Cooking & Recipes

My sister and I were laughing about how our parents’ eating habits have changed since they split up.  My dad eats stir-fry for almost every meal, and my mom usually eats granola.  I came to the conclusion that my mom only cooked when they were together because I couldn’t stand stir-fry and she didn’t want me to starve.  Sometimes she’d wake up early in the morning and make me breakfast, like pop-overs or German apple pancakes.  Often, I’d be a snot and tell her I didn’t have time to eat breakfast, so she’d warm it up for me when I got back from school.  Memories made go searching for a recipe online, then I modified it so it wasn’t so damn sugary.

•  2 Tbsp. butter
•  2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
•  2 Tbsp. maple syrup
•  1/4 tsp cinnamon
•  pink nutmeg
•  1 lemon wedge
Preheat oven to 450ºF.  Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, then add the apples and splash the maple syrup on top.  Sauté until apples are tender, & add the cinnamon and nutmeg.  Remove from heat & add the lemon juice.

While the apples are sautéing, mix up the batter with a whisk or in the blender:
•  1/2 c. flour
•  1/2 tsp. salt
•  2 eggs
•  2/3 c. milk or half & half
•  2 Tbsp. brown sugar (optional)

Cover the bottom of a greased pie pan with the apple sliced & pour the batter on top.  Bake in preheated oven until puffy & brown on the edges, about 15-20 minutes.

Serve with maple syrup or a squirt of lemon juice sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Mmmm!

Not that I really care, but it’s Shirley Manson’s birthday, along with Adrien Young’s of No Doubt, and I needed a reason to bake something cause I couldn’t find anything that looked appealing to eat in this kitchen I got here.  It is actually mildly exciting that it’s Adrien’s birthday, because his name is pretty damn similar to my best friend’s name, Adrienne Young, who used to be dangerously obsessed with No Doubt… see how that could be exciting?

Now this bread is actually bread, and not sweet, and not a “cake”, but every day is someone’s birthday, and I can call it cake if I want.  Just put some icecream next to it and drizzle agave ontop.  It called for regular, original flavor cultured yogurt, but I went with Horizon’s strawberry and it is just tasty as can be.

Gâteau au Yaourt

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup agave (or honey, or just use 1 full cup sugar)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp immitation rum flavoring

Preheat oven to 350?.  Line 10″ round cake pan with parchment paper and grease that baby up.  In a large mixing bowl combine: yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, rum flavoring, and oil.  In another bowl combine flour & baking powder, mix that up, and add it to the liquid mixture.  Blend it all together, but don’t overwork the dough.  Plop the batter in the repared pan and level out.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.  Let stand 10 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.