Ricotta Pancakes

This past weekend was my church's General Conference.  Basically, it is a semiannual meeting with speakers, singing, and inspiring messages.  It is one of the highlights of my spring.  

Typically I try to do something to make it special, so a fun breakfast seemed appropriate.  I had made these ricotta pancakes before, remembered them being really great.  They definitely didn't disappoint. They were a delicious start to a terrific day.  

They would also be a great Easter breakfast, because they are pretty fast, and quite simple to make (although you do have to whip the egg whites).  

Ricotta Pancakes: 

Yields 15-20 pancakes

from Food and Wine

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs, separated

1 3/4 cups plus 2 Tbs milk

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs ricotta cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbs pure vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  

In a stand mixer, take the egg whites, and whip them until soft peaks form.  

In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, the milk, the ricotta, the sugar and the vanilla.  

Add the flour mixture and stir until smooth.  Add the egg whites and mix until no streaks are left.  

Heat a griddle until piping hot.  Pour 1/4 cup or so onto the griddle.  Once bubbles form on the top, flip and let cook for another 15- 30 seconds, then remove.  Eat while hot.  

Top with fresh fruit and yogurt or whipped cream, or butter and maple syrup (my personal favorite).  

Freeze any leftovers for up to 2 weeks.  

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Gluten-Free Nutty Brownies

Did I ever tell you that I am part of the most wonderful book club?  Janssen was in it first, and always spoke so fondly of it, that it sounded like something I would love to be a part of one day.

This book club has rather a lot of rules, including that there are only 12 members of the group, so I was not invited while Janssen was part of it (which was completely okay with me, by the way), but a year or so after she moved away, someone else dropped out, and I was invited to join.

I jumped at the chance, and have found this book club to be one of the most rewarding activities of my life.  I have had such a wonderful association with the women in this group, and have read some outstanding books.  This book club is truly a judgement-free zone.

Twice a year, I am in charge of bringing food, and for March's meeting, we read "Bread and Wine," a truly exceptional book by Shauna Neiquist (I also want to read her book, "Present Over Perfect").  It is a semi-memoir, where she shares some of her most poignant and wonderful experiences with food.  It is a beautifully written book, and has some tasty recipes in it.

I made these brownies from her book, adapted slightly, because I didn't have walnuts on hand, but they were some of the best brownies I have ever had.  And I don't even like brownies with nuts!

They are great even if you are not gluten-free, even better if you are!  Next time you are looking to make an exceptional dessert, look no further.  You won't regret it!

Nutty Brownies

Adapted slightly from Nigella Lawson 

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup white sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups almond meal

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 325°F.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate chips together.  Remove the pan from heat once smooth, and add the vanilla and sugar.  Let cool for 4-5 minutes, then add the eggs, almond meal and pecans.

Grease an 8x8 pan, and pour the brownie batter in.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (I baked mine for closer to 45 minutes), or until the edges and top are set, but the middle is still a little jiggly.

Remove from the oven, let cool, and serve at room temperature or cold.

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Peanut Butter White Chocolate Muffins + Growing Orchids

Currently, there is an orchid sitting on the window sill next to our kitchen table.  No buds on it yet, although this time last year, I counted eight or ten beautiful purple flowers.

Yesterday, I finally noticed that there weren't any buds.  I worried for a moment, although the rest of the plant looks healthy, that maybe it had finally decided to die.   You see, I am kind of a plant nurse.

In a past life, before I had Fox, I worked at a dental office, and we ran through a series of plants that were either killed by inexperienced gardeners, or died from lack of sunlight, and when they were on their way out, I often took them home (I probably brought six or seven plants home over the course of a year).

I love having plants in my home, but they are kind of expensive to buy, so I decided to give these secondhand plants another shot at life, and babied them along.  But one by one, bad things happened to them; one (a gorgeous purple hydrangea) got infested with bugs, a few withered and died, and one or two I gave up on and tossed.

This orchid was the last plant I brought home, and it sat on my window sill for about nine months, almost forgotten.  I would water it when I remembered, usually every week or so, and expected it to fade and die like the others.

Then, one day, I saw a bud appear!  I was completely surprised and thrilled.  I got one flower out of it that time.  The next time it bloomed, I got three.  The next, fourteen.  Each flower was a gift, and I was thrilled every time a new one would appear

We took this plant to Utah last summer, and the long, hot car ride was a little traumatizing for it, I think.  All the petals fell off, and it hasn't bloomed since.

Yesterday, when I caught myself looking at it, I remembered what my gardener mother-in-law said about orchids, "When you want them to bloom, put them in the sunshine."

Now it sits on the windowsill, waiting for the sunshine to help it bloom.  Then my thoughts turned to me.  How often do I fill my life so full of other things that I forget to put myself in the sunshine?  To remember to find the happy in every day, or to appreciate the little things, to find joy in the things I do every day, and to remember that I have been giving so much.

My mom often says that you have to make your own sunshine, and I think I am finally starting to understand.  That doesn't mean the laundry suddenly gets really fun, or that I will ever love doing dishes, but maybe I can take a breather and enjoy the morning on the balcony with Fox.  Be present at the park.  Get down and play trains on the floor, and enjoy the wonder, the smiles and the new words of my little boy.  Take a break from social media and really listen to my husband.

Not every moment is sunshine, but there are sunshine moments to be had every day, so look for them, and you will see them.  I am starting to see them, too.

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Muffins: 
slightly adapted from the Blendtec Cookbook
Serves 12

1 cup milk
2 large eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking powder
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 - 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

In a large glass (or microwave safe bowl), melt the peanut butter slightly, until it is runny.  Add the sugar, then the eggs, then the milk and beat until combined.  Then add the flour, salt, baking powder and flour all at once, and mix until just combined.  Add white chocolate and mix briefly/gently until evenly distributed.

Grease a muffin tin, and scoop the batter into the tins.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are beginning to brown, and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, and turn out onto a wire cooling rack.  Best if eaten immediately.

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Blood Orange Gelato

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and because I am trying to be a cool mom, I made these waffles.  Despite my implicit trust in Ruth Reichl's recipes, they were actually not the best waffles I have ever eaten... This was also not the first time I had made them, either.  I have an amusing story to tell you about the first attempt.  

I decided to make them for Fox's birthday last month, and although they are supposed to be an overnight recipe, I was in a rush, and adapted them for a quick rise.  The batter rose well, and they looked pretty good, so I quickly added the eggs and gave it a few good stirs to make sure they were beaten in and then began cooking them.  

We enjoyed many of them them, but still had some extra batter left, so Adam volunteered to finish making them so that we could freeze the rest.  A couple minutes later, I hear a shout of surprised from the kitchen.  There, in the middle of the waffle iron, was an entire egg yolk...  

You aren't supposed to cook eggs in the waffle iron, so it made a huge mess and took him a couple minutes to clean it out.  He continued making the waffles, and then, to both our horror, another entire egg yolk dumped into the waffle iron.  Somehow, I hadn't mixed either of the eggs into the batter.  Whoops!

So, I gave them one more go yesterday, this time, mixing the eggs before dumping them into the batter.  They were much better, although I am still on the lookout for the perfect waffle recipe.  Let me know if you have one!

Now onto this blood orange gelato recipe.  I actually made this last year, but was holding out on you, because the photos I got were pretty terrible.  I was planning on making it again for a second round of photos, but by then, they were out of season, and it was too late to post.  

It is a recipe worth saving though, so I just had to get it up this year.  I hope you like it as much as I do!  Happy Wednesday! 

Blood Orange Gelato:

1 cup whole milk

1 cup white granulated sugar

peel from 1 blood orange

1/2 cup blood orange juice

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 egg yolks

Combine the milk and 1/2 cup of the cream and the sugar in a small saucepan.  Heat over medium, until the mixture is steaming.  Remove from heat, add the orange peel, and cover.  Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes.  In a medium bowl, combine the cream and the 5 eggs yolks.  

Once your 30 minutes is up, remove the orange peel from the milk mixture, and throw the orange peel away.  Now, begin heating up your milk mixture again over medium low.  

Once it is pretty warm to the touch, add two or three spoonfuls to the egg and cream mixture, and stir.   Now, begin stirring your milk mixture, and slowly pour the egg mixture in one steady stream into your warm milk mixture. Continue stirring for about 10 minutes, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.  Remove from the heat, add the orange juice, and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, and refrigerate it for 2-4 hours.  

Once it is very cold, pour it into an ice cream maker and mix it according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Remove the ice cream from the maker and put it in a sealable container.  Let it freeze for 4-6 hours, then serve and enjoy!  Will keep in the freezer for 5-7 days

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Sugar Free Salted Caramel Ice Cream

This post kind of needs a disclaimer.  For one thing, this recipe does not have any caramel in it.  Anywhere.  But somehow, the maple, cinnamon and salt combo did this freaky thing, and became a gorgeously rich and caramel-y ice cream.  Not sure how it happened, but it was amazing.

Also, there isn't a stitch of refined sugar to be seen.  Only a large amount of maple syrup, which, depending on who you talk to, is better much better for you than refined sugar.  I like to think so, anyway.

At any rate, you would never know the difference and it is certainly sweet enough for the sweetest sweet tooth.  And you will NOT regret making it.  It is divine!  

Salted Caramel Ice Cream:

adapted from serious eats

6 egg yolks (save the whites and make an angel food cake)

3/4 cup real maple syrup

1 1/4 cup whole milk

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp high-quality cinnamon (I used Frontier Co-Op)

In a medium saucepan, which egg yolks and syrup well.  Add whole milk, cream, salt and cinnamon, and stir.  Set on the stove over medium-low heat, stirring often until the mixture coats the back of the spoon, thickly (around 10-15 minutes).  Chill for 6 hours or overnight.

Churn in an ice cream maker.  Put ice cream in an airtight tupperware and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.  

Enjoy! 

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