Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes + Mini Frittatas + Mimosas = Yummy Breakfast for Dinner

New Year's Day 2009 I started my year off the right way by making pancakes for breakfast. More hungover than I've ever been in my life and wearing a pink South Carolina Gamecocks shirt against my own will, I dragged myself into the kitchen to make blueberry pancakes for a bunch of boys watching football. When you feel like death, pancakes really speed up the revival process. I then went on a pancake binge for a couple months, broke up with them, and start dating oatmeal. We've been dating ever since, but last week when somebody told me you could make pancakes with ricotta, I knew I was going to have an affair.

On a Food Network episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," Aida Mollenkamp raves about the ricotta blueberry pancakes featured at the Los Angeles restaurant, BLD. Ricotta? In your pancakes? Doesn't ricotta go in lasagna? Yes...but ricotta in pancakes sounded like a marvelous idea that I needed to try. I searched through the blogosphere for a recipe until I found the winner: Mark Bittman's Light, Fluffy and Rich Pancakes.

These pancakes are special for two reasons: the use of ricotta and yogurt, and the separation of the eggs. The egg yolks are mixed in with the wet ingredients and the whites are whipped until stiff. After mixing the wet and dry ingredients, you then gently fold in the egg whites. 

Before any mixing or whipping, there was some drinking...of mimosas. Sunday night breakfast with alcohol, sure, why not?

Well, maybe because champagne makes a normally clumsy girl extra clumsy and knock over a pint of blueberries...

and then have to clean them up...

The pancake batter was really light but thick. I scooped a large amount into the pan and flattened it out a bit so they were more even. 

 The pancakes had a nice crispy outer layer with a really tender inside. I'm telling you, these pictures do not do them justice. They were so soft with a creamy, cheesy middle that burst with flavors of blueberry.  Moaning at the table may have happened. 

As a side, I made the most adorable mini frittatas that I found here. I mixed 4 eggs whites + 1 egg with sauteed spinach, tiny pieces of pepperoni, bits of paranno cheese and s&p. 

 

I poured them into a muffin pan and baked for 30 minutes at 350*. They were like egg cupcakes! With each one having different amounts of the ingredients, it was a surprise in each bite! 

You have to make these pancakes! I was seriously sitting at the table saying "Oh my gosh" and "These are soooooooo gooooood" on repeat. I promise it wasn't because I drank half a bottle of champagne. As far my history with pancakes, they really were "the best thing I ever ate."

Question: What do you like in your pancakes? Fruit, nuts, spices? What do you top your pancakes with? I never use butter because I think it takes away from the pancake flavor. Jenna loves peanut butter! Tell me about the best pancakes you've ever had!

I want to thank each and every one of you who comments on my posts. You guys have no idea how happy each one makes me. Whether you write one sentence or a paragraph, it makes me smile. I absolutely love hearing from you. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a compliment on my blog from someone that I had no idea was a reader. If you're out there, feel free to say hello! I welcome positive and constructive feedback from everyone :) Happy Monday!

Saturday Night Baking with Lisle

Since the beautiful Charleston weather has arrived (or should I say hot and sticky?), I haven't been doing much baking. In case you haven't ever turned on an oven, they get hot. And Charleston humidity + more heat in the kitchen = sweaty mess. Not only that, but who wants to be indoors when you can be on a boat! Last Saturday, I was out on my sweet friend Lisle's boyfriend's boat. Lisle and I were chatting about how she wants to become more domesticated, and poof, my blog came up! Lisle and Kevin recently migrated to a lovely castle condo downtown. She told me that their new kitchen would be great to have a cooking session in, and since everyone was coming over that night, we should make something!

We needed something healthy and delicious. I suggested angel food cake -- fat free and, with the addition of strawberries, a very summery dessert! I picked up the goods from Publix and we all met back at the castle. The boys played around with expensive electronics while Lisle and I fancied ourselves and broke out the alcohol and cake ingredients (not to be mixed!). In the words of Ashley, "you can never be too fancy" and fancy we were for baking a cake.

As Lisle sipped her white wine and I chugged my vodka cran, we got to work. I taught her how to crack eggs, separate the white from the yolk, and hull strawberries. As Lisle separated her first egg, a little of the yolk got into the bowl. "Oh, it's totally fine! We're doing all 12 eggs, so a little bit can't hurt....right?" WRONG.

After we combined the egg whites, water, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar, it was time to beat. To properly make an angel food cake, you must beat with a hand mixer until you reach medium peaks. Forming peaks is when you beat egg whites to the stage where the mixture forms soft, rounded peaks when the beaters are removed. For a great visual guide on peak stages, please visit this link. I remembered the last time I made angel food cake it took quite a while to form medium peaks, but this was taking forever...The boys kept coming in and making crude jokes asking, "You've been beating for 35 minutes and you can't get any foam?" Heh.

Lisle and I took turns because it felt like our hands were going numb from holding the mixer so long! In the mean time, we had a photo shoot with Alison!

Eventually we gave up, incorporated the dry ingredients, poured it all in a fluted cake pan, and popped that sucker in the oven!

We all know how I have little to no patience, so we sat by the oven and stared at it:

Thirty-five minutes later, I was one proud little chef and pulled the perfectly-risen masterpiece out of the oven:

Julius was angry for having to wait so long:

 

We topped the cake with fresh strawberries and fat free cool whip....

and sliced it up for everyone to enjoy!

 

While we were enjoying the light and fluffy cake, I googled "why peaks won't form" on my Blackberry. Apparently if you get the slightest amount of yolk in your whites, it makes it really difficult to form peaks. Having any oil in the bowl or on the mixers will also create this problem! Who knew? Luckily, the cake turned out great and everyone was happy.

Happy Housewarming to Kevin & Lisle! :)

Question of the Day: What's your favorite cake to eat? What's your favorite cake to bake?

Mustard Seed Blogger Meet Up!

Today went by so fast because I was super excited for my 2nd blogger meet up. Not only was I excited to meet two new girls, I was psyched about returning to one of Sal's restaurants...for the 4th time in the past week. Yes, really. And the 9th visit in the past month. It's getting worse than my Chick-Fil-A obsession. But take back "worse" and replace it with "best" because it's the best obsession I've had in a while. 


I love being a part of the blog world, making blog friends, and then meeting them in real life. Not everyone understands the love affair that I have with talking about food, taking pictures of it, and then putting it all together in my blog. But these girls do! Today's meet up included these lovely ladies: 


Amelia (a pastry chef who needs a blog), Erica from Itzy's Kitchen, yours truly, Blair from Reasonably Swanky, and Lindsay from Pancakes N Pajamas.

When we first got to the Mustard Seed, Erica was like "I think they know you're here. They keep looking over here." Why on earth would they be doing that? Oh, maybe because ever since I discovered Dine with Sal has a facebook page, I've been blowing it up with my reviews and comments. And then I told them I was coming, haha. In the middle of our dinner my idol came over and said "You write the healthy blog? They just pulled it up for me to see." Blushing like a 16-year-old whose crush just appeared at her locker, I confirmed that yes, it was I, his friendly stalker. Then he says "You're Brandon's girlfriend?" to which I firmly replied, "EX girlfriend." Let's keep that straight mister. (Side note: B worked there for a hot minute before he started law school aka the death of our romance/birth of our best friendship heheh). Sal thanked me for my reviews and Erica snapped a photo as my face turned a hue similar to the cheeks of a Russian grandmother. 

For dinner, I chose an entrée from their usual menu: Stir Fry Vegetables. I added chicken and chose rice noodles instead of brown rice. Thank you sweet server Hampton for dealing with my choosiness.

This dish had so many vegetables -- carrots, broccoli, red peppers, yellow peppers, black beans, asparagus, mushrooms, cabbage, and zucchini. There might even be more but I was too busy enjoying it to inspect my dish. The sauce was light and sweet. It was a very healthy and satisfying dish and I have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. Nothing like spreading the Mustard Seed over onto my next day.


After we all finished eating, our server told us that Sal offered us a couple of desserts on the house. Yeah, I jumped on that and requested the Hummingbird Cake. We then suggested they surprise us with the second. Here's a typical blogger pic of us trying to get some natural light :)

Close up of the Hummingbird Cake:

And the Cherry Cheesecake:

Both desserts were delicious. Lindsay and I both agreed that even though we're not cheesecake chicks, this was really tasty. The Hummingbird Cake is now my favorite of their desserts. It is "a delicious spice cake with hints of banana and pineapple layered and covered with cream cheese frosting and walnuts." I don't know what bananas and pineapple have to do with hummingbirds but this was mmmmmmmmm. Does anyone know?

You bet your blog-reading behinds that I left this place feeling like a Mustard Seed celebrity. Next up on the list: Boulevard Diner! Who's coming?


After I got home, I went to the store with my roommate to get wine. Look at this ridiculous candy display! Is this normal?

Want Good Food? Get It At the Long Point Grill

As I've mentioned in previous reviews on the Mustard Seed here and here and on Village bakery here, it's clear that Sal Parco is one hell of a restaurateur. His culinary empire includes six unique restaurants that span the tri-county area. Taken directly from the Dine with Sal site, descriptions of his restaurants are:

1) Mustard Seed - the freshest ingredients for an eclectic ensemble of dishes

2) Village Bakery - cozy and warm, not just for baked goodness

3) Sette - a quaint escape for authentic Italian

4) Long Point Grill - creative cuisine that speaks volumes in flavor

5) Uno Mas - a decidedly moderate twist to traditional Mexican

6) Boulevard Diner - local favorites served up in classic diner style

I've been to the first three on this list and have always been impressed by their offerings.  With it being Grammy's last night in town before heading bank to Yankeeland, we decided to go out for another family dinner on Wednesday. All kidding aside, I would have suggested we go to Mustard Seed again, but I had just eaten there on Tuesday. (It's true. I went to lunch with a friend and had the most amazing tuna & salmon cakes. Photographing was not an option at this lunch as I didn't want to scare this new friend into thinking I had a food obession or something, because really, who does that? Oh. Me.) Anyway, I mentioned Long Point Grill because I had heard that it was similar to Mustard Seed and I needed to give my taste buds a whirl. The LPG is kid-friendly and had outdoor seating. What's not to love? The fam trekked out to my side of the world (aka Mt. Pleasant) for a lovely outdoor meal. 

Just like his other restaurants, the to-die-for specials were written on the chalkboard that is carried to your table for you to look at while you peruse the menu. The chalkboard is so tricky. You can sit there and read the menu for a whole hour trying to decide what you want, but the chalkboard sits behind you haunting you, whispering "You know you want one of these..." I had chosen a special the last two times I went to Mustard Seed, so I was feeling the need for a classic menu item. After many suggestons from our sweet waitress, I decided on the item that stood out to me the most: Pistachio Crusted Chicken, whipped potatoes, grilled asparagus, sun-dried cherry sauce for $14. As usual, I swapped the whipped potatoes for brown butter sweet potatoes.

The chicken was tasty but the cherry sauce was soooooooo good. It had a deep, rich flavor instead of a sweet, tangy one that I was expecting. I love love love sauce (always want more of it) and this dish had plenty. My sweet potatoes were incredible, as were the slightly crunchy asparagus. 

Grammy must also have obsessive issues, because she ordered crab cakes again! A little different than Mustard Seed's, these were Sourdough-Herb Crusted Crab Cakes, with a southern tartar sauce, whipped potatoes, and grilled asparagus for $18. We were in love with her crab cakes, as they plump with huge chunks of crab meat. 

My family always shares our dishes with each other by putting little samples on the bread plates and passing them around. Auntie Kelly got a chipotle crema ravioli special with shrimp and seared scallops and Uncle Johnny got the short ribs with whipped potatoes and veggies, and the kids got a simple pasta with cheese.We all enjoyed each others' meals -- even the kids'! For dessert, we were extra disgusting and ordered four slices of cake. The photos are less than stellar bc we couldn't keep our hands off of them before I was smooth enough to whip out my camera, but you get the idea...

Coconut cake: 

Strawberry Shortcake Cake:

These monster slices can be found at any of Sal's restaurants and are made at Village Bakery. You can order them too. Oh god, my birthday's coming...I can already smell a carrot cake. We also got a slice of both the Pecan Mocha Torte and the Chocolate Cake.

The Chocolate Cake was devoured by this hungry baby:

Gabrielle and I showed some affection for each other...

...and the chocolate cake.

Sal is my culinary idol. The night we returned from Italy, Brandon and I couldn't think of anything we wanted more than Mustard Seed. Thank the heavens we came home when it was still open because my heart would have exploded into 45 pieces. We ordered it to-go, because let me tell you, a 12 hour flight back really kicked our booties, and I ran in to get it. While I was waiting, Sal was at the bar and I, all star struck and sparkle-eyed, made it a point to say hi. (I'm aggressive like that.) He was really sweet but damn it, he was wearing a ring. So, Sal, if you're out there, I know you're married, but do you have children in their late 20s? That would be fantastic. ;)

Gnu Foods Flavor & Fiber Bar Reviews!

As we all know, I am fiber's #1 fan. I was overjoyed when my new friends from Gnu Foods agreed to let me sample their Flavor & Fiber bars. The company was gracious enough to send me a box of 14 bars: 2 each of their 7 delicious flavors! I was super excited to try these bars for several reasons:

• Each bar has 12 grams of fiber - more than I've seen in any other bar!
• Even with all that fiber, each bar is only 130-140 calories
• They are all natural -- yay for no processed fiber like those stupid gummies I was eating
• They do not contain HFCS or added sugars - they are sweetened with natural fruit juices
• No saturated fat
• They are vegan
• The flavors sound incredible! 

Banana Walnut: 

 

This bar tastes like homemade banana bread. It has a very natural banana flavor. It is both chewy and nutty with real walnuts throughout. This bar would be great warmed up or even better, crumbled over some vanilla fro yo! I thought it was very interesting to see plums as an ingredient in this bar. I rate this bar a 10 out of 10.

Chocolate Brownie:

This bar tastes like a rich, decadent, healthy brownie. A healthy brownie? Yes, please. The richness comes from the dark chocolate chips. This would also be delicious warmed up. I'd be in heaven if they ever decided to add mint to this bar. I give this bar a 9.5 out of 10.

Cinnamon Raisin: 

My absolute favorite flavor! The best bar Gnu Foods makes, hands down. It has a lovely cinnamon flavor and real raisins. It was a perfect mixture of flavors - one flavor didn't overwhelm the other. I really really like this bar. It deserves a 10 out of 10.

Espresso Chip:

This was my least favorite of the flavors. It wasn't bad at all, but espresso flavored foods just aren't for me. Another friend of mine said it was her favorite flavor. This bar gets a 6 out of 10.

Lemon Ginger:

This bar had a light and refreshing lemon taste, but the ginger was too strong. You have to really like ginger to enjoy this bar. At one point while I was eating it, I actually sniffled.  I give this bar a 6 out of 10.

Orange Cranberry:

This flavor was great. It was very refreshing and I could immediately smell the orange flavor as I opened it. While I was eating it, my roommate, sitting a few feet away asked if I was eating an orange flavored bar! Yum. I didn't taste much cranberry flavor, but I love this combination. I give this bar a 9 out of 10.

Peanut Butter:

This was a better than your basic peanut butter bar. The chewiness and light crunch give it that extra oomph that I think it needs to set it apart from other peanut butter flavored bars. This bar would be amazing with some jam smeared on top. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10.

Conclusion:

I highly recommend these bars if you need to get your fiber fix. Although a bit pricey at around $1.99 a bar, they are a great way to get your fiber on without a massive amount of calories. Instead of eating cardboard flavored bars, or adding powders to your water that make you want to yak, pick up a couple Gnu bars and get your digestive system on tract. Haw haw haw. My preferred flavors in order are: 1)Cinnamon Raisin; 2)Banana Walnut; 3)Chocolate Brownie; 4)Orange Cranberry; 5)Peanut Butter; 6)Lemon Ginger; 7)Espresso chip.

Thanks again to Gnu Foods for sending me such a great package! :)

Have you ever tried any of the Gnu bars? Which flavor would you most like to try?