National Blueberry Pancake Day

There are holidays for virtually every kind of food, from frogs' legs to chocolate ice cream. But few are as fabulous as National Blueberry Pancake Day!

I've doubled the blueberries for today's festivities because ... well ... just because! The wholesome pancakes, with some whole grains added, feature these gorgeous fruits; and they're doused with a sweet sauce to further showcase the beautiful berries.

Happy holiday! Enjoy!!!

Be sure to watch the world's most prestigious culinary competition, the Bocuse d'Or, tomorrow and Wednesday as the United States takes on the Scandinavians (who swept the top three spots last time, in 2011), the French (who host the event and are peeved that they've not won for awhile), and other countries vying for the gold! Click here for more information and to watch online.


Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

Syrup:

• 2 cups frozen wild blueberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon water

Place blueberries, sugar, water, and maple syrup into a small saucepan; bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Stir together cornstarch and water; stir into sauce, cook 1 minute, then remove from heat. Let rest while making pancakes.

Pancakes:

• 1/2 cup quick-cook oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
• pinch of kosher salt
• pinch of cinnamon
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries

Combine oats, flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl. Beat together buttermilk and egg; stir into dry ingredients. Gently fold in blueberries.

Brush a skillet with butter and set it over medium heat. Drop batter by 1/4-cupfuls and cook 3 minutes or so per side until golden brown and set when nudged a bit with a spatula.

Makes 6 hearty pancakes and a generous amount of syrup to pour over them.

Whole Grain Pancakes with Spiced Apple Syrup

I love to bake on Sunday mornings, or to make special breakfasts. It's often the only day I don't have to be up, out the door, doing something, accomplishing something. It a time when I can luxuriate, not just grab some salami slices to go with my coffee or rush around trying to get ready on time.

This past Sunday, I debated whether to bake a coffee cake or whether to make something that I could eat more quickly, since I woke up hungry. Needless to say from the photo, speed of preparation won! Pancakes just sounded good, and adding a lovely autumn touch with the apple syrup only made the meal more delicious.


Whole Grain Pancakes with Spiced Apple Syrup

Syrup:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 large Honeycrisp apple, peeled, cored, cut into 1/3" dice
• pinch of cinnamon
• 2/3 cup maple syrup

Place the butter, water, apple, and cinnamon into a small saucepan; bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low. Cook 8-10 minutes, until most of the water has been absorbed. Add the syrup and turn heat to low; keep syrup warm while making pancakes.

Pancakes:

• 1 packet instant oatmeal, Maple & Brown Sugar Flavor
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 1 egg
• squirt of lemon juice

In a medium bowl, combine oatmeal, flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk together half-and-half, egg, and lemon juice; let rest for 1 minute, then pour over dry ingredients. Let batter rest 1 minute.

Brush a large skillet or griddle with butter, and turn heat to medium-high. Drop batter by the 1/4-cupful and cook until top is covered with small bubbles; carefully flip and cook 2-3 more minutes until done.

Serve pancakes with warm syrup.

Makes 8 pancakes.

Orange-Glazed Pumpkin Loaf Cake

Winter has arrived in Ann Arbor, both officially and weather-wise.  That means it's prime season for cocoa or tea, something to help us all stay warm.  And who wouldn't want a piece of cake to go along with that?

This pumpkin loaf cake is so easy to make, and offers a great way to disguise the health benefits of whole wheat flour.  A sweet treat with some redeeming nutritional value - how fabulous is that?  And the orange glaze is so vividly flavorful - a perfect complement to the cake.

You could easily add some dates and/or some walnuts to the batter, if you'd like.  Sometimes I want a bread or a cookie or ice cream with lots of goodies stirred in, but sometimes simplicity rules the day.  The day I baked this cake, I was in more of a minimalist mood.

No matter how you serve it, or what you serve it with, just be sure to try this.  It's really lovely!


Orange-Glazed Pumpkin Loaf Cake

Cake:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup light-flavored oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1/3 cups whole wheat flour

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease an 8"x4" glass loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine butter, oil, pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.  Stir in the flour, and pour batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 45-50 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let the cake rest for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on a rack.

In a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients; pour over the cake and spread glaze to the edges, letting it drip down the sides.  Let glaze set before cutting.

Makes 1 cake.

St. Paddy's Day Feasting

I tend to be a traditionalist, but one who likes to play with the tradition as well.  So yes, I cooked Corned Beef 'n' Cabbage for St. Paddy's Day; but I didn't boil my cabbage along with the meat, and I didn't add carrots, and I didn't serve spuds.  For the sake of convenience -- since Tom was coming over for dinner, and Jeremy and his friend Mitch were headed to an evening party soon after I got home from work -- I plopped the corned beast into my Mama Bear crockpot (vs. the Baby Bear one for dips or the Papa Bear one for feeding crowds) and let it simmer all day long.  Ideally, it would have cooked in a good beer; but that was not an option with this group (Anonymous rules prevent my sharing specifics), so I immersed the main course in water.  I was told by the resident expert-in-all-things-corned-beast, Jeremy, that it was the best one I've made; so clearly, my new technique and boring choice of liquid balanced each other out.

Jeremy and Mitch didn't even bother eating a sample of each item offered; they went straight to making Reubens.  Jeremy had diligently bought the ingredients himself, and prepared the sandwiches to his own specifications.  I'd show you photos of what I'm told were phenomenal specimens ... of course, that would have required someone other than 19-year-old males being involved in this venture, because no signs of these Yeti-like Reubens can be found.  But I'm told they were amazing!

I ate only one bite of the meat because sodium nitrite gives me migraines, and I wasn't going to pay extortionist prices for chemical-free slabs; ours came from Kroger, personally chosen by Jeremy, which was just fine.  Instead, what captures my heart every St. Paddy's Day -- and which, truly, is incredibly seductive -- is my handmade/home-baked Brown Soda Bread with ... sigh ... Dubliner cheese.  If I had to pick a favorite cheese -- which, of course, would be such a taxing job that my brain would explode -- it might just have to be Dubliner.  It's dry like an aged Cheddar, not too strong, with hints of Parmigiano as well ... familiar in some ways, and yet absolutely its own distinctive and delicious entity.  It is sublime eaten simply on its own or with a lovely selection of fruit (fruit and cheese being among my many food-related weaknesses, and virtually a perfect meal -- breakfast, light lunch, tea-time treat, bedtime snack, whatever); but one might almost think it had been specifically created to be served with my soda bread, because the pairing is so astoundingly "right."  My soda bread is made with King Arthur whole wheat flour, oats, rich buttermilk from Calder Dairy, and raisins (Jeremy's preference) or dried cranberries (my own choice) -- it is hearty, almost scone-like in its crumbliness, not sweet, and absolutely addictive.  Slather some good butter on a slice of bread, add Dubliner cheese ... and find bliss.  If this might ever be my last meal, I could die grinning.

I also served the traditional cabbage with my corned beast, although Tom and I were the only ones who ate it; Jeremy will eat cabbage, but only if it's been transformed into either sauerkraut or cole slaw.  I can eat boiled cabbage, but prefer to do more interesting things with my vegetables than merely soak them in water.  So I melted a bit of bacon fat -- because bacon makes everything better, and is proof that there is a God! -- in a frying pan and cooked sliced cabbage and red onion until they were softened and caramelized ... probably over-cooked to most people's tastes, but perfect for mine.

I didn't drink any green beer or Guinness, not being a) a beer drinker, b) a stout drinker, or c) much of a drinker at all.  St. Paddy's Day isn't about being a lush (and am I the only one who thought A2.com's front-page touting of a contributor's day-long attempts at drunkenness was utterly inappropriate and revolting???) -- it's about celebrating one's Irish heritage (I'm 1/4 Irish) ... and, as always, feasting!