muffin tins with either paper cups or by spraying with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar using an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition.  Add the vanilla extract, sour cream, and milk, and mix until combined. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients slowly, mixing to combine.  Pour in the blueberries and fold into the batter with a spatula. 

Using two spoons, spoon the muffin batter into the pans.  The batter should be at or just above the height of the muffin cups. 

On a cutting board, zest the lemon into the 1/4 cup of sugar.  Mix together.  Lightly sprinkle the sugar/lemon mix on the top of each muffin.

Bake until lightly browned, about 25 minutes.  Let cool (if you can) and then enjoy!

Southwestern Scramble with Cilantro Pesto

Pesto has always been a question mark for me and I really have no idea why.  In theory, I should have always loved pesto.  I love all of the ingredients separately, so what's not to love about smashing them all together?  But for some reason, I only recently started enjoying pesto.  Weird, but I'm glad I finally jumped on that bandwagon!  Pesto is amazing and surprisingly versatile.  In the Clean Start cookbook (my current fave) there's a recipe for cilantro pesto.  What?!  I've seen people make parsley pesto, which totally grosses me out, but cilantro pesto is another story.  I LOVE CILANTRO.  I wish I could wear it as a perfume and that all future suitors would show up at my door with a bouquet of cilantro.  I know that it's a controversial herb, but as soon as you tell me that you don't like cilantro, I will become immediately suspicious of you and your motives. 

So obviously I had to make this pesto immediately.  But what would I use it for?  You could use it as a dip or a spread on a wrap or sandwich.  Or you could eat it plain with a spoon (no judgment here).  Tonight I thought I'd add it to a southwestern-style scramble that I'll make for dinner for a post-run protein boost.  This scramble is delicious by itself, but the cilantro pesto really perked up the flavors and added another dimension that was a-maz-ing.  This collaboration of recipes would be a great breakfast or dinner, and the pesto would be good for everything!

Cilantro Pesto (recipe from Clean Start Cookbook)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups packed cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup roasted dry peanuts
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
Juice of one lime
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Directions
Chop the cloves of garlic in a food processor.  Scrap down the sides of the bowl and add cilantro, peanuts, ginger, lime, and pinch of salt.  Turn on the processor and drizzle olive oil into the mixture slowly until it comes together to a loose consistency.  Taste and season accordingly. 

Southwestern Scramble

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/3 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup black beans
slice of avocado, chopped
salt & pepper
Cilantro pesto

Directions
Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-low heat.  Crack three eggs into the pan and scramble with a fork.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Once the eggs have started to set, add in the black beans and tomatoes.  Stir the eggs carefully until they are almost at the consistency you like, then add in the avocado.  Heat briefly, then remove from the pan.  Plate up your eggs and then add a spoonful of the cilantro pesto.  (If your pesto has been in the fridge, add it in to the pan with your black beans and tomatoes.)  Mix it together, eat and enjoy.  Delish.

Food for a Good Cause :: Quinoa Muffins

This weekend I volunteered with Pet Project Rescue at the first No-Kill Walk for Animals.  The walk was around Lake Como in St. Paul and participants walked to benefit a local animal rescue of their choice.  I helped out at the Pet Project Rescue booth giving out information and trying not to screw things up.  The weather was NOT going to be good -- rainy and cold -- so the night before I thought I'd bake up a little snack for the fellow volunteers who joined me at 8am!

Oz - a PPR foster pup -- braving the weather with his stylish rain jacket!

Papi enjoying his bone on his muddy blanket!

I found this recipe on Big Girls Small Kitchen and adapted it to meet my refrigerator contents.  The quinoa adds a healthy punch and an amazing texture to these otherwise normal muffins.  I also threw in some raisins for a chewy and sweet kick.  I tripled this recipe to make 24 muffins, but this original recipe makes about 8.

Ingredients

1/4 cup canola oil*

1/2 cup sugar, minus 2 tbls
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup raisins

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and egg.  Beat or whisk until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened.  Add the milk and mix again.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Pour this over the wet ingredients and stir together.  Add the quinoa and raisins and stir to combine.

Divide the batter evenly among 8 muffin cups.  Fill the remaining cups with water to protect your pans.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Eat and enjoy!

*Food Tip: For a richer, denser muffin, substitute all or some of the oil with apple sauce.  And while any neutral oil will work with this recipe, canola oil is rich in Vitamin E and has the lowest amount of saturated fat among all of the cooking oils.  Bonus!

Taste Thursdays!

I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, so even though I'm now a St. Paul resident, I'm still partial to the Star Tribune newspaper.  When I decided to do something grown up, which apparently meant signing up for daily paper delivery, I was super psyched to start getting the Strib's Thursday paper because of the Taste section.  An entire section of the newspaper dedicated to food?  Done and done.  Plus Thursday's sudoku is sometimes just too hard for me......

Since I'm doing this blog thing now, I thought it would be good for me and good for you (whoever you are) to try out some of the recipes from the Taste section.  So as often as I can, I'm going to read the Thursday Taste section, find a fabulous recipe to try, make it that night, and post it for you all to read.  As if I didn't already have enough to do!

Today's section had a highlight on mango, but what caught my attention was the big, front-page picture of scones.  I love scones.  They are delicious, ridiculously easy to make, and incredibly versatile.  You can make them sweet for dessert or breakfast, or you can make them savory for a side or, well, breakfast.  Plus it got a little chilly tonight, so I figured a warm pastry would be a great addition to my Thursday night TV.  The recipe was for a cream scone with raisins or currants, but I thought I could top that standard recipe and make some cranberry orange scones.  This recipe will make 8 scones.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tbls sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Zest from one orange
1 1/3 cup heavy cream (I used one cup cream and 1/3 cup milk)
Sugar for dusting

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and make sure one of the racks is in the center. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Add in the dried cranberries and stir to combine.  Add in your orange zest. 

Make a well in the bottom of the bowl and pour in your cream/milk.  Stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated and a dough starts to form.  Pull out the dough and place on a lightly floured surface.  Knead the dough a few times just to make sure everything is incorporated and you have a workable dough.

Separate the dough into two equal pieces and form each of those into a disc about 1 inch thick.  Cut each round into four pieces.

mmmm love those flecks of orange zest!

Place the pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet, with a little space between each one.  They will grow!  Brush the pieces with milk or orange juice and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake another 15 minutes.  Let cool for a bit, then dive right in.  YUM.  Serve with some tea, or in my case, a Surly CynicAle.  Not bad for the Star Tribune!

But now for the truly intriguing question of the day.  How the heck do you pronounce "scone"?  I've always said it as rhyming with "bone" or something like that.  But according to the Strib, it's actually pronounced as rhyming with "gone".  What?!?!  Is that for real??  It was hilarious to talk to my co-worker about making scones tonight using that pronunciation, but my go-to source for all things pronunciation related (dictionary.com) confirmed that MY way of saying "scone" is correct.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?  I need an additional source besides my local paper.  (Sorry, Strib.)

Homemade. Cinnamon. Rolls.

Mornings are a heck of a lot easier to handle when you have a warm, gooey plate of cinnamon rolls waiting for you.  I made these tasty bites one Sunday morning with the leftover half of my bread dough.  They were so good that I had to invite my friend Lindsay over to help me marvel at their deliciousness.  I then proceeded to eat SIX of them throughout the day.  And then three the next day. 

The cinnamon roll recipe is from "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" and I super snagged the recipe for the glaze from "Joy of Cooking."  The original recipe did not call for a sugary glaze, but I grew up eating the admittedly delicious Pillsbury cinnamon rolls from a can, so in my mind, all cinnamon rolls gots to have a glaze on top!  Now back to the cinnamon rolls! 

Ingredients
Half of the recipe for Classic Sandwich Bread (either divide everything in half or save half of the dough to make a regular loaf of bread per those instructions)
1 tbls ground cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup raisins or currants
2 tbls melted butter

For the glaze:
2 tbls hot milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
Mix the cinnamon, brown sugar, nuts, and raisins in a small bowl.

Roll your risen/punched down bread dough into a 12x16 inch rectangle on a well floured surface.*  Brush the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle the sugar mixture over the surface.  Tightly roll up the dough lengthwise.  Slice into 1-inch rounds and set them in a buttered pan, cut side up, you should get about 16 rolls.  Really cram those babies into that pan -- no space between them is necessary!  Let rise for 30 minutes.

all squished in the pan, ready to bake!

Preheat your oven to 375.  Bake the rolls until well risen and browned, about 30 minutes. 

Mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl with a fork until creamy.  Pour the glaze over the warm cinnamon rolls. 

EAT AND ENJOY! 

*Food Tip: Be sure to roll out your dough instead of stretching it.  If you stretch the dough (i.e. pull on it) it will not retain its shape.  Instead, it'll shrink right back to it's original size.  So get out your rolling pin and get to to work!  Start in the middle of the dough and roll out from you; turn the dough a quarter turn and repeat.

Vanilla Oatmeal

I love Sunday morning.  There is nothing better than a lazy morning, cup of coffee in hand, newspaper at the ready, and a delicious breakfast.  Saturday mornings I'm usually running in the early AM, so Sundays are the only day I get to actually relax.  During these cold, wintry months, I love oatmeal and other warm cereals for breakfast. It's easy enough to just put together some instant oatmeal, which I do oftentimes during the week, and you get some of the deliciousness and health benefits, depending on the brand you buy.  (My favorite food blog Serious Eats did a taste test of instant oatmeals...results here and here.)  The simple, healthy oatmeal that I've grown to love has also been added to some fast food menus.  But beware!  These seemingly healthy breakfast options are actually teeming with sugar and additives!  You'd be better off making your own or trying some of the more healthy instant brands.  (I've even read that you can actually make your oats in a slow cooker overnight...more on that later.)

When I have the time on Sundays, I love slow cooking some steel-cut oats and adding certain accouterments that I've grown to love over the last few years.  So if you have the time, try these grown-up oats and kick back with your Sunday newspaper.

Ingredients

2 cups water

1/2 cup steel cut oats

2 tbls brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract
few dashes cinnamon
handful of fresh/dried blueberries
handful sliver almonds
rice milk to your liking

Cook the steel cut oats according to the package directions.  It usually requires boiling the water, adding the oats and reducing the heat to low, stirring occasionally until the oats come together.

After the oats have cooked to your desired consistency, put the oats into a bowl and add the ingredients listed above.  You'll end up with a sweet, crunchy oatmeal treat.  The best part about this recipe is that it's completely versatile.  Want to add some pecans or walnuts?  Go ahead!  Have some apples?  Well then dice them up and add them in with some extra cinnamon and maybe some cream.  If you like an almond-y flavor, use almond extract instead of vanilla extract.  Oatmeal is just begging to be dressed up in a delicious manner, so have fun creating your own Sunday morning bowls.