Carrot Cake Pancakes

This was one of the main dishes in Sunday brunch, and it was absolutely delicious. Make sure to make the cream cheese syrup to go with it!

Carrot Cake Pancakes
from Cooking Classy

Ingredients:
1.5 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 medium)
1 cup buttermilk (or substitute)
3 Tbs. sugar
1 cup flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 recipe Cream Cheese Syrup (recipe here)
chopped pecans, to garnish

Instructions:
1. In a medium airtight container, whisk together grated carrots, buttermilk, and sugar. Cover container and refridgerate overnight.
2. Heat 2 skillets over the stove on medium heat (or a non-stick griddle to 300F).
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, oil, and vanilla extract. Add egg mixture and carrot mixture to flour, and whisk until just combined.
5. Butter the skillets and pour on 1/3 cups batter onto each, and slightly spread batter out. Cook until bubbles begin to form and bottom is golden brown, then flip, and cook until opposite side is golden-brown.
6. Serve immediately with syrup and garnish with chopped peacans.

Gutherie's Sauce

This is perfect for fried green tomatoes (recipe here).

Gutherie's Sauce
from Dash of East

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used vegenaise)
1/4 cup katchup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire (I used Annie's)
lots of black pepper

Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Fried Green Tomatoes

The last of my recent deep-frying adventures. These are truly amazing with Gutherie's Sauce.

Note: for the buttermilk, I used the sour cream watered down with milk until buttermilk consistency is reached substitute.

Fried Green Tomatoes
from Dash of East

Ingredients:
2 medium-sized green tomatoes, cut into 1/3" slices
salt
1 cup buttermilk (or substitute)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
oil for deep frying
1 recipe Gutherie's Sauce (recipe here)

Instructions:
1. Fill oil to specified line in deep fryer and heat.
2. Sprinkle salt on both sides of tomato slices and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, beat an egg. Add buttermilk, and mix well.
4. In another medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, pepper, sugar, paprika, and cumin and mix well.
5. Wipe of excess salt from the tomato slices.
6. Dip each tomato slice first into butter milk mixture, and then into flour mixture. Repeat with each slice for a double coating.
7. Once the oil has come to temperature, drop slices in and cook until outside is golden-brown. Serve hot with Gutherie's Sauce.

Squash Fritters

Since my friend was in town, that was a special occasion. Special occasions warrant cracking out the 4-cup deep fryer that my roommate gave to me a couple years ago. Best (and worst-for-me) xmas present ever. We made tempura green beans (and a delicious wasabi sauce to boot), jalapeño poppers (amazing using fresh, local jalapeños), potato fries (your standard cut, throw in oil, salt-to-taste), but best of all: These squash fritters. These are basically little delicious rosemary-squash soufflés.

Squash Fritters
from What About Second Breakfast?

Ingredients:
1.5 cups pumpkin or squash puree
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cups grated Parmesan
2 Tbs. fresh rosemary, chopped
pepper
oil for deep frying (I used peanut oil)

Instructions:
1. Fill deep-fryer to marked level, and heat.
2. Beat eggs in medium bowl. Stir in squash purée with eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine flour mixture in with the purée mixture. Add Parmesan, rosemary, and pepper. Stir until it just comes together.
3. When oil is at temperature (340F), scoop 1 Tbs. of dough into the oil, being careful not to get splashed with hot oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides, making sure to turn fritters so both sides get cooked.
4. Remove fried fritters with a slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Serve immediately.

Mushroom Corn Browned Butter Sage Sauce

This was the epic dinner I cooked for my friends the Saturday night when my good friend was in town (right before going off to India! He's there now, as I post this : ) So excited for him!!) Lets just say I was fattening him up on western food one last time before he went off to lose weight in the East.

Mushroom Corn Browned Butter Sage Sauce
from Cookbook of the Month

Ingredients:
1 lb. short spiral pasta or ricotta gnocchi, cooked
1.5 cups fresh breadcrumbs
4 Tbs. olive oil, divided
7 Tbs. butter, divided
1 lb. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced uniformely
1 Tbs. fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbs. fresh sage leaves, slice
4 ears of corn, kernels stripped
2 large shallots, finely diced
1.25 c. flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
salt and pepper

Instructions:
1. Heat 2 Tbs. olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs and stir to coat with oil. Cook, stirring occassionally, until breadcrumbs are toasted and golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
2.  Add remaining 2 Tbs. olive oil plus 1 Tbs. butter to pan, and heat until butter foams. Add mushrooms, thyme, 1/2 tsp. salt, and pepper. Saute mushrooms, not stirring too much, until most sides are carmalized. Set aside.
3. Add remaining 6 Tbs. of butter to the pan, and cook until butter browns and smells nutty. Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, add sage, and cook for 1 minute until it sizzles. Add corn, shallots, 1 tsp. salt, and pepper. Saute, stirring frequently, until corn is tender (2-4 minutes).
4. Add prepared pasta to the pan, and toss to coat with butter. Add mushrooms, breadcrumbs, and parsely and stir to combine. Heat the dish if necessary.
5. Season to taste, and serve hot.

Squash Pepper and Sausage Quiche

My parents came into town for family weekend, and I made them Sunday brunch, which involved this quiche. This was a definite crowd pleaser, but I suppose I wasn't 100% satisfied with it because I've been cooking so gourmet (at least for my standards) recently, but it's a super solid recipe, used tons of fresh, in season stuff (my parents took me to the farmers market when they were in town!!! fridge.veggies = full; ) Perhaps the fact that I used pre-made things (the sausage) is what bothered me. I dunno, but I originally wasn't going to blog about this, but my parents and friends who tasted it all agreed that it should be blogged about, so here it is!

This quiche is one of the few Ann-originals. No recipe (besides the crust recipe) was used : D But it is really nice to know that even if I go off of the books, I can still produce something delicious ^_^ Finally getting to that point in my cooking career. So, much more to come!

Squash Pepper and Sausage Quiche

Ingredients:
1 pie crust,  blind-baked (I used Martha Stuart’s recipe)
1 yellow squash (or zucchini), shredded
4 "sausage" patties (I used Morning Star)
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or cream)
1 handful fresh basil, torn
1 - 2 small red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and sliced length-wise
2 Tbs. + 1 tsp. oil, divided
salt and pepper

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Heat 2 table spoons on medium-low heat. Place shredded squash in the skillet, sprinkle evenly with salt, and saute for 10 minutes until most all of the water has leeched out and evaporated, stirring often. Then turn heat up to medium, and cook until caramelized. Set aside on a plate.
3. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a skillet on medium heat. Crumble the sausage patties and fry until caramelized on all sides.
4. Whisk the eggs and milk together, then whisk in the salt, pepper, and basil. Add in the sausage crumbles and squash, and pour mixture into the pie crust. Use a brush (or you finger) to dip into the quiche mix and coat the crust.
5. Arrange the red pepper slices on the top in a circle (I made an inner and outter circle with most-all the curved parts of the peppers overlapping).
6. Cover with tin-foil and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover, and bake until crust and top of the quiche is golden-brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Apple Almond Granola

This makes SO much granola, but it's delicious. I prefer it without the salt, and I would like to play around with it temperature and cooking time wise. I think lower temperature for longer, or perhaps taking it out and stirring ever 10 minutes would help it so the inside and outside of the pan is more evenly distributed with crispiness.


Apple Almond Granola
from Anecdotes & Applecores

Ingredients:
1 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts (or peacans), choped
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, flakes or shredded
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt (optional)
1 cup dried apples, chopped

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 300F.
2. In a large bowl mix together almonds, walnuts, oats, coconut, and flax seed.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, maple syrup, almond butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Pour over oat mixture and stir together with a large wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Divide between 2 cookie sheets, and spread into a thin, even layer. Bake for 30 - 50 minutes, until desired crispyness is achieved. (I only cooked mine for 30 minutes, and the edges started to burn by then)
5. Once removed from the oven, stir in the apples and allow to cool completely before storing in a container.