Pancakes + Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Maple Chili Glaze, Almonds and Dates Recipes

I've been searching for a good pancake recipe for a while. A long time ago Larr gave me a small book of pancake recipes. Many of them are good, but I can't seem to find the tiny book - bummer. We had this one this morning and really enjoyed them.
Pancakes
via:modified from a recipe found at Allrecipes

3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Butter for the pan (or cooking spray)


Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.
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We are also eating a lot of brussel sprouts these days. I wanted to jazz things up a bit so I took what looked like a good recipe and added to it. My husband and I thought they were great. Too bad that the kids were not here to have any of them.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Maple Chili Glaze, Almonds and Dates

1 lb. Brussel Sprouts, trimmed and cut in half
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
1/4 cup Butter, melted
2 TBL. Maple Syrup
1/4 tea. Brown Sugar
1/4 tea. Chipotle or Ancho Chili powder or flakes
1/8-1/4 tea. Northwoods Fire Spice* or Liquid Smoke
1/2 cup Almonds (sliced or slivers)
1/4-1/2 cup Dates, chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil or parchment
Toss the brussel sprouts with just enough olive oil to coat them.
Spread them out on the baking pan. Lightly salt, if desired.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until tender.

While the brussel sprouts are roasting, make the glaze. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Add in the maple syrup, brown sugar, chili powder and Northwoods Fire or liquid smoke. Stir to mix. Turn off the heat.

Once the brussel sprouts are tender, place them in a serving bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the brussel sprouts and stir to coat. Add in the almonds and dates. Stir once again to distribute the almonds and dates.

This is nice served warm or cold.

Grandma Gay's Mac and Cheese

Grandma Gay's Mac and Cheese

2 cups Macaroni, cooked al dente
1 cup Milk
2 Eggs
1/2 cup of Butter, chopped into pieces or melted (1 stick)
2+ cups of Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Add the pasta to boiling water to cook it.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the pasta cooks, stir 2 eggs into a cup of milk.

Once the pasta is done, drain it and put it in an 8" x 8" casserole dish. Quickly add the butter and stir until the butter is melted. Next, quickly add in the cheese and stir it so that the heat from the pasta melts it. You can add more cheese to the mix if you want it to be more cheesey.

Next, pour in the egg and milk, stirring to mix. Halfway through the baking you can add more cheese to the top, if you like.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

(I tried precooking the pasta, adding in the butter and the cheese so that I could take this to a friend's house where I finished it. The mac and cheese was good, but not great. The texture was not as nice as this was. My kids tell me that it reheats well.)

Clementine Cake

Clementine Cake
via: Country Girl's Daybook
and Cathy Merenda Blog
Cake:
7 small clementines
6 eggs
1 1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/4 cups ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder

Glaze:
2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
3 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 cup clementine juice (I used orange juice concentrate)


CANDIED CLEMENTINES
3 clementines
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter and line an 8 or 9 inch springform pan with parchment.
Poke each clementine 3 or 4 times with a knife. Put the clementines in a bowl with a microwave safe cover or plastic wrap. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes. Cool slightly then dump the clementines (whole) in a food processor and process until smooth.

In large bowl beat eggs and sugar until light colored and doubled in volume (about 5 minutes). Add in chopped clementines and mix well. Then add ground almonds and baking power and mix until combined.

Pour mixture into pan and bake for about 45 minutes (when a skewer will come out clean).

While the cake is baking, make the glaze by mixing everything in a bowl adjusting clementine juice and sugar to make a loose but thick glaze.

You can also make candied clementines for decoration. Slice clementines very thinly.Put sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
Add clementine slices and simmer on low for about 15-20 minutes. Pull clementines from sugar mixture and place on parchment or silpat until cool.

Cool in the pan on a rack. Once cake is cold, remove from pan and pull off any parchment.

Glaze and add candied clementines to decorate.