Fluffy pancakes. Yum.

I don’t eat pancakes that much any more, but every now and then I crave those fluffy disks of carb-laden goodness. In the past when I got this craving, I dusted off the box of Bisquick and prayed it hadn’t expired. Now, though, I don’t even keep Bisquick in the house. I just wasn’t using it enough and, sadly, when I did dust off the box, the expiration date was usually long past. There’s nothing sadder than the let-down that comes from realizing your pancake lust will have to go unheeded until you go to the grocery store. (Okay. There are a lot of things that are sadder, but you’d have to be made of stone not to at least sigh when this happens.)

So what’s a dilettante to do when she is craving pancakes and has no Bisquick with which to cook them? Send in AllRecipes.com to the rescue!

AllRecipes.com is a mega resource for me. It’s easy because I can search by keyword, ingredients I have on hand, the meal type, whether it is vegetarian or kosher, the list goes on.

When I did a blanket search on “pancakes”, most needed buttermilk to get started. I don’t know about you but, if I don’t have Bisquick in the house, the likelihood that I’ll have buttermilk is even slimmer. Thankfully, one of the first pancake recipes to pop up was one posted by “Kris” from Lawrence, Kansas, which doesn’t use buttermilk. In fact, her recipe provides a way of sort of making buttermilk–mix regular milk with white vinegar and let it sit for five minutes. How clever! Happily, I had all the other ingredients too.

Fluffy pancakes browning on the skillet. Drool.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• cooking spray

The pale, flat pancakes were the first two I made. The gorgeous brown ones followed.

Where's my fork?

Bubble, bubble, toil, and YUM! The bubbles are how you know they're ready to flip.

See the fluffiness? That's a good pancake.

Lentil Vegetable Soup made vegan by The Spice Island Vegan.

Public Radio International’s This American Life recently aired a story as part of their “Neighborhood Watch” episode which gives a first-hand account of how lentil soup forged a truce between a man and the hoodlums hired to intimidate him. It is humorous and heart-warming, demonstrating the power that food has for connecting people to one another, even people that are on the opposite side of an issue.

To listen to the story, go to This American Life: Neighborhood Watch, Act 4. For those short on time, it is seven minutes long and, since it is audio and not video, you can listen to it while doing other things. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Finally, because this is a food blog, below is a recipe for Lentil Vegetable Soup from Ina Garten on the Food Network. It includes a picture from The Spice Island Vegan and one or two tweaks in the ingredient list for those who would like to make it vegetarian/vegan. Who knows. Maybe it’ll save your life one day.

Lentil Vegetable Soup

From Ina Garten on the Food Network

Ingredients

1 pound French green lentils
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large onions)
4 cups chopped leeks, white part only (2 leeks)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
1/4 cup good olive oil, plus additional for drizzling on top
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups medium-diced celery (8 stalks)
3 cups medium-diced carrots (4 to 6 carrots)
3 quarts vegetable or chicken stock*
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons red wine or red wine vinegar
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Rising dough.

Shh…Don’t tell anybody, but some of my friends and family are getting bread for Christmas. The house smells like a bakery right now.

Used my old faithful No-Knead Crusty White Bread recipe from King Arthur Flour. I love them.

But don’t tell anybody our secret! It’s meant to be a surprise!

Six loaves are done!!! Who will be the lucky recipients?

Watergate Salad all mixed.

It’s that time of year when we are one-two punched with events galore. In my family, no holiday is complete without the traditional Watergate Salad. (My husband calls it Nixon Salad.) Thankfully, it’s the easiest and quickest thing on the entire menu to make, so it is a convenient way to contribute to potluck dinners without having to stress too much. (Note: this is the kind of salad kids will devour because it’s really dessert.)

Below are the recipes for two versions, the traditional one, and the low-fat one for those trying to keep their waistlines in check during the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

Watergate Salad
The Original from the Kraft website.

1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Pistachio Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped PLANTERS Pecans
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

COMBINE first 4 ingredients in large bowl.

STIR in COOL WHIP.

REFRIGERATE for 1 hour.

Watergate Salad in vintage green bowl.

Watergate Salad
The Low-Fat version from the Kraft website.

Here’s a copy of the recipe by Trudy Cinquie from AllRecipes.com. Note: I substituted Splenda for sugar.

Hubby before and after his weight loss.

As a lot of you know, the hubby and I have been keeping tabs on what we eat over the last year-plus. In that time, he has lost over 100 pounds (and looks great, by the way) and I have lost about 20 pounds.

Throughout, I have kept him in steady supply of Elie Krieger’s Breakfast Cookies, a recipe I shared a while back as a way for keeping track of portions while losing and maintaining weight.

Since having written that article, though, It has come to my attention that I did not mention how many cookies that recipe makes, and that’s bad if you’re keeping tabs on calories and portion size.

Freshly baked breakfast cookies!

For those new to cooking, I’m talking about the yield of a recipe or the number of servings a recipe makes. This is most often seen at the beginning of a recipe or at the end of it. In the case of the Breakfast Cookies, that recipe makes 12 cookies. In other words, the recipe yields 12 cookies, there are 12 servings in that recipe. Make more cookies than 12 in a single batch and your cookies are too small. Make fewer cookies than 12 and they are too big. Eat half the raw dough and, well, you might as well forget about the diet because you’re not paying attention anyway.

Why does it matter? It doesn’t matter if you aren’t watching calories and keeping track of what you’re eating. As long as all your cookies are essentially the same size, they’ll cook up just fine. But, if you’re like my husband and me and you’re trying to either lose weight or keep weight off, servings and yields become incredibly important.

Here’s why: Let’s say you’ve got a whole batch of dough mixed up and you plop out what “looks right” to you for a serving size. Suddenly, all you’ve got is eight cookies. What happened to the other four cookies? Your eight cookies now contain all of the calories and fat that is normally spread out over 12 cookies. Time to mix that dough back together and divy out 12 little golf-ball sized portions, as even as you can get them without incurring the wrath of your OCD. A tiny bit bigger here or a tiny bit smaller there is no big deal.

The goal, though, is to get 12 cookies, about the same size. Otherwise, if you only portion out eight cookies, when you go to have one, you’re actually eating the calories for one and a half cookies!

So, my dear readers, if you are here to learn how to cook and you could care less about your weight, then ignore what I am telling you. You may have other things to learn, like whether or not you can boil frozen chicken or whether you have to wash meat before cooking it. Go on to those articles, cook well, and enjoy!

Taken when I first went on Weight Watchers over a year ago.

But if you are concerned about the number of calories you are consuming each day, if you are trying to get those pounds off, I am here to tell you, it can be done as long as you are mindful of how you’re divying out your portions, be they cookies, casserole, or the holiday roast beast.

If this is of importance to you, then email me, tell me what you want to know about losing weight and making healthier choices. Speaking from experience I know it can be done. It can be done even during the crazy holidays. It can even be done when eating out every single night of the week. Seriously. It’s all about choices and choosing to yield to what the recipe and the calories are telling you.

Taken recently, 20 pounds lighter (and without braces).

Hummus with olive oil, paprika and parsley.

Janet, my good friend from college and devoted reader of this blog, asked me today on Facebook for a recipe I have for making fresh hummus. The conversation started because Mike and I go almost weekly to the Phoenix Public Market in search of Doctor Hummus, a local chef who makes the freshest “chickpea spread” we have ever had outside of homemade. Unfortunately, though, Janet lives too far to get Doctor Hummus’s concoctions, so below I am posting for her, and anyone else interested, the recipe I use from acclaimed international chef, Madhur Jaffrey.

My favorite way to eat hummus is spread on a plain bagel and topped with lettuce and tomato, but it is also delicious with pita bread or pita chips and served with fresh veggies and olives. Add some tabouli and a warm, sunlit table on a winter’s day and life couldn’t get better.

Can of organic garbanzo beans

For the recipe below, play around with it. Add more garlic if you think it needs more, or less if you prefer a “quieter” flavor. Substitute red pepper flakes or roasted red pepper for the paprika. Or, if you’re really adventurous, like Doctor Hummus, get rid of most, if not all, the garlic and paprika and add jalapeno and some cilantro. Doctor Hummus is a master at creating this dip/spread packed with flavor, and somehow he has managed to make all of them without fat-laden tahini (sesame paste), except for the original. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.

Finally, note that chickpeas are low in fat and a great source of fiber and protein. (Adding tahini, though, adds fat, so be aware of that if you’re counting calories.) Chickpeas are legumes, like soybeans and lentils, and they also go by the name of “garbanzo beans”. On their own, I find them rather bland, but when thrown together with some garlic, lemon juice, salt, and other spices, they come alive.

HUMMUS

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled
11 oz can of cooked chick peas, drained
4 tbs lemon juice
½ tsp salt
3 tbs tahini
2 tbs cold water
¼ tsp paprika
2 tbs olive oil

This dish is best made in a blender or food processor, though you could pound the garlic, salt, and chick peas in a mortar and then add the lemon juice, tahini, and cold water.

Start your food processor and then put in the garlic. As soon as the garlic is chopped, put in the chick peas, lemon juice, salt, tahini, and cold water. Blend until quite smooth. Add a little more cold water if you want it thinner.

Empty the contents of the food processor into a small bowl. Sprinkle the paprika over the paste and then dribble the oil over it.

Serves 6-8 as a dip.

Note: Doctor Hummus uses olive oil in the recipes where he does not use tahini. He does still use tahini in his original flavor and I think that’s because tahini gives some extra richness to an otherwise blank slate. Adding other flavors, like red peppers or artichokes imparts the flavor the poor chickpea can’t give off on its own, so it seems reasonable that olive oil could then substitute for the fatty tahini in those recipes. If you are watching your calories, though, it should be noted that hummus in general, with or without tahini, is still not a highly fatty food. Just watch your portions, eat pita instead of bagels, and load up on the fresh veggies. A couple of tablespoons of hummus goes a long way when you add it to other things.

And now it is gone. Time to go home.

For more information about each shop, please scroll past the slideshow.

Click to view slideshow.

View of Sputnik from the sidewalk.

Sputnik: This tiny little shop is located right on the main street at 46 Ontario Street and is tied as my favorite with Balzacs because of the funkiness of its theme and the friendliness of the staff. The coffee is good, but it is not as bold as what I had at Balzacs, and I like my coffee bold. Still, I cannot demote it to second place because it has captured that edgier slice of my heart which was born in the hipster part of Minneapolis long, long ago.

There are only about four tables in Sputnik and I’m pretty sure it has the tiniest storefront on the block. Still, people go there to sit for hours reading the paper by the warmth of the large storefront window. The barista we have seen everyday memorized our regular order after the second day, so now we feel like regulars! It hasn’t even been a week!

It is a place familiar with and welcoming to the tattooed and the pierced, while being equally as welcoming to older folks with Members Only windbreakers who actually grew up when the Cold War first started. It appeals to the young because of its funky, grungy feel. It appeals to the older set because it reminds them of their youth. The lighting burns bright-white on the tips of spiky, atomic-age chandeliers. The shelves behind the barista are filled with mugs, cups, and glasses in the pinks, greens, yellows and grays so common in a time long gone with the fall of the Berlin Wall. A gilded, swirling clock clicks lazily on the wall, reminding people that time does indeed march on, even if they don’t build ‘em like they used to.

Sadly, Sputnik does not have a website. It’s the kind of place that seems too local for that, too funky. But go there anyway. You’ll immediately feel at home.

A poster in Balzacs.

Balzacs: How can you read the name of this place and not immediately fall in love? Yes, I became a 12-year-old girl and giggled uncontrollably upon coming across this little gem. Turns out, this place is named for Honore de Balzac, a 19th Century playwright and novelist who loved to poke fun at the French bourgeoise. But that is not all, dear reader. Suddenly, Monsieur Balzac is my new hero, a man who wrote an entire dissertation on coffee! (Allow me to pause here in order to fan myself so as not to faint from delight.)

As for the cafe itself, it, too, is sheer delight. The walls are a cheerful “Old World” yellow with brick-red wainscoting. They are adorned with colorful posters advertising each location and our hero, Mr Balzac. Shelves of old coffee cans and antique devices used for making coffee line other walls and run the length of the place.

But what of the coffee? So far, it has been my most favorite of all the coffees we have tried in Stratford. My favorite coffee drink in most situations is the Americano and Balzacs makes a cup that is bold without being bitter. On one of the days we visited, however, the espresso machine was acting up so the barista recommended I try their boldest variety of “regular” coffee. Her recommendation was spot on. That coffee was just as good and just as satisfying as my favorite Americano.

The bad news for those of us who live in the States is that there are no Balzacs to visit there. The good news for Canadians who live near Toronto, though, is that Diana Olsen, Balzacs’ founder, has expanded her coffee business by opening four other cafes in the Toronto Metro and slightly beyond. All I can say is that I am thoroughly and completely jealous.

Inside Cafe 10.

Cafe Ten: Mike and I stopped in to Cafe Ten for an espresso on a rainy night on our way to a play. Let me be honest. They pulled a good espresso. It wasn’t too bitter and provided the caffeine jolt I needed before attending an evening play. Having said that, though, everything else left a lot to be desired.

For instance, upon entering the cafe, it is quickly apparent that they serve more than just coffee and the occasional cookie, bagel, or fruit bar. Overhead, written in scraggly chalk, are menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That in and of itself is not the problem. I get that they are a cafe and not just a coffee shop. It’s just that when trying to quickly discern if they serve more than just drip coffee, and what range of coffee drinks they make, it takes digging through the menu to find it. I was cold and wet from the rain. I wanted to order and move on.

Beyond that, the environment just wasn’t comforting in a way cafes are meant to be. I didn’t feel warmed by the plastic benches and the plastic-wood veneer tables. Sure, the brick wall looks nice and the dessert case is appealing. But the floors were grimy, the tables dirty, and, again, it took me far too long to peruse the extensive menu overhead to find the coffee drinks.

There are other coffee shops in Stratford to try yet, but my focus will soon turn toward all the exquisite meals we have been having here. Stay tuned!