Blueberry Almond Pancakes

I love a good breakfast.  It's one of the best things about weekend mornings.  I wake up and immediately start thinking about what I'm going to make.  I go through all the ingredients I know are in the fridge and freezer, debate sweet or savory, eggs or no eggs...

Anyway, these are one of my favorites.  I use buttermilk a LOT, more than probably the average person, but I don't always have it on hand.  These are great for those days.  We had just gotten a delicious batch of blueberries from Costco and I was eager to use them.

Enjoy!

Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 cup flour (or if you have it, 3/4 flour, 1/4 almond flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbl sugar
1 large egg
1 cup milk
2 tbl butter, melted, plus more for the griddle
3/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries, fresh

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Combine egg, milk, 2 tbl melted butter and extracts.  Stir gently into flour mixture until just combined (will be lumpy).

Let sit while you heat the griddle. Rub it down with butter and pour batter (I have a pancake pen thing that's really cool, you can draw shapes and be a nerd).  Strategically place blueberries on each pancake and wait until it's bubbly and golden.  Flip, cook, serve!

Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Inspired by a bulk purchase of pork tenderloin at Costco, I threw together a bunch of spices, rubbed it down and threw it in the oven.  Pork for us has never been the same.  I made one, along with a million other things, for my husband's 30th birthday party and it was devoured.  The myriad requests for the recipe inspired me to write down what I did.  You can measure, or you can eyeball, which is what I like to do.

This pork is great for tacos the next day (my fave is with pineapple salsa and black beans), just chop it up into small pieces or shred it with a fork.  Be sure when you pack it away you pour the juices from the pan over it-they're delicious!

Other leftovers ideas: quesadillas, sandwiches (on baguettes), or a big salad with black beans, romaine, tomatoes, etc

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin
Olive oil
Rub:
2 tbl chili powder
1 tbl onion powder
1 tbl cumin
1/2 tbl oregano or thyme
1/2 tbl garlic powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp (or more :) ) cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 375.

Pat tenderloin dry, rub with olive oil.  Mix ingredients for rub together and generously cover pork tenderloin, massaging the spices in as you turn it.  Place in a casserole dish as close to the size of the tenderloin as possible.

Bake 40 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 155 (varies depending on the size and thickness of the tenderloin).  Let sit 5-10 minutes loosely covered with foil, then slice.  Spoon some of the juices in the dish over it and enjoy!

Chipotle Mac and Cheese

My husband tasked me with replicating the declious chipotle mac and cheese at the nearby bbq joint.  Not one to turn down a challenge, I sought to perfect the idea.  I hated that my sauces would break, but I didn't want to commit to using more fat (read: cream).  I played around with half and half but still wanted something I could feel ok about.  Then, I discovered evaporated milk.  I use the 2% but I'm sure nonfat would also work.  The sauce never breaks, is super creamy and reheats better than any mac and cheese I've ever made before.  Enjoy!

PS The evaporated milk trick works for any type of mac and cheese-use cheddar and gruyere after making a roux and thickening the milk mixture for a traditional spin.

Chipotle Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

3-4 slices bacon

1 small onion, chopped small

1 large jalapeno, seeded and diced small

1 pinch red chili flakes

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, diced fine (you can find cans in the internaional aisle, the extras freeze well for future use!)

1 tsp chili powder

1-2 tsp cumin (I like 2!)

1/4 tsp cayanne

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3 tbl flour

1 tbl butter

1 can 2% evaporated milk

1/2-1 cup fat free half and half

8 oz cheddar, shredded

1 pound large elbow macaroni or shells or whatever pleases you most, cooked al dente

Directions:

Cut bacon into small pieces and cook in a dutch oven until crisp.  Remove bacon onto a paper towel lined plate and add onions and jalapenos and pinch of red chili flake.   Season with salt and pepper. Sautee until the onions are soft and a little brown on the edges.  Add the chipotle. Stir in the flour and butter and cook one minute.  Add the spices and cook one more minute.  Whisk or stir in the milk slowly and add 1/2 cup half and half.  Bring to a bubble, stirring until the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and add cheddar slowly while stirring until fully melted.  If needed, add a little more half and half to get the right consistency.  Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as needed.  Add the cooked macaroni and bacon and stir thoroughly.  Enjoy!

Apple and Pear Danish

My first post!  No worries, I have plenty of recipes to share.

Waking up my dear husband this morning was quite the challenge.  I knew I would have to make up for all my harassment with something delicious, so I set about making a fruit danish.  There's something so relaxing about peeling and chopping fruit in the morning-it's quiet and the kitchen still smells like fresh coffee.  This is really meant to be more of a guideline than a recipe-if you have other fruit you'd like to try, substitute it.  If you don't have cream cheese, you can blend 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1/4 cup sour cream with some powdered sugar (about 1/3 cup, to taste) and vanilla.  It won't be as gooey but it still tastes delicious.  Any type of jam will work...it's really all up to you.  This particular combination worked well and the raspberry jam added the right touch and made the tart especially beautiful.

I particularly love Saturdays and Sundays because I have more energy and time to experiment in the kitchen.  While I love my job, the commute and the energy I put into it make me anxious to get something healthy on the table fast on weeknights.  Don't worry, I have plenty of those recipes, too!  Feeding my husband the last few years has allowed me to amass quite the collection of weeknight dinners made with real food.

Also, bear with me.  I'll take better pictures as I get more established.  Sometimes we're too hungry to pose food and adjust lighting and make it look professional and perfect (as you'll see below, my tart was not square and tidy by any means).

So here you have it: Apple and Pear Danish
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 granny smith apple
1 honeycrisp or other firm red apple
1 pear-not too ripe
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/4-1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks

2 tbls or so sugar (depending on how sweet your fruit is)
1/2 cup raspberry jam

1 tbl butter

Preheat over to 425.

Directions:
Peel and core fruit.  Slice into half moons about 1/4 inch thick and place in bath of vinegar and water for a few minutes.  Set on paper towels to absorb excess water.

In a food processor, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg yolks.  Pulse until smooth.  Adjust sweetness to taste (I like it more on the tangy side).

Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface gently to adhere seams. Place on a silicone mat or parchment paper set on a baking tray.  Make a 1/2 inch border with a paring knife all the way around the tart, scoring it but not cutting through.  Using a fork, poke holes throughout the pastry INSIDE the border, leaving the outside of the border untouched (this will allow the edges to puff and create a little box for your filling and fruit as it bakes).

Spread cream cheese mixture over tart, staying inside border.  Be generous but don't feel that you have to use all of it!  Too much will weigh down the tart and create a mess.

Layer fruit on top of cream cheese, overlapping slices slightly.  I was able to make three rows of fruit.  Be sure to vary the apples and pears as you go.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Heat the raspberry jam over medium heat in a small pot.  If it's too thick, add some water, one tablespoon at a time.  Strain to remove seeds and baste the tops of the apples with the strained jam.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Check at 10 minutes, if you have some moisture that pooled out by your tart, don't despair.  I took a paper towel and soaked it up quick and it was fine.  This is where patting all your apples dry makes a huge difference.

Remove from oven, brush top of tart with butter.  Let rest a few minutes, then slice it up and enjoy!