Cornmeal & Bacon Flapjacks with Cranberry Syrup

This entire weekend conspired against me to make pancakes. I’m serious.

First, my best friend was visiting me from WI. She is nothing if not the pancake queen. They’re really the only food she knows how to, or enjoys, making. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack. If I ask what she wants, the answer will be “pancakes.”

 

Second, we watched 50/50. I absolutely obsessed with the movie because of the storyline, characters, humor, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Umm, hello? Have we met?) and cannot stop watching it. The retired greyhound dog Skeletor also helps. He’s too cute.

Aaaaaanyways, back to pancakes. There’s a scene where Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character is hopped up on morophine and is delightfully unfiltered. When his love interest comes to visit he’s all cute, lying in the hospital bed, woozy and delirious and looks at her with this adorable expression as says “I wanna make you pancakes.”

That’s it. Just a simple desire to make the woman he cares for pancakes.

Mulling Spiced Apple Coffee Cake with Spiced Streusel

This cake was almost the death of me.

Actually, that should be cakeS. These cakes were almost the death of me. Sweet, delicious death. 

I got it into my head that I wanted to make a coffee cake. But not just any coffee cake. No, I needed one that was warm and spicy and speckled with apples. One that was so purely autumnal it warmed the tummy and the soul.

Plus, it needed to be covered with streusel because, let’s be real, coffee cake is just a vehicle for streusel at the end of the day.

I made one cake, and it was good. So good I shared majority of it with my neighbors and coworkers because I didn’t want to eat the whole thing. It wasn’t winning any awards in the looks department though. I knew I could do better.

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

Two weeks ago I OD-ed on eggs. (Sidenote: that’s probably the strangest sentence I’ve ever typed.)

I was going home and I didn’t want to leave a bunch of leftovers and almost-meals in my fridge over the weekend. I didn’t want to have to clean that mess up come Sunday night when I would have to do the homework I had put off all weekend was relaxed from being at home.

I ate eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Multiple days in a row. Yes, I added other things to them but still. They were eggs. I went through a dozen in only a few days. Even with my love of eggs, it was just too much.

So, I’m giving them a little bit of a break right now. Which seems blasphemous, I know, but, it is giving me the opportunity to enjoy other breakfast foods I love. Like oatmeal or pancakes. And this awesome smoothie.

Candied Ginger Scones

You know that episode of The Office where Michael burns his foot on a George Foreman Grill? I fear this may be my future. And by that, I mean burning my foot, not being the manager of a paper company’s Scranton branch.

See, the heat isn’t on in my apartment yet. This wasn’t such a problem the past few weeks, with the temperatures hovering around 60 most days and even passing 70 on occasion. But now, in the midwestern fashion of dramatic highs and even more extreme lows, the temperature dropped a solid 30 degrees overnight. And my apartment has become a very large, very expensive refrigerator. 

I have been keeping warm by wearing multiple sweaters, wrapping myself in blankets, and keeping the oven on to get a little bit of heat into the chilled wooden floors and icy window panes of my apartment.

While this last step may pose a fire hazard, I’m tired of feeling like a character in a Dickens novel. But, I have a new fear of slipping or tripping in my kitchen and putting my foot in the broiler. Of course, standing in front of the oven and alternately standing on my right foot, then my left, then back again, so I can evenly toast them may add to the likelihood of this outcome.

Fig and Goat Cheese Breakfast Biscuits

“Are you learning anything new at the bakery?” my grandmother asked as I was elbow deep in biscuit dough. I tried to scrape the sticky mess off my fingers and think of a decent response, both efforts were futile.

“Oh, I don’t know. Not really. Maybe?” came my reply as I sprinkled flour onto the table and over my rolling pin. After forming the lump into a somewhat recognizable shape, I began to roll. My grandma watched and waited, nipping off a bit of dough with her fingers and tasting it, giving me her approval.

“You know, I always use a pizza or pie cutter to even out the edges when I’ve got a dough like that,” my grandma said after her sample. I took a knife and evened out the edges, giving myself a neat rectangle. Hmm, that’s better, I thought.

I spread not-so-softened goat cheese over the dough, taking care not to tear it and using my fingers when necessary; her eyes watched me the entire time. She mentioned something about whipping it with honey, for added sweetness. I contemplated and then disregarded it, staring at the lumpy goat cheese before me.

Dark Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with Marshmallow Coffee Buttercream

I get a lot of things from my dad. My brown eyes, olive skin, and “solid” build all come from him. My annoyingly obsessive attention to detail, dry sense of humor, and predisposition to mornings go to his credit too. While some of the traits I have gotten from him are genetic, I’ve also picked up a lot of learned behaviors from him over the years. Since I was a little girl I’ve been watching him and studying him and mimicking him – it’s only natural that some of his habits and traits would eventually become mine. For better or worse.

There’s one thing he does though that I will just not do. Never, ever will I be okay with doing this. Never, EVER. It is a habit so disgusting, so repulsive I can barely bring myself to write it (I’m really making you want one of those cupcakes up there, aren’t I?).

My father reuses day-old coffee.

There. I said it. And may have gotten a little queasy.

Eggs Fried In Peppers

I eat eggs every day. Sometimes multiple times a day. Eggs are quick, easy, and full of protein. They satisfy me after a tough workout or keep me full during my long shifts at work. While I don’t think it’s excessive (it’s normal to go through two dozen eggs solo in one week, totally normal) it can get a bit boring.

So when a friend sent me a link on Facebook showing me a new way to prepare eggs my first thought was “Man, how come I didn’t think of that!” and my second was “I know what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow.”

Banana Bread Pancakes

Some Sundays I’m all about getting stuff done. Getting up early, getting a workout, shower, and a quick breakfast in before hitting the books. But, let’s be honest, those Sundays are few and far between.

Like, really far. 

I prefer my Sunday mornings to be long, lingering affairs. Hanging out in my pajamas, watching a lot little bit of Hulu, drinking my coffee. And, eating some pancakes.

Swedish Visiting Cake

I posted no Thursday Things last week. There were no Things for me to post about last Thursday. Instead, there were doctor’s appointments, ice packs, and tears.

I woke up Thursday morning and could barely move. And when I did, the amount of pain I felt made me want to never attempt to move again. I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t know what to do.

After multiple, painful visits to the doctor I was told I have a pinched disk in my neck, a by-product of the workouts that I do. The doctor gave me some medication and said that all I could really do was take it easy and wait for it to calm down. I was miserable.

Why I am telling you all of this? You don’t come here for my sob stories. You come here for butter and sugar and pictures of tasty treats that I put in my face. We’ll get there.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pop Tarts

I tried to do too much this weekend. That happens sometimes. I spread myself too thin, put too much on my plate, or put too much pressure on myself. I kinda, sorta, maybe did that during my “relaxing” weekend at home. 

See, I got this idea in my head that I had to make every single recipe that I had bookmarked in the past week. I had to make blondies and pies and cupcakes and caramel and cookies. I was on a mission. 

I spent virtually all of Saturday afternoon in the kitchen. A prospect that normally would have had me tickled as pink as my KitchenAid. But I wasn’t. I was scattered and stressed and sloppy. And baking started to feel like something more akin to a chore. Soon, making the food was something I had to do, it was no longer something I wanted to do. 

Sunday Morning Rain Is Fallin'

Ok, rain isn’t actually falling but, that song has been in my head all morning (damn you Maroon 5 and your catchy vocals!). The weather here is actually beautiful – sunny, wispy clouds, a slight breeze. Really a wonderful August day. 

But there’s a rain cloud here too. And it is hanging right over my head. 

This morning, I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends. She is on her way back to college and has left me here for another two weeks by myself.While I know that I will see her again, (in just one week's time actually) it is still hard to say goodbye to someone you care about. To know that they have this whole other life to go to and enjoy and thrive in.

So, to console myself I made these. Coffee and Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches.

In honor of best friends and Sundays everywhere I am not turning on my oven today. Instead, I am going to make these cute little sammys, drink coffee in my pajamas, and enjoy one of my last Sundays at home. 

Coffee and Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches (adapted from Food Network Magazine, June 2011)

1 box chocolate frosted mini cake doughnuts (or you could go a little crazy and used the full sized, I wouldn’t hate you for it)

Coffee ice cream

Cut doughnuts in half horizontally. Using a small ice cream scoop (or melon baller, tea spoon, regular spoon, etc.) put ice cream on one half of the doughnut. Top with other half. Place in freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm up.

Sandwiches can be stored in an air tight container for up to two weeks. 

Tip: I found it useful to put the doughnuts in the freezer *before* trying to cut and fill them. They are a little more sturdy if already cold. 

Now, what to do with the leftover coffee ice cream?