Saturday, July 16, 2011

Recipes of the week

We tried a few new recipes this week.

Blender wheat pancakes turned out very well. Perfect for "eat what you store and store what you eat". The guys really liked them.

It was hot this week, so we were looking for cool dishes. Chicken apple crunch salad was good, but not spectacular. The guys must have liked it though, because it was gone in no time. I would definitely make it again. I would add nuts next time. Orzo and spinach salad was very good. I would make this again, as well. I also made zucchini refrigerator pickles, but combined a bunch of recipes and, as usual, I could not reproduce them if I tried.

Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes
From: Wheat Foods Council

1-1/2 cup wheat kernels
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
¼ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ Tablespoon baking soda

Combine wheat and milk in blender. Blend on high for 2 – 3 minutes. Add eggs, oil, salt and sugar. Blend well. Pour batter into a bowl, STIR in baking powder and baking soda.

Pour ¼ cup batter for each pancake onto hot griddle and cook until bubbles appear on top. Flip (only once) and cook until lightly browned.

NOTE: This is the way I received the recipe at a wheat cooking class. No salt was listed. I added a few shakes of salt from the salt shaker. Unsure what the measurement should be.


Orzo and Spinach Salad with Lemon-Cranberry Vinaigrette

From CLBB adapted the recipe from What Can I Bring Cookbook by Anne Byrn

8 oz. orzo pasta
salt to taste -- I used sea salt
6 oz. Baby spinach
5 oz. or so feta cheese, crumbled
3/4 cup or so craisins
1 cup chopped sugared pecans or toasted pecans

Vinaigrette:
½ to 1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 Tablespoons or so fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

Boil orzo and salt for about 7-8 minutes, until just done. Drain in a fine sieve and shake off excess water. Set aside to cool. (While the orzo is cooling I put it in a flat container and pour a little of the vinaigrette on it to keep it from sticking.)

Meanwhile, mix spinach, feta, and craisins in large bowl. Set aside.

For vinaigrette, mix lemon zest and lemon juice and gradually whisk in olive oil, a little at a time, until it thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix cooled orzo with spinach mixture. Pour vinaigrette over everything and mix. Cover and chill a few hours or up to overnight.

Just before serving add pecans and stir. Taste to see if it needs more lemon juice, salt, or anything else.

Sugared Pecans
Pour about 5 to 6 Tablespoons of sugar in the bottom of a skillet. Turn stove to low or medium/low. Scatter about a cup of pecan halves over the sugar. Stir occasionally as the sugar melts. Be careful not to burn them! Remove them from the skillet to cool once they are coated with sugar and toasted.

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