Sourdough Banana Pecan Pancakes...
tried and true. so why not repeat it with a little flourish? i halved the recipe, so that it served two. I used 1/2 cup of starter and added a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. the rest I kept the same. We crumbled some pecans into the batter, but essentially it's all the same. The pancakes stood up beautifully, and next time I think I'll try add equal parts of whole wheat and all purpose flour. a lighter pancakes, though less wholesome.

the pantry lacked any true Vermont maple syrup, so we simply topped it with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, powdered sugar, and a dollop of natural crunchy peanut butter. YUM. 

Chocolate Mousse

i never thought i'd try my hand at such a luxurious dessert until i was stuck trying to figure out what to do with this square of silken tofu. Mori-nu tofu is vacuum-packed and has the longest shelf life of tofu that i know. knowing that there exists other possibilities for tofu other than savory dishes, such as Ma Po Tofu, i start researching tofu in desserts. i settle for chocolate mousse because of it's simplicity, both in regards to ingredients and directions. seeing as all supplies are at hand, as well as willing appetites, I set my hand to the task...


1 pkg silken tofu
12 oz. semisweet chocolate
dash of vanilla

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. I used half a bag of trader joe's chocolate chips, a handful of Nestles, and a MONSTER bar of Hershey's Special Dark. Zap it for a minute, give it a stir, and then zap it for another 30 sec, and you should be fairly good to go. (note to novices: it's not like butter, it ain't gonna melt in the same way.) Dump the tofu into the blender and press several buttons til it's all a homogenous mass. Dump in the melty goodness, and the vanilla, and press more buttons til it's one big happy glop. My blender is a delinquent. (it WAS on sale.) So I just took a rubber spatula and scraped down the sides and made sure everyone got along. Once it looked all beauteous, I poured it into several small cups and refrigerated it for about an hour. It set quite nicely, and would've been delicious even if it didn't. How do i know? I nearly licked the blender clean...

I'm looking forward to all sorts of variates on this lovely stuff. Chocolate mousse pie, Chocolate Mousse Cake...

and other future possibilities w/ silken tofu...fruit smoothies...except now I have acquire another package of silken tofu. preferably one with a long shelf life. 

Spinach Lasagna

for three bellies.

6 lasagna noodles
1/2 bag of fresh spinach (or frozen, but thawed)
8 oz of ricotta cheese
4 oz of mozzerella, grated
1/4 cup of Parmesan, grated
1 egg
2 cups of tomato sauce
pinch of nutmeg


So I measured out the first couple of ingredients, and then I eyed the rest. (sorry, if i cook like an old gramma) Anyways, here's my tale and you can get more precise directions from where I found this recipe.

Following in my footsteps:
1. cook and drain lasagna noodles, trim to fit loaf pan. Mix ricotta with egg and nutmeg
2. put down layer of tomato sauce at bottom. layer on two noodles, spread on ricotta mixture, sprinkle some mozzerella and parmesan on generously, cover generously w/ spinach. Then i pressed down to gauge how much room i had left in the pan.
3. Repeat step 2: sauce, noodle, ricotta...(then i changed it up a bit) spinach, cheeses.
4. then it was very nearly full. so i simply put on the rest of the ricotta, a layer of noodles, pressed down firmly and covered it w/ some sauce.
5. Here, i failed to follow directions, and did not cover it w/ foil. therefore, the edges of the noodle dried out.
6. into the the oven at 375 for 45 minutes, and then dinner is served.

Future thoughts
1. spice it up w/ some more pepper. salt something somewhere?
2. microwave the spinach for about 30 sec before, so less fluid would leak out.
3. follow directions: TENT it!

otherwise, this made a lovely meal for three bellies, thankfully, one of which was mine. 

Apple Oatmeal Creme Brulee

laugh if you must, but i found this in Oprah's magazine, and thought I'd give it a whirl. It definitely deserves the dessert category, but it was utterly new in my book.

3 1/4 cups apple juice or cider
1 red apple
2 cups oatmeal
1 1/4 cups brown sugar

First off, I do not keep apple juice or cider around. and I really did not want to purchase any apple juice or cider because I wouldn't drink the stuff. Fortunately, there was a lunch meeting and lots of apple juice left over. So I snagged two little 10 oz-ers for the job.
Second off, I didn't have any apples. Silly, since it's apple seaon round these parts. I didn't plan on going to the grocery store, so I simply kept my eyes peeled and whaddya know. Someone left a basket of Macintoshs at the Student Affairs office. So I helped myself to a couple and now, i just needed to find some time to bake this idea.
Thursday night rolled around, and I usually like to make little dinner for my roommate, so since I was already in the kitchen, I thought it'd be a great time to broil some apples, oatmeal and brown sugar. with our delicate evening appetites, i halved the above recipe. (Also i didn't have enough apple juice, and I didn't think I'd have enough eaters.)

Opinionated Instructions:
1. Apples cored and chunked. I left the peel on. s'up to you.
2. boil apples in juice/cider. as soon as it came to a boil, i consider it ready for the oatmeal
3. cooked it three minutes til thick (probably, i cooked it a little longer)
4. Divide into bowls, sprinkle brown sugar on top
5. Broil on high for 1-3 minutes. (until oatmeal turns brown and begins to bubble.

So this worked out all very quickly, the tops are definitely crispy. But I doubted the sweetness, so i added a dash of vanilla, cinnamon, and very little nutmed. Altogether it was extraordinarily sweet. Next time, perhaps, some apple pie spice instead, and better sprinkling technique w/ the brown sugar. very interesting and simple, nonetheless. 

Jumpstart #4: the breakfast sandwich with smoked salmon, capers in the egg, tomatoes, and onions. delicious. i left most of the bun behind, but it was a stupendous sandwich. Sneakers...i look forward to finding an equivalent in ME. 

Kahlua French Toast w/ an egg, sunnyside up. the sweet side of breakfast