Father's Day foods

I know that father's day has come and gone, but still I have to tell you all about how we celebrated my husband and father of my kids! We celebrated with FOOD!

We woke up to a yummy breakfast of crepes with choice of cooked pear fruit filling or fresh peach filling and topped with sweet whipped cream.

This was more of a brunch, so no lunch was served. At dinner my husband wanted to order out some greasy pizza and we picnicked in the park. We came home and finished out the day with a cherry pie a la my husband's mother's recipe (or as close as I could guess her recipe!).
All in all it was a good day of eating.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Albin wanted muffins and I wanted a sweet treat so we made chocolate chip muffins. Albie spent the rest of the morning picking out the chocolate chips from his muffins and eating them first, then finishing with the pastry part of the muffin. That kid is a nut!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

3/4 c Milk

1/4 c butter, melted

1 large egg

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 c walnuts or pecans (optional)

1/3 c packed brown sugar

2 1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line pan with muffin liners. Beat mile , butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Sweet Easter Tradition

Easter is finally almost here. I am making my traditional sticky pull-apart bread. I've heard it called monkey bread before. It should be a lot of fun. My son, Albie, got to pour all of the dry ingredients into the bowl. He also got to crack his first eggs. He was very good at it. Only one of the eggs made it half in and half out of the bowl.

This recipe is an adaptation of a James McNair Favorite. He uses currants and I use golden raisins or a mixture of dried apricots and golden raisins. I also use a dark corn syrup for more of a molasses flavor to my sauce. It's a good treat to take to a gathering or to put on a pretty cake pedestal as your brunch centerpiece. I've done both and it's just a good tradition no matter where you are headed or what the circumstances of your Easter meal.

Pancake Fun.

This morning at the crack of dawn Albie woke up and wanted "Pancakes, Mommy!" So I made pancakes. I tried to make a dinosaur (above) as well as a few different letters and a pony. The effort was a lot of fun! I just "free-poured" the batter. I've seen many fun little pancake stencils that one can buy for the perfectly shaped pancake. I've chosen to wing it and let the forces of good and evil guide my pancake pouring. Maybe the future is written in the pancakes? We just don't know!

Pancakes:

2 eggs

1c flour

3T sugar

3T oil

3/4 c milk

3t baking powder

Mix together all with whisk and pour onto a hot and buttered skillet. Wait until batter is bubbly and air bubbles start to pop. Flip pancake and slightly brown on the underside. Serve hot with maple syrup and/or jam.

Just in case you WANT to use the pancake molds for fast pancake shapes here are some I found online for purchase:

Williams Sonoma $16.00

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku9970294/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C16%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cpancake&cm%5Fsrc=SCH

Cooking.com $4.95
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=177155