Gluten Free Pancakes made by Grandma Karen in Calgary

It is important to have alot of fiber and protein in your diet and these pancakes are perfect for the family. Karen has perfected this recipe and they are so simple to make. More good stuff coming from Saskatchewan!
The ingredients below have already been multiplied by three to yield more pancakes for breakfast.

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup full fat cottage cheese
1 cup egg whites.

In a bullet or a blender add the one cup of oatmeal, cottage cheese & egg whites (or use eggs if you wish).
Blend until smooth.
Heat up the frying pan and then pour the batter into the frying pan (any size you wish).  Allow to cook and flip over so that both sides are browish (you determine how brown you want your pancakes to be)

 (If you want a smaller batch of pancakes the original recipe is 1/3 cup oatmeal & cottage cheese, plus 1 egg)

The new Grandmas are making a hearty vegetable beef barley soup for the new parents.

It is still a bit cold in Calgary but the sun is shinning and the new Grandma's are keeping busy helping out where we can. This is a soup that we are making that is both nutritious and hearty for a cold winter day and perfect for the new parents when they are busy with the baba.

Grandma Karen making the soup with Gama Miriam

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil 

700 gr of beef (today I am using already cut up beef stir fry to make the process a little easier)

1  yellow onion - diced small

4 stocks of celery - diced small

2 garlic cloves

4  carrots - diced small
1 cup diced tomatoes

1 cup barley

2 tsp. italian seasoning

900ml beef soup stock

salt & pepper to taste

Grandma Karen clearing off the deck on this beautiful sunny day

first saute on the stove top

then add everything else into the slow cooker

Directions:

On the stove top first:
Add oil to your soup pot and heat up the pan first.

Saute beef first and then add onions, garlic, celery until the onions are semi-transparent.

Add tomato paste and seasonings to deglaze the pan. Cook only until the tomato paste is mixed in.
Turn off the heat and now all of the above goes into the slow cooker for the afternoon.

Continue to cook in the slow cooker:

Add carrots, beef stock, diced tomatoes, & barley to the slow cooker first.
Then pour in all the contents from your beef and onion soup pot and stir well.
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Cover the slow cooker and leave for 5-6 hours to cook on high.

Miriam's FOODSAFE Tips: always store leftover soup in the fridge as soon as it has cooled down enough. Never leave leftovers cooling out of the fridge for more than 2 hours as this will encourage those pathogenic microbes to grow and could cause food borne illness.

Apple Caramel Casserole Cake to celebrate wee Eileen Yvonne

Yesterday and today are very special days for our families as wee Eileen, who was born yesterday, is coming home from the hospital today. I know my Granddaughter is a bit young for food yet but her Mommy & Daddy are going to love it.  Stay safe out there everyone.

Cake
1  1/2 cups flour
1 cup white granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 apples - washed & chopped, no need to peel
3 tsp. cinnamon
1  1/4 cups milk or cream

Believe it or not you add all of the above to a large bowl and mix until well blended...  It looks very gooey but that is how it is suppose to look.

Caramel Sauce
1  1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
4 tbsp. butter

This is one of those recipes where you literally throw all the ingredients for the cake into a large bowl and mix together. Initially, when mixing it looks too gooey and sloppy but trust me the end result is delicious.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375° (191° C)
In a large mixing bowl add flour, white sugar, baking powder, salt, chopped up apples, cinnamon and milk. If it seems too dry you can add a little more milk, one tablespoon (tbsp.) at a time. Mix well until completely combined and very gooey.
Grease a medium sized casserole dish and empty the gooey dough into it. Spread it out evenly into all the corners.
Prepare the caramel sauce as follows:  Add brown sugar and butter to a 2 cups measuring cup. Add boiling water and allow the butter to melt.
Pour the water/butter mixture over the gooey dough. DO NOT PANIC at this stage because it does look very odd.  Place onto the middle rack of  a preheated oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched.
Serve while hot. Vanilla ice cream can be added and really adds to the dish.

Banana Bread for Kelsey

This recipe makes 1 banana loaf or one dozen muffins too. Baking
time is 30-35 minutes

Yield:  1 banana bread (or 12 muffins )
Temp:  375°F (190°C) always preheat your oven
Time: bake for approximately 60 minutes until the loaf springs back when pressed down and a thin knife comes out completely dry when inserted into the middle of the banana loaf.

Today is the babies due date so naturally what do I do while waiting for Kelsey and Jonathan's baby to arrive...I bake and cook of course! Thankfully I am using Carol and Barry's kitchen as Carol has a new stand mixer that I love to use and it makes baking so much easier. But, you can also use a hand mixer which works too.

Usually, when baking I double the recipe as this recipe doubles very well.

Yield: 1 banana loaf

Add the dry ingredients into a small mixing bowl and set aside:

1 1/2 cups white flour

1 tsp. baking soda

Cream the soft butter and sugar first in a stand mixer or by hand. When creamed (really soft) add the egg and cream again. Add peeled bananas and continue to mix well. Add milk and vanilla and continue to mix.

Add dry ingredients now and mix well.

Remove from the mixer and mix well so that all the flour is incorporated.
Pour into a greased loaf pan (pic above) and bake for approx. 70 minutes.

1/2 cup butter - softened (leave it on the counter to warm up)

1 cup sugar ( this can be reduced to 3/4 of a cup if wanted)

1 egg

3 bananas ( I always like to add more bananas - this is how you get a very moist banana bread)

• 1/2 cup milk or cream (or sour cream) 
• 1 tsp. vanilla
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When baked remove from the oven and place onto a cooking rack.  Allow to cool for 1/2 an hour then tip over and place the banana loaf onto a cooking rack without the pan.  Allow to cool.  This loaf freezes very well for later use.  

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Peanut butter cookies for the expectant Mom & Dad

When you are waiting for a baby to be born there is no better way to pass the time than baking. I have whipped up a batch of these delicious cookies for my beautiful daughter-in-law and son while they are awaiting the arrival of their baby.

I baked a few cookies to sample and then scooped
the rest to freeze to bake later.

1 cup vegetable shortening (1/2 pound)

1 ¼ cup peanut butter

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup golden yellow sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Baking soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

2  1/2 cups flour

Cream shortening, peanut butter and sugars until light and creamy.

Add eggs and beat until well combined.

In a mixing bowl combine baking powder & soda, flour and salt. Stir well.

Add dry to the wet mixture. Mix all until well combined. 

Scoop dough into desired size scoops, press down with a fork dipped in white sugar and bake.

Preheat oven to 350 °. Bake for 11-12 minutes.

Please click here to go to my original recipe and for the full recipe.
https://cookinguncovered.blogspot.com/2013/06/peanut-butter-cookiesthe-best-ever.html

Hummus for Alexandra

Hummus is easy to make once you have the right equipment. The beauty about hummus, as you probably already know, just about any ingredients can make delicious hummus. Substitute and taste, that is my advice.

Here is the complete recipe and I hope you enjoy. Please click here to go to my YouTube video of this recipe.

1 small can of chickpeas (398ml) drained & rinsed first
1 cup artichoke hearts
2-3 tbsp. red onion
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/2 cup vegetable stock (or stock of choice)
Salt & pepper to taste
Drain and rinse chick peas first and then all of the above into a food processor. Continue to blend until the chickpeas are pulverized to the consistency you like. Store in the refrigerator until service time. Serve with vegetables sticks and crackers for an easy appetizer.

Turkey Chilli for Shyloh & Lewis

Shyloh confirms that this is 'kid' friendly chilli 

Shyloh and Lewis are moving today so how fun is it to take over dinner with some fresh olive bread.
First I cooked up the turkey, onion and celery and then added everything else.  Pop it into the 'instant pot' for 12 minutes and now it is done.  So quick and easy.

454 g ground turkey or ground beef
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 strips of bacon ( really adds to the flavor)
1/2 onion
3 stalks celery
2-3 tbsp. chilli powder
1/4 tsp. papkrika
14 oz can each of baked beans, diced tomatoes, black beans (or beans of choice)
1/2 cup of leftover broccoli stems (I try to keep the stems and peel them to use in soups or now in kids chilli)
Naturally you can add as many vegetables as you like according to how your kids tolerate cooked vegetables.

War Brides - Women in Love

..."the RAF Museum London is currently hosting a very topical exhibition - War Brides. This exhibition portrays courageous young women who fell in love with airmen from different countries during the Second World War. Each of these women decided to leave their homelands and everything they had known and to make a leap of faith for the love of an airman." (Tatiana Timoshina: Communications Executive: Digital Media in London Events)

My Mom, Eileen Little was a War Bride and the Canadian artist, Bev Tosh tells Mom's story very well in this interview. Click on this link to hear the interview with Bev Tosh.

Please click here to go to the blog from the Royal Airforce Museum, London England, featuring my Mom and Dad (Ernie Little) and their love story.