Basic Buttermilk Pancakes

While I was house sitting I wanted pancakes, and my husband was heading out to visit me and he also wanted some pancakes. Being there I didn't have access to protein powder or almond milk milk. Therefore neither of those ingredients are in this recipe for Basic Buttermilk Pancakes.

Enjoy!

Basic Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 3/4 cup light buttermilk
3 egg whites
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

If using a griddle, preheat the griddle to 350 degrees F.

Whip egg whites until frothy. Add coconut sugar and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to the egg white mixture. Add the milk and melted butter. Mix everything well so that you have a smooth batter, but do not over mix so that the pancakes become tough.

July 2014 BarkBox

I took Jake with me to check the mail and as soon as he saw the BarkBox he was determined to get into the box until a neighbour distracted him. He was more interested in chewing on the box and trying to get at his new treats and toys.

The overview of this months BarkBox. As you can see lots of treats in this one.

 The breakdown, including price and a reorder code. As you can see this months BarkBox was worth $39 and we paid $25 so it was worth the cost as always.

The toy, and as you can see, Jake wants the toy.

 And off he goes to the backyard to chew on the toy for the next couple hours.

 Coconut flavoured treats. He walks up to the container which is at my desk and nudges the container whenever he wants some.

 A duck chew that sadly Jake cannot have as he is allergic to duck. It won't go to waste though, we will just find a bully stick for Jake and Triton, Jake's soon to be friend, will have the duck treat.

 Chicken treats that of course Jake just loves, and can't seem to get enough of them!

Once again we get another smoothie treat. It will be interesting to see if Jake likes these as much as he did the carrot cake treat.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Here is another one of the recipes that I cam up with during my week of houses sitting. This recipe was inspired by all the recipes for the girl guide thin mint cookies. However the recipe needed a few changes, and the cookie texture was off. The addition of the cornstarch made for an unpleasant cookie, also there wasn't enough chocolate for the entire recipe. You may wish to prepare 1.5-2 times the chocolate listed to finish all the cookies. So this is my recipe for Chocolate Mint Cookies.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup 1% milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp baking soda
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Topping:

200g 72% dark chocolate
100g mint flavoured dark chocolate
1 tsp mint extract

Preparation:

Cream together butter and coconut sugar. Add milk, vanilla, and mint extracts. Mix well. Add dry ingredients, mix well and roll into a log. Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to chill for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Once the dough is chilled cut cookies into 1/4" thick circles and place onto cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool fully, then melt the chocolate. The chocolate can be melted using the double boiler method, or in a microwave safe bowl, stirring every 30 seconds. Once the chocolate is melted, add in the mint extract and mix well. Dip the cookies into the chocolate and sit on cooling racks to set.

If you have extra cookies that didn't get the chocolate, they can be frozen and finished another day.

Lower Fat Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream

I recently spent a week house sitting and have a few new recipes to post that came from that week. The first of which is a Lower Fat Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream. Given that this was family I was house sitting for who told me what baking ingredients they had available for they left I used what they had to make an ice cream. It wasn't as high of a priority to make seeing how the weather had finally cooled off from the 30-35 degrees C we had been experiencing for the couple weeks prior. This turned out better than my previous ice creams had, and was exactly what I wanted at the time.

Enjoy!

Lower Fat Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2/3 cup agave syrup
3 1/2 cups half and half
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 lb strawberries

Preparation:

Combine agave and egg yolks into a medium sauce pan, whisk together. Add half and half in slowly, whisking as you add it. Cook over medium heat until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, or starts trying to boil over. This should take approximately half an hour.

During this time slice the strawberries fairly small and over medium low heat allow the strawberries to cook. They should appear to be a chunky sauce when done.

Remove from heat and add in the cocoa powder and vanilla. Mix well, add in the strawberry mixture. Place in a bowl and into the fridge. Allow to chill for a minimum of 4 hours.

Finish in an ice cream maker, following the ice cream makers directions.

Taco Pizza with Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Well recently my sister in law was staying with us for a few days while she was in the process of moving. One night she wanted Taco Pizza for dinner, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to actually write up the recipe I have for this.If I had some chia seeds they would have gone into the dough, but sadly I don't have any at the moment.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1/2 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup warm water
2 tbsp chilli olive oil (or regular)
1 tbsp agave syrup

Preparation:

Combine water, yeast, and agave syrup to activate the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Form into a ball, cover with a lint free towel and place in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size.

The dough is quick rising so begin the topping preparation while the dough rises.

Taco Pizza

Yield: 1 pizza

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef, cooked
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can tomato paste
2 tbsp Club House Tex Mex seasoning
1 tomato, sliced
1 shallot, sliced thin
2 jalapenos, slice thin (this makes a spicy pizza, use less for a milder pizza)
1/2 romaine heart, shredded
2 1/2 cups grated mozza and cheddar cheeses
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tbsp 1% milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook the ground beef  over medium heat and the taco seasoning following the package instructions.

While the ground beef cooks, prepare the remainder of the toppings.

Coat the pizza stone or bake sheet with cornmeal, roll out the dough, and place it on the pizza stone.

 The dough before it was rolled out.

The dough place on the pizza stone coated in cornmeal.

Mix the tomato paste and tex mex seasoning together and spread out over the crust, leaving the edges free.

 Sprinkle a small amount of cheese on the tomato paste.

 Add the ground beef with the taco seasoning. Roll up the edges.

 Top with tomato slices.

 Add the jalapenos an shallots.

Top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

After the pizza comes out of the oven top with the shredded lettuce and sour cream/milk mixture. The sour cream and milk are mixed together so that the sour cream is easier to drizzle on the pizza.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake with a Cinnamon Chocolate Oat Streusel Topping

Now that there is a lot of rhubarb ready to be harvested we needed to find a use for some of it. For a family dinner this weekend my mom asked me to come up with a recipe for a rhubarb cake. This is the recipe I came up with; a moist rhubarb coffee cake with a chocolate cinnamon streusel topping. The topping may seem a bit odd, but trust me it works well. Everyone loved it, although some vanilla ice cream would have been a welcome addition to this dish.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg
1 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups rhubarb (2 cups run through the food processor, 1 cup finely chopped)

Chocolate Cinnamon Oat Streusel

1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tbsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter, melted
4 tbsp coconut sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine yogurt, applesauce, and coconut sugar. Mix well, add vanilla and egg and mix well. Add dry ingredients, mix until ingredients are just combined.

Combine streusel ingredients in bowl until the mixture is mixed well and crumbly.

Pour into a greased 9x13 (or slightly smaller) pan and pour the streusel over top.

Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool most of the way before serving.

These are how I had prepared the rhubarb for this cake.

A view of the streusel topping on the cake. I was really yummy. Could almost eat it as a granola in some yogurt. Hmmmm... may need to try that.:)

Lime Cream Cheese Pound Cake

As seems to be a constant thing, I have one item or two that need to be used fairly quickly before they expire. In this case it was the cream cheese. I spent a couple days debating between making some cream cheese cookies or a pound cake. In the end it was the limes sitting in the fridge that made the decision that it would be a Lime Cream Cheese Pound Cake. This cake was moist and not overly sweet, which is both uncommon for many pound cakes, and a nice change. No glass of milk required!

Enjoy!

Lime Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Yield: 1 standard size pound cake

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
12 oz light cream cheese (1 1/2 blocks)
2 1/2 cups coconut sugar
4 tbsp chia seeds
6 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder

Glaze:

6 oz light cream cheese (1/2 block)
3 tbsp agave
Juice of 1 lime (can add the zest if you wish to)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream together butter, cream cheese, and coconut sugar in a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add eggs 1 at a time and mix each egg in most of the way before adding the next. Add the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Add dry ingredients, mix until just incorporated. Do not overmix!

Grease or butter and flour a pound cake pan and add batter. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for half an hour then tip the pan and remove the cake. Allow the cake to finish cooling completely before adding the glaze.

Glaze:

Cream the cream cheese until smooth (do not have a brain fart moment and do what I did and add everything at one time!) Once cream cheese is smooth add the agave and lime juice. Mix well and drizzle over the cake.