Savory Wheat Pancake

I like to be resourceful and use what I have. I am also lazy and don't like to go out and buy things. This leads me to make substitutions are attempt to create new things. A recent experiment has been to try to create a pancake using wheat flour. Oddly enough, the inspiration for this was the Bible. I had been reading through the various laws regarding offerings in the Old Testament, and a few times saw something that described making cakes from flour mixed with oil. Here are a few verses (NIV) that describe this:

Exodus 29:2 And from fine wheat flour, without yeast, make bread, and cakes mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil.

Leviticus 2:4-7 If you bring a grain offering baked in an oven, it is to consist of fine flour: cakes made without yeast and mixed with oil, or wafers made without yeast and spread with oil. If your grain offering is prepared on a griddle, it is to be made of fine flour mixed with oil, and without yeast. Crumble it and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it is to be made of fine flour and oil.

I tried a few times to make some cakes using what I had on hand, which in particular happened to be an abundance of wheat flour. Ultimately, this is the recipe I came up with:

• 3 Tbsp. wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 4 Tbsp. soy milk

1. Mix dry ingredients in measuring cup, add wet ingredients and stir until just mixed.
2. Pour batter onto greased, medium heat (4/10) skillet. Batter may need to be spread out a bit if it is thick. Flip and cook other side.

I have some flavored dipping olive oil I like to use to grease the skillet. It might be interesting to do a version using cinnamon, or other spices. I did make one version replacing 1 Tbsp. of flour with cocoa powder - it resulted in a very chocolaty cake. It was good, but rich. It might make for a good breakfast. For the record, I used light vanilla soy milk. I imagine other liquids will work, too. You can eat these by themselves, putting toppings on them, or use as a wrap. Now for some photos!

The batter, just lightly mixed

Batter on skillet - was spread out with a spatula since it was a bit thick.

I flip it when the top looks kind of dry.

The cooked side.

I used some of my CSA lettuce and a some BBQ ranch dressing to make a little wrap.

There was a lot of lettuce, but the pancake is there :)

Yum! It tastes a bit like a chalupa - would probably be delicious with taco stuff.

A bit much lettuce, but tasty.

One last look!

Eggcellent Easter

Easter was my favorite holiday when I was little, mostly because of all the pastel colors. Nowadays, I think New Year's is my favorite, but I still really enjoy coloring eggs. My friends and I have colored eggs together the past few years and it's always been fun. This year I hosted a little party at my place. I supplied the dye baths, a dozen extra eggs, snacks, and drink and asked my guests to bring eggs to dye. For the past two years. I have followed some Martha Stewart instructions for marbleizing eggs that I really like. It's really quick and the results can be amazing.

There were prettier pictures, but they weren't uploading, so you get this gross one, haha.

All you need is vinegar, food coloring, and olive oil. The above instructions are for blown-out eggs, but it works just fine for hard boiled ones. After testing the different colors of food dye, it seems the blue, green, and red are best for marbling. There was a teal one that came with a set of "neon" food colors (Kroger brand) that was probably the best and prettiest. Now for the eggs! Well, some were dyed by my friends :)

Okay, these are from last year - but they show off the marbleizing well!

I like to put my eggs in rainbow order :)

These were some of my favorites from this year. The front one was marbled, the back two were made using a clear crayon and multiple dye baths.

Now that you had so many hard boiled eggs, what to do? Besides eating them as a snack, for breakfast, or on salad, my favorite thing to do is make deviled eggs. It's so easy, can be elegant, and is so delicious! I like the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It's my favorite cook book actually, because it has such a nice collection of basic recipes with lots of helpful hints. I've also tried Old Bay deviled eggs, but I think the classic style is still my favorite. I've also seen recipes for basil, curried, and herb deviled eggs. If you like spice, adding hot sauce might be fun. And, you can also use salad dressing instead of mayonnaise. So many options! I usually use an icing bag with a star-tip to fill my eggs, which makes them look really fancy, but this time I just filled them using a plastic baggie.

Peeled eggs ready to go! I usually do this under a little running water in the sink.

De-yolked eggs.

Basic ingredients - I usually just eyeball it. I prefer coarse ground Dijon mustard to regular yellow.

Mixed! I should've smashed up the yolks a little more, since this was a bit chunky.

A plastic baggie makes everything super easy - just cut off a tip. Rolling the edge down helps it stand upright so you can fill easily.

Filled - not my most elegant work, haha.



With a dash of paprika, they are ready to eat!