Homemade Pecan Pancakes

I currently have a big bag of pecans in the pantry in preparation for a homemade pecan pie for Thanksgiving {yum, my favorite!}. This week I decided to use some of the pecans and give pecan pancakes a try. We had a breakfast for dinner night and enjoyed the pancakes with some extra crispy bacon, one of my all time favorite foods.

To keep the recipe a little more "clean" and natural, I chose to make the pancakes from scratch, rather than using a mix. Plus, we already had all of the ingredients in the pantry, so why not?

Pecan Pancakes

Adapted from Food Network

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Dash of salt

1 cup buttermilk*

Dash of vanilla extract

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the buttermilk and egg and whisk until smooth. Pour in the melted butter and pecans and stir to combine. 

Heat a griddle to medium heat and add a small pat of butter. Using a ladle pour the batter onto the griddle and cook the pancakes to golden brown on each side. Add more butter to the griddle as needed during cooking to keep the pancakes from sticking.

Serve with butter and maple syrup (we use the real stuff for both, it tastes better and it is all natural). 

*Buttermilk: Pour one tablespoon of white vinegar into a measuring cup. Add in 1 cup of milk (any kind is fine, I used 1%). Let sit for 5 minutes and you have buttermilk! 

Oh, and for full disclosure, after taking this picture my phone was covered in butter and syrup because the pat of butter kept sliding off the hot pancakes. I had to keep sliding it back on with my finger while trying to take a decent picture. Good thing my phone has a screen protector so the mess was easy to wipe off. ;)

Amherst Gray

A lovely reader asked for some more pictures of our Amherst Gray siding. It is a color she is considering for her home, and she wanted to get a better idea of how it may look from different angles and in different lights. She asked me a few weeks ago, so I hope I'm not too late, but here are a few more pictures of our home with its fabulous new{ish} color! You can read the makeover post here.

Well, Hello!

Hello there! Did you think I had disappeared? I will hopefully be giving this blog a little TLC in the next week or so. I need to give it a makeover since the free background I had been using was going to expire today. I've put something else up for now, but the whole thing needs to be revamped.

I've been spending most of my available blogging time lately over at my other blog, Butterfly Wings. You can come over and visit me there, or stop by our Facebook Page. See you there!

Quick, Easy, Healthy{ish} Weeknight Stew

Tonight I made some soup for dinner that was fast, easy, delicious, and healthy{ish}. I'm calling it a stew because it was thick and hearty, and there was not a ton of broth. If you want it soupier increase the amount of chicken broth, but I loved it just the way it was. I will definitely be making this again!

Sausage and Kale Stew

1/2 lb. ground mild Italian sausage--Use turkey for a healthier version, freeze the other half of the package to use another time

1 small bunch kale, rinsed, pulled off the stem, and chopped

1 can white beans (great northern/cannellini), drained and rinsed

1 32 oz container low sodium chicken broth

1 can stewed tomatoes with Italian seasoning, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Heat a pot (I like to use a cast iron dutch oven) to medium heat. Add a small amount of olive oil and brown the sausage, breaking into bite size crumbles as you cook. When the sausage is almost browned put in the minced garlic to sauté. Careful, it burns easily! 

Once the sausage is nicely browned pour in the chicken broth, scraping off the good brown bits from the bottom of the pan into the broth (deglazing if you want to be fancy about it).This makes the broth rich and delicious. Mmmmm 

Add in the diced tomatoes in their juice (do not drain). I can never find these pre-diced, so I pull the slices out with a fork and dice them myself and then throw them in the pot along with the leftover juice that's in the can.  

Add in the white beans and kale along with some salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer for about 20 minutes until the kale is tender. 

I'm never great at taking pictures of food, but this one is especially bad because the soup was so steamy it kept fogging up my camera. I was too hungry to wait! 

Enjoy!

Mexican Favorites

Mexican is one of my favorite types of food. We have tried two new Mexican recipes for dinner in the last few weeks, and both have been absolutely delicious! They are completely opposite, as one is a vegetarian taco recipe and one is a beef taco. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Roasted Vegetable Tacos (adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 red pepper, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 jalapeño, seeded and diced

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chile powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

1 lime

1 avocado

Homemade tortillas (FYI--I have tried this recipe with whole wheat flour since my original post and it did not work...yuck! Also, I feel like the olive oil does give them a bit of a flavor. If you want them more plain in flavor use canola oil)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix your tortilla dough so it can begin resting. In a bowl toss veggies with the oil and seasonings. Place onto a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through. 

Once veggies are done roasting remove from oven and mix in black beans. Turn oven off and put tray back in to keep warm. Cook your tortillas and set aside. When tortillas are done pull veggies back out of the oven, mix in fresh cilantro, and squeeze fresh lime juice on top. Serve veggie mixture in your fresh warm tortillas, top with fresh avocado, and enjoy! 

Slow Cooker Beef Carnitas (adapted from Eat, Live, Run)

1 flank steak

1 yellow onion, chopped

1-2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

Spice Rub:

2 teaspoons chile powder 

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together spices for rub in a small bowl, then rub into both sides of the flank steak. Place steak in slow cooker and cover with chopped onion and chipotle peppers. Warning: canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce pack a lot of heat. I really like spicy things and I used 1 1/2 peppers in my recipe and it was plenty spicy for me.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. When finished cooking shred meat with two forks. Serve meat inside homemade tortillas and top with a squeeze of lime juice, fresh cilantro, and homemade Pico de Gallo (that's missing from my picture because we forgot to get tomatoes at the store :( )

Pico de Gallo:

Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

Red onion, diced

Juice of 1 lime

Handful of fresh cilantro

Add some fresh minced garlic if you're feeling zesty

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit for a few hours before serving

 Enjoy!

Super Food Granola

One thing I have been really curious to try recently is chia seeds. I am not sure how I decided to jump on this bandwagon...probably Pinterest. They are the ultimate super food. Here is a good article about the top 10 health benefits of chia seeds.

For my first chia seed adventure hubby helped me make homemade granola. It turned out pretty well and was definitely waaaay better than my last homemade granola which tasted like burned grossness.

 

Super Food Granola

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup nuts of your choice (We had pecans on hand so thats what we used. I think walnuts would be delish too)

1/4 cup flax seeds

3 tablespoons chia seeds

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup honey (or sweetener of your choice--you could use pure maple syrup or agave nectar)

1 large egg white

1 cup dried fruit (we used a blend of golden raisins, cherries, cranberries, and blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl mix all ingredients except for the egg white and dried fruit, making sure that the liquid ingredients evenly coat the dry ingredients. 

In a small bowl whisk the egg white until it is frothy, pour into the large bowl of granola, and mix until evenly coated.

Spread the granola onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Half way through baking flip the granola over using a spatula. Mix the fruit into the granola as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let cool and store in an airtight container. 

*We got our chia seeds, flax seeds, and "golden fruit blend" all from Trader Joe's 

This granola was fabulous. It is not super sweet, but the honey and fruit adds just the right amount of sugar. I love that it has both chia seeds and flax seeds, and doesn't contain the questionable ingredients that store bought granolas have. Plus, its way cheaper to make your own! My next chia seed adventure is going to be chia seed pudding. Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it turns out! 

A New Blog

Hi everyone. I wanted to share my new blog adventure with you. I will still be blogging on A T-Shirt and Pearls, but I am starting a second blog. 

If you read my last post on here you know about the stillbirth of our daughter Emma. I will blogging about things related to that on my new blog On A Butterfly's Wings. 

I understand that it will not be for everyone, which is why I am going to write on a separate blog. However, I do hope you will take a minute to check it out. Yes, its uncomfortable and sad, but stillbirth is real and it happens more than you think. If we stay silent about it then the statistics will never change.