Pancakes three ways.

Breakfast is hands down my favorite meal of the day. It also happens to be the most important! Lately, every Thursday, a couple of girls from the team have been getting. Together to make different types of pancakes. We make gluten free, snicker doodle, coconut flour, and vegan pancakes. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out a good vegan recipe but I finally came up with one. I’ve also made a paleo version as well as a version for vegetarians!

Vegan Pecan Pancakes

Ingredients:
All purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Baking powder
Salt
Fresh vanilla beans
Ground flax seeds or an egg replacer
Coconut milk
Vegan margarine
Pecans

Directions:
1. Heat large frying pan or skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Mix 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla beans into a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl pour one cup of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of warm water stir together until it makes a gelatinous mixture. Add mixture in with coconut milk. Melt two tablespoons of vegan margarine and add into bowl with coconut milk and flax seed mixture. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture making sure not to over mix just until everything is incorporated well.
5. Crush whole pecans into small pieces.
6. Once pan is hot place 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine into pan. Place a large spoonful of pancake batter into pan. Depending on how big your pan is you can place around 3 or 4 per pan. Place pieces of pecans on top of pancakes. Once you see bubbles form at the top flip the pancakes about 1-2 mins. Remove pancakes from pan and place onto a baking sheet and put into oven to keep warm.
7. Serve with maple syrup, cinnamon, fruit, or other assorted toppings.

Paleo pancakes

Ingredients:
Coconut flour
Vanilla beans
Baking powder
Salt
Eggs
Honey
Coconut milk
Coconut oil

Directions:
1. Heat large frying pan or skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Put 1/2 cup of coconut flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla beans into a mixing bowl and mix well together.
3. In a separate mixing bowl place 1 cup of coconut milk, 4 eggs, and a tablespoon of honey and mix together well.
4. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix until everything is incorporated.
5. Add two tablespoons of coconut oil into hot pan.
6. Using a large spoon place spoonfuls of batter into pan. Wait until bubbles form on the top of the pancakes to flip them. 1-2 mins each side. Once both sides are cooked transfer onto a baking sheet and place into oven to keep warm.
7. Serve with cinnamon, fruit or other assorted paleo toppings.

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Vegetarian pancakes

Ingredients:
All purpose flour
Baking powder
Salt
Granulated sugar
Vanilla beans
Eggs
Coconut milk
Butter

Directions:
1. Heat large frying pan or skillet on stove over medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Mix 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla beans into a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl pour 1 cup of coconut milk, 1egg, melt two tablespoons of butter and add into bowl with coconut milk and egg mixture. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture making sure not to over mix just until everything is incorporated well.
5. Add two tablespoons of butter into hot pan.
6. Using a large spoon place spoonfuls of batter into pan. Wait until bubbles form on the top of the pancakes to flip them. 1-2 mins each side. Once both sides are cooked transfer onto a baking sheet and place into oven to keep warm.
7. Serve with maple syrup, cinnamon, fruit, or other assorted toppings.

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“I want pancakes!! You people understand every language except English! Yo quiero pancakes! Donnez-moi pancakes! Click-click-bloody-click pancakes!!!”
-Stewie Griffin

Thor’s tomato sauce.

About a month ago myself and a couple of my teammates were asked to help clean the garden for an older adult who could no longer do so. We walk up to the house and we meet Thor, a 92 year old man who was born and raised in Åland but who spoke perfect English. He looks as if he’s seen and done everything a person could do in life. He explains to us the meaning of his name. “My name is Thor and he was the God of thunder in Swedish mythology” he said. He kept saying that he was an old man who, “slept all day” but, we were there for 6 hours and he spent most of that time on his computer surfing the web. Honestly he was one of the wisest older adults I have ever met. About a week ago his neighbor gave us some beautiful tomatoes that he grew in his garden, and I decided to make tomato sauce with them.

For THOR

Ingredients:
12 fresh tomatoes
Carton of yellow or red cherry tomatoes
Tomato paste
Yellow Onion
Garlic
Fresh Basil
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Oregano
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive oil

Recipe:
1. Put 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a pot and and heat over low-medium heat. Chop one large yellow onion and 5 cloves of garlic. Place garlic and onions in pot and let simmer for 5-10 minutes until onions are translucent. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Roughly chop a handful of basil, a tablespoon of thyme, and 1 tablespoon of oregano and place into pot. Add 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and let cook for 5-10 minutes.

2. Cut fresh tomatoes into quarters and cut cherry tomatoes in half and add into pot. Add one tube of tomato paste (small can). Salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes the sauce can to be too acidic. If this happens you might want to try to add a pinch of raw sugar to cut the acidity.

3. Turn heat down to low and let cook for 2-3 hours.

Finished product!

“I have no plans to die today.”
-Thor

Vegan Chili

Fall is by far my favorite season. The weather is not too hot and not too cold. It’s perfect. Since the temperature finally dropped, I decided that it was time to make a batch of chili!

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Carrots
Black beans
Kidney beans
Cannellini beans
Fresh or frozen corn
Zuchinni
Jalapeño
Fresh Tomatoes
Can of crushed tomatoes
Salt
Black Pepper
Crushed red pepper
Chili powder
Dried oregano

Recipe:
1. Turn heat onto low-medium heat and heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Chop one large yellow onion and 5 cloves of garlic. Put onions into the pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and allow to cook for five minutes. Put garlic and cook for another ten minutes until onions are translucent. Peel four medium sized carrots and grate them. Add carrots to pot and let cook for 10 minutes. If you don’t want to grate carrots you can always buy a bag of matchstick carrots. Add about a cup and a half to the pot.

3. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper. Cut jalapeño in bald length wise and remove the seeds. Chop jalapeño into small pieces and put into the pot. I only duded half the jalapeño but if you’re comfortable with spicy food then by all means add the entire pepper!

4. Turn heat down to it’s lowest setting and add the black, kidney, and cannellini beans. Cut zucchini in half and cut into smaller pieces. Add zucchini to pot. Cut five fresh tomatoes into quarters and add into pot. Add can of crushed tomatoes. Salt to taste.

5. Let chili simmer for 2 hours on low. Add about a cup of corn to the chili 20 minutes before the chili is finished.

Season to taste!!

“The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover’s kiss.”
-unknown

Vegan travel food: Dark chocolate peanut butter granola.

I have officially been a vegan for 10 days! It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be. That being said, my biggest challenge has come when we have to travel for away games. While I’m home I can cook for myself and plan out my meals accordingly. Needless to say, there aren’t many vegan options while you’re on the road in Finland. So, after experimenting with a bunch of different granola recipes, I came up with this dark chocolate and peanut butter one.

Ingredients:

Creamy peanut butter
Old fashioned oatmeal
Dark chocolate bar
Unsalted peanuts
Wheat germ
Whole Flaxseeds
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Agave nectar
Cane syrup
Coconut oil
Vanilla extract
Kosher salt
Cinnamon

Recipe:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).
2. In a baking tray pour 2 cups of oatmeal, 1/4 cup of wheat germ, 1/2 cup of peanuts, and 3 tablespoons of flaxseeds. Keep in the oven for 15 minutes and stirring every 5 minutes.

3. While the oat mixture is in the oven, put 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, 1/4 cup of agave nectar, 2 tablespoons of cane syrup, 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and half a bar of dark chocolate into a sauce pan.

4. Allow for the mixture to bubble for a couple of minutes while stirring constantly.
5. Remove the oat mixture from the oven and place it in a mixing bowl. Remove the peanut butter chocolate mixture from the heat and mix it together with the oats in the bowl. At this time you should add 1/3 cup of coconut flakes, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.

6. Place the mixture baking on the baking tray and bake for another 20 mins.
7. Take the mixture out and allow to cool thoroughly before braking it into pieces.

8. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

“If wishes and buts were clusters of nuts, we’d all have a bowl of granola.”
-Geoffrey Jellineck

Veganism

Its been too long. So long that I’m now a vegan. You will soon be able to view all of my yummy vegan creations. Scouts honor

Challah…

God bless the dough cycle on my bread maker. No, really. Like my Crock Pot, it deserves a parade. Never in a million years did I think I would be able to make Challah in my own house. So, bored one day, I looked on the Internet and found an extremely easy recipe that used the dough cycle of my bread maker.

I grew up eating lots of bread but I remember loving Challah in particular. Its the perfect bread for any type of sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly, turkey, or even burgers. The only downside to this recipe is it takes about four hours from start to finish to make. If you wanted to prepare it ahead of time just let it rise and wrap the dough in plastic wrap for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

What you’ll need:

1. Bread maker

2. 1 cup of warm water

3. 1/2 cup white sugar

4. 1/2 cup canola oil

5. 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt

6. 2 eggs room temperature

7. 4 cups of bread flour (I use King Arthur)

8. 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast

For the eggwash:

1. One egg

2. One tablespoon of water

Place warm water, sugar, honey, vegetable oil, salt, 2 eggs, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle; press Start.

The dough should look like this after going through the dough cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. After the machine is done, take the dough out, and place it on a very lightly floured board, punch the dough down, and let rest for 5 minutes.

3. Divide the dough in half. Then divide into 3 equal pieces, roll into ropes about 12 to 14 inches, and braid into a loaf. Do the same with the remaining other half. Gently put the loaves on a greased cookie sheet, mist with water, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm, draft free place, until double in size.

Dough braided and spread out on greased pan ready to rise.

The dough has risen and is ready for the eggwash and baking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water.

Dough has been eggwashed and is ready for baking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brush risen loaves with egg mixture. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. If it begins to brown too soon, cover with foil.

There just aren't words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is a link where you can read the history of Challah.

http://bit.ly/RhUyN

 

 

 

“For about 15 minutes, Doug Flutie was the toast of New York-not just the toast but the challah and the pita and the croissants too.”

-George Vecsey

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be adding some new features to my blog. I felt that I could spice up my blog a little bit by adding video to my posts. So look out for the new video features upcoming in my Linguine and Clams recipe.

 

“A good video can make all the difference.”

-Brian May