Sour Cream Banana Pancakes

I realize I just put up a post involving bananas, but these pancakes would make an amazing Mother's Day breakfast treat. The first time I tried this recipe I was probably 19 and had just recently discovered Ina Garten. I made these for a family breakfast and they were a hit with everyone. Although I usually just grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast, banana pancakes are one of my favorite hot breakfast foods. They're fluffy and the flavor from the lemon zest is amazing. But, if you're not a fan of lemon zest, you can leave it out and still enjoy these pancakes.

I almost always top these with maple syrup. On the rare occasion that I am out of maple syrup, I'll just eat these plain or add a little bit of butter on top. They really taste amazing either way. If I know I don't have any real topping for the pancakes at home, I usually slice some extra bananas into my pancakes. If you don't like bananas, feel free to add whatever fruit or berries you like to the batter. Or just make them plain.

Pin It Now!

Hoisin Chicken with Cucumber Salad

I love anything that involves hoisin sauce. I came across this recipe last week and really wanted to give it a try. I was in a mood for a chicken dish since I've been eating my fair share of fish lately, and this sounded like the great, semi spicy recipe.

Even though the cucumber salad is only a side dish in this recipe, it is amazing. It tastes similar to the kind of cucumber salad you can order at a Thai restaurant. The dressing makes a pretty big batch, so you can either add more cucumber or use fewer ingredients. You could probably also save it in the fridge for about a week if you wanted. I could have easily had that salad more than once a week.

The chicken in this recipe has a great spicy flavor. I used one seeded jalapeno in the sauce and found the heat to be perfect. For people who do not have a high tolerance for spicy foods, I'd suggest sticking to half a seeded jalapeno, or even less if it's a large pepper. If you have time, let the chicken marinade for at least 30 minutes, but it will still be delicious if you don't have time for this step. In the original recipe, chicken thighs are grilled direct heat, then finished off in a covered grill over indirect heat. Since I made this on a night when the weather was chilly, I cooked chicken breast strips in a wok, which was really easy. The chicken was still tender since I cooked it just until it was cooked through.

Pin It Now!

Banana Nut Muffins

When I feel like baking, but don't really know what to make, I like to check out Joy of Baking for inspiration. Most of the recipes I've tried from that website have been great and are fairly easy to execute. I wanted to make a banana something or other, that's all I knew. I had some bananas sitting the the fruit bowl and figured they were spotted enough to bake with (usually, the browner your bananas, the better they are for baking, until they are actually just rotten). After I read the recipe for these muffins I realized I had everything at home to make them and got started.

This is one of those easy recipes you can make without any fancy kitchen gadgets. What I love about these muffins is the subtle hint of cinnamon you taste with every bite. Be sure to toast the walnuts before baking, it brings out a richer flavor than just throwing raw nuts into the batter. Make sure the bananas are spotted and on their way to looking really unappealing. If you use a bright yellow banana these muffins will not be as sweet and they're more difficult to mash. In other words, don't make these if you don't have slightly overripe bananas.

Pin It Now!

Herb and Mustard Glazed Salmon

Some nights, after a long day, I only have energy and patience to make a quick, simple dinner. On those nights, fish is a great way to go since it cooks quickly and can taste delicious with little effort. I like to try out different salmon recipes when I can, and this one sounded like it would be a winner. If you have a food processor or blender, the glaze takes no time at all to make, then all you have to do is broil the fish.

The combination of the garlic, herbs, and mustard make this salmon really flavorful, and just a little but sharp. It tastes like it should have taken lots of hard work to make, but it's the exact opposite. Prep time is 10 minutes, and then it only take about 7 minutes to cook. My dad, who is not a big fan of salmon, loved this recipe and surprised himself when he realized he liked a salmon dish. The salmon I used still had the skin on it, that way it is easier to lift off the baking sheet when it comes out of the oven. The skin sticks to the aluminum foil and the filet slides off easily. I also only used whole grain mustard in the glaze, but add the Dijon if you want.

Pin It Now!

Orange Glazed Strawberry Scones

I have finally been able to use a real kitchen again! It has been way too long since I baked and I was thrilled to get my hands covered in sticky dough again. Since summer fruits and berries are starting to taste better and are more readily available, I decided to make these strawberry scones. I also wanted to bake personal sized pastries as opposed to a large pie or cake since right now there are only 2 of us at home and I knew I'd be sharing whatever I made with our neighbors. I found this recipe and it sounded like the perfect way to use up some of the strawberries I had just bought.

As I mentioned in my easy scones recipe, I don't always have the best of luck with scones. I often find them boring, dry, and unexciting. This recipe was the opposite of all those things. The orange zest adds great flavor to the dough (I may have eaten quite a bit of it raw) and the strawberries make the scones moist. I really like that the butter is grated in this recipe and you don't need to fuss over cutting it into small chunks. It may seem like there's a lot of sugar in this recipe when compared to other scone recipes, but I found it to be the perfect amount. The strawberries become soft and jam-like after they're baked, so I ate these without any extra toppings, like the usual butter and jam. The glaze is a nice addition, but not totally necessary. It makes them look really pretty if you're baking for looks, but if you're impatient not to worry, the flavor is in the scone, not the glaze. I opted against making the egg wash, but I'll add it in the recipe in case some of you prefer that look. I ate these fresh out of the oven and was in homemade pastry heaven.

Pin It Now!