Guest Post – Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Happy Father’s Day weekend! Hope everyone is doing something nice for their dads – we’re headed to my parents’ house this afternoon to celebrate all the dads in our family. In the meantime, here’s another recipe from One Hungry Dude. These pancakes were wonderful and would make a great Father’s Day breakfast tomorrow!

I'm a huge fan of having breakfast foods at dinnertime. So on Saturday evening, while suffering from a bout of sweet tooth, I decided to whip up a batch of pancakes. This recipe uses a simple batter, combined with the irresistible hint of cinnamon and fresh apples. I topped these with some maple syrup and placed a few slices of bacon on the side. I was tempted to lick the plate clean.

Ingredients
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 green apples, peeled and grated

Directions
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together the egg, milk, and green apples. Add this to the dry ingredients, and stir until combined.
Lightly grease a griddle, then pre-heat to about 350 F. Use a ladle to pour the batter onto the griddle, making a batch of about five to six pancakes at a time. Cook for about two to three minutes on each side, until golden brown.

This recipe should produce enough for two batches (10 to 12 pancakes) on a normal sized griddle. So, to prevent the first from cooling while you're waiting for the second set, consider getting your oven involved in the cooking process. Heat the oven to 225 F. Then place the pancakes inside the stove, using an oven-safe dish. At such a low temperature, the pancakes will stay moist, while you finish making the remainder of the meal.

We have a four-sided Kitchen Aid grater. I used the medium shredder, when I made this recipe, and it gave the pancakes a subtle apple flavour. The next time, I plan to use the larger shredder, for bigger chunks of the fruit. That should produce a more pronounced apple taste.

1…2…3…4…Monthly Baby Pictures!

My little guy is 4 months old! I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed and how much he’s grown. Remember back when I posted about taking his One Month pictures? Well I’ve kept up with the monthly photos and I just finished creating two pages for his scrapbook that show just how he’s changed over the last four months.

 

I am loving digital scrapbooking. Once again, I was able to complete both these pages using elements and papers found entirely for free. These pages started with a template from Shabby Princess that I just rotated for the second page and were completed with more papers and elements from Everyday Mom Ideas (love her kits!) and Design House Digital (please note that while the kit I used is no longer free, they still have tons of free stuff to offer). You can even get a free 30 day trial of Photoshop from Adobe to get you started!

I have only 8 pages left to complete Nathan’s 40 page album. My Photobook voucher expires on June 25 so you can bet I’ll be busy scrapping until then! Please let me know in the comments if you’re interested in seeing more of my work so I know whether to put additional pages in future posts!

 

Guest Post - Shrimp, Sausage and Ground Beef in Garlic Sauce

It was a busy week for me and Nathan with lots of outings and visitors to the house so unfortunately all my current projects fell by the wayside.  But I wouldn’t leave you with nothing to read this week! That’s where my husband, One Hungry Dude, comes in with another fabulous recipe. Hope you enjoy and check back next week for some posts from me!

Sarah and I watch almost every episode of The Best Thing I Ever Made on The Food Network. The show allows celebrity chefs to share some of their favourite recipes — from desserts and chocolate to deep fried goodies and garlic-themed dishes. This Sunny Anderson-inspired appetizer was featured on the 'Garlic Power' episode. I modified it, mostly due to a lack of recommended ingredients, but the altered recipe was still so good, it quickly got turned into dinner.

Ingredients
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 mild Italian sausages, casing removed
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 to 1/2 of a Jalapeno pepper, depending on your heat preference
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Four cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• Salt
• 16 to 20 shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on
• Fresh bread

Directions
In a medium-sized frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat and sauté the beef, sausage and onions. As it cooks, break up the sausage with a wooden spoon until it resembles ground beef. Add the seasoning salt, paprika and black pepper. Cook until the fat is rendered and the onions are tender and cooked into the meat, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the remaining oil, garlic, and a sprinkling of salt, and lower the heat to medium-low. Let the flavors infuse over the low heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the shrimp to the garlic oil, raise the heat slightly, and stir and turn to cook the shrimp evenly, 6 to 8 minutes. Anderson recommends serving as an appetizer on toothpicks, with crusty, chewy bread.

Good, fresh bread is the key to the success of this recipe. I actually chose to use a fork to spread the mixture onto some rye bread, like a pate. Then, used the bread crusts to sop up some of the garlic oil. Delicious!
This recipe yields four to six servings.

— Recipe inspired by Sunny Anderson's Shrimp and Chorizo in Garlic Sauce

Guest Post - Sautéed Mushroom Grilled Cheese

Welcome to the weekend and another guest post by One Hungry Dude. This week it’s one of my favourites – my husband makes fantastic grilled cheese!

Grilled cheese can be such an easy meal to prepare. Kids love it, and for people and families with a busy schedule, the sandwich can provide a hot, filling and nutritious meal. I've experimented with several grilled cheese recipes over the last few years, and this is one of my favourites. It's simple, quick to prepare, delicious and perfect for my family, which features a few picky eaters.

Ingredients

For mushrooms
• Six Mushrooms, sliced
• Two Tbsp Butter or Margarine
• 1/4 Tsp Dried Parsley
• 1/4 Tsp Dried Thyme
• 1/8 Tsp Garlic Powder
• Splash of White Vinegar
• Splash Red Wine
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

For the sandwich
• 8 Slices Bread, Rye preferred
• Butter or Margarine, enough to spread on one side of each bread slice
• 1 1/2 to 2 Cups Cheddar and Mozzarella cheese blend
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter starts to bubble, add the mushrooms, parsley, thyme, garlic, vinegar, wine, salt and pepper. Cook for about five to seven minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms brown and become tender.

As the mushrooms are cooking, spread the margarine on the bread. Place half of the slices, margarine side down, on a griddle or large frying pan. Put a handful of the cheese blend on top of each, then add a spoonful or two of the mushrooms, and salt and pepper. Cover with the remaining bread slices. Heat the sandwiches over medium heat, flipping once when the bread becomes golden brown. Once the other side reaches the same colouring, remove each sandwich from the heat. Let sit for two to three minutes, then slice and serve.

For an extra flavour kick, consider serving with your favourite marinara dipping sauce.

This recipe yields four sandwiches.

By the Batch – Chocolate Spritz Cookies

For Mother’s Day this year I received a cookie press as part of my gift. For those who don’t know, a cookie press is made up of a cylinder with a plunger on one end that you use to push dough through one of many interchangeable plates on the other end. The shape of the holes in each plate creates a unique shape of cookie. Cookie presses are super easy to use and give you cookies in different shapes without the hassle of rolling out dough and using cookie cutters. I used my brand new cookie press to make Chocolate Spritz Cookies.

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups butter

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 2/3 cup cocoa

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture gradually and beat well. Shape dough into small log and place in cookie press. Press cookie onto cool ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes. Remove from sheet and cool.

According to Sarah

These cookies were fun and easy to make with one caveat – the recipe yielded SO MUCH dough that it took me nearly two hours to make these cookies from start to finish. Most cookies presses don’t hold a ton of dough so you’ll need to refill multiple times. The good news is that the cookies don’t really spread or expand much so you can put them pretty close together on the cookie sheets. As for taste, these are a basic spritz cookie with just a hint of chocolate taste and a great crunch. I would definitely make them again and I can’t wait for the holidays so I can use my pumpkin and Christmas tree plates!

 

Guest Post - Chocolate Coffee Chiller

Welcome to the weekend and another recipe from One Hungry Dude!

I love a good cup of coffee. But on a hot and sunny spring day, I rarely feel like sweating while sipping a drink. So I began to experiment with different iced coffee recipes, until finding something that blends the need for java with a slightly sweet and aromatic kick.

Ingredients
• 7 cups of Coffee, brewed
• 1/4 Cup Milk
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
• 2 scoops Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
• Ice cubes and chocolate syrup (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl — except the ice cubes and syrup — and combine using an immersion blender. Pour the liquid into glasses, and place in the refrigerator to cool for about one hour. Remove the glasses from the fridge, add four to five ice cubes per glass, and a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top, then serve.
Separating the liquid after blending helps it cool faster, and adds a bit of a chill to the glasses. There's just something about that method that makes the drinks feel so much more refreshing.

This recipe yields enough for three to four glasses of iced coffee.

More DIY Birthday Cards

We celebrated two family birthdays earlier this month and I made cards for the birthday guy and girl. As I’ve said before, there’s something special about a handmade card and they really aren’t that difficult to put together. If you’re a scrapbooker then chances are you’ve already got all the materials you’ll need. I never have to buy anything to make cards – I just choose papers and elements from my stash. I like my cards to have several coordinating layers but you can go much simpler or much more complex than I do.

Here are some pictures of the cards you can use as inspiration. The first was for my uncle. It’s made mostly of Sassafras and K & Company stuff.

And this card was for my brother’s girlfriend. It’s made entirely of Sassafras papers and elements except for the birthday hat sticker. I love how a little hat can turn any happy card into something more specifically birthday.

 

I look forward to the next occasion so I can make more cards – expect some new ones for Father’s Day!