Saturday, March 23, 2013

Trisha Yearwood's blueberry pancakes

I have to admit I was a little surprised and impressed when Trisha Yearwood debuted her cooking show on The Food Network called Trisha's Southern Cooking. I liked her tv personality and her easy take on simple country cooking right away. I also loved hearing all those personal family stories and guests that tie in with her yummy recipes.
As usual I was drooling over her cooking one Sunday when I saw her yummy fresh blueberry pancakes sizzle in her skillet. They looked so good and of course my boyfriend was in the room and wanted to taste them as well. (He's a HUGE foodie)
Since I'm a Cali gal I'm able to buy fresh blueberries year round. But since they are in season that's best time to try these yummy treats.
Another reason I wanted to try this recipe out was because she used a couple ingredients I've never used before in my blueberry pancakes which was lemon zest (duh, what a great idea) and sour cream. When I made these they didn't turn out super light and fluffy but rather rich and has a great blueberry lemon flavor!
I think I mentioned before that I only bake or cook using the best ingredients I can. For instance I used non bleached flour, non refined bleached sugar, organic eggs, whole milk, and ALWAYS real vanilla extract. I'm telling you can taste the difference and the extra effort does pay off.
I included a pic of my daughter Alyssa simply because she's a berry-holic! She eats berries like their candy and so do I. I also included a picture of my brand new beautiful measuring spoons which were a recent birthday gift, love them!
So please try this recipe out on a lazy Sunday morning and you will not be disappointed.
Oh a quick side note, if you use fresh blueberries they will pop while cooking and it leaves quite a mess so make sure your skillet is non stick with plenty of butter.

Recipe:
Blueberry Pancakes by Trisha Yearwood

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup milk, plus more if needed
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a separate large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Add the milk, sour cream, half the melted butter and the vanilla, whisking to blend. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture into it. Whisk the ingredients together just until blended. Fold the blueberries and lemon zest into the batter.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with some of the remaining melted butter. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into the hot skillet. Cook 3 or 4 pancakes at a time, depending on the size of the skillet. If the batter seems too thick, thin it with 1 to 2 tablespoons milk. When bubbles begin to form and "pop" on the pancake's surface, after about 1 minute, and the outer edge looks done, flip it over and cook briefly for about 30 seconds on the other side.





Thursday, March 21, 2013

Easy banana puddin'

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to our local library. As usual I headed straight to the cooking section. I pulled a few different cookbooks and started scanning through the recipes and pictures. Surprisingly I only checked out two cookbooks; Morgan Freeman and friends and Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible.
Well as you can easily guess this banana pudding recipe belongs to the queen of butter. After reading her cookbook that banana pudding craving just wouldn't go away. So I decided to make the easy version for St. Patrick's day weekend since I could share it with several people. If not, I wouldn't have made it since I've been getting healthier and the old me would probably have eaten the whole thing myself, sad but kinda true.
Anyways I recommend this recipe if you want to make a quick and yummy dessert. It's great for a big family gathering, pot lucks, family picnics, or any casual event.

The recipe is very simple....
 Just put a layer of Nilla wafers on the bottom of your serving dish, then top it with fresh ripe sliced bananas.
 


 Next you make a yummy pudding mixture that's very easy to whip together.

 Spread that on top of the bananas then top it with another layer of Nilla wafers, done!


This recipe was a hit that weekend and we still had lots of leftovers for the next two days.

Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding by Paula Deen

Ingredients
  1. 12-ounce container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whip
  2. 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  3. 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
  4. 2 cup milk
  5. 5-ounce box instant French vanilla pudding
  6. 6-8 bananas, sliced
  7. 2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies or vanilla wafers
Directions
  1. Put a bag of cookies (or vanilla wafers) on the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch dish, then slice bananas and layer on top.
  2. Combine milk & pudding mix, and blend well using a mixer.
  3. In separate bowl, combine cream cheese & condensed milk and mix until smooth.
  4. Gently add in whipped topping to cream cheese mixture.
  5. Mix cream cheese mixture with pudding mixture and stir until well blended.
  6. Pour mixture over the cookies & bananas, and then cover with another layer of cookies.
  7. Put in refrigerator until ready to serve.