Crispy, yet fluffy GF Waffles with Rhubarb Sauce and Strawberries

Recently when I wanted to make waffles for breakfast my husband implored me to find a recipe that was crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. He doesn't eat gluten free now that Lent is over (we gave up gluten for Lent:), but I am still trying - I feel better when I avoid it. Oh yeah, back to the waffles...I found a recipe for crispy fluffy waffles, so I gave it a try - he was happy. I tried it with GF flours and wasn't quite as happy, but made some adjustments and have found a new favorite waffle recipe. The first time I made these waffles I only used one egg white, but since the little guy needed some breakfast too I decided to cook him up an egg yolk and use the extra white in the waffle batter.

Rhubarb and strawberries are in season now, so we ate our breakfast waffles sans our usual maple syrup and avec rhubarb sauce and sliced strawberries. The end result...magnifique! Oh and I had a couple leftover that I ended up using to make myself a PB&J sandwich for lunch - I sometimes crave them and have not found a good GF bread recipe as of yet. Well, I have not really tried as I am already awful at making yeast bread...so I stick to "quick" breads and usually do much better.

Crispy & Fluffy Gluten Free Waffles

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 T cornstarch or arrowroot powder
• 2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup milk
• 6 - 8 T oil (any combo of coconut and light olive oil)
• 1 large egg, separated (+ an extra egg white - optional)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients (almond flour through baking soda), mix to combine and set aside.
2. Melt coconut oil, if solid, and add buttermilk, milk and vanilla. Separate egg(s), adding yolk to liquid mixture. I like to use a large spouted measuring cup for the liquid mixture and add the dry ingredients to it, but you could add the liquid to the dry and stir to combine. Allow the batter to rest while you whip up the egg whites.
3. Whip the egg whites with a mixer or by hand (this will take awhile by hand, but is possible) until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
4. The egg whites will make the waffles nice and fluffy and the oil will make them crispy. So, start with 6 T of oil and add more if they are not crispy enough.
5. Pour the batter into your hot waffle iron and cook until crispy. Place on a cookie sheet and into a 200 degree preheated oven to keep the waffles warm. Makes 8-10 square waffles.

Prep Time: 20 min Cook Time: 20 min Ready in: 40 min

*My notes: It is easy to make your own buttermilk and creme fraiche (sour cream) from buttermilk starter and milk or buttermilk and heavy cream. I like to buy a half pint of buttermilk (not ultra pasteurized) and add it to milk to make more buttermilk or add it to heavy cream (check the ingredient label to make sure there are no other ingredients besides cream and that it is not ultra pasteurized) to make sour cream. Pour 1/4 cup buttermilk into a glass jar, add 1-2 cups milk or cream, shake to mix thoroughly and leave out on the counter for 24 hours to thicken. Then refrigerate. Voila - buttermilk and creme fraiche, without added ingredients like carrageenan.

For the Rhubarb Sauce, combine about 2 cups of chopped rhubarb with 1/2 cup honey and 1-2 T water. Bring to a boil then allow to simmer until all of the rhubarb has softened. Check for desired sweetness - should be just barely sweet and still quite tart. Optional - add a dash or two of cinnamon.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays and Simple Lives Thursday.

Homemade Raisin Bran

I was probably one of those odd kids whose favorite cereals were Raisin Bran and Cracklin' Oat Bran growing up. But since I have given up boxed cereal I have been craving something other than granola as a quick, easy and portable breakfast. Then I thought about it one day - why not make my own bran flakes and add raisins to it. I had thought about trying completely from scratch on my own, but did a recipe search online first and found that there were in fact many recipes out there. I tried one from Mr. Breakfast, that I adapted slightly the first time. It was okay, but it needed some tweaking. My second batch was much better, which was good news since I doubled the recipe. So, here is what I came up with.

Oh and the soaking part of this is not necessary, but will provide you with more nutrients than you would get without soaking. Also, if you don't have a dehydrator, you can bake it in the oven - I'd say at the lowest temperature, but I've read that anything over 170 degrees is killing some of the nutrients anyway - so no need for soaking if you are going to cook away all those additional nutrients.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday; Whole Foods Wednesday; Simple Lives Thursday and Creative Juice.


Homemade Raisin Bran

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Bran
• 1/2 cup Oats, processed until fine
• 1/3 cup Almonds, finely ground
• 3 Tablespoons Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Molasses
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Raisins to taste

Directions

1. Combine bran through water and mix thoroughly. Soak overnight in a glass bowl covered with a towel or plastic wrap.
2. In the morning sprinkle with salt and baking powder and mix to combine thoroughly.
3. Using parchment paper or a Silpat underneath and a piece of plastic wrap on top, roll out the batter as thin as possible to create one large flake.
4. Place in dehydrator (anything under 150 would be best) or in oven (300 degrees) until crisp. In the oven you may need to flip the large flake over to get both sides sufficiently crisp; check on it frequently.
5. Break into small pieces and add raisins (and milk) to taste.

Prep Time: 9 h Cook Time: 5 h Ready in: 14 h

Homemade Raisin Bran courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

Left-over Rice - For Breakfast

Lately I have found myself throwing away left-over rice that has sat in the refrigerator for far too long. :( Once we are finished eating the left-over food that went with the rice I never know what to do with it. Then, it came to me the other day - BREAKFAST. I was cooking eggs for a typical fried eggs and toast meal, but I wasn't really in the mood for toast. Suddenly I had an urge to have my yolk a little runny (which is not normal for me at all - I like my fried eggs over HARD). Thinking of the left-over rice in the fridge, and an article that I had read about breakfast in other cultures not being so "set" as our American breakfast, but usually more like last night's dinner re-heated; I decided to try a scaled down version of Bibimbap for breakfast. Basically seasoned rice (soy sauce and hot sauce) with a runny egg over the top - and I LOVED IT!

I enjoyed my runny egg over rice breakfast so much, I decided to do it again, but this time I added sauteed carrots and spinach to it. Even better! Really this could be a meal for any time of day - Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. Now I am looking forward to having left-over rice in my fridge and using it to add variety to my breakfast repertoire. In the recipe below I added some veggie ideas for the Breakfast Bibimbap, but I say whatever you have on hand would go great with your runny egg and seasoned rice. Oh and measurements for seasonings below are approximate, I didn't really measure, I drizzled the Tamari and Toasted Sesame Oil over the rice. Be Creative!


This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, It's a Keeper Thursday, These Chicks Cooked, Creative Juice, and Gluten-Free Wednesday.

Breakfast Bibimbap

Ingredients

• 1 cup Left-over Rice
• 1 teaspoon Tamari (Soy Sauce or Shoyu)
• 1 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
• Hot Sauce to taste
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 Carrot, sliced in rectangles
• 1 Handful of Spinach
• 1 Handful of Mushrooms, sliced or chopped
• 1 Handful of Bean Sprouts
• 1 - 2 Eggs
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Re-heat left-over rice and add Tamari/Soy Sauce, Toasted Sesame Oil and Hot Sauce.
2. Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium heat, add sliced carrots, mushrooms and bean sprouts (or veggies of choice). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour boiling water over spinach until wilted, and press out excess water.
4. Place cooked/wilted veggies over seasoned rice.
5. Add remaining Tablespoon of butter in hot pan and add egg(s), salt and pepper as desired. Cook egg sunny side up or over easy, so that yolk is still "runny" - which adds great flavor to this dish. Place egg on top of veggies and rice.
6. Dig in!

Prep Time: 5 min Cook Time: 10 min Ready in: 15 min

Breakfast Bibimbap courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

Sourdough Crepes

This fall I attempted to start my own "Wild Yeast" Sourdough starter. My first attempt I thought failed, but if I had given it more time I bet it would have been fine. My second attempt seemed to be working, so I went with it. Because my husband is not a fan of sourdough (I thought if I made my own starter I could keep it from getting sour by feeding it at regular 12 hour intervals) and I am horrible at making bread, we have found this lovely way to use our sourdough starter. We have replaced our "Swedish Pancakes" with this and use the same or similar toppings. But these crepes can be used in so many wonderful ways.

Yesterday for Shrove Tuesday I made up a batch using watered down yogurt since I was out of milk; thankfully it worked just fine. We made some savory crepes with bacon and avocado, ham and swiss béchamel sauce, and sweet crepes with homemade jam and almond butter. We still had some chocolate fig spread in the fridge that we also tried, but I bet this fig spread would work well on crepes too.

If you are wondering why sourdough, here is a post that tells you the wonderful benefits of sourdough. Basically breads/grain products that have been made using sourdough are easier for your body to digest and you gain more nutrients from the grains themselves.

FYI - when I find sugar or a sweetener in a pancake recipe I typically eliminate it (since we do add maple syrup to our pancakes), however, I have found that without the honey in this recipe the crepes are too sour for my family to enjoy. The sweetener enables us to enjoy the benefits of this sourdough meal. If you prefer the taste of sourdough by itself, feel free to eliminate it.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays over at Kelly the Kitchen Kop's site. Check out all the other wonderful recipes and articles, or add your own!

Sourdough Crepes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Sourdough Starter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup Warm Milk/Water/watered down yogurt (about 100 degrees = luke warm)
• 1 1/4 cup Flour (I use whole grain)
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon Honey (or preferred sweetener)
• 2 Eggs (at room temperature)
• 3 Tablespoons Butter or Coconut Oil (plus more for oiling skillet)
• 1 More milk as needed to thin batter

Directions

1. Combine first three ingredients in a glass bowl and mix well. Cover with a towel and let stand at room temperature for 8+ hours.
2. Sprinkle salt, baking soda and honey over sourdough mixture, stir to combine. Add eggs and butter, stir thoroughly. Let stand while heating cast iron skillet.
3. If you happen to have a cast iron crepe pan, this will be easier, if not, try not to get the batter all the way to the edges for easier flipping.
4. Be sure your batter is very thin, about the consistency of heavy cream. If it is too thick, add more milk to reach desired consistency. Hold your oiled skillet in one hand at an angle and gently pour a stream of batter onto the pan, rotating as you pour so that a thin layer covers most of the skillet.
5. When surface is dry and bubbly (about a minute), flip and wait about another minute for other side to brown.
6. Remove crepe to plate and continue to stack crepes until all the batter is finished. If you have leftover crepes, they freeze well between wax paper or parchment paper.
7. Add desired toppings (sweet or savory) and enjoy! We like sweetened blended cottage cheese or sour cream or almond butter with fruit jams for our sweet crepes. And sausage and cheese, avocado and bacon with a sour cream sauce, or ham and swiss béchamel sauce for savory.

Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 30 min Ready in: 1 h

Sourdough Crepes courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

Don't have a cast iron crepe pan, try this one out. It looks just like the one I have and I LOVE mine!
 

A Breakfast to Impress

You may have noticed "Egg Puff" on my breakfast menu fairly regularly. This is a family favorite. It is basically a baked pancake. Many ethnic groups have different names for it - you may have heard of German Pancakes or Dutch Babies. My first exposure to this lovely breakfast treat was when I was in college in Minnesota. There was a restaurant called Pannekeoken where the wait staff dressed in traditional Dutch outfits and yelled Pannekeoken (doing their best to use a Dutch accent) as they brought it to the table. It made for a rather lively breakfast environment. Little did I know just how easy they are to make.

Years later I came across my first recipe for this special breakfast item when I worked for YouthWorks! The president's wife's name was Nan and she had a recipe for "Nanakeukens" that we made for the students (and their leaders) in mass quantities - 10 Tblsp butter, 5 cups of flour, 5 cups of milk, 20 eggs. It was always one of our most popular breakfasts and fairly easy to make. I scaled down the recipe and made it for my family a few times, usually in a large 9x13 baking pan. It wasn't until I got married that my husband gave me his mother's "Egg Puff" recipe - using a cast iron skillet. I believe the story is that she found the recipe from a well known Milwaukee establishment in the Milwaukee Journal, or maybe she asked the chef for the recipe - I can't remember exactly. But it is so easy to remember since it is basically equal portions of egg, milk and flour that we can make this "fancy" breakfast anywhere!

I've made this Egg Puff with both peaches and apples, both are delicious.  Just like most pancakes the options for toppings are endless. The plain version is just as good in my opinion and it is always fun to see the pancake puff up at the end of baking.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday. Check out other Real Food Recipes, here.

Bon appetitt!

Egg Puff

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Flour (I typically use half whole grain and half all-purpose, but a white wheat works fine by itself)
• 1 Pinch of Salt
• 2 - 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter
• 1 Dash of Nutmeg (or Cinnamon)
• 1 Fresh fruit, sliced (optional)
• 1 Sucanat, Turbinado or Brown Sugar (for fruit option)

Directions

1. Preheat oven and cast iron skillet to 425 degrees.
2. While oven and skillet are preheating, combine milk and eggs and mix thoroughly.
3. In a separate bowl combine flour and salt. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Be careful not to over mix or pancake will not puff well and texture will be tough.
4. When oven is ready, carefully remove HOT skillet and melt butter in pan, making sure sides of the pan are well coated with butter.
5. Pour batter into pan, sprinkle with nutmeg and return to oven for 12-15 minutes. Pancake will puff up and should be browned on the edges. Serve with maple syrup and/or fresh fruit.
6. If using fresh fruit, instead of preheating the cast iron skillet, heat the skillet over medium heat and add butter along with sliced fruit and brown sugar. Cook until fruit is softened and coated with "caramel" mixture. Add freshly grated cinnamon and/or nutmeg. Then continue with Step 5.
7. Note that this only feeds 1-2 people. We make two in our house, I've started using two cake pans at one time so that we can all eat together. But as my preschoolers get older, I can see a need for making at least three.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 15 min Ready in: 25 min

Egg Puff courtesy of Jamie Del Balso.

If you don't already have a cast iron skillet, I highly recommend purchasing one. They are great to have in the kitchen! And for egg puff, it makes the best crispy edges.

Farm Fresh Eggs

Earlier this week I finally stopped by a house that often advertises "Fresh Brown Eggs."  I was amazed to find organic eggs for just $2 a dozen.  Just look at how yellow these scrambled eggs are!  What a difference the food that chickens eat can make.  It made me think about pregnancy and what we put into our bodies to feed ourselves and our growing baby.  (No I am not pregnant.)  Just the miracle of life was in my thoughts and how we can affect the life of our child.

Anyway, I was inspired to try these "Quinoa Eggs" after a friend commented on my Facebook page regarding how she likes to use quinoa.  I had made a larger batch of quinoa than I needed for the apricot salad last week so I threw some in my scrambled eggs along with some whipped cottage cheese for extra protein.  The results was quite delicious.  The great thing about it, my kids didn't even know it was in there and gobbled it up.  These will be the basis of my breakfast burritos for our road trip.

Quinoa Eggs

Ingredients:
Eggs
Cooked Quinoa
Whipped cottage cheese (optional)
Veggies of your choice, chopped
Cheese of your choice, shredded
Butter or oil for the pan
Salt and pepper

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add a touch of butter or oil.  Mix together the eggs, whipped cottage cheese and quinoa (I think I would recommend about 1/4 of a cup per 3 - 4 eggs).  Saute your chopped veggies for a few minutes then add your egg mixture.  Stir the eggs until they are cooked, but still slightly moist, season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with your favorite cheese and voila - your now have Quinoa eggs.

Making the Most of Your Holiday Ham

I am a huge fan of ham, but we typically only get a half ham about once or twice a year – around holidays due to it not being the healthiest item out there.  If we aren’t having company I have often taken advantage of the sales and coupons and stuck a half ham in my freezer for a time when our family will make use of it.  My parents usually give me their ham bone since my mom is not a fan of split pea soup, but my dad is.  I make the soup with their ham bone and save some for my dad. 

When we do have ham, I make the most of it!  For lunch my favorite is a hot ham and Swiss cheese sandwich on a soft fluffy roll or grilled ham and cheese on whole grain bread.  For dinner we make split pea soup with a meaty ham bone; ham casserole which either consists of jarred whole mushrooms, ham and boiled eggs drenched in a white sauce (made with whole wheat flour of course) or ham and asparagus drenched in the same white sauce but adding a bit of parmesan cheese and serving over whole grain toast; or for a special treat (usually Christmas) we make ham pithiviers (a very fancy Julia Child recipe).  And for breakfast we make scrambled eggs with onions, peppers, ham and cheese; quiche or this wonderful strata recipe below (adapted from my favorite quiche recipe).  The best part about having a ham is that it keeps on giving.  We don’t need to eat all of these meals in the same week, we can freeze the bone and freeze the meat and pull out as much as we need for various recipes over the next several months.

Caramelized Onion, Spinach and Ham Strata

Ingredients

One loaf day old whole grain bread

One sweet onion, chopped

4 oz ham, chopped

3 – 6 oz fresh spinach

½ - 1 cup grated cheese (swiss, gruyere, edam, etc.)

3 eggs, beaten

¾ cup egg whites (about 5 large eggs)

1 cup low fat milk

salt and pepper to taste

dash of mustard (optional)

Spray large sauté pan with oil and add chopped onions, over medium low heat caramelize onions (this may take awhile).  The idea is to cook them for awhile at a low heat so that they soften and gradually brown, not burn or get crunchy.

While you are waiting for your onions to caramelize, carefully cut your day old bread into 1 inch slices and lay them in the bottom of an 8x8 glass baking dish. 

Whisk the eggs and milk with salt and pepper and optional dash of mustard (dry or wet) in a large pourable measuring cup or bowl. 

Add your chopped ham and spinach to the onions when they are light brown but still soft.  When the spinach is wilted spread the contents from your sauté pan over the first layer of your day old bread. 

 

Sprinkle some grated cheese over the top of your meat and veggies then top with another layer of sliced day old bread.  Pour the egg and milk mixture over all layers and top with remaining grated cheese. 

Cover the strata with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  I suggest putting another pan the same size as your glass baking dish on top of the plastic wrap and weighting it down so that the bread has a chance to fully soak up the egg mixture. 

In the morning remove the strata from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Remove plastic wrap and cover strata with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 minutes covered, remove foil and continue to bake for another 25-30 minutes or until it puffs up, is golden brown and does not jiggle in the middle.

If you don't happen to have day old bread on hand, check your local grocery store for discounted day old bakery items.  If you can't find it, ask and I'm sure someone can help you locate some day old bread.  Otherwise use some earlier in the week alongside a pasta dish and then save the rest for breakfast another day later in the week!  Enjoy!

For a printable copy of the recipe above (without pictures) click on the title of the recipe.

My Favorite Pancakes

Sorry it has been awhile since I have posted anything.  Life got a bit hectic so I took a break from couponing and blogging.  Last week I visited a friend who gave me a huge pile of coupons to go through and after clipping coupons yesterday I am excited to get back into my old routine - which includes blogging.  And since today is my birthday I'm going to share my favorite pancake (and breakfast) recipe.

The original recipe came from Whole Foods online recipe finder.  I was looking for breakfast ideas with protein sources other than meat or eggs.  And that is when I came across this "Fluffy Cottage Cheese Pancake" recipe.  I was very hesitant to make them as I was not a cottage cheese fan and had tried a recipe for "Orange Cloud Pancakes" from the King Arthur Whole Grain cookbook, which contained cottage cheese and I did not enjoy them at all!  After the recipe sat on my recipe stand for awhile I decided to finally give it a try as the comments on the website were all very positive.  The whole family gobbled these down so quickly that they soon became a family favorite and I've been working on making them a bit healthier with whole grains and less cholesterol than the original recipe.  Before we discovered this recipe our favorite pancakes were homemade buttermilk pancakes, but to make the breakfast substantial we always made sausage, eggs, or bacon to go along with it.  Now I make a double batch of these and freeze them for easy midweek breakfasts.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white wheat flour*

1 Tbslp ground flax seed (optional)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tblsp sucanat (or sugar)

4 eggs

1 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbslp canola oil (or other lightly flavored oil)

Canola oil cooking spray

Preparation:

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients (flour through sugar).  In a separate bowl whisk together wet ingredients (eggs through canola oil).  Combine wet and dry ingredients and whisk until completely blended.

Spray large skillet or griddle with cooking spray then heat over medium heat.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter on to skillet for each pancake.  Cook pancakes for two and a half minutes per side, until they are golden brown and cooked through.  Transfer to plates and serve.  Makes 12 pancakes, serves 4.

Side Notes:  I have tried King Arthur's white wheat flour in this recipe with not a lot of luck.  Lately I have been really enjoying Eagle Mills White Wheat - I can substitute nearly all white flour for this wonderful white wheat in most recipes.  

The picture at the top has the cottage cheese pancakes served with homemade blueberry maple syrup (left-over from some Blueberry Stuffed French Toast).

Recently I tried making my own granola bars and we loved them!  I've been experimenting with the recipe, trying to find things that you may already have in your house, but once I get the best result I will share the recipe with you - it's really not that hard to make your own.  Also look for my favorite salad recipes and the first recipe that I devoted to memory, actually I don't think I ever had a written recipe for it and still don't!

What to do with old bread?

Does anyone else have the problem of too much bread in your freezer? I rarely ever buy bakery bread anymore, but when I did we never seemed to use all of it before it got old or hard. So, I'd throw it in the freezer for some later use. Now I tend to make my own (check out the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day) or my grandma gives me day old Panera bread from the senior center. The Monday after Christmas she picked up a ton of bread because there weren't many other seniors getting bread that day. She gave me a grocery bag full of bread. Awesome, now what do I do with it? Some of it I shared with other family members and some of it I froze for future use. One loaf was a gigantic whole grain bread that immediately made me think of French Toast. The first batch of French Toast was greatly lacking, so I started looking for more ideas. I had just picked up two pints of blueberries that were on sale so that helped me in my quest for a great recipe! I found a wonderful Overnight Blueberry French Toast recipe on allrecipes.com, but of course it needed some tweaking to make it healthier.

If you don't happen to have a ton of old bread in your freezer, you can usually find day old bread at a reduced rate in most grocery stores or at bakeries if you ask. For this recipe try to find something that has at least a bit of whole grains in it. Wheat, oat, quinoa, etc. The first time I made this it was just for our family, so I cut the recipe in half. It was so incredible that I had to make it for MOPS. But when I made it for MOPS something seemed different. I later realized that when I cut the recipe in half for our family, I did not cut the syrup recipe in half. So it essentially needed more of the blueberry syrup. I'm going to give you the half recipe because the full recipe is more than you would need for a typical family on a weekday. But for special occasions or guests, you may want to double my recipe below. And yes, you can make this in the middle of the week! Do the prep the night before, keep it in the fridge overnight and when you wake up take it out of the fridge to warm up to room temp and then throw it in the oven. My son (21 months) loved this so much he licked his plate clean! (He doesn't know that's bad manners yet.)

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast (1/2 recipe)
6 slices day-old bread (1-inch thick)
1 cup fresh blueberries
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup egg whites (about 5 large eggs)
1 cup low fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tbsp maple syrup
dash or two of cinnamon

Filling:
4 oz cream cheese (I use lowfat/neufchatel)
1/2 cup cottage cheese (1% or 2%)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsps maple syrup

Syrup:
2 Tbsp water
1 pint fresh blueberries
1/2 cup maple syrup

Lightly grease a 9x9 inch baking dish. Combine filling ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Arrange half the bread slices flat on the bottom of the dish, and top with filling. Sprinkle 1 cup blueberries over the cream cheese filling, and cut remaining bread into 1-inch cubes before covering the blueberries.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and syrup. Pour over the bread cubes. Cover with plastic wrap, weight down and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the bread cube mixture from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Cover with foil, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking 25 to 30 minutes, until center is firm and surface is lightly browned.

In a medium saucepan, mix the water, blueberries and maple syrup. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes or until blueberries begin to split. Pour over the baked French toast or reserve the syrup on the side to be poured over individual pieces.

Side Notes: I tried both flat slices of bread and cubed bread for the bottom of this dish and I would recommend the flat. When I did the cubed bread I had three different kinds of bread I was using, so I wanted to mix it up, but it was harder to spread the filling over the bread cubes. I did, however, find that the bread cubes made for a nicer presentation on top than the bread slices. I also thought about trying orange zest or lemon zest in the cream cheese filling in place of the vanilla, but haven't done this yet. Let me know if you try it.

You may have noticed that I eliminated all white sugar from this recipe and replaced it with real maple syrup (not corn syrup) - my preference is Grade A dark amber, but whatever you can get a hold of at a good price is best. I have found that Sam's club has the best price per ounce and since we use it often I don't mind having a large bottle around.

I have not tried this with frozen blueberries, but it might work just fine. We have had some amazing sales on blueberries lately - and in the middle of winter I jumped on these even though they were not organic (I try to stick to organic on the dirty dozen). When I don't buy organic I try to soak my fruits and veggies in cold water with a bit of vinegar. And I recently came across a Do-It-Yourself Veggie Wash, but in place of the fresh lemon juice I like to use four drops of lemon essential oil. That way you don't have to keep the spray in the fridge.

And if this is the first recipe of mine that you have checked out, you are probably wondering why the cottage cheese? Well, it's available in low fat and has lots of protein compared to cream cheese, sour cream, or even yogurt. I whip it up in my food processor and use it as a filling, a spread, a dip, or in place of sour cream on tacos. If I want a sweet filling I add maple syrup, if I want to use it as a spread on my bagel I might combine it with some all fruit preserves, as a dip you could add Ranch seasoning or try making your own (less preservatives that way) and for a sour cream replacement add a bit of fresh lemon juice. Today the kids had it as a snack on some graham crackers - YUM!

Can't Make These Fast Enough!

A couple of years ago I had a craving for Swedish pancakes. The only time I can think of having them was at IHOP when Ryan ordered them. But I am so glad that I had that craving which made me look up recipes. The one I decided to try was courtesy of Emeril Lagasse on the Foodnetwork website, but I have since made changes to his recipe. And I can't tell you enough how much my family (and guests) have enjoyed these tasty little treats! We automatically make a double batch now and I would recommend tripling it if you have more than four in your family, have teenagers or are having guests. The only problem is that they may take awhile; since I use a crepe pan - I can only make them one at a time. Next time maybe I'll try making them in a skillet in addition to the crepe pan. But they are totally worth the wait! The other thing I'd like to try is cutting out the all-purpose flour altogether. I may have to do that when Ryan isn't around, not sure he will be happy with my experimentation. I'm thinking that spelt flour and white wheat flour might work out okay. If you decide to experiment with the flour choices, let me know how it goes.

The beauty of these is not only the pancake, but the accompaniments. The original recipe called for sour cream, but we use blended up cottage cheese with a bit of maple syrup. Cottage cheese may sound strange to some of you, but it is one of my favorite ways to get lowfat protein into our breakfasts! When I was nursing my second child I realized the importance of getting enough protein throughout the day and I swear cottage cheese is a miracle food. It comes in lowfat and it has TONS of protein compared to cream cheese or yogurt or sour cream. I just throw it in my food processor and blend it up until smooth and creamy. Then it is ready to be made into a dip, sour cream replacement on your tacos, filling for crepes, etc. If you are hesitant to try the cottage cheese, I beg you - try it, you will be pleasantly surprised. The other accompaniment is something that you likely do not have in your cupboards, but is so worth finding! Lingonberry jam. It is the perfect combination of sweet and tart for these delicious pancakes. Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Swedish Pancakes
Ingredients
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup +1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (I like to use half white wheat flour and half all purpose)
1 tablespoon sugar (this can be eliminated all together, we usually cut it in half and I use sucanat)
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
Oil, for griddle
Blended cottage cheese, as accompaniment (1 cup cottage cheese + 1 Tblsp maple syrup)
Lingonberry jam, as accompaniment

Directions
Preheat a Swedish pancake pan (round, cast-iron pan with shallow 3-inch indentations for pancakes) over medium heat.

Since we do not have a Swedish pancake pan, and I'm guessing you don't either, I would recommend a 8 or 10 inch skillet with low sides for easier flipping. I use my cast iron crepe pan - a gift from Ryan our first Christmas. (Aww, how sweet he wants me to make crepes for him:) But seriously I love the pan and the recipe book he gave me with it - he knows I love to cook!

Beat the egg and milk in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the milk mixture, stirring to make a thin batter, being careful not to overmix. Fold in the melted butter.

In case you do have a Swedish pancake pan, follow these directions. Grease each round cup in the pan with oil. Pour about 2 tablespoons of batter into each of the greased cups and cook until bubbles form on the top, about 1 minute. Turn with a spatula and cook on the second side until golden, about 1 minute. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining batter.

If you don't have a Swedish pancake pan, still grease the pan with butter or oil - my cast iron skillet only needs this once after preheating, but a non-stick pan may need it after each pancake depending on how new or old or well cared for your non-stick pan is. Remember, never use Pam or spray oil in a can on your non-stick pots and pans (it will eat away the non-stick surface and contains ingredients that are not healthy for you) instead consider investing in an oil sprayer and fill with your choice of oil (I recently got a second one for Christmas so I could use them for two different oils) or put some oil on a cloth or paper towel and wipe the surface of your pan. I use a pourable batter bowl to pour enough of the batter to cover the pan in a thin layer, lift and tilt the pan to move the batter around the pan to the edges.

Serve hot with blended cottage cheese, and/or lingonberry jam. You can roll them or fold them or eat them flat with syrup if you prefer. But please, do try them and ENJOY!

Next week's recipe will be: Blueberry Stuffed French Toast. So, take advantage of the Roundy's blueberry sales going on right now and pick up two pints! And see if you can find some day old whole grain bread somewhere and I will give you another way to use more of that cottage cheese, hope you bought a large container of it!