Donut Pancakes - Accidental Discovery!

Sometimes I'm a little preoccupied. Enough to put too much oil in a pan for my pancakes, and to let it get too hot.

To make a long story short, I ended up with donut pancakes this morning. It was actually fairly good - I wouldn't recommend making these EVERY time you make pancakes, but give them a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.


They were golden brown on both sides but crispy, not "cake-like". I cooked them on each side until I saw the traditional "bubbles in the batter" flip indicator, pulled them out, and served. They were much heavier than normal pancakes, so don't eat too much of these or you might feel sick, but they were tasty!

Pannuts? Docakes? I don't know ...

Fantastic Shepherd's Pie!

This recipe is a mishmash of different Sheppard's pie recipes I've followed. I think it combines simplicity with flavour, to give you the best trade off between cooking/prep time versus how good it tastes.

Ingredients

• Ground beef (one package, extra lean)
• Onion (1/4 cup)
• Ketchup (1/4 cup - 1/2 cup, use your judgment)
• Montreal steak spice (2 tsp.)
• Garlic powder (1 tsp.)
• Water (1/4 cup)
  
• Salt
• Pepper
• Basil (1 tsp)
• Chili Powder (optional - for bite, a "light dusting")
• Baking potatos (5-6)
• Sour cream (1/4 cup)
• Milk (1/2 cup)
• Butter (2 tbsp.)
• "Niblet" Kernel corn (small can)
• Cream corn (small can)

Instructions

We will be preparing 3 different dishes; the meat, the potatos and the vegetables. The order you do them in doesn't matter because they will all be combined in the end. I think I've layed them out in a pretty effecient manner, but feel free to break the mold.

The Potatos

1. Peel and cook the potatos until they're ready to mash.
2. Add butter, milk.
3. Mash potatos well.
4. Add sour cream.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Add pepper to taste.
7. Mash potatos well, again. No lumps or your fired.

The Corn

1. Open both cans of corn
2. drain as much water from the niblets as you can.
3. Drain a slight amount of the watery juice from the cream corn.
4. Combine in a small pot and cook at very low heat until simmering.

The Meat

1. In a large saucepan, brown the ground beef with the onion, basil, and the steak spice.
2. Once brown, add the garlic powder and mix well.
3. Add the ketchup along with 1/4 cup of water.
4. Cover and keep on low heat. The meat should have a small amount of "sauce" coating it.

The Dish

1. Layer the meat in the bottom of a glass oven-dish.
2. Layer the corn mixture on top of the meat.
3. Layer the mashed potatos on top. Use a fork to make those fancy decorative lines on the top of the mash potatos, and garnish with basil.
4. Bake covered at 400F for 45 minutes.
5. Broil for 5-7 minutes, or until light golden brown on top.
   

Lasagna

I remember growing up watching Garfield cartoons. He could scarf entire lasagna's in a matter of seconds, cutting a small piece out then eating the rest of the lasagna. I never really thought about how strange a lasagna-eating cat was, but, it was entertaining nonetheless.

Since then, I've learned how to make a few different types of lasagna! While the following one probably isn't the most gourmet, its definitely the easiest and fits my "student cooking" theme pretty well.

Ingredients

• Ground beef (1 package, lean)
• Oven-ready lasagna noodles
• Tomato sauce (1 large can)
• Basil (1 1/2 tsp.)
• Onion (1/2 cup)
• Cottage Cheese (4% large container)
• Mozzarella Cheese (1/2 - 3/4 brick depending on how much you like)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Water (1/2 cup)

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, cook the ground beef and onion together.
2. When the ground beef is browned, add the tomato sauce, onion, and basil, add water and simmer lightly for 10 minutes.
3. Layer thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a large glass oven dish.
4. Layer lasagna noodles on top of sauce.
5. Layer thin layer of sauce on top of the noodles, and then spread a layer of cottage cheese and sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan on top.
6. Continue layering like this until you're out of ingredients. Make sure your top layer is sauce and cheese!
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350F.
8. Serve with a fresh caesar salad!

Bleugh! It never fails!

Have you ever sat down for a quick bite at The Spoke and ordered everyone's favorite, the CLT? I don't know what it is about the CLT, but it's an extremely addicting wrap they serve with lettuce, tomato, marble cheese and chicken. Don't forget the special mayo sauce they serve with it!

How many of you actually sit down and plan to add a little more aluminum to your diet? I sure don't, but that's what happens EVERY TIME. The foil wrap the CLT comes in always ends up getting chewed on, even when you're being most careful not to!

This afternoon I sat down at The Spoke to enjoy a CLT while waiting for my group members to show up and was actively thinking to roll the tin foil down after every bite.

Minutes later I was gnawing on a fair sized chunk of aluminum...

Maybe CLT's are just so good that you can't help but eat them quickly, and therefore get to the tin foil faster than you can roll it down, I don't know, but I think I'm just going to have to start accepting the foil as a part of the CLT.

Parmesan and Romano Artichoke Dip

I like dips and/or dipping. Try this chopped artichoke and Parmesan & Romano dip when you have company.

Ingredients

• Chopped artichoke hearts (14 oz can, jar, whatever)
• Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)
• Romano cheese (1/8 cup)
• Mayonnaise (1 cup)
• Garlic salt (1/2 tsp.)
• Lemon juice (a few splashes)

Instructions

1. Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well.
2. Transfer contents of mixing bowl to serving dish.
3. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes.
4. Serve with baked tortilla chips, crackers, or toasted pita.