Apple Pancakes

Usually the fact that I can't eat meat on Fridays during Lent isn't a big deal, because I'm around great fish fry places.  Then I moved to Texas, where BBQ is king.  Safe to say I've had to improvise and make my own meatless dishes on Fridays.  If anyone in the Dallas area knows of a great fish fry place that compares to what's offered in the Midwest, please give me a shout!  

Back to the pancakes, I made this on a Friday for my meatless breakfast for dinner, and it was a hit!  

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl whisk together buttermilk, applesauce, egg and butter.  

Add flour mixture to the applesauce mixture and whisk just until moistened.

Dice one apple into small bites.  You can peel the apple if you like, this will make the apples a little more mushy into the pancake.  I chose to leave the peels on.

Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray.  Heat over medium high, and in batches drop batter into the skillet. 

Sprinkle each pancake with the diced apple.  Cook until bubbles appear on the top, 2-5 minutes.  then flip the pancake and cook until golden brown on both sides.  Repeat by adding cooking spray and remaining batter.

C and I both really enjoyed these.  They tasted different than regular pancakes because of the apple and apple sauce.  They were sweet and crunchy.  Perfect for breakfast, or (my favorite) breakfast for dinner!

Enjoy on Friday or any old day of the week!

Have a great weekend, see you back here on Monday :)

Apple Pancakes

Serves 4

Adapted from Everyday Food

1 cup flour

1 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup applesauce

1 egg

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 apple, diced 

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, applesauce, egg and butter. 

Add flour mixture to applesauce mixture.

Whisk until just moistened.

Lightly coat a large skillet with non-stick spray.

Heat over medium high and in batches drop batter into the skillet.

Sprinkle each pancake with diced apples.

Cook until bubbles appear on top and a few have burst, 2-5 minutes.

Flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, 2-5 minutes.

Repeat with more cooking spray and remaining batter.

Food Photo Shoot in NYC

Caesar salad at Valbella in the Meat Packing District.

Lobster risotto at Valbella.  One of the best risottos I've ever had.

Crumbs cupcake store in Times Square.

Pretty excited to try them out!

Red velvet cupcake.  Delicious!

Vanilla Cupcakes w/ Fruit Glaze

Has everyone heard of the 24 hour cupcake vending machine?  Please check it out, it's an interesting concept, and from what I've heard so far, it's pretty popular.  Sounds kind of dangerous to me, dangerous in a good way but still!  Maybe if the machine was vending cupcakes like these I would be more on board.  These are made with white beans.  Stay with me, don't exit the site, they turned out delicious!  Trust me when I say I was as hesitant as you might be, especially because I don't like beans.  They have no resemblance of bean taste though...it's all fruity and delicious!  Especially because they're pretty healthy!

Cook 1 -15oz can of cannellini beans.  Rinse, drain.  In a food processor combine beans, butter, and sugar.  Process until smooth.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add eggs and egg whites and mix until incorporated.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 24 muffin cups with liners, or cupcake cups.  In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Beat the bean mixture into the flour until well combined.  

Stir in buttermilk and vanilla and mix well.

Divide batter amount cups and bake until puffed and set, about 15 minutes.  Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.  

For the frosting whisk together powdered sugar and fruit puree until smooth.  Add more powdered sugar if mixture is to runny.

Dip top of each cupcake in the glaze, letting excess drip off.  Let glaze set, about 15 minutes before serving.  These cupcakes were moist and delicious.  Believe it or not, they're only 200 calories a piece, which isn't too bad!  I really enjoyed the fruit frosting, it was something different and very tasty on the cupcakes.

Had to include this picture - had a little furry visitor as I was trying to take the final picture.  Don't worry, no animals were harmed during the photo shoot and she didn't eat any of it.  Please don't report me to the authorities ;)

Vanilla Cupcakes w/ Fruit Glaze

Serving Size 24 cupcakes

Adapted from Everyday Food

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 can 15oz cannellini beans

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, plus 2 large egg whites

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup fruit puree *9oz frozen raspberries thawed and pureed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook the cannellini beans as directed, drain and rinse.

In a food processor combine beans, butter, and sugar; process until smooth.

Transfer to a large bowl and add eggs and egg whites. 

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Beat the bean mixture into the flour mixture until well combined.

Add in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Divide the batter among cupcake cups and bake until puffed and set, around 15 minutes.

When finished baking transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting: beat together powdered sugar and fruit puree until smooth.  

Dip each cupcake into the glaze, letting excess drip off.  

Let glaze set, about 15 minutes, then serve.

Enjoy!

Avocado Dressing

I know this might sound crazy, but I think other foodies will back me up on this.  With certain foods I can remember exactly when I started loving them.  Avocado is a good example of that for me.  I was living in Europe, we were traveling a lot, and trying not to spend a ton of money on food.  We were frugal students back then (although my parents might disagree with that) at least it seemed like we were!  Anyway, we would stop at a grocery store when we got to a city and buy ingredients to make sandwiches for lunch so we didn't have to stop at restaurants.  Instead of buying dressing we opted for avocado.  Avocado, turkey, and amazing bread.  I can still taste it, and as the years have passed I've been adding avocado to more and more, and I must say, it's always delicious. 

This recipe is awesome because it's simple and you can use it for many things.  In a food processor or blender, combine two avocados, buttermilk, scallion, parsley, mint leaves, lemon juice, 1/2 cup of water, salt and pepper to taste.  Pulse until smooth.

I used this as a salad dressing, and it was perfect.  Like having avocado pieces but as a dressing, can't get much better than that!  You can also use it as a spread on a sandwich or also as a dressing for chicken salad, which would also be pretty tasty.

Do you have any favorite memories of when you first tried and started enjoying a food?  

Avocado Dressing

Makes ~2 1/2 cups

Adapted from Everyday Food

2 avocados
1 cup buttermilk
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste


In a food processor or blender combine all ingredients.
Pulse until smooth. 
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Photography Challenge - #18

My shoes.

Port Aransas Brewing Company

One final restaurant review from my trip to Port Aransas.  For dinner one night we tried out Port Aransas Brewing Company.  They brew all their own beer and are known for their burgers.  C was excited for the beer, I was excited for the burger.  Win, win.

Brewing their beer.. right behind the bar.  Kind of cool to see! 

Interesting tid-bit on their menu.  They actually have their own steers, naturally raised.  I don't see this a lot, and it's impressive.

C's beer... before he drank it all :)

C got a burger with bleu cheese and jalapenos on it.  Along with some sweet potato fries, which he said were delicious.

I got the cheeseburger with avocado, which I love putting on my burger.  I don't even need ketchup or mustard because I like the avocado flavor so much!  This was a whole lot of food, I must say.

I liked the burger a lot, and it was a lot of food.  I will say I like my burger cooked around medium, and this one was a little overcooked.  It was still really good though.  The restaurant was very busy, and had a lot more to offer on their menu.  Hopefully one day I'll be back to try some of their other offerings.

Have a great weekend everyone & GO GREEN!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn

I saw this recipe on a favorite food blog of mine and couldn't resist.  Anything that incorporates chocolate and peanut butter together in a new way I'm on board.  After tasting this, you will be on board too!

You'll need around 8 cups of popped popcorn.  It was around 3 bags for me.  Place the popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.

Cut up 1 1/2 cups of mini Reese's peanut butter cups in half.

Mix the honey and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for around 2 minutes then remove from heat.

Add in the peanut butter and stir vigorously until all the peanut butter is melted.  The mix in the vanilla extract.

Immediately pour the peanut butter caramel over the popcorn and gently stir with a wooden spoon until it's all coated.  Spread the popcorn on a baking sheet.

Drizzle popcorn with melted chocolate and let sit until the chocolate hardens.

Then stir in the mini Reese's peanut butter cups. 

This is similar to caramel corn, but two steps better!  If you're looking for a savory sweet dessert that's bound to make everyone happy this is exactly it!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn

Serving size 8 cups

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

8 cups plain popcorn

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup melted chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups, chopped

Place popped popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix the honey and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Let it simmer for around 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

Stir in the peanut butter and stir vigorously until it's melted.  

Then mix in the vanilla extract.

Immediately pour the peanut butter caramel over the popcorn and gently stir with a wooden spoon until coated.

Spread popcorn on a large baking sheet.

Drizzle popcorn with mPublish Postelted chocolate and let sit until chocolate hardens.

Stir in the mini Reese's cups and enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

We're Beach People

Thought I would share some of my favorite photos from our recent trip to Port Aransas.  We all had a great time, but I think Mia might have enjoyed it the most.  C and her had a blast playing king of the hill on the beach.

Even when it's not really hot and sunny I love being by water.  So peaceful!

Kind of cool how close to the water some of the birds fly.

Mia found something to chew on..shocking, I know!

We also went to the infamous belt sander races at a bar called the Gaff.  Mia enjoyed herself here too :)

The race track... it was pretty fun to watch!

People decorated their belt sanders for the races, some were very creative.  They were hard to get a picture of because they were racing and flying by you, but I caught this one.

Mia and C's Dad.  She loved being around his parents.

And possibly my favorite picture of the whole trip.  Yes ladies, this is my boyfriend...feeling up a wooden mermaid on a boat.  Don't be jealous ;)