Pecan & Banana Pancakes with Cinnamon and Vanilla

So when I met Nathan back in 2004 in Australia, he would always make amazing banana pancakes for me. This was a year before the song came out by Jack Johnson called Banana Pancakes. The song talks about making banana pancakes when it raining outside and pretending that it's the weekend. This is very appropriate since we are having the coldest, rainiest June (nicknamed Junuary) in Vancouver in years! Feel free to play in the background while reading this post - click here. We also got to experience amazing Indonesian banana pancakes on our trip to Bali last year. They are much thinner over there, more like what we call crepes. Here is a photo of the ones we had in Bali at the cafe next to our apartment in Legian.

I decided to take the recipe a little further and add some special ingredients to make these pancakes more unique and delicious. I had some pecans laying around and I always have cinnamon and pure vanilla on hand for baking. They turned out amazing! 

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed (I saved one of them to go on top)
• 1 cup of crushed pecans (I also saved some for the top)

1. Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vanilla, vegetable oil and bananas.
2. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

Click here to original recipe that I adapted

Roasted Butternut Squash & Kale Lasagna

So I'm not usually one to eat vegetarian meals on regular occasions. In fact, I can't remember a lot of meals (lunch/dinner) where I didn't include meat or fish of some kind. Last week, we watched the documentary Forks Over Knives which talks about eating plant-based meals to increase health benefits. There are definitely a bunch of different things to consider but we going to make an effort to eat more veggies and less meat at some of our meals. I came across some fun recipes for veggie lasagna's on Pinterest and decided to give one a try.


I found this recipe for Butternut Squash and Kale lasagna and thought I would try it but with a few changes. We had recently had a great Zucchini Lasagna in Tofino with some friends and wanted to add that into it too. What ended up happening was a bunch of veggies thrown in with the squash, kale and yummy ricotta. This made us enough to eat for a week! (although we are only two people so it doesn't take much). Enjoy!

• Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

• 1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced

• 3 peeled garlic cloves (1 minced, 2 left whole)

• 2 cans (14 oz. each) crushed tomatoes

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• About 1 tsp. each salt and freshly ground black pepper, divided

• 6 cups (about 2 lbs.) butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-in. cubes

• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

• 1 pound Lacinato kale (often sold as dinosaur or Tuscan kale)

• 9 whole-wheat lasagna noodles (I used about 12)

• 1 container (15 oz.) part-skim-milk ricotta cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

• 
  

Preparation:


1. Preheat oven to 400°. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a 2- to 3-qt. pot over medium heat. Add onion and minced garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent, 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano, and 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer until thick and flavors are combined, about 30 minutes. Set aside.


2. While sauce is cooking, in a 12- by 15-in. baking pan, sprinkle squash with thyme, remaining olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic cloves and toss squash mixture to coat with oil. Bake until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 3 qts. salted water to a boil in a large pot.



3. Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Transfer squash and garlic to a food processor and purée until smooth.(I just mashed with a fork and it turned out ok!)


4. Tear kale leaves from center ribs and discard ribs. Boil leaves until soft, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain; let cool. Squeeze out as much water as possible and chop finely. (I steamed kale leaves instead of boiling)


5. In the same pot, bring another 3 qts. salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until tender to the bite, about 10 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water.


6. In a bowl, mix ricotta, nutmeg, 1 cup mozzarella, and remaining 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper.


7. Coat the bottom of a 9- by 13-in. pan with 1/3 of tomato sauce (about 1 1/2 cups). Lay 3 noodles in a single layer over sauce. Top noodles with squash, spreading evenly. Sprinkle 1/2 of kale evenly over squash. Arrange 3 more noodles on kale and top with ricotta, spreading evenly. Top with remaining kale and noodles. Cover noodles with remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. (I added a layer of zucchini and it was really yummy!)


8. Bake lasagna until juices are bubbling and cheese is melted, about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.


Here is the original link from My Recipes

Pina Colada Muffins

So last year this time, Nathan and I were sitting on the beach in Bali sipping Pina Colada's, eating fresh fish and bronzing in the sun. Now,  a year later, we are living in beautiful Vancouver... but not on vacation. We have had a fortunate winter with tons of snow at Whistler and the opportunity to snowboard on some unbelievable powder days. But... nothing beats vacation in Bali. So I decided to make some muffins that brought us back to those memories.

   

I had fresh pineapple in the house and I always seem to have coconut on hand. I found this recipe for Pineapple Coconut Muffins online and decided to adjust it a bit and give it a try. They turned out better than I thought they would! We even took a few the next day on our hike to the top of Mt Seymour in North Vancouver as a snack after reaching the peak! Later that afternoon we went to Jericho Beach by our house to do some reading and relaxing and gobbled down a few more of these treats.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
3 egg whites
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sour cream (I used low fat Greek Vanilla Yogurt)
1 cup pineapple, diced into small pieces
2 teaspoons dark rum (I used white rum - but i'm sure Malibu Rum would be good too!)
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and 1/4 cup of the coconut. 3. In another bowl, whisk the sour cream, butter, egg whites, run and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in the diced pineapple. 4. Stir the dry ingredients into the sour cream mixture and stir with a spoon until just combined, do not overmix.5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup to about 3/4 of the way full. 6. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of the coconut and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar. Sprinkle over the muffin batter.7. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I was invited to a 3 year olds birthday party this week. I wanted to bring a treat for the kids that would be something fun and something they hadn't seen before. I had seen these Cookie Monster Cupcakes online before and always thought they were super cute.

I decided to go the extra step and make homemade cookies as well. (the cookie monster is supposed to look like he is eating the cookie - not everyone got that one, haha). I used the recipe from my last cookies but used chocolate chips instead of the Nutella, bacon and pecans. The trick is to make the cookies really small and flat so they fit in the mouth (I had to cut them off).

1. I used a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and added blue food colouring at the end. You need to get the blue food colouring gel from a baking shop (or Michaels).

2. When the cupcake had cooled down, I cut a slit in the top and added in the half cookie and make it stick with some icing (Nathan's idea)

3. Then I frosted it with blue frosting (used store bought cream cheese frosting and added the blue food colouring gel)

4.  I then took blue coconut (dyed blue with the gel also) and sprinkled it all over.

5. Then for the eyes... I wanted to use the big white choc chips but we couldn't find them nearby. So I just used the white icing and tried to make an eye. I don't like how they turned out but better than nothing. Then I  used a chocolate chip for the middle of the eye. Cookie Monster usually has googly eyes, so try to make them looking googly. (is that a word??).

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using electric mixer on low speed, mix in butter, milk, eggs and vanilla; beat on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
2. Spoon into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling about three-quarters full. Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 1 day or freeze for up to 2 weeks.) Variation: Chocolate Cupcakes - Reduce flour to 1 cup and baking powder to 1/2 tsp. Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1 tsp baking soda to dry ingredients. Sift before adding butter and wet ingredients.

Here is a link to one with better eyes and frosting as fur... http://completedeelite.blogspot.ca/2009/03/who-stole-cookies-from-cookie-rack-who.html

Nutella, Pecan and Candied Bacon Cookies

Well, this is it. All the things you love wrapped up in one cookie. Nutella is one of those things that I can't get enough of. I have been eating it since I was little and still can't stop. I found it challenging to actually get the Nutella into the cookie dough... but then I found a special trick! All you need to do is freeze little bits of Nutella on a cookie sheet before you make the cookies. Voila! Nutella chocolate chips.

I was going to just use normal bacon pieces in the cookies, but then my friend Ethan (tastesbetterwithfriends.com) suggested I make candied bacon. Wow, it tasted amazing... thanks for the tip!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups four
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups Nutella chips
1 package of bacon
1 cup pecans

1. Drop small amounts of Nutella onto baking sheet and freeze for a few hours
2. Preheat oven to 325F. Cover each piece of bacon with brown sugar. Lay bacon on baking sheet in oven and bake for approx 20 minutes or until it is cooked through. Set aside to cool.
3. Preheat over to 350F
4. Cream together the butter, white sugar, brown sugar until smooth.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then stir in the vanilla
6. Dissolve baking soda into hot water
7. Add to batter along with a dash of salt
8. Stir in flour, bacon and pecans (keep some out to add on top of each cookie if desired)
9. Stir in Nutella at end as it will melt quickly
10. Drop in large spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

How To Bake Rainbow Cupcakes

After moving from Toronto to Vancouver last May, I am only able to make the trip back home once or twice a year. When I made my first trip back last summer, I decided to have a baking fun day with my 4 nieces and make rainbow cupcakes. I had made a rainbow cake in the past and it was a big hit with my new friends in Vancouver (now I'm officially the 'rainbow cake girl').

Since I was baking with 4 extremely impatient little ladies, I decided to use the good old pre-mixed cake batter. It works out well when you are working with kids and want to speed up the process. You can use any plain white/vanilla cake mix for this recipe. (I used 2 boxes) Or you can always use make the batter from scratch. For the cake I made, I used a coconut cake recipe and then topped it with a cream cheese coconut icing... so good!

Make sure you get the food colouring 'gels'. They are the only ones that give this vibrant colour. They can be found at Michaels Craft Store in Canada. Not sure about the US... 

The girls each had their own colour to mix up and pour into the muffin trays.

We made them like a real rainbow and went: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.

Things got a little hard to manage at some points... "No Anna! Not the blue icing!"

Very careful! 

Messy, messy, messy, but fun!

When the cupcakes went in the oven, the girls pulled up chairs to watch them bake. SO cute.

Enjoying the finished cupcakes! I used whipped cream on top which was a good short term icing. For longer lasting cupcakes, use a nice vanilla icing on each one.

Happy Niece... (or "Stop taking our pictures Auntie Kate")

World's Best Broccoli Salad

I have to admit that I have stolen this recipe from my favorite little lunch cafe in Whistler, BC. It is the best spot in Whistler to get homemade sandwiches, salad, burgers, baked goods, you name it. It's called Ingrids and I highly recommend trying it out. I absolutely love their veggie burgers, turkey burgers and salads. I once had this amazing broccoli salad and couldn't stop thinking about it for days. 

I flew back to Toronto (where I lived at the time) and was still thinking about it. I called them one day and begged for the recipe. They were nice enough to give me a rough outline of what was in it. I tried it and turned out really well! Here is the recipe, feel free to add in anything else!

Ingredients:

- Broccoli

- Red Grapes

- Pecans

- Green Onions

- Butter

- Garlic

- Mayo 

- Vinegar

- Sugar

- Salt/Pepper

1. Cut up broccoli, green onions and grapes

2. Saute pecans in a hot skillet with butter and garlic

3. Mix sauce in a small bowl: Mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt/pepper

4. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and chill in fridge until ready to serve

This salad can be made with lots of dressing or very little. I tried it in the above photos with very little dressing. The ingredients are fresh and tasty that it doesn't need much dressing.

Enjoy!