Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Pancakes ( high protein)

 

INGREDIENTS

  

• 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
• 3/4 cups old fashioned oats or oat flour
• 2 large eggs (probably could get by with just one egg or two egg white)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder or (1/2 t. baking soda  instead if soaking oats in buttermilk)
• 1 tsp vanilla(optional)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg or ginger or cinnamon optional

INSTRUCTIONS

 

• Place dry oats in a large bowl.
• Pour in warm water until oats are almost covered.
• Let sit 30 minutes – or cover and place in fridge the night before.
• Once oats have soaked up most/all of the liquid place in blender with cottage cheese, vanilla, baking powder, and whatever spices you would like.
• Blend until oats and cottage cheese are mixed together – add eggs and blend til smooth
• Heat a pan (or non-stick griddle) over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles; brush lightly with butter or a cooking spray.
• In batches, ladle batter on to skillet, in any size you desire. Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the bottoms are golden – 2 to 4 minutes.
• Scatter a few blueberries or chocolate chips over the top if desired
• With a wide spatula, flip over and cook a few minutes more.
• Enjoy!

Notes: I like them! I did notice a hint of egginess. If you don't care for that or are married to someone who doesn't care for eggs I would try changing the two eggs to one or two egg whites instead of two eggs.

Pizza Dough

 1 cup warm water (105 to 115)

1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt 

1-2 tablespoons oil

3 cups flour, approximately

1. Place 1/4 cup of warm water in a small dish and sprinkle yeast and a pinch of sugar over the top. Stir to dissolve. Let the mix stand until it is bubbly. 

2. In a large bowl combine the rest of the warm water with a teaspoon of sugar, salt and oil. Add the activated yeast mixture. 

3. Add a cup of flour at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. I use a spatula to wipe down the side of the bowl as the dough gets thicker. Towards the end I am adding small amounts of flour and encouraging the dough not to stick to the sides of the bowl by scraping bits off with the spatula. Mix the dough for around three minutes to encourage gluten development.

4. The mixer should be fairly clean if you use the spatula  to clean the sides. Leave the dough ball in the container and oil it. Flip it over to get the oil on the bottom too. Cover it up and place in a warm location to rise. That should take about an hour.

5. Punch the dough down and spread onto a greased pan or skillet. Let it rise for awhile. Maybe 20 minutes if you can wait. Add your toppings and bake in a 425-450 degree oven.

Notes: Sometimes I don't add the salt and I l part  the flour yeast mix sit quietly for 20-30 minutes. It helps condition the dough so it is easier to stretch or pat out into the pan. After its quiet time I add the salt and the rest of the flour. They say the salt is not conducive to this resting period.

Sometimes I use my old sourdough in place of some of the flour.

Sometimes I add some whole wheat flour to give it a little more nutrition and flavor.

Paczki Love

 We tried out a local bakery for paczki's this Shrove Tuesday. I thought they did a good job on them! It was funny to see the owner walk out with a tray of paczki. She was flour dusted from her neck to her toes. But, she had a big smile on her face.

Soffits Be Gone

 We decided to get rid of the soffits. What's next we don't know. Here are a few pictures of the process. Moving the conduit was a bear for Randy! He found a wasps nest up there too!

Wilton Roll Out Cookies

 I made roll out cookies for Valentine's Day. I was bound and determined to use that new cutter I had bought. I also bought meringue royal icing mix to try on the top of the cutouts. I have always just used a simple icing of confectioners sugar, water and corn syrup. I wanted to try an icing that would dry hard and not have to worry about layering and smearing occurring with the finished product. I made the icing too thick and it was hard to decorate with. Live and learn through your mistakes. Here they are. It was a half batch since it was just the two of us. They were delicious!

💗

Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins

 I used Betty Crockers recipe. I added some sourdough starter that I always have around. I used an old waffle iron to bake them. I have made several batches of these tasty beauties and the waffle iron continues to perform. When I tried using my All Clad waffle iron it caused it to overheat and stop working. Randy took it apart and pushed stuff around and got it working again. Needless to say I will not be using the All Clad waffle iron to make sourdough muffins anymore. Thank goodness for old fashioned non safety features of the ancient waffle iron.

Bean There Done That Lasagna

 Today I assembled a bean/mushroom/tomato sauce combination that I had in my freezer with a can of tomatoes/onions/garlic mixture I cooked on the stove top in the style of lasagna sauce. This is my new attempt to not abandon the bad recipe I found for mushroom chili. When I realized that the recipe wasn't going to be anything like chili but more of a sauce I decided not to spice it up with heavy chili flavor and consider what I would use it for instead. I originally thought it would be a good spaghetti sauce served over polenta. The problem with that is that Randy wouldn't help me eat that up. There was enough sauce for quite a few days of lone eating. More days than I cared for. So I just froze the mess to consider future options. I did actually make a small corn meal mush dish that I enjoyed the sauce on. But enough is enough. It was very flavorful with the pound of mushrooms in it.

My bean lasagna used up the mushroom and stovetop sauce I told Randy the beans were the protein. Of course there is also ricotta cheese, mozzarella and parmesan to boost the protein content. I want him to be prepared for the beans in the lasagna since that is a novel experience for us.

Here it is! As you can see we haven't tried it yet. I'll let you know soon.