Pancake Mix

I haven't made this in a while, but a friend just asked me for the recipe. I thought I would go ahead and post it. It comes from the King Arthur 200th Anniversry Cookbook.

Pancake Mix

6 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 wheat germ or bran (optional)
1 1/2 cups non-fat dry milk or 1 1/2 cups dry buttermilk powder
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, white or brown
1/4 baking powder
1 cup vegetable shortening

In a large bowl, combine flours, wheat germ or bran, dry milk, salt, sugar, and baking powder, and mix well. Cut in the shortening until it is evenly distributed. (It is important to use shortening instead of butter as it is stable at room temperature)

To store this mix, place it in a large, airtight container, or put it up in premeasured (don't pack it), 2-cup portions. It will make approximately seven.

To Use Your Pancake Mix

Each 2-cup batch of mix makes about a dozen 12" pancakes

1 egg, slightly beaten
1 to 1 1/4 cups warm water (depending on how thick you like your pancakes)
2 cups Pancake Mix, not packed

Combine the egg and water in a bowl. Stir in the mix until it is just moistened. Cook pancakes as you normally would.

Smoked Salmon and Arugula Salad

I went to Tampa with my friend Renee for our friend Christine's funeral last month. While we were in Tampa, we stayed with Renee's sister Belinda. Belinda made this salad for lunch one day and it was divine!!

Smoked Salmon and Arugula Salad

1.5 oz arugula
1 Tbs chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 scallions, finely diced
2 large avocados
1 Tbs lemon juice
8 0r 9 oz smoked salmon

Lime Mayonnaise

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs lime juice
finely grated rind of one lime
1 Tbs chopped fresh flat leaf parsley


Wash and drain arugula, if necessary. Shred the leaves and arrange in four small or one large bowl. Top with the chopped parsley and scallions.

Halve, peel, and pit the avocados and cut into thin slices or smally chuncks. Toss with lemon juice and place in bowl with arugula. Cut the smoked salmon into strips and scatter over the top.

Put the mayo into a bowl, then add the lime juice and rind and the chopped parsley. Mix together well. Spoon some of the lime mayo on top of the salad, garnish with parsley sprigs and lime wedges.

Ms. Patsy's Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ms Patsy crafted my wedding cake and it was beautiful and delicious! Several years later, I took cake decorating classes and guess who was my teacher. These are her recipes and I am so thankful to have been taught by her. What an amazing woman!!

This recipe makes an excellent wedding cake base or the simple dessert for a summer afternoon picnic with friends. I sometimes add the "guts" of a vanilla bean that has been soaking in vodka. You can change the exracts around and make this something totally different.

Ms. Patsy's Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3 cups sugar
3 sticks butter
1-8 oz package cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 large eggs

Cream sugar, butter, and cream cheese. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla. At low speed add flour and salt. Pour into large greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Deviled Eggs

One of the best things in the world is a really good deviled egg. One of the worst things in the world is a really bad deviled egg. I don't make mine with a recipe. I just eye it. I think the difference is the Pick-A-Peppa Sauce. I add just a bit and it really makes the eggs have a great flavor.

I boil the eggs for about 10 minutes and then turn the stove off and let them sit in the hot water for about 10 minutes. Rinse the eggs with cool water and then peel. I mix a bit of minced sweet onion, sweet relish (always better with my homemade), the dash or so of Pick-A-Peppa, and a bit of mayo. Mash this all together with the egg yolks, add salt and pepper, and adjust the mayo to desired level of creaminess. Arrange on a platter with Boston or Bib lettuce and sprinkle with paprika. These are really good. My kids will eat them for breakfast.

Monster Cookies, aka Ralph's Addiction

This is a HUGE recipe! It is also my husband's most favorite cookie. Before you begin make sure that you have a really large bowl to mix all of this in. I can get the wet ingredients to all mix up in my 6 qt mixer, but then I have to add all the oats in a much larger bowl.

I only bake a few at a time and then freeze the rest of the dough for slice and bake cookies. If you don't use sucannat, just exchange with white sugar for the sucannat with honey and I would use 2 lbs of brown sugar for the sucannat.

By the way, notice that there is no flour in these cookies!

Monster Cookies

1 doz eggs

4 cups sucannat

4 cups sucannat with honey

4 sticks butter, soft

16-18 cups old fashioned oats

3 lb "natural" peanut butter

8 tsp baking soda

1 TBS Kosher salt

1 TBS vanilla

2-5 lbs "other" stuff...coconut, raisins, chips of any variety, dried fruit, just whatever you want

Depending on "other" stuff, you might want to add cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices

Cream eggs, sucannat, vanilla, and butter together. Mix int he peanut butter. Add the soda and salt and mix well. In your very large bowl mix together oats (start with 16 cups) and "other" ingredients. Fold butter mixture in until well combined. You might need to add a couple more cups of oats just depending on the amount of "other" stuff that you add. You can bake right away or chill first. I think they are much better if chilled first. Bake for 10-14 minutes at 350 degrees. Let them sit for 1-2 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

I use waxed paper to form logs of dough and then over wrap with foil, and freeze. You can take them straight from the freezer to the oven, just slice and bake. You might need to adjust the cooking time when doing this.

Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork

Not that anyone ever asked me BUT this is the single best roast I have ever tasted!! Sometimes things just all come together and maybe this was one of those times, but I can't wait to try it again to see if it really was THAT good. My guess, it really was that good!! This picture was taken about 4 hours into the roasting. There is no scale in the shot so you can't get a feel for how huge this roast was. If you try it, please let me know!!

Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork

Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver

2 TBS fennel seeds

1 TBS sea or rock salt

2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and roughly chopped

4 medium carrots

3 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

1 bulb of garlic, cloves unpeeled and smashed

a bunch of fresh thyme

1 X 11-14 lb shoulder of pork on the bone, preferably free-range or organic, skin scored

olive oil

a 750 ml bottle of white wine

1 pint chicken or vegetable stock

Preheat your oven to maximum. Smash the fennel seeds with the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine. Put the roughly chopped vegetables, garlic and thyme sprigs into a large roasting pan. Pat the pork shoulder with olive oil and sit it on the vegetables. Now massage all the smashed fennel seeds into the skin of the pork, making sure you push them right into the scores to maximize the flavor. Put the pork into your preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until it's beginning to color, then turn your oven down to 250 degrees and cook the pork for 9 to 12 hours, until the meat is soft and sticky and you can pull it apart easily with a fork.

Tip all the wine into the roasting tray and let it cook for another hour to give you a perfect sauce. Once the pork is out of the oven, let it rest for half an hour before removingit to a large board. I like to brush off any excess salt from the meat, then I mash up the veg in the pan using a potato masher. Add the stock to the roasting pan, put it on the heat and boil until you have a lovely, intensely flavored gravy (you can thicken it with a little flour). The pork is great served with some good cranberry beans, braised greens, your roast veg mash and tasty sauce.

New Year's with crown roast of pork, orange rice and roasted brussel sprouts

I actually bought this roast from the grocery. I called and asked them to make it and my husband went and picked it up. I didn't realize they put pink frills on the top of the bones!! What the heck ever happened to white?? Notice the pink dye that was left of the top of the bones!!

Anyway, for grocery store meat it was pretty good and it was a nice meal I was able to throw together limping around the kitchen in my cast!

Happy New Year!!