Cranberry-Peach Pancake Topping

I made this for our pancakes this past Sunday, and it's super easy and undeniably scrumptious. Save any leftovers and mix into oatmeal, yogurt topped with crunchy buckwheat cereal, etc.

Cranberry-Peach Pancake Topping:

1 bag of frozen sliced peaches
a good handful of frozen whole cranberries
unsweetened and generally ungooked apple juice or cider
a pinch of salt
1 cinnamon stick
1 mounded TBS of cornstarch + ~1-2 Tbs water, juice to make a slurry
agave nectar to taste

Put frozen peach slices, the cinnamon stick, and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan and add apple juice until the peaches are just covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until the peaches are almost soft. Add cranberries and simmer a bit longer, or until the skins start to pop. Add agave nectar to taste, then stir in the cornstarch slurry, simmering until thickened to a nice syrup-like consistency.
Remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick. Serve over buttered (oatmeal) pancakes with dollops of Fage Greek yogurt (and walnuts). So freakin' good.

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Waffles With Blueberry Topping

You'll excuse me for the crappy photo...I had a delicious hot waffle to scarf! Served with butter and blueberry topping...make these, they're goot.

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Waffles:
This made 2 big honkin' Belgian-style waffles

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 Tbs cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (I added the tiniest bit more since I added Sucanat to the recipe)
Optional: 1 Tbs sugar or Sucanat (if you just use reg. sugar just use the 1/2 tsp baking soda)
1 egg, divided
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat waffle iron.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, cornmeal, salt, baking soda, and Sucanat if using.
In a smaller bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks, but are not dry.
In a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolk, buttermilk, and butter, then gradually add to the dry ingredients to form a batter.
Gently fold egg whites into the batter to incorporate.
I lightly oil our waffle iron then put about 1/2 the batter onto the iron, close and cook for ~6-7 minutes for a Belgian-style waffle iron.

Salad Dressing for Thai Braised Beef leftover night...

Just use the ingredients listed in this recipe in any amount that tastes good to you really...and depending on how large your salad is.

I used this over a spinach salad with cucumber, red bell pepper, tomato, avocado and cilantro since it's what we had in the house.

Instead of using Chinese egg noodles as the original recipe called for, I felt the need for a whole-grain noodle. I love using Vita-Spelt noods...I like them much better regular whole-wheat noodles for some reason and they come in all the usual noodly shapes. I used their wide egg noodle variety tonight.

Thai-ish Salad Dressing:

Juice of 1 1/2 med.-small limes
zest of one of those limes
~ 3/4-1 tsp chili garlic sauce
rice wine vinegar
1 finely grated peeled lemongrass stalk
a dash of salt
and a glurg of agave nectar

Mix it all together and tweak until you're happy with the taste. :-)

Whole Grain Waffles with Strawberry-Rhubarb Topping

In February of '07 I put myself on a yeast-free diet for health reasons. In doing so, I had to change my eating habits pretty dramatically. Cutting out all wheat flours was a part of that process. I've since added most everything back into my diet in moderation, but I'm continually on the lookout for new recipes that utilize whole-grains versus overly processed flours, grains and sugars.
This is another recipe from Bob's Red Mill Baking Book, but it looks like it was originally featured in Cooking Light! I can't seem to get away from that magazine. Most grocery stores have a great selection of alternative flours these days, and I have to reign myself in constantly to keep from buying too many. Our fridge is already full of interesting flours that I can never hope to use up for just the two of us. :-)

We used a Belgian-style waffle iron and I think it made this batter a little trickier to use. What usually cooks in ~3-4 minutes took 6+ minutes. The waffle reeeeeeally did not want to release from the iron either. Note our first attempt...


I started oiling the iron (something I don't have to do with regular batter) and I think it helped. But, just know you'll have to cook them longer than you're used to for a thick style waffle. Pry one side at a time, as gently as you are able without giving yourself a steam burn. They'll be nice and crisped on the outside while retaining a lovely moist texture inside. A yummy waffle that I plan to make again with a few tweaks.

Whole Grain Waffles:

3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/3 cup Gluten Free Sweet White Sorghum Flour
1/3 cup Oat Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
dash of Salt
1 Tbs Maple Syrup (I used agave nectar, Monster said he likes a sweeter waffle than this made, so I'll add a little more next time)
2 Tbs Canola Oil
1 Tbs pure Vanilla Extract
1 Egg, separated
1 1/3 cup Milk (I used Silk unsweeted soy milk)

Mix together all liquid ingredients, except egg white. Beat egg white until stiff, but not dry, and set aside. Add all liquid ingredients, except egg white, to dry ingredients. Stir and fold in egg white. Bake on hot waffle iron and enjoy. A variation suggested in the recipe is to add orange zest to the batter, but I didn't try that this time. Instead, I toasted up some sunflower seeds and mixed into the batter, but I don't think I really cared for the addition.

We had leftover fresh strawberries from the salmon salad last night, so I paired them with 1/2 a bag of frozen rhubarb for our waffle topping. I used a similar method to what I do when making my Fruit Pancake/Waffle Topping, but with no lemon juice. The rhubarb provides the sour that the lemon usually does. I used some water to cook the rhubarb down and used more agave than I usually do. Then I added the cornstarch and sliced strawberries. Not cooking the strawberries for very long after that.

Apple-Cinnamon Goodness Pancake/Waffle Topping

I had a couple of Granny Smith apples left over in the fridge from something or other, so decided to make those into our Sunday morning pancake topping. This could be my new favorite! I weighed light on the scale this morning, so figured I could afford the extra butter I used in the apples. ;-) I did forgo putting any extra butter on top of the pancakes themselves. They really don't need it anyway since they're already nice and moist. I ate my appley-goodness-topped oatmeal pancakes sprinkled with walnuts which added a nice crunch.

Apple-Cinnamon Topping for Pancakes or Waffles:
(This made enough for 2)

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 Tbs unsalted butter
cinnamon
amber agave nectar
pinch of salt

Melt butter in a large skillet (that you have a cover for) over med.-high heat. When just beginning to brown, add apples and sprinkle with cinnamon to your taste (I probably used ~1/2 tsp). I cooked them like this for a bit before reducing the heat a bit and adding about 3 good squeezes of agave nectar (again, just add to your own tastes). After adding the agave nectar, cover and simmer until soft and yummy.

Oatmeal Pancakes for Two

Ever since discovering the original recipe for these, they've become a Sunday tradition. Really, they're kind of a redux of our breakfasts the other six days of the week. Oatmeal! Dad used to say that's all he got to eat as a kid. It was "mush in the morning, mush for lunch, and mush for supper!" But I kind of wonder about that, since he also had to walk to school uphill both ways, in the snow. His lament was lost on me however, since I do believe that I could very happily eat some version of mush 3 times a day! :-) Someday, I'll have to post on my favorite daily breakfast concoction. But today, I praise our Sunday treat, deee-licious oatmeal pancakes with fruit topping.

This recipe makes 10 pancakes that are each 1/4 cup measure of batter large. The original recipe calls for double the amounts...but since there are just the two of us, I'll type it up as I make it.
I've also changed the original recipe up by using spelt flour in place of white flour and I add vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. You can leave all of these things out and still end up with a mighty fine pancake. Make sure you plan ahead, since the oats need to soak overnight in the buttermilk!


Oatmeal Pancakes...nom, nom, nom...

1 cup Quaker Old Fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
2 large eggs well beaten (use 3 whole eggs if doubling)
1 tsp pure vanilla
~1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
1/4 cup flour (again, I use spelt flour and I'm sure whole wheat flour would work fine too)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbs sucanat, evaporated cane juice crystals (or other sweetener)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons grapeseed, canola, or other neutral flavored oil
a bit of freshly grated nutmeg if you want  (so good!)

Put oats into a large bowl, add the buttermilk. Let the oats soak in the buttermilk overnight.

Set oven it's lowest setting and put a sheet pan covered with foil in to warm.

Mix in the eggs, flour, baking powder, fine sea salt, cinnamon, Sucanat, vanilla, almond extract, nutmeg and canola oil.


Then proceed as with any pancake recipe. Heat a flat iron surface - griddle or large pan - to medium heat. If you need butter, use it, but we have a non-stick griddle and don't need any. They're about~18 bucks from Sears...get one! :-) Ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle to the desired size, usually about 5 or 6 inches wide (a 1/4 cup measure is a nice amount). When air bubbles start to bubble up to the surface at the center of the pancakes (about 2-3 minutes), use a flat spatula to flip them over. After a minute, peak under one for doneness. When golden or darker golden brown, they are done. Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.


Serve with whatever you like to top your pancakes with. We use butter, and I often whip up a fruit topping with whatever frozen fruit we happen to have in the freezer. My basic recipe follows...


Fruit Pancake/Waffle Topping:

1 bag of frozen fruit (This morning I used blueberries and cherries)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon or more to taste
Agave nectar or sweetener of choice to taste
a pinch of salt
cornstarch and ~1 Tbs. water

Put the fruit and lemon juice into a sauce pan over med.-low heat, covered. Mix about 1 Tbs water and 1 Tbs. cornstarch in a small bowl. Check on your fruit and when pretty much thawed, add a couple squeezes of agave nectar and a pinch of salt. When simmering add your cornstarch and cook until thickened. Adjust taste if needed with more lemon juice and/or more sweetener.
That's all there is to it. I eat the leftover topping mixed with plain yogurt for a treat.