Blitz Pancakes.... Don't mistake for Blintz

Some of my favorite recipes are from my childhood. Some things just can't be changed and some things will always remain perfect. My comfort foods if you may.

I remember eating these a lot growing up. When my siblings would come into town, as we all became adults... my mom would always make these. She would pull out some freezer jam she had made in the summer, and we would all patiently await them as she cooked them. They are wonderful.

They are nothing like a pancake. They do not become light and fluffy. That is a plus in my book since I absolutely hate pancakes with my whole being. They soak up the syrup and are like little sponges. Makes me want to scrape my tongue on cement. EWWWWWW... BUT THESE, are a little bit of heaven. Each bite.

They are somewhat like a crepe, but they are thicker and have more flavor. My family loves them as well.

I need to say, my Aunt Becky gave this recipe to my mom. They were best friends for many years, and then they lost contact. I recently found her daughters through facebook, and found out that Aunt Becky had died. She was hit by a car in a parking lot at her job and she died. My heart hurt for her daughters and to know I didn't find them in time to say hello and good bye just one last time. Aunt Becky was a great cook and had a great smile and liked to laugh. She and my mom met through some sewing conference or something like that when I was in kindergarten. We shared holidays together and I used to go to their house in the summer now and again. I really liked her, and her family and I am blessed to be reunited with her daughters.

So, enjoy these breakfast goodies and raise your glass of milk and salute my Aunt Becky....


Blitz Pancakes....

1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
3/4 t. salt
1 c. sour cream
1 c. small curd cottage cheese
4 eggs well beaten


Mix all the ingredients and cook on a griddle, or in fry pan sprayed with nonstick oil. These are very moist...and yummy, but...make sure that the bottom side has set up before you flip them. Great to eat with jam and jelly, or fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Peaches and Cream Muffins are oh so good...

Muffins.... Do you know how many muffins there are? Tons... and they are so good. One of my favorite things to eat are muffins. I search for new recipes all the time. They are simple to make and wrap individually for a quick breakfast. They are always welcomed by neighbors as little tokens of kindness. I never have had anyone turn down muffins. When Taylor was in the hospital for that year (nearly a year) and I was raising money to take our family to a Southern California vacation for him when he got out... I would hold bake sales at work... where most of the money came from. Muffins were one of the best sellers. They are loved by many.

I recently ran across a new recipe from a fellow blogger at Never Enough Thyme. Her recipe was for Peaches and Cream muffins. PERFECT. I love peaches... and it sounded interesting, so I prepared them for a potluck I was going to. They were a hit. They were moist and wonderful. I actually doubled the recipe which you can find here... Peaches and Cream Muffins (check out her recipes. They will not disappoint you.) When I doubled the recipe... instead of doubling the sour cream, I actually used a container of peach yogurt. It tasted good as well. I also added a little bit of cinnamon to the batter to make it a little bit like a peach cobbler flavor.

Here is the recipe. Again, please go and visit her. I have her added as a favorite and am following her yumminess. The reason you don't see muffin papers on my muffins is I used a Demarle baking piece that you don't have to, they just slip out. I don't sell for them... just love their products.

Peaches and Cream Muffins

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 30 min
Makes: 9 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• ½ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 cup chopped, fresh peaches
• Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, beat together the egg, sour cream and oil.
3. Combine dry ingredients and sift into the wet ingredients. Stir together just until moistened.
4. Stir in the peaches.
5. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray and place a paper liner in each cup.
6. Fill cups ¾ full with batter.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out nearly clean.

Chicken Orzo Salad

I love pasta salads as they are so diverse and can be made so many different ways and are easy to change up. I recently went to a potluck for my daughters reading club. She asked me to bring FRUIT? What the heck? Fruit? My heart sunk... I need to cook... I need to, it is not a choice... it is just how my brain works. I compromised and took peaches and cream muffins. The recipe is soon to follow. They turned out great. But... I wanted to take more, so I made a batch of chicken orzo salad with dill. It received many compliments. I just threw things in it that I had in my pantry. Again, all of my cooking are not measured out well... I just throw this and that in and play with it as I go. These are approximate and I know you will play with it as well to your liking.

1 box of orzo cooked and cooled and placed into a bowl
1/2 bottle ranch dressing
1/2 bottle Bernstines cheese and garlic fat free dressing
1 can asparagus
1 can olives sliced
1 can garbanzo beans
1 large can of chicken packed in water (it is found near the tuna in the grocery store... and tuna is fantastic in this salad also)
1 carton grape tomatoes halved
1 zucchini sliced
1/2 onion diced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 bunch of fresh dill chopped

Mix all the above ingredients and place in large bowl and chill. It is great with feta cheese as well, but I didn't have any on hand. Enjoy. Fantastic. Makes a big salad for potlucks.

Carlie and Taylor's Favorite Deviled Eggs aka Zippity Doo Dah Eggs

I sometimes forget what it was like to be a smoker. I did it for a long time... a tough habit to break really. But one thing that came from it... it my need for spices and what my kids call zippity doo dah. I had to drown my salads with pepper to taste it. I started adding more and more garlic to my cooking. My taste buds hadn't been what they could be. With that in mind, I quit smoking years ago... many years ago... but my love for the Zippity Doo Dah never ended.

Now, with as much as I love to cook... I could easily get offended that people always ask me to bring my deviled eggs and they really are not able to figure out how I make them. I just smile... not one has broken the *secret code* code yet. I, like most of my other recipes, vary the amounts here as well and I sometimes add a little bonus to them.


My Zippity Doo Dah Eggs

Boiled eggs (get ready as you are not getting the exact measurements as there are none... but trust me on this one....

Boil, peel and crack the eggs. I know it should go without saying, but cut the eggs the long way... point to point. P.S. TJ... if you are reading this, I still love you doll face, but I just needed to add that.

Scoop out the middle of the eggs, also known as the yellows or yolks (SMILE)

In a bowl, blend your yolks with a mixer. Get them as fine as you can. If you like lumpy eggs, so be it, but not as good as smooth centers in our house... and my kids, I must say are deviled egg experts... I mean they can eat a whole plate of them in a day... that makes them experts... right?

Add mayonaise to moisten the yolks... but don't add to much. The secret is coming up... trust me here and you can always add some later if you have never been a smoker such as me... or if you are a big cry baby from the secret ingredients...

next... add a few drops of tapito. If you don't know what this is... you will find it either in the mexican food aisle, or near the tabasco. A few drops will do it... (like 7 here... for luck of course). NEXT... add creamy horseradish! Yes... creamy horse radish, and about a teaspoon of mustard. I am sure you are assuming I mean mustard such as French's? WRONG. Chinese powder form of hot mustard! OMGawsh... it will wake you up in a heart beat. I don't mix it with water or anything... why dilute a great thing? Add your salt and lots of pepper.

Fill the egg halves with this mixture. Now for garnishment... I know most people use paprika, to make their eggs look pretty... but around in these parts... (our house) we use... cayanne pepper.

There you have it. Carlie called them fire cracker eggs for our block party. They were devoured in moments. I took two plate fulls and they were gone... completely... 100 percent gone. Not saying I didn't get any first. I said I TOOK two plates... but we actually made three plates full. WINK... sometimes I am stingy and don't share very well.

Fresh Tomato Basil and Mozzarella Salad

I went to Trader Joe's today. If you really know me, you know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Trader Joe's. So much so that yesterday was their fourth day open here in Salem and it was my third trip in... I love them that much. I think I will even go there today. EWWWWW... this may be a problem. Anyhow... there was fresh basil there that I will be planting in the yard so it will continue to grow. I love it. They also had a sample of a mozzarella cheese logs. This is fresh, where it is not hard, or in the string cheese form. It is soft and wet and ohhhhh so good. So, this was simple....

Collect fresh tomatoes. Aren't tomatoes fantastic right out of the garden and when they are fresh? I love them. So good to just eat with salt. Also gather fresh basil, and the mozzarella cheese for the salad. I put a bit of garlic powder in it as well...
This is what I am talking about... don't those tomoatoes look good... just slice the tops off and wash... eat them raw. So good.
I had to include the above photo... it is Carlie, my six year old daughter. She picked the basil off of the plant for me and was ripping the leaves and adding it to the salad for me. I love she is six and tells me... mommy it is so fun to cook together. It makes me so very happy.
Cut the tomatoes and add the basil as shown above. I love the colors and how they contrast against each other so much. It just looks so fresh and appetizing.

Slice and add the mozzarella cheese to the mix. Easy enough. Now... add balsamic vinegar to the salad. I also added, after the photo... a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I thought of getting wild and crazy (hahahaha, this is my idea of wild and crazy at 44) and adding red onion and olives to the mix. It was so very good. If you wanted a meat to the salad, a salami would be nice or prosciutto would be fantastic. I served this with some french bread, and it was dinner. Grantid, nobody in the house liked it. He didn't like fresh mozzarella and she didn't like balsamic vinegar. However, mommy loved it... and that, for last night is all that counted. THUS... I had to make a spinach salad as well and a turkey pita pocket for miss Carlie.

Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker... Southwestern Crepes

As per my previous post, you can see I do scour food blogs. One blog that caught my attention from day one is Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. I love foodie blogs of course, but hers has so much more to it.... life stories... do it yourself articles, and it just has a homey feel to it. She likes a lot of the same food I do by the looks of things. Sooooooo.... when I saw this recipe... I had to change my whole breakfast menu for my upcoming girls weekend. It looked THAT GOOD to me.

Well I made her recipe, but I did half just the way she wrote and half, I put extra sugar and cinnamon on the top layer... for my son Taylor. He is autistic and he has a thing with textures sometimes and I wanted something a little crisper on the outside. Now you wonder I am sure, why I didn't take a photo of both textures... the one just like hers, and the special one for Taylor. Quite simply... since it was a half batch... and there were three of us eating it... it was gone in no time flat... and all I had left were Taylor's... so as Gilly from Saturday Night Live would say... SORRY....

First... here is her site and the recipe for southwestern crepes. You will love it over there as much as I do. She is a super sweet lady too. Her recipes are to die for. I have many on my list to try. I just had to do this one as soon as I saw it though as it looked so good and we have girls weekend coming up this weekend. Yeah. I will be topping these with whipping cream as well just so our butts grow a little bit more. What are girls weekends for?

Second... try this recipe.... super easy and so very good.

Third, I am not giving you the recipe here... you need to go to her site to see it... and browse there. LOL! You will be glad you did.

Ham, Swiss and Asparagus Strada...

My job has me so very busy trying to figure out some sort of sleeping schedule. It is difficult. Anyhow... I have tons of things to post that I have been cooking but I struggle to find the time to post them. I keep thinking they will give me two days off in a row so I can find time... yet... that is not happening. So for now, let me add this one with the promise of adding more later on. I am actually coming on as I have a few recipes in mind for our 4th of July celebration with the neighbors. Both Taylor and Amanda are coming, and Spence too obviously. It is always a great turn out and great company with the neighbors. I will try to do some of the cooking tomorrow for it since I work tons of days straight now.

Anyhow... for now... going to let this recipe rock your world.

4 english muffins torn into pieces I used sour dough
2 cups cubed ham
2 cups fresh asparagus cooked and in bite size pieces
(I put mine in in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes are so with salt and pepper on them sprayed with a little olive oil and fresh garlic)
4 oz swiss cheese slices torn into bite size pieces...
1/2 of a medium size onion diced
4 eggs beaten
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cup milk

cook asparagus and set to the side.

In 8x8 pyrex dish, place half of the english muffins. Layer with onion, ham, asparagus and cheese. I put cheese on last.

In bowl, beat eggs with the sour cream and the milk. Pour over the layered dish. Top with remaining enlish muffins. Push the english muffins down in the pan a bit to make sure they absorb some of the egg mixture. Let sit over night, covered in the fridge. Bake at 325 for 65 to 75 minutes or until thermometer reaches 170. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. A nice light dinner for the summer... or a great breakfast or lunch. This is similar to a quich. I have also made this with adding mushrooms to it and also zucchini and broccoli flowerettes.

Enjoy...