Fluffy Strawberry and Champagne Pancakes

In the state of Utah, you cannot buy mini bottles of alcohol through the state liquor stores (which is basically the only place you can buy alcoholic beverages) unless you want to order an entire case.  I am sure that there is some kind of reasonable logic behind this, but the end result of this state of things is that if you are like us and only cook with alcohol instead of drinking it, you end up having to buy things in rather larger bottles than you might otherwise want to, given that many recipes only call for 3-4 tablespoons... and then you're stuck finding something to do with the leftovers.  We typically freeze our red and white wine and then thaw it out every time we want to use it.  I have had people tell me that's a horrible thing to do to a wine, but the flavor still seems to come through well enough for the purposes of cooking.  All of which is a long preamble to say- If you're looking for something to do with the leftovers of a large bottle of champagne, make these pancakes.  If you're not looking for something to do with leftover champagne, go and buy a bottle and make these pancakes anyhow.  They're seriously amazing.  We came across this recipe from Veggie and the Beast when we were looking for something to do with all the leftover champagne we had after using just 3 tablespoons worth in the super tasty caramelized onion and jalapeno waffles, and I am so glad we decided to try them.  The pancakes turn out super light and fluffy, almost like angel food cake made into pancakes, and the strawberry sauce goes really well with them.

For the Pancakes:
4 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup champagne (we used Brut)

For the Strawberry Sauce
2 lb strawberries (we used frozen, thawed and drained)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 Tbsp orange juice
2 tsp cornstarch
6 Tbsp champagne

Whipped cream to garnish

In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and oil. In medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.  Gradually stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  The batter will be a little bit lumpy, but that's okay.  Let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat a griddle to 375º and start working on the strawberry sauce.  In a medium saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, orange zest and juice, and cornstarch.  Smash the strawberries, and then bring to a boil.   Reduce to a simmer and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and add the 6 Tbsp champagne.

As the sauce is simmering, cook the pancakes.  Gently fold the 1/2 cup champagne into the batter until it's just incorporated.  Pour out 1/4 cup at a time of the batter onto the hot greased griddle.  Bake on one side until bubbles begin to form, and the edges start to solidify. Flip the pancakes and cook another couple of minutes until golden.   Repeat with remaining batter.  Serve topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream.

Italian Turkey Sausage and Portobello Mushroom Crepes

Back when I was in college, I really liked to make crepes.  They're cheap, you can fill them with all kinds of things, and it's easy to make a ton all at once and store them- kind of like tortillas, except cheaper- and probably less healthy.  At one point, I even actually compiled a list of links to crepe filling recipes on my written blog, but I never actually got around to trying most of them.  I was going through some of my old LiveJournal entries a while back, looking for something else entirely, when I ran into the crepe filling recipes and was intrigued by the sausage-portobello filling, and decided to give it a try.  The recipe linked in that post is rather muddled, with the instruction telling you to add things that aren't not in the ingredients list, so I ended up basing my recipe only loosely on that one, but the end result was fantastic.  Justin and I both loved it.  If you want to start out with actual Italian sausage, you can feel free to do so and save yourself a little bit of work- I just used turkey sausage and added spices, since Walmart was sold out of most brands of Italian sausage, making the turkey sausage cheaper at the time that I bought it.

For the Crepes:
4 eggs
3 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk.  Add milk, flour, oil and sugar; beat until well mixed.  Heat a lightly greased very small skillet, and add 2-4 Tbsp of batter; lift and tilt the skillet to spread the batter all across the bottom.  Return skillet to heat; brown, flip over, and briefly cook the other side (kind of like pancakes, except much thinner).  You'll be spending a goodly amount of time at the stove cooking the crepes- if you've got 2 small skillets you can actually get 2 pans going at once.  Meanwhile, while the crepes are cooking, work on making up the filling as follows:

To turn Turkey Sausage into Italian Sausage:
1 lb turkey sausage
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Dash dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp fennel, crushed (I used Justin's mortar and pestle to just crush it up a bit- not ground too fine)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp minced dried onion
1 tsp salt

Put the sausage and all the spices into a medium sized saucepan and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the sausage is well browned.  

For the Filling:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Portobello mushroom caps, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
browned Italian sausage

In a medium-large saucepan, melt the butter and add the mushrooms, garlic, and onions.  Cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, around 5 minutes.  Add the browned sausage and cook until heated through.  Add the flour, and mix thoroughly, then add the cream, and cook until thickened and bubbly.

Apple Sausage Breakfast Patties

We discovered this recipe in our Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  It's actually fairly quick to throw together once you have the onion and apple chopped up, and went really well with those rhubarb waffles we did.

1 slightly beaten egg white
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh apple
3 Tbsp quick-cook oats.
2 Tbsp fresh parsley or 1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
dash of ground red pepper to taste
1/2 lb lean ground pork or ground turkey breast (we've only ever made this with ground pork, because it tends to be cheaper)

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg white, onion, apple, oats, parsley, salt, sage, nutmeg, pepper, and ground red pepper.  Add ground meat.  Mix well.  Shape the mixture into eight 2-inch-wide patties.  Spray a cold 10-inch skillet with nonstick cooking spray and preheat over medium-low heat.  Cook patties over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear, turning once.  Drain off fat.

Rhubarb Belgian Waffles with Buttermilk Syrup

As evidenced by the title of this blog, we make a LOT of waffles around here. :)  These rhubarb waffles do take a slight amount more prep work than normal if you don't just keep Greek yogurt sitting around, but they are definitely worth it (we make our own Greek-style yogurt by putting 2 cups of yogurt in a strainer lined with a flour sack towel.  Put a couple cans on top to weight it down, and then hang it over a bowl for 2 hours).  Either fresh or frozen rhubarb will work, nicely for the recipe, and the most recent time I made it, I actually put the mostly-thawed rhubarb into my food processor to chop it into very small pieces, and the rhubarb flavor was really spread out nicely so I'll probably keep doing that in the future.  The buttermilk syrup has a kind of caramel taste that offsets the sourness of the rhubarb really well.

Rhubarb Belgian Waffles (Original recipe found here)
4 eggs (separated if you want to make the waffles more fluffy)
1 cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 cups flour (we used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose)
2-1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup rhubarb chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (3/4 cup always seems like not quite enough rhubarb, so we tend to add a bit more, plus another couple tablespoons of sugar, but I never manage to actually measure how much we're adding.  Your tastes may vary).

Separate the eggs into two separate bowls (this step is optional, but can help to make the waffles more fluffy).  In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the egg yolks, butter, milk, and Greek yogurt.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.  In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until fluffy and stiff peaks form.  Mix together the wet and dry ingredients and whisk until smooth, then fold in the egg whites.  Stir in the chopped rhubarb, and cook in a waffle iron.

For the yummy buttermilk syrup, you'll need:
1 stick of butter or margarine
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add buttermilk and sugar. Bring to a boil. Let boil one minute stirring constantly. Take pan off heat and add vanilla and baking soda.  Spoon over your waffles and enjoy!

Wheat Berry Porridge

This idea for this surprisingly hearty recipe actually came from a wild rice porridge, but when we tried the original, something about the wild rice just didn't work for Justin, and we just kept tweaking it from there until we ended up a recipe we really liked.  We had it as a side dish with the pumpkin spice waffles, but it can also be a great filling breakfast all on it's own.

Wheat Berry Porridge
2 cups wheat berries
5 cups water

(I don't really measure any of the rest of this- I just kind of sprinkle on spices and drizzle in the honey to taste- but the spice measurements from the original recipe are a good starting point)
1/4 cup honey (or more to taste)
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup dried apples, chopped (lots of other dried fruits would work well- this time around I actually added some dried coconut)
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
dash of ginger
dash of allspice
Plain yogurt (I don't measure this- just enough to make it have a good porridge-like texture)

To cook the wheat berries, bring the water to a boil in a large pan or stock pot and add the wheat berries.  Reduce heat and simmer for an hour.  Drain, and place the wheat berries in a large bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients.

Pumpkin Spice Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup

Fall is in the air:  School has started, leaves are falling, and pumpkin flavored everything is making the rounds on Pinterest. :)  This semester, Justin is over on campus from morning until after the kids are in bed on Mondays, so with just them and me to feed, I try to plan something I know they'll be more likely to eat those days- and one meal that's always a surefire hit is waffles.  This pumpkin waffle recipe- a Pinterest find last fall- is delicious and simple to throw together, and this apple cider syrup is the perfect finishing touch.

Pumpkin Waffles:
2-1/2 cups flour (we used half whole wheat)
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp round allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups milk
4 eggs (separated for fluffier waffles)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.  Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, salt, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, milk, and egg yolks (or the whole eggs if you aren't bothering to separate them).  Beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form.  Stir the flour mixture and 1/4 cup melted butter into the pumpkin mixture, stirring just to combine.  Use a whisk or rubber spatula to gradually fold the egg whites into the batter, stirring gently until incorporated.  Cook waffles according to the instructions for your waffle iron.


Apple Cider Syrup
2 cups apple cider (or juice)
1/2 to 1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon (if your cider is pre-spiced, you'll probably want to leave the spices out)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup butter

In a medium saucepan, mix together cider, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg  Bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute.  Take pan off the heat.  Add the butter and stir until melted.  Serve warm over pancakes or waffles.