Bran Buttermilk Pecan Pancakes

January 16th, 2010
by: Sue

I developed this recipe to avoid having the sugar rush and subsequent blood sugar drop that you get when you have pancakes made with white refined flour only. The fiber in the pancakes slows down the digestive process and helps avoid the extremes of the sugar rush.

Mix together in small bowl, allowing to sit for 2-3 minutes:

1/2 cup Kellogg’s All Bran cereal (or other brand cereal you have)
1/2 cup milk

In a medium size mixing bowl, add and whisk together:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup fine chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (less if it’s not kosher)

In a small mixing bowl, separate two eggs then whisk together:

4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 egg yolks
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the 2 egg whites until soft peaks form. I like to use my old fashioned egg beater and do this by hand. While I’m beating the eggs, I watch the foam start to make big bubbles then little bubbles and relish the luxury of doing this the old fashioned way. Pancakes are a journey.

Add the bran and milk mixture and other liquid ingredients (except the egg whites) to the flour mixture. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

Cook by the scoop full (approx 1/3 cup of batter) to a 400 degree heated pancake griddle. Flip when bubbles begin to appear, and put on heated platter covering with a kitchen towel until all pancakes are done. This yields eleven to twelve 5″(approximately) pancakes.

Serve with real maple syrup and butter.

We also like to serve this with chopped peaches (canned is fine) that are sprinkled generously with cinnamon. When you add the peaches, it is a little like having cobbler for breakfast! This is also good for the “breakfast for dinner” meal.

Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad

January 7th, 2010
by: Sue

One of our favorite meals in Hawaii was a mixed plate lunch. Hawaiian mixed plate lunches always include pasta salad. I have taken a basic Hawaiian style pasta recipe and modified it to suit my taste. I added the cabbage, lemon juice and vinegar because that’s what I like but you can make the salad without them. If you do, it will be bland. I just love this recipe, it’s creamy and has less fat than most pasta salads. Relatively simple, easy to make, goes with everything.

Pour: 3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (approximately 1 pound)

Into: 4 quarts boiling water
2 teaspoons salt

Cook until soft. Al dente won’t be as good. This will take 10-15 minutes or does at the Lubbock elevation. True Hawaiians say, “Cook it till it’s fat.”

While it’s cooking, mix the dressing and shred the veggies:

2 carrots, shredded
1/2 head cabbage, chopped and shredded fine

Dressing (Whisk together in small mixing bowl):

1 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
1/2 cup milk
pepper & salt to taste
1 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons Bragg’s apple cider vinegar

Drain cooked pasta, reserving some pasta water to add back to the salad. While pasta is still warm, add shredded veggies and dressing, and 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Put in airtight container and refrigerate until cold if you can stand to leave it alone. Add more pasta water to loosen it up if needed.

Life-Like Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

January 5th, 2010
by: Sue

When Grue and Blue were young, we used to make Christmas Cookies with this recipe. I would mix up three batches of this dough, refrigerate overnight, then roll out the following day. The dough was painted as described below before baking. We would invite our friends over and we had a table full of kids painting Christmas cookies while the Moms baked them and rolled the dough. Then we’d split up the cookies with the other families and have cookies for the entire season. Well, that is, if you hid some where the kids couldn’t find them.

The cookie dough:

3/4 cup Parkay margarine (don’t substitute butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add combined dry ingredients; mix well. Chill 4 hours or overnight. Roll out half the dough on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters, (the kind with the detail inside the cookie cutter) pressing firmly on cutter; place on greased cookie sheet.

Paint with Stained Glass paint after baking, or Paint Box Paint (below) before baking at 400 for 5 to 7 minutes. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Stained Glass Paint

Combine one teaspoon of light corn syrup with a few drops of food coloring for each color. Colors will be intense but transparent. Mix six different colors in a six muffin muffin tin (red, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange). Paint on baked cookies.

Paint Box Paint

Blend three egg yolks with 3/4 teaspoon of water. Divide the mixture into six muffin muffin tin and color with food coloring, adding drops of color until you get the desired colors. Combining the basic colors will give you a wider variety of “paints”. Using small artist brushes, paint the Life-Like sugar cookies before baking them. Use your imagination when painting the cookies, following the lines or coloring large areas. One Christmas, a State of Texas cookie was made into pregnant angels! Kids think of great ways to vary the cookies. If mixture thickens, add a drop or two of water. Bake and cool cookies as usual. For an added sparkle, sprinkle the painted cookies lightly with granulated sugar, then bake as usual.

Peanut Patties

January 5th, 2010
by: Sue

Margie brought this recipe into the family, it makes the best peanut patties you ever ate. I had lost the recipe and found it recently in a file where I had dumped a lot of loose recipes that I used to have in a recipe binder. Thank goodness! I’ve tried dozens of recipes but none were as good as this one. This is a well-loved Texas treat.

3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light Karo
2 cups raw peanuts (red -skinned, preferably)
few drops of red cake coloring if you can’t find the red- skinned peanuts

Mix the sugar, cocoa, and salt in a heavy bottomed pan. Cook over medium heat to a boil, then add peanuts and food coloring. Cook to soft ball stage. Remove from heat and “beat” (stir rapidly) with a wooden spoon until “creamy”. This will take several minutes. Mixture will become lighter when ready to make patties. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let them cool.

Rose’s English Toffee

January 5th, 2010
by: Sue

1 cup chopped pecans (or almonds)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Butter 9×9 pan. Spread pecans on bottom. Heat the sugar and butter to boiling. Boil, stirring constantly, for 7 minutes. Spread over pecans, then sprinkle chocolate chips over while still hot. Cover and let chocolate melt, then spread chocolate over. Cut in squares while still hot.

Delicious!

Chutney Cheese Ball

January 5th, 2010
by: Sue

24 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup raisins, chopped
1 cup salted peanuts, chopped
8 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup green onion, chopped (use tops too)
4 tsp curry powder or to your taste

Combine the ingredients, mixing well. Shape into large ball, wrap in Saran. Refrigerate. Before serving, top with Chutney. Sprinkle with coconut and chopped parsley.

Serve with unsalted crackers (or water crackers).

Corn Pudding

January 5th, 2010
by: Sue

This corn pudding is wonderfully creamy and rich, and especially good with a holiday meal. Of course, it may also
be prepared during the summer when fresh corn is readily available. We especially like it in the fall when Hatch chiles are available, when we add chopped roasted green chili to it. Best corn pudding I’ve ever had.

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
6 large eggs
2 cups cream
1 stick of butter, melted
6 cups of fresh corn (you can substitute frozen)

Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk, then stir in the cream and melted butter. Gradually add the sugar, stirring until smooth. Stir in the corn and pour into a greased 13×9 baking dish. Bake at 350 or until deep golden and set. Let stand 5 minutes before stirring.

I like to add green chile to this dish (of course!).