My Fat Tuesday Pancakes.

It's Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.  

Whatever you call it it's time to make some yummy pancakes before you give up things you love.   Luckily this is not my religion so I don't have to give anything up but I do love some yummy pancakes so in honour of those celebrating Shrove Tuesday I made a batch of these delicious Heart Shaped Pancakes.

I kicked up a basic recipe a touch to make these pancakes.  Here's a recipe you can use to make some:

Ingredients:

Dry:

1 cup Flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Wet:

1 cup of buttermilk or (Milk with half of a lemon juiced)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

*Coconut oil for cooking you can use butter or oil.

Topping:

Half a pack of frozen stawberries

Maple syrup

Chocolate chips

Icing sugar (Optional)

Directions:

I mixed the wet and dry ingredients in separate measuring cups to make it a lot easier for cleanup and to make the pancakes.   

Using a 4 cup measuring cup mix all the dry ingredients.  In a 2 cup measuring cup mix all the wet ingredients well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient measuring cup and mix until the flour is combined.  Don't over mix.  Leave a few lumps which will form bubbles in the pancakes.  You can let the mixture rest for a bit while you prepare the topping.   Using frozen preferably sliced strawberries place into a small saucepan and pour over a couple of tbsp of Maple syrup and if needed you can add water if you want it thinner but since the strawberries are frozen they will release water when they are cooked.  Simmer on medium heat until the strawberries are soft and the mixture is like a syrupy jam consistency.   Keep warm on low heat and move on to making the pancakes.

Heat a frying pan on medium heat until warm and add a teaspoon of coconut oil and swirl around the pan until melted.

You can either pour the pancake mix from the measuring cup or use a large spoon for more control.  Or you can even put it into a squeeze bottle if you have one.   To form the heart use a tablespoon of the mixture to form one side of the heart and then another tablespoon to form the other side.  If you do them separately it will form a line around it.   Let it cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancake and then flip with a spatula and cook on the other side for about a minute to brown the other side.   If you need to make a large batch you can put them on a cookie sheet and keep warm in a low oven and cover with tin foil.

To serve place the pancakes on a plate and then add chocolate chips and then spoon the strawberry syrup on top and then sprinkle with icing sugar if you like.   The heat of the pancakes and strawberry sauce should melt the chocolate chips.

And inhale the lot of them and enjoy every minute because you won't be having any for a while..:)  

INFO about Fat Tuesday.

Shrove Tuesday (known in some countries as Pancake Day) is a day in February orMarch, preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which is celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes.

This moveable festival is determined by Easter. The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "confess".^[1] Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Roman Catholics,^[2]who "make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with."^[3]

Being the last day before the penitential season of Lent, related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one sacrifices for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations, before commencing the fasting and religious obligations associated with Lent. The term Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. ( Source Wikepedia)

Flour Power - the Great multi taking pantry staple

It always amazes me how many tried, true and universal recipes start with Flour.  It's like a magic ingredient.  You start off with a bag of white fluffy powder and mix a few basic ingredients into it and you end up with the most delicious things.

I never made bread at home growing up and once I turned 16 and got my license the thing I heard from my parents every few days was "go buy bread".  Well now that I live on my own and don't feel like going to the store just to buy a loaf of bread I can just make some kind of bread product as long as I have flour on hand and some other pantry ingredients like SALT, SUGAR, YEAST, BAKING POWDER, EGGS, MILK and BUTTER or OIL.  

You can make all kinds of things when you start with some combination of these ingredients.  I don't know the history of when bread started but I do know that there is some sort of bread type of recipe produced in every part of the world.  It really is the one thing everyone has in common.   We all know what bread like foods taste like.

Why is it now a Forbidden Food?  When everyone in the world eats it? It tastes so good and is affordable to everyone?  Well because greed and production have turned the healthy grain products that started these recipes into toxic, nutrient free substances.  You hear everyone saying we should stop eating all white foods.  So why did this appear on the earth in the first place.  I find it hard to believe that it is the evil food some people say it is.  The way I see it is that we should find a way to return the soil that produces the grains that produce flour back to the original state where the soil was nutrient dense which produced a healthy nutrient rich milled product.

Anyway I am not ready to give up my bread products and have been experimenting all year trying to make different things.

I have made the following things that started with the base of flour:

1. White Bread Loaf
2. Pita Bread
3. Biscuits
4. Pancakes
5. Gnocchi
6. Pasta
7. Cookies
8. Pizza
9. Pie

and there are many more recipes that I want to try.

                                   

I am not going to include the recipes in this blog post.  Some I have posted before and most recipes are available online because they are common recipes.  Teach your kids how to make bread recipes and they will never have to worry about what to eat for the rest of their life.  If you have never made bread, biscuits, pancakes, etc.  I would highly recommend trying to master at least one of your favourite recipes.  If you have to eat gluten free products try and experiment with gluten free flours until you find a recipe you can whip up at anytime.   There is nothing more satisfying than making bread.  You produce this incredible thing from a few simple ingredients and it perfumes your home with the sweet smell of a home baked good and tasty food.

So these are some of the things I have cooked or baked using flour in the past year. 

 Let's see what you can do?

Fat Tuesday - The guilt free day for Pancakes

Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday and Pancake Day) is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is determined by Easter; its date changes annually.

The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "confess."^[1] Related popular practices are associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. The term Mardi gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins onAsh Wednesday. 

Source *Wikepedia.

It's OK to enjoy your Big Fat Stack of Pancakes today.

Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday or Fat Tuesday...  Whatever you call it, it's a day that you can eat Pancakes to your hearts content before you are supposed to swear off of guilty pleasures for 40 days.  Who's kidding who?  How many people last the 40 days?  If so it should be marketed as a diet plan that works.

I have never been to Mardi Gras but I can only imagine how much food I would consume and how much weight I would gain after a few days in the Big Easy.   

There are low fat, or gluten free pancake recipes but I am not going to give you that recipe.    I like to go classic and then you add whatever you like to it.   Blueberries,  brain food,  strawberries, heart and love food,  maple syrup,  good Canadian liquid gold.   

Here's a really cute way to make Pancakes from  Brit Chef Jamie Oliver and his daughters.

and this is Martha Stewart's recipe for Basic Pancakes.

 PANCAKES

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, or vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Assorted toppings, such as butter, maple syrup, confectioners' sugar, honey, jams, preserves, sweetened whipped cream, or chocolate syrup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees; have a baking sheet or heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), and egg. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine).
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel.
4. For each pancake, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 2 to 3 in a large skillet).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter; cover loosely with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You'll have 12 to 15 pancakes.) Serve warm, with desired toppings.

Zucchini pancake goodness

I had some zucchini that I picked up at the farmer's market and I was trying to decide what to make considering the heat wave we have been having in the city I wanted to make something that wouldn't take too long or use the oven.  I decided to make zucchini fritters or pancakes, latke style.   I love zucchini this way.  I think it really brings out the zucchini flavour and the crunchy exterior with the creamy interior is so good paired with some cooling sour cream.  This is my recipe for them:

Ingredients:                                         

3 zucchinis

1 tsp nutmeg

2 green onions

pinch of chili flakes

1 tbsp parsley

1/4 cup of flour

1 tsp baking powder

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup of grated parmesan

1 egg

3 tbsps oil

Sour Cream 

Directions:

Wash, trim ends and grate the zucchini's on a box grater on the coarse side.  Put the zucchini shreds in a colander over a bowl or put in cheesecloth or you can even use a clean tea towel.   Add salt to the zucchini and let the zucchini release the juices or let it strain for about an hour.  You can squeeze out the excess water by using the tea towel and wringing it out.  

In another bowl add 1 egg, 2 chopped green onions, chopped or dried parsley and then add the zucchini and mix.  Add the parmesan cheese.   Then add the flour baking powder, nutmeg and salt and pepper and nutmeg and chili flakes.  Add the flour last and gradually to see if you need more or less flour depending on the amount of moisture left in the zucchini.   You want  the consistency to be able to hold the zucchini fritters together so not runny but also not too dry so that it stays moist in the middle.  Once the mixture is mixed thoroughly heat up a non stick or cast iron skillet to high.  Add oil to the pan and turn the heat down to medium.   Add the zucchini mixture by tablespoonfuls and then flatten them out in the pan.  It should take a couple of minutes on each side.  If you cook them on medium you will be able to cook them through.   Once they are golden brown drain them on paper towels.   This amount makes about 12 fritters.  You can also keep them warm in the oven if you want to make more and serve for a large group or party.

Serve with Sour Cream.  You can be fancy and add parsley or chives or a garnish to serve individual plates or as an appetizer.   

It makes a great lunch and that's how I had them.  They are so light tasting but really satisfying.

Yum..  if you see some zucchini's at your local farmer's market try this recipe.