Peaches are in season and I couldn't be happier. I love them grilled, in yogurt, as an ice cream topping, baked in muffins, as jam-- and now, I love them in pancakes. Two things you won't find in my pantry are boxed pancake mix or pancake syrup. Making my own pancakes is so easy, and I'll bet that you have the ingredients on hand. I have been making a version of these oatmeal pancakes for quite a while, but I had forgotten about them until this morning. I spotted a peach that had ripened yesterday, and I wanted to enjoy it for breakfast. It took about 15 minutes to put the batter together and I cut some caloric corners. Let me show you:
I store my walnuts in the freezer, so that the walnut oil won't go rancid. In a dry skillet, I toasted a small handful (about 1/2 cup) for two minutes, on high heat. You don't have to do this step, but I think it makes them walnuts taste better. Besides, they make good snackin'! Dice a peach. The dry ingredients are unbleached white flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and old-fashioned oatmeal. Don't worry, the printable recipe is at the bottom of this post. The wet ingredients are whole milk, sour cream, eggs and vanilla. However, I used 1% milk and nonfat Greek Yogurt to cut back on a calorie or two.
Toss the dry ingredients together, and make a well. Whisk the wet ingredients and pour into the dry and gently fold-- don't overmix it! Add the peaches...
Add the chopped walnuts (or pecans...or not)...
Melt 1/4 stick of unsalted butter and gently stir that in. Have your griddle hot and ready, and brush with melted butter...
Pour a ladle of batter, which spreads a bit. These are fairly large. I forgot how much this batter can run!
Cook these about 2-3 minutes per side...
They are almost ready. A little bit of butter, then pure maple syrup is what's needed next...
Breakfast is ready, in less than 25 minutes...and it's "from scratch"..
VERDICT: Wow! The cinnamon is not overpowering. I love the texture of the oatmeal, the crunch of walnuts and the sweet surprise of peach. The maple syrup is a perfect compliment to the pancake, which is a cross between fluffy and just a little dense. The Greek yogurt and lowfat milk worked perfectly. This recipe yielded six large pancakes, and I can tell you that two of these makes a very hearty breakfast.
We ate every last bite. I won't forget about this recipe anytime soon. I still have more peaches to enjoy before the season ends!!
I have two food blogger buddies who love figs as much as I do-- Marie, from Proud Italian Cook and Stacey of Stacey Snacks. I have several of their recipes bookmarked, just as soon as I can find fresh figs. I also have a love affair with fig jam. This week, I was smitten with a recipe for Fig Glazed Burgers with Red Onion Jam that was posted on "The Bitten Word". The recipe originally comes from Southern Living Recipes, and uses ground beef and Muenster Cheese. When I think of fig jam, I tend to think of pork... or even lamb. So, I started thinking of Greek inspired ingredients, and an idea was born. I adore lamb, but my husband is so-so about it. I bought one pound of ground lamb and 1/2 pound of ground veal. I figured the mix of meats would tone down the sometimes "stronger" flavor of lamb. I didn't want to add too many seasonings, since I wanted the fig jam to be the star...
I added fresh oregano & parsley, from our garden. The seasoning I chose was Montreal Steak Seasoning. It's a Rachael Ray staple, but I have to say that it's perfect for seasoning burgers. Done. I made four patties. I decided to add slices of feta cheese. I stacked one patty on top of the feta topped patty...
This feta cheese had sun-dried tomatoes and basil. It was really tasty, and will end up in a salad very soon.
I carefully sealed the patties together. Now, that's a patty!
The red onion jam has simple pantry ingredients. I love my mandoline, because you'll want the slices to be rather thin. This is about four cups. I also need fresh thyme, red wine vinegar and sugar. In a little bit of olive oil, the onion is cooked until very tender-- about 10 minutes.
Next, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of the red wine vinegar is added, the the fresh thyme. The recipe says 3/4 of a teaspoon. I added more. I think that's more for dried thyme, but add what you like. Cover the onions and cook on low-- keep warm. Fire up the grill...
Typically, I like to make my own hamburger buns. These are Honey Wheat Hamburger Buns from Trader Joe's. I like their ingredients, so I take a shortcut today. Fresh spinach ties in the Greek ingredients just fine, don't you think?
The burgers are on standby...
I'm calculating one tablespoon of fig jam per person-- and a little extra... here we go!
Though we love our Weber, we fire up the gas grill and preheat it nice and hot. The burgers are cooked about 6 minutes, covered (they are pretty thick)... and then flipped over...
Once the burgers are flipped, we let them cook for about 4 minutes. Craig is adding the fig jam, now. He closes the cover and let's the burgers grill over direct heat.
Doesn't this glaze look amazing? I was licking my chops. We cooked these until an instant read thermometer registered at 145F. The total cooking time was about 16-18 minutes. My husband is wary of lamb that isn't cooked past medium rare, so cook according to your liking.
We let these rest for a few minutes. In the meantime, I crack open a cold imported beer.
Let's build a burger. I'm questioning how important the red onion jam will be, but I add that on top of this.
Carl's Junior has nothing on this. It's big, I'm hungry and I'm going in!
I'm happy to see that the feta cheese melted perfectly...
Can you see how moist the burger is? It's perfectly cooked. So, what did I think?
VERDICT: Fig jam is the perfect glaze for grilling burgers. I am so going to use this more often... I'm thinking grilled chicken burgers, grilled turkey burgers, grilled anything burgers! My husband liked the burger, and didn't think the lamb was overpowering at all. Whew! The red onion jam is very good. I could go with or without it, because the fig jam is what intrigued me the most. I'm a jam maker, so I expected more of chutney or thick jam consistency with the red onion. I am very tempted to use brown sugar, instead of white sugar next time. As far as the burger seasonings-- I might be tempted to add some garlic to this... maybe shallots. Heck, that's the fun of making burgers! You can go wild with different ingredients.
Whatever you do, don't leave out the fig jam. That's the cherry on the sundae. Or, in this case, it's the star of this burger. You hear that Marie and Stacey?!
I am sending this post off to Deb at Kahakai's Kitchen. Each Sunday, Deb posts a healthy and tempting soup and includes posts from other food bloggers for Souper Sundays. Come check it out!
As always, a printable recipe is at the very bottom of this post.
It's Friday-- the end of a very long work week! I so miss not having the time to cook for my family, during the week. On the weekends, I am spending time in the kitchen trying out new recipes. However, I am hesitating to share some of these with you, because they involve an oven-- or are served nice and hot. I've been watching the weather, nationwide, and I see that so many of you are living in hot and humid conditions. Here I am, living on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula (California) where we are experiencing unusually cooler temps and lots of overcast skies. So, I'll save those recipes for a few weeks down the road when the summer heat has cooled down. Instead, I thought I'd post some tried & true recipes that my family and I have enjoyed from last summer. Just looking at these photos has inspired me to make these again. So, without further adieu, here's a roundup of recipes that I hope you'll enjoy:
Figs, Brie& Prosciutto on the grill-- such a simple and terrific appetizer. I'm on the lookout for fresh figs at my local Whole Foods!
Our garden tomatoes are just now turning bright red, and our basil is doing very well in our containers. I could eat Bruschetta every day, and never grow tired of it. This is one of my favorite snacks of all time!
Thawed puff pastry, cheese, fresh basil are the perfect appetizer (or light meal) for summer tomatoes. This Tomato Tart & Three Cheese Tart recipe was adapted from Ina Garten. So good!
Pineapple-Mango Salsa-- I love to serve this with grilled pork tenderloin or any kind of fish.
Antipasto Pasta Salad (Cook's Illustrated) - I particularly love the quick marinated mushrooms that are tossed into this salad. In fact, I could just eat a big bowl of these mushrooms! The creamy vinegar-based dressing, mixed with Italian cold cuts, cheese, roasted bell peppers and a few other pantry ingredients is perfect side dish or a summer meal on a hot day.
I have made this Raspberry Lemon Tart several times. The shortbread crust is the perfect vehicle for fresh summer raspberries. There is just enough lemon balance to the simple egg custard, that bakes to a nice chewy creamy center. You can use any kind of summer berries that you like.
Strawberry Cream Cake is a Cook's Illustrated success story. The cake is very easy to make. The frosting is a silky combination of real whipped cream and cream cheese. I'll show you how to make this beautiful tower with fresh summer strawberries.
This weekend, I plan to make this Apricot Cream Cake (Rahm Kuchen). This is an heirloom recipe from my Bavarian cousin. Her crust is out of this world! The topping has sour cream, heavy cream and a few other ingredients. This is not diet food, but it's a summer treat that's one of our very favorites.
The Monterey Peninsula's true summer is just now saying "hello" with blue skies and warmer temperatures-- in the high 60's. Tourists say it's way too cold here, but I tell them that the best time to visit our beautiful area is during the months of August through October. Still, air conditioning is something that we California Central Coast residents don't have in our homes-- it isn't really necessary. Our average temperatures tend to stay in the 70's. Every so often, we hit higher temperatures.... once, in a blue moon, we might hit triple digits. That makes headlines, because we are so spoiled with our coastal breezes! Feel free to come visit the Central Coast of California, so that you can escape the hot temperatures. However, since I live here, I work and can't play tourist very often. This weekend, I plan to fire up the grill and to enjoy the fresh summer produce from my own backyard-- the Salinas Valley!
If you click on the links to each recipe, you will find how to make these and a printable recipe.
I hope that many of you will find cooler temperatures and that you are enjoying your summer. For me, I'm enjoying the weekend that is to come!
Well, hello again! I'm preparing to shut down from a relaxing weekend and I wanted to post the cole slaw recipe that I made last weekend. There is a reason that I don't have a better photo of the finished salad. Last Saturday, just as I finished making the Pulled Pork sandwiches, and I was preparing to take photos.... the phone rang. My son (who has Type I Diabetes) was admitted to the hospital with complications from dangerously high blood sugar. Craig and I headed to the Emergency room, just as my son was admitted for an overnight stay. The doctors wanted to stabilize his blood sugar and to make sure his rapid heart beat would settle down. He's okay, now, but it gave all of us a reality check as to the risks and dangers of this incurable disease. Oh yeah, my birthday was just a few days before this event, so it was a busy week for certain!
So, while the finished photos aren't going to make the front cover of a foodie magazine, I can assure you that this cole slaw is one of my husband's favorite dishes that I make for him. As a little girl, I used to love the cole slaw that was served at Kentucky Fried Chicken-- we're talking decades ago, when KFC served those wonderful buns (and not the biscuits they serve today). At last, I can make a version that's as good-- actually better-- thanks to "Kittencal" at Recipezaar.com. Like many comfort foods, this is not low-fat. This slaw is mayonnaise based, has buttermilk, sugar, and some seasonings that are right on the money! Sometimes, you just have to enjoy these things, in moderation. I ate one serving of this, and my boys polished off the entire bowl. We begin with REAL mayonnaise. You need some half & half (yep, that's right). Start whisking....
Now, we add fresh lemon. Whisk some more. You need buttermilk...
I love buttermilk for baking or most any kind of recipe....it's so rich and silky...
Now we add fresh lemon juice and white wine vinegar -- whisk it together.
(why I photographed apple cider vinegar, I don't know... I used it for the BBQ sauce)... and now to add sugar. I cut back on the sugar, because I'll be tasting it so that it doesn't turn out too sweet. Start slow, and you can always add more.
..one teaspoon kosher salt, and some fresh cracked pepper
I've got some sliced green onion and celery seeds...
Now, we add a little garlic powder. Let's talk about the slaw-- this time, I used packaged slaw. It was on sale and this is a great shortcut. So, now I add the green onion and celery seeds (I used 1 teaspoon, because I think they can be a little too much in the flavor department). This dressing is really good. Sometimes I make it in a jar, so my husband can make small portions of slaw throughout his work week.
Add the dressing a little at a time, so you don't have soggy/soupy slaw!
It's best to make this a few hours before, so the flavors will develop.
VERDICT: This dressing has a perfect balance of lemon citrus, a little sugar sweet, some tart from the vinegar and a richness from the buttermilk. It's a little naughty in the calorie department, but it's a nice treat. It's way better than any cole slaw I've bought at a deli, or been served in most restaurants.
A printable recipe is at the bottom of this post
It's bedtime for Bonzo, so I bid adieu until next weekend. If I can, I'll try and post a recipe during the week. If any of you are on Facebook, would you "LIKE" my A Feast for the Eyes Fan Page? I pop in there more often, just to say hello-- and I'd love to keep in closer touch with so many of you. I miss not having the time to visit all of your blogs. If I haven't written to you, please forgive me. School starts very soon, and I am busy learning my new job position and getting ready for the "Busy Bus" to arrive.
Thanks for stopping by-- and I appreciate your comments and friendship.
