Saturday

I’ve learned through the years that many of your tastes and preferences as an adult are shaped by what your mother cooked for you as a child. Both DH and I grew up on Wonder Bread, and whole grain bread is something to get used to. Now both of us really love whole grain breads, but I found out this morning that this new love of whole grains doesn’t necessarily extend to other foods. DH requested banana-walnut pancakes this morning, and when I asked him if he wanted the whole wheat ones or the white ones, he asked if he could have the white ones. I relented, knowing that I could just have one and be okay. I used the same seasonings as in the whole wheat recipe, but used Krusteez Complete Pancake Mix. They were pretty good. I have mine with sugar-free syrup, and envy him with his almost-real stuff. But since they’re based on the whole wheat recipe, that’s what I’ll give you.



Whole Wheat Banana-Walnut Pancakes

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
dash salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/8 t ground clove
1 egg
1 t oil
1/2 T honey
1 1/2 c milk
1/8 t vanilla
2 very ripe bananas
1/2 c chopped walnuts

In a large bowl mix first six ingredients until well blended. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a separate bowl, beat together egg, oil, honey, milk, and vanilla. Slice banana in quarters lengthwise, then slice horizontally into very thin pieces. Add egg mixture, banana, and walnuts into the well of the flour mixture. Stir ingredients until well blended. Add a little more milk, if necessary, until the mixture has a good, pourable quality. Fry on greased griddle until cooked through.

We had these with little smokies sausages, mainly because I’m out of bacon. My Costco trip’s tomorow–I love that place!

Dinner was one of our old-time favorites. Right after we got married, 25 years ago, I subscribed to a mail-order cookbook–the kind that sent you the three-ring binder and a starter set of recipes, and then continued to send more recipes and two other binders over the next couple of years. They were great for a beginning cook, and this was one of the first recipes I ever cooked out of them. I got rid of them two years ago when I put all my recipes on disk and decided that many of my cookbooks were just taking up space.

With dinner, we had a baby greens salad with pears, blue cheese, walnuts, and a simple vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We also had turnips, fixed the way my mother always fixed them: boiled, then mashed with a little butter, salt, and just a teaspoon of Splenda (though Mom always used sugar).



Honey-Lime Chicken

1/4 c oil
1 chicken, cut up
2 T minced onion
2 clove garlic, minced
2 T honey
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t crushed red pepper
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
4 T soy sauce
3 T lime juice
1 lime, cut in wedges.

Heat the oil in heavy skillet and brown chicken lightly. Add onion and garlic to skillet; continue cooking chicken until onion is tender. Mix honey, turmeric, red pepper, cumin, coriander, and soy sauce. Pour over chicken, stirring to coat. Cover and simmer 35 minutes or until chicken is tender. Sprinkle with lime juice, place on hot platter, and garnish with lime. If you use this recipe with boneless breasts, it doesn’t take as long to cook.

food , cooking , recipes , healthy cooking , low carb recipes