Best Blueberry Pancakes

After many misses with various pancake recipes, I've finally developed one that I like, or better yet, love. These come out nice, thick and fluffy. Enjoy with pure Grade A maple syrup, its worth the extra cost!

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (subs. regular all purpose flour)
  
• 1 + 1/2 cup vanilla soymilk at room temperature (subs. regular milk)
• 1 + 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  
• 1 egg or equivalent using EnerG egg replacer
  
• 4tsp baking powder
• 1 tbl sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3 tbl melted butter

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients, whisk and set aside.
2. Mix room temperature milk, and melted butter and whisk.
3. Add egg or prepared egg replacer to wet ingredients, whisk until combined.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients, dont overmix, smooth lumps with a spatula, add blueberries.
5. Preheat griddle or frying pan to medium heat.
6. Lightly coat the hot pan with vegetable oil or cooking spray.
7. Pour 1/4 batter onto pan. Flip when edges appear dry or bubbles form on top.
8. Top with butter and syrup.
   

Spicy Carrot Cake w/ Whipped Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 cups grated carrot (7-10)
• 1 cup toasted pecans
  
• 1/2 tbsp ground ginger (or 2tbl fresh grated)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  
  ICING
  
  
• 8oz cream cheese Softened
• 2 + 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 + 1/2 cup heavy cream
  
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp dried ginger (or 4 tsp finely grated fresh ginger)
  
  
  Directions
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8 inch round cake pans with non stick baking spray. Set aside.
2. Toast pecans by spreading them on a baking sheet and placing them in the over for 6-10 minutes or until golden.
   
3. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, sugars and vanilla.
4. Add dry ingredients to mix.
5. Stir in grated carrots making sure not to add too much additional moisture.
6. Divide batter into two 9-inch pans (or three 8-inch), Bake for 45-50 mins checking to see if a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes, remove from pan and then frost adding pecans decoratively to the side of cake.
7. If making cupcakes, this recipe yields two dozen. Bake for 22 minutes.
   
8. For Frosting -- Beat cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth.
9. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream until it creates stiff peaks.
10. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Chill before icing cake.
    Please note that the carrot cupcakes pictured above are darker in color because they were made with a berry blend applesauce, which has a burgundy hue.
    

Banana Walnut Bread w/ Dark Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

• 3 bananas very ripe (partial or mostly black skins)
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp plain yogurt
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (see substitution note at bottom)
  
• 3 tbl vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup bittersweet dark chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli)
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil and flour bread pan.

Mash bananas and set aside

Add both flours to a bowl along with baking soda and salt, whisk. In a seperate bowl mix egg, sugar, agave nectar and oil until well blended.

Combine the flours with the egg mixture, adding yogurt, vanilla extract and mashed bananas.

Fold in 1/4 cup of the walnuts and all the chocolate chips. Pour into pan.
Add remaining walnuts to the top of batter.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a fork inserted into the center comes out clean.
NOTE: If baking muffins add all the walnuts to the batter and bake for 25 minutes, makes 1 dozen. Also agave nectar can be substituted with honey or granulated sugar.

Stuffed Peppers per Uno

Ingredients (serves one)

• 1 green bell Pepper
  
• 1 medium tomato (or half can diced tomatoes)
• 1 cup soy protein crumbles or cooked ground beef/turkey
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 small onion
• 1/2 tsp tomato paste (omit if using canned)
• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 3 fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
  
• hot pepper sauce
• pinch garlic powder
• shredded parmesan cheese (or your favorite)
  
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

1. Cut tops off of peppers and remove seeds. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Swirl olive oil around medium sized saute pan over medium heat and add garlic and onions. Cook until translucent. Add meat, rice and tomatoes. Stir. Next add add worcestershire, salt, pepper, garlic powder, hot sauce and basil.

3. Place peppers in an lightly oiled baking dish cut sides up. Spoon in filling and brush a little olive oil on skins of peppers. Add a small amount of cheese on top.

Bake for 25-35 minutes and enjoy.

Strawberry Cream Pie

This recipe is an adaptation of one published in Domino magazine.

Ingredients

• 4 pints strawberries, cut and stemmed
  
• 1 + 1/4 cups milk
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
• 10 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 + 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 cup heavy/double/whipping cream
• prepackaged graham cracker crust
  

1. Place strawberries in blenders (reserving a handful for decoration) and puree.

2. In a medium saucepan combine milk, flour and 3/4 cup of sugar on medium high heat. Whisk or stir until well blended. Add strawberry puree and lemon juice, continue mixing until sauce thickens and bubbles.

3. Pour filling into crust and cool, before refrigerating overnight.

4. Before serving add sugar and heavy cream blend with hand mixer or whisk until it forms soft peaks. Spread over pie, garnish with remaining strawberries and enjoy.

Creamy Mango Cardamom Sorbet

Ingredients

• 2 mangoes, sliced
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (Possible Substitutions: half and half, single cream)
• 1/4 cup lowfat milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 6 cardamom pods, shelled with seeds ground.

Possible Substitutions: instead of corn syrup and agave, which was all I had at the time, make a simple syrup instead. To do this combine 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in saucepan, boil and cool. Omit additional water from the recipe, follow directions below:

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl or mixer and blend well. If you would like chunks of mango, reserve a few pieces and add to mixture after blended.
2. Add to ice cream maker. Freeze thoroughly.
   If you do not have an ice cream maker, just place in an airtight container and place in the freezer. Take it out and stir once an hour for 3 hours, or until it's frozen.
   

JACKED - P.D.'s Peach Cobbler

This recipe is a hijacked version of Paula Deene's Peach Cobbler. I changed the recipe around with a few substitutions, and it came out great.

Ingredients

• 5 medium to large peaches, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 stick of butter (8tbl)
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
  
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine peaches with water, nutmeg and 1 cup sugar (I SUBSTITUTED WITH 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup agave nectar) in saucepan, mix, bring to a boil.

Put the butter in a 9x13 baking pan and place in oven to melt.

Mix 1 cup sugar, flour and milk in bowl. Make sure there are NO clumps. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir.

Spoon fruit and cooking liquid on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake for 50 minutes.

Serve with ice cream and enjoy.