Let me share a dirty little secret with you all. I make my family pancakes pretty much every weekend. All. Year. Round. During the spring/summer/early fall fruit months, I LOVE to make them fruit syrups too. The photo above is strawberry. It really is quite easy to do, and while I do not make it super thick like many pancake syrups, my family does not mind. Maybe because they are used to Grade B Pure maple syrup?
I am writing this as though it is for strawberries, but I have also done blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry with success.
The Players
2 cups mashed strawberries (I leave mine a little chunky)
3/4 cup Turbinado sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw)
1/2-3/4 cup water
The Fun
1. Bring water and sugar to boil in saucepan.
2. Gently add strawberries and return to boil. Some people like to scrape off the foam, but I leave it.
3. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until reduced to a syrup. (This is when I make the pancakes.)
Emily of the Daily Garnish fame has turned me on to a new ingredient with multiple uses– Nutritional Yeast. First, let me be honest and tell you all that I have a total blog crush on Emily. Someday, I am sure we will meet, and if she is half as cool as she seems on her blog and tweets, it’ll be a blast. Emily is trained in the culinary arts and has some very healthy recipes on her blog. She also runs. Are we not a match made in heaven? Ha ha!
Ok– Nutritional Yeast…it’s good for you. It is a complete protein and full of B vitamins, so I ordered some from Amazon and dove head first in to trying to use it. When I first opened the package I thought it smelled like powdered cheese. I thought this would be perfect considering I wanted to use it as a substitute for cheese in making mac-n-cheese. I have to admit, I made a fatal error. I told TB it would taste like mac-n-cheese. Next time, I’m going going to do that.
I used Emily’s Cheast Sauce recipe with a few modifications– I didn’t have millet flour, so I used whole wheat, and I don’t like margarine, so I used butter. If you wanted it to be completely vegan, you could use margarine. I mixed the sauce with wheat macaroni. I found the recipe to be rich, creamy, and very filling. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
I really like Pesto, but I do not always have fresh ingredients. However, this time of the year, basil is abundant, so I like to make pesto and then freeze it in an ice cube tray. This allows me to pull out a few cubes based on how many I am cooking for and to make a quick and easy dinner during the work week. The recipe itself is not hard, and I do not include any dairy ingredients (many pesto recipes contain parmesan).
The Players
3 cups basil leaves
1 cup pine nuts
6 cloves garlic
3/4 cup olive oil
sea salt to taste
The Game
1. Place basil and pine nuts in a container. Press garlic cloves through a press and add to the container.
2. Add olive oil 1/4 cup at a time using an immersion blender to mix the ingredients. You might prefer more or less oil, so adjust the recipe accordingly.
Mix to desired consistency.
3. Use immediately or freeze in an ice cube tray for later use.
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