Banana Pancakes

In honor of National Pancake Day I found this recipe for banana pancakes at Morning Song. The pancake batter was much too thin for me so I suggest adding additional flour or less milk if you want a thick and fluffy pancake. The banana syrup I really liked. All in all they were some pretty good pancakes.

Banana Pancakes with Banana Caramel Syrup

Syrup
2 bananas
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water

Cut bananas into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and water in heavy large skillet. Boil over medium-high heat until mixture thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract and sliced bananas. Remove syrup from heat.


Pancakes
1 large bananas, mashed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar, (I used 2 tbs icing sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (as Muslim I didn't use this)
2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups buttermilk (you can make your own buttermilk out of 2 cups milk and 2 tbs white vinegar, wait for 10 min., until it thickens )
2 large eggs

Additional melted butter

Whisk flour and sugar in large bowl. Mash banana in medium bowl, then whisk in buttermilk and eggs. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients (some lumps will remain). Mix in melted butter.

Heat griddle over medium heat; brush with additional melted butter. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto griddle. Cook pancakes until golden, about 2 minutes per side.

Serve pancakes with caramel-banana syrup.

Purple Hull Peas

While my sister was vacationing in Texas I was at Ollie's when I found The Contemporary Cowboy Cookbook. It seemed perfect, I might not be be out west but I could bring the west to me! The first recipe I tried was for purple hull peas. I don't really like beans unless they are green or baked but these weren't too bad, bacon makes everything better. To my serving after it was plated, I added a tiny speck of molasses which cut the beany taste.

 Black-Eyed Peas

1  16 oz. pkg frozen black-eyed peas with snaps or purple hulls or 1 pint fresh peas
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Combine peas, onions, stock, and bacon in a medium pot over medium heat. Bring liquid to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cover saucepan and cook until peas are tender, about 30-40 minutes. Make sure the liquid doesn't cook away. They should be almost covered with liquid. When peas are tender add salt and pepper.

To use dried beans: Soak 2 cups peas in water overnight, drain, and proceed as above using 4 cups of stock or water. Do not add salt until tender. Increase cooking time to 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Don't let liquid cook out.

Makes 8 servings

From The Contemporary Cowboy Cookbook by Dottie Griffith

Yet another carrot cake

I made a carrot cake for my dad's birthday last month. I tried one made with applesauce substituted for some of the oil using this recipe. I made as instructed by the recipe except the baking time, 40 -50 minutes for a 9 in cake? Sound much too long to me. I ended up baking about 30 minutes but it still ended up being dry. I added lemon extract to the frosting instead of vanilla because I prefer the taste of lemon with carrot cake. The pecans I used may have been going bad according to my dad. They didn't expire until May but I don't like the taste of nuts so I can't tell if they have started going rancid. This recipe wasn't a keeper for me.

Blueberry Muffins

I have a ton of blueberry muffin recipes bookmarked but I was looking for an easy one and I found one at Mom's Fridge that turned out very well.

I didn't have a lemon so I skipped the zest. Next time I will add some extract; vanilla, lemon, almond; something to kick up the flavor a notch.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter (no substitutes)
1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon peel
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
sugar for topping


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put muffin papers in 12 regular size muffin pan cups. Set aside.

Stir together flour, the 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.

Combine eggs, milk, butter, and lemon peel; add all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each almost full. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake in preheated oven 15-20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Makes 12.

Chicken Lo Mein

I am such a  bad blogger, I haven't posted since September. I've cooked a lot and taken photos of plenty of dishes but I haven't been in a mood to write. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things so I'm posting about last nights dinner.

Lo mein isn't my favorite thing but I had all the ingredients on hand so I thought I'd try it anyway. It didn't taste much like take out but it wasn't bad. I made extra sauce but it ended up being too saucy and the sauce was much too thick so I would recommend cutting back on the cornstarch. I added some red pepper flakes to the leftovers to give it a little kick, that made it a little less bland.

I found the recipe at Mom's Fridge and it was okay but i don't think it will go into permanent rotation.