Winter food

When you get old you eat less.  Or you should.  But if you love food, like we do, there just aren’t enough meals in the day.  So when our daughter visits, it is a wonderful excuse toward excess.  In the first 24 hours after she arrived I made Chili con Carne with corn bread, and buckwheat pancakes with fruit for breakfast the next morning. Carb overload, I know.  Eat small servings. No fun, but it helps.

Home cooked

When she is home I try to cook things that she requests, just like my Mother used to do for me.  But when it’s just us two old birds, we try to eat light, with the occasional, special meal thrown in just to show our arteries who’s boss.

I told Don years ago “I married you for better or worse, but not for lunch.” Old joke, I know, but so to the point.  Anyway, he knew exactly where he stood when he retired a few years ago.  I try to make sure there are plenty of options in the fridge or cupboard, but the rest is up to him… unless I’m feeling very benevolent or need something done in the garden 😉

Sicilian Apple Cake

Shall I leave you with another recipe?  The buckwheat pikelets/pancakes we had for breakfast are hard to beat, and for my dear readers who need to eat gluten free, that is how I usually make them.  Since I am a grumpy, and uncooperative, consumer of healthy things that sacrifice taste, you will find these do not.  Enjoy the recipe, sorry to rush… I need to toast some walnuts for the Sicilian apple cake and pop sweet potatoes into the oven for lunch then work on the meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner….  Have I mentioned there aren’t enough meals in the day??

Buckwheat Pikelets (pancakes)

yield: ~16, 3″ pikelets/pancakes

1 C Organic buckwheat flour

½ C plain gluten free flour or plain wheat flour

2 T caster sugar (regular sugar is fine, caster sugar is just superfine sugar)

3 tsp baking powder

1 ½ C buttermilk (the amount is approximate, you may need to add a small amount extra but the mixture should be like thick porridge)*

1 egg, slightly beaten

a pinch of salt

Stir together dry ingredients.  Add wet ones and stir to combine but don’t over mix.  Let sit for a few minutes and see if you need to add a bit more milk so the consistency is what you want, then preheat the pan to med-high heat with a small amount of oil for frying.

bubbles appear on top

cook briefly on the second side

I use a non-stick pan so I don’t have to use much oil, but whatever you prefer will work.  Cook as you would any pikelets, when bubbles appear on top, they are ready to turn.   Cook less time on the second side than the first.

These are great leftover if you heat them slightly in the microwave or toaster.  If you want a more savoury version, cut the sugar back to 1 T.  You can add fruit, like blueberries or bananas to the batter of these, too, or use it as a topping.

*If you don’t have buttermilk you can substitute milk with the juice of a lemon for it, or you can mix half milk and half plain yogurt together also.  You may have to experiment with the amounts a little to get it right for your tastes.  If you can’t eat sugar experiment with whatever sweetener you can eat, they do best with a little sweetening in them.  Alternative milk (soy, almond etc) is okay but the texture of them will not be as nice so you may want to add a tablespoon of your favourite vegetable oil to the batter.