Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows...

I love spring. I'm sure you picked up on it with my recent choice of recipes. I love that I can walk to work in the morning wearing shorts. I love that the trees are in bloom and the air smells like freshly mowed lawns. I love that we leave our windows open well into the night and that the sun is still warm after 5pm. And I love the color of food. I hear lemons are in season year round, but they just seem most appropriate in the spring. Hence all the lemon recipes. And if you haven't had enough, here is one more! This one has been by far my favorite. These pancakes are the most wonderful, perfect thing in the world. They are light and full of lemon flavor and when paired with the strawberry puree they are tangy and sweet to boot. I first heard of lemon pancakes on Tara Weaver's blog Tea and Cookies when she posted about Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. They looked fun and tasty and so a few months later I gave it a try, with a few twists of my own. Enjoy spring, enjoy these pancakes and enjoy life!


Fluffy Lemon Pancakes
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/8 C. powdered sugar
1/2  tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 C. milk
1/2 C. Sour Cream
1 egg
1 Tbs. Softened butter
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1-2 Tbs. freshly grated lemon peel depending on how lemony you want it to be
Combine flour, powdered sugar, baking soda and baking powder in large bowl. Combine all remaining pancake ingredients in small bowl; mix until smooth. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until well mixed.Heat lightly greased griddle or frying pan. For each pancake, spoon 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle; spread to form 4-inch circle.Cook until bubbles form on top.Turn pancakes; continue cooking until very light brown. Keep warm.Repeat with remaining batter.


                                                                                    Strawberry Puree
2 cups fresh strawberries, stems and leaves removed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. fresh squeezed lemon juice
Blend strawberries, lemon juice and powdered sugar in blender until smooth. Puree should be medium thin and easy to pour. You can adjust sweetness to sourness by adding more lemon or more sugar. If you need to thin out the puree add a few Tbs water. Pour puree on pancakes and go outside to eat. 

And now for more of that crazy dragon story...

Part III: That Chapter When I Learn About Myself

Chicken Pot Pie and Finals

Final Exams call for comfort food, but none of this ice cream or cheap cookies or hot pocket stuff, as delicious as those can be. Finals are heavy duty and therefore one needs heavy duty comfort food; food that takes you back to family dinners, and reminds you of your mom in a warm, toasty kitchen. Homemade Chicken Pot Pie is the ultimate comfort food; the pie crust is flaky and thick, filled full of grilled chicken and cheese and broccoli. It takes so long to cook that you can avoid studying for your finals for 2 whole hours, but at the end you are still happy because you are eating something warm and delicious. This also happens to be the best pie crust recipe ever. 

Extra Flaky Pie Crust (Adapted from my Mom who got it out of a Pillsbury Cookbook)

2 cups sifted cold flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vinegar (to make crust flaky)

¾ cup butter

6 tablespoons ice water

Sift cold flour, sugar and salt together.  Grate butter (on cheese grater) into flour/salt and add vinegar. I grate the butter so that I don't have to cut it in with a pastry fork. Mix butter and flour together gently with hands until a crumbly mixture has formed. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time while mixing with hands until a ball is formed. Dough should be pliable and hold together but not wet at all. Adding too little water will cause the dough to crack when rolling, and adding to much water will make the dough sticky.  Split in half and roll out both halves on floured surface, then put one half in pie plate.

Chicken Filling

4 oz sour cream (1/2 cup)

3 oz canned/evaporated milk (1/3 cup)

½ cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

½ bunch of steamed/chopped broccoli

1-2 chicken breasts, grilled and chopped into bite size pieces

Mix all ingredients together. Fill crust in the pie plate with filling and then cover with the other pie crust. Pinch sides together to seal. Brush evaporated milk on top of crust before baking for a golden brown crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Invite a friend over to eat. And then take a break from finals and read Part II of this story. 

Part II- In Which the World Turns Itself Inside Out...

More Lemony Goodness and a Magical Tale

Lemons are my new favorite food. They are a springy color, they smell fantastic and you can slice them up and put them in your bath. This dish has lemon zest in it, enough said.
This refreshing meal is sophisticated, delicious and just speaks of springtime. The vibrant colors of the vegetables and the tangy zing of the dressing makes this dish look wonderful and taste delicious. It can be a little expensive (for poor college students) and it takes a bit of time, but it is worth it.

Lemony Shrimp with Couscous (adapted from my roommate's recipe card)
1cup water
3/4 cup uncooked couscous
1cup cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp (You can cook and devein your own shrimp if you have the patience or want an excuse to talk to someone for a long time)
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup very finely chopped fresh parsley
3 Tablespoons chopped green onions
Almost 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest
2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Boil 1 cup water in small saucepan; add couscous. Immediately remove from heat cover and let stand 5 minutes or until done. Fluff with fork. Chop shrimp into large pieces, careful not to cut them too small as they will lose presence in couscous, you could even leave them whole if you wanted. Add chopped shrimp, green onions and red pepper to couscous. Mix lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, allspice, salt, and pepper and then pour over couscous mixture. Cover and chill for at least an hour to let flavors set, overnight if desired.

Red Pepper Salad (adapted from my roommate's recipe card)
1/4 cup canola oil
1-2 (?) teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1-2 (?) teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
ground pepper
several large bell peppers (1 green, 1 yellow and 1 red makes a nice coloring)

Cut peppers into strips. Beat together oil, vinegars and salt together. Pour over peppers  and adjust taste as needed, aka add more balsamic or red wine vinegar. Cover and let sit for at least 30 min.

*Just an idea: The shrimp and couscous has a very delicate flavor than some can enjoy on its own. If you want to add a little more kick try mixing the couscous with the red pepper salad. The dressing on the red peppers will make the whole meal more intense.

And for the Magical Tale- This is a story I started writing earlier in the semester. It is not finished and I have no idea where it is going but enjoy it for what it is!

Part I: The Chapter in Which an Old Man Comes to my Work

Brunch and Sunshine

Reading Days (noun):
1. The time in between the last day of classes and the first day of finals reserved for review sessions, studying and general stress
2. Two days with no class during which one can hold a delicious brunch and have an excuse to make Lemony Sunshine Muffins

Lemony Sunshine Muffins (I just made the name up, you can call it whatever you want)- adapted from Pampered Chef.

Muffins:

1 cup flour (all-purpose)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 stick softened butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange zest
2 tsp lemon zest
Glaze:
1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare mini muffin pan by lightly spraying with cooking spray or by lining with miniature liners.
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, or your mixer bowl, mix the softened stick of butter and sugar together well.
Add the egg and mix until smooth.
Add sour cream, vanilla and zest and mix in. (Note on the zest: I kind of just grated the zest straight into the mixture until it looked like enough. Add more or less depending on how citrusy you want the muffins to be)
Add your flour mixture and mix until it is moistened, being careful not to overmix, which will ruin your muffins.
Divide the batter between the 24 muffin cups.
Bake for 12-13 minutes. Muffins should be light golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool in pan 3 minutes. Remove from pan and place on serving platter.
Mix together lemon juice and powdered sugar to create glaze. Add more sugar or lemon juice to taste. Drizzle glaze over muffins and serve!

Today's fiction is an exciting tale of fairies and gnomes and little talking birds...

White Sauce with a Twist

As per request, here is the cheesy white sauce recipe for the pizza. Enjoy!

1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon cream cheese
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
salt or garlic powder to taste

Melt butter and cream cheese in small saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk together. It will begin to form a lump and might look grainy. Slowly add milk and continue to stir. The sauce may seem thin but it will thicken as it cooks and again as it cools. The cream cheese has enough salt and flavor in it that I did not think it necessary to spice, but do what tastes best to you!This recipe made enough white sauce to spread thickly over one medium-large pizza.

And to go along with this mini post I wrote a mini story:

Once upon a time there was a magical land where elves did everyone's taxes for free. And it was awesome. The End

Pizza and People

Homemade pizza is one of those simple joys in life. It takes just enough time to create memories but not enough time to be tedious. I found this pizza crust recipe in a book from my mom and I loved it so much that I had to make it two nights in a row! The crust is fairly simple and because it has wheat flour in it we can pretend it's healthy. The toppings are all entirely optional but I include my suggestions below. Enjoy!

Thick Crust Pizza Dough (adapted from The Pillsbury Cookbook)

3/4 cup wheat flour
1-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 pkg. active dry yeast
3/4 cup water1 tablespoon olive oil

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup wheat flour, salt, sugar and yeast; blend well. In a small saucepan, heat water and oil until very warm (120 to 130 degrees F); add to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour to form stiff dough.
On a floured surface knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place (I turn the oven on warm and put it in there) until light and doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Roll our dough to desired thickness and bake at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes until just set. Take out from oven and add sauce and toppings. Return to oven and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes until crust is browned and cheese is melted and turning crispy. Eat and read the following story:

* My toppings: after making this two nights in a row I came up with the ultimate combination- but it has more grown up flavors on it so I wouldn't suggest it for kids. We made a simple white sauce (ask me if you really want it) but substituted some of the butter for cream cheese. This made it creamy and flavorful. On top of the sauce we put chicken we had grilled with garlic and pesto. We added baby spinach leaves, sliced tomatoes, a little mozzarella and feta cheese. It was delicious! The only thing I would change would be to add more spinach and tomatoes as they shrink while cooking.

And now for the fiction:

On Food and Folklore

This blog is the product of an Introduction to Folklore class, too many hours spent on food blogs and an empty stomach.

I enrolled in Intro to Folklore with the idea that we would study fairy tales, look at quilting patterns and maybe listen to some banjo music. I was sort of right. We spent weeks analyzing fairy tales and discussing the implications of shoes, apples and keys, but after this there were no banjos and no quilts. Instead we studied the internet and how it related to folklore. Did you know that Wikipedia is considered folklore? Anyways, it was also during this time that I was desperately looking for a semi interesting topic to write my final research paper on. I decided to write about food. I love food. And if I had to write a ten page paper, it was going to be about something good. I began my research trying to incorporate the current study from my class with the idea that the internet probably played a significant role in the folklore of food. Through my research I discovered food blogs. And I fell in love. I spent hours looking at food blogs, and because I could call it research, I didn't even feel guilty! I soon had favorite blogs that I would frequent and I even contacted their authors to see if I could use their information for my project. Everyone was wonderful and accommodating. 2 banana cakes, 1 fallen souffle and 32 pages later, my paper was finished.

I turned the paper in but continued to indulge in my food blog addiction. For a few seconds I even considered starting my own blog. But a lack of computer skills and an even more obvious lack of real cooking skills ruled that out. But a few weeks ago my Folklore teacher offered me a bargain I couldn't resist. Revamp my project as a blog and I wouldn't have to write a 1000 word essay as my final. Is that really even a choice? But as I mentioned previously, my sorry lack of cooking skills would make for a boring blog. So I had to come up with an angle. I considered my odd habit of writing little anecdotes when I was bored and decided that would do. So here is my food/writing blog. Because you always need a snack to go along with a good story.

In case you were wondering, I still don't know how I did not the paper, but this was the main idea of it-
"The unofficial character of food blogs promotes communication and encourages artistic expression through food. For these reasons, food blogs should be recognized as genuine folklore. After hours of visiting food blogs and baking the recipes I found, I decided that recipes are meant to be shared. They should be spread out so that the whole world can create and enjoy the memories of food"- From "On Sharing and Sugar: An Analysis of Food and Folklore" by Me


If you want to read the entire essay, it is posted here: