What's cooking?

I have been a bit busy lately and have neglected my blog.  Here are some of the happenings over the last two weeks.

Everyone at our house loves pancakes.  These pancakes were made with whole spelt flour and home made buttermilk.  They were so delicious.  The kids had some friends over later in the day and they all ate the leftovers- plain! 

Want to make some for yourself?

 

‎The Best Pancakes  (this recipe came from my sister, who got it from my other sister- not sure where she got it)

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 Tbs sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk

4 Tbs (1/2 stick) butter-melted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

beat the eggs on medium speed til frothy

add remaining ingredients and stir just until the batter is
smooth and no lumps of flour remain, do not overbeat.  

(I think there were still small lumps when I stopped stirring.)

Ladle batter onto griddle heated to 350 F.  

When bubbles come to the top in the middle of the batter, flip and cook until browned.

I've been looking around the world wide web for good whole food recipes.  I am taking some ecourses from the GNOWFGLINS website.  There are recipes on the blog that looked quite good.  The one that stuck out the most was these Arabic Meatballs.  The kids gobbled them up!  We made them with ground beef, but I would love to try some ground lamb.

On the side, we served summer squash with onions sauteed in butter.  The kids didn't really love them, but Jeff and I sure did.  Fresh sauteed summer squash is so delicious!

We also had roasted brussel sprouts.  I have never seen such small brussel sprouts as these.  We cut them in half and tossed them in olive oil.  They were a bit bitter.  I am not sure if they were too young or too old, but I've had much better tasting in the past.

One of the reasons life has been so busy lately is the passing of my grandmother.  I wrote about her in a previous post.  She was 90 years old.  Drew and I flew out to Kansas City for her funeral.  It was nice to see everyone again- we were just there a month ago for a wedding!  It was fun to look through all of the pictures she had.  There were pictures of my dad and his sister when they were young- some with their parents and grandparents.  I only got to meet one of my great grandparents- my dad's grandmother.  She lived into her 90's as well.  My grandmother also had pictures of Europe at the end and right after WWII.  Those are really great pictures to find.  My dad and aunt were actually born in Germany after the war.  We got to rifle through all of her things trying to decide what to donate, sell and keep.  She had the biggest collection of post cards.  My sister Rebecca was always surprised to find another large stack of them in box after box.  We wonder if they are from all of the places she has been.  She traveled more than anyone I know.  She lived through the Great Depression, survived Polio, served in the WAC during WWII, got a bachelor's degree as a single mother in the 1950's (which today would be no big deal, but back then it was practically unheard of), and traveled the world throughout her life.   Lucky for us, my dad recorded her telling stories of her life and had them put on CDs for all of us.  She saw so much in her lifetime.

My inheritance was some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (apparently she had quite the candy stash and my dad wanted us to inherit it) and a CREPE PAN!!!!!  I know, it seems like such a simple thing.  My mother had the same crepe pan when I was growing up.  I have searched for a similar pan.  When we were going through her belongings, one box was labeled "crepe pan."  I was all over that!  I was so excited when I found it to be the ONE I have been searching for all these years.  I asked my dad if I could have it, as my kids are crepe fanatics as well.  So here is our first time putting it to use!  It took a few tries to get it right, but once I had it figured out it was the easiest thing ever.

Dip it in the batter and cook.  You don't really have to flip it because they are so thin, but sometimes I did.

I didn't get pictures, but we spread homemade strawberry jam on them and rolled them up.  The kids like theirs sprinkled with powdered sugar (or doused).  I also like fresh whipped cream, but didn't have the cream on hand.  I think we will be eating crepes more often around here!