Pancakes

As many of you know, I am livin' la vida South Beach. I'm in Phase 2, and so far- life on the South Beach Diet hasn't been nearly as horrible as I thought it'd be. For example, today I ate pancakes for breakfast! What?! Pancakes on the South Beach Diet?! You've got it. And they might have been some of the best pancakes I've ever eaten.

They're made with oatmeal and whole wheat flour so they're super substantial. I ate two pancakes and was satisfied. The best part about these pancakes is that they're tasty without syrup (which is great, because I'm not a fan of the sugar-free stuff that I'm allowed on South Beach). Just a bit of butter (or your favorite butter flavored spread) and you're good to go! They are rich and nutty and delicious. I may never eat regular pancakes again.

Here's the recipe: (Adapted from The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook)

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup whole wheat graham flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons granular sugar substitute
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/4 cups 1% or fat free buttermilk
1/2 cup water
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk together oil, buttermilk, water, egg, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Heat non-stick pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour batter onto pan. Flip pancakes when edges begin to look dry and bubbles in center and edge of pancake begin to pop.

Delicious Wishes!

Back Story

About a year ago I was introduced to the world of blogging by a friend. She knew I loved to cook and craft and she asked, "do you read any of the food or craft blogs that are out there?" I had no clue that fun blogs (or, at least blogs that I would consider fun) existed. I thought that the only people who blogged were financial analysts and computer programmers (no offense). Then, my whole world changed. It started with Alicia Paulson's Posy Gets Cozy (http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/), and from there it snowballed. I don't even want to share how many blogs I follow on a daily basis. It's embarassing.

To be completely honest, I've been prepping for this blog for the past year. I've been taking photos of various culinary endeavours with the hope that maybe (just maybe) you'll be entertained by what I'm cooking and baking.

Here are a couple of photos I've taken over the past year:
Every year I go to the Farmer's Market in August and buy HUGE bundles of basil for making pesto. Why August? The bundles are HUGE, the leaves are HUGE (just look at the size comparison above), and they are CHEAP!!! I bought each of my bundles for a dollar a piece. With just five bundles, I was able to make more than a dozen batches of pesto. If you've ever paid for store bought pesto, you know what a steal this is.

This fall I decided to try my hand at canning. I'd been meaning to do it for years, but canning had always seemed so daunting. I was intimidated by the time commitment, the chance that the jars wouldn't seal, and that I'd poison my friends with botulism. But then, I got to thinking, "my grandma did this- most likely with a child on each hip, distracted, and NOTHING ever happened..." And so I canned. Like a fiend. I canned 24 quarts of pie apples (delicious in pies, on pancakes, ice cream, straight out of the jar). I also canned 12 pints of pumpkin butter (which I ran out of less than a month after I canned them- they were a hit!). I'm proud to say that EVERY jar sealed, and no one has died of botulism (yet).
The picture above is of a dark chocolate layer cake with mint chocolate ganache. My husband's family knows how much I love baking so they often ask me to bring the dessert at family functions. Last year for Christmas, my sister-in-law gave me "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook". Flipping through the pages, Jeremy's uncle Ardy all but begged that I would make this cake for a family function. So I did. It was delicious. How can anything with chocolate ganache not be amazing?

Hello, Friends!

Welcome to my blog! Writing the first post is a bit daunting, so I'll keep it short and simple: I love food. I hope that from time to time you are entertained by the things that are keeping me busy in the kitchen. To you, dear reader, I send my first batch of Delicious Wishes!