Oatmeal Pancakes

Made with blueberries this time

This is another recipe from my mother. She sent it to me not long after my older son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and on my original recipe card, I wrote down all the diabetic exchanges. This was a nice treat to have as we tried to figure out what his disease meant to all our meals.

If you are watching your calories, try this trick with the maple syrup. Put 2 tablespoons on a plate and microwave briefly to heat up the syrup. Put your cooked pancakes on top of the syrup. You’ll have enough and won’t have ruined your calorie budget for the day.  Two tablespoons of maple syrup adds another 104 calories and ¼ cup of blueberries is another 20. Still, it's a reasonable and healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
1 C buttermilk
¾ C old fashioned oats
¼ C flour
½ t sugar
½ t baking soda
1 T wheat germ (optional)
¼ C chopped pecans (optional)
½ C blueberries (optional)

Directions:

• Heat a large non-stick skillet at medium-low on the stove.
• While the pan is heating, beat the egg and buttermilk together in a bowl. Add the oats and stir so that the oats are in the buttermilk/egg mixture. If you are using wheat germ, add the wheat germ to this mixture too.
• Combine the flour, sugar and baking soda together and mix well. When the pan is heated, spray it with cooking spray (VERY important) and then combine the dry ingredients with the buttermilk mixture in the bowl.
• Using a scant ¼ C, pour four pancakes and cook slowly until bubbles form and burst throughout the pancake. These pancakes need to cook slowly or else the oats won’t be done, so you may need to adjust the heat down a bit.
• Repeat for the second set of four pancakes, including the cooking spray.

Serves two

Spaghetti Pie Casserole

This recipe is also originally from my mother. If it sounds like I have a recipe box full of her recipes, well I do. I’ve only made this one a couple of times and is typical for me, I’ve changed it. It’s quite tasty and a real crowd-pleaser but it’s not exactly what you’d call low fat. Still, when the weather is cold and you need to fill up a lot of people, this dish will get the job done.

Ingredients:

• About 10 ounces spaghetti, broken in thirds, cooked and drained
• 1 pound sausage, crumbled, cooked and drained
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ¼ C shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 T olive oil
• Half a medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a press
• 10 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1 C light sour cream
• 3 C marinara sauce
• 1 C water
• 4 ounces sliced Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• While the spaghetti pieces are still warm, mix in the eggs and Parmesan cheese; put in a greased casserole dish and set aside
• Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the onions till limp
• Add the mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes
• Stir in the marinara sauce and the water and heat through
• Add the sour cream to the skillet, and then spoon about half of the mixture over the spaghetti mixture in the pie pan
• Add the cooked and crumbled sausage to the pie pan and top with the rest of the sauce
• Top with the Mozzarella cheese
• Place in the oven and bake until bubbly and the cheese is melted

As made, I served four adults, two children and had another three servings for lunches later in the week. 

Victorian Tea Pastry

When I was growing up, my mother made Swedish tea rings for Christmas breakfast. This was quite an undertaking since it needed to rise twice and then be rolled into the ring shape with all the requisite fillings. I liked it a lot but it was a ton of work. Then in my 20s, my mother found this recipe. It’s much easier, has all the same bang for your buck in terms of taste and presentation and best of all, you don’t need to start this recipe the day before.

When my kids were little, they tended to switch up the consonants on words, so this was called the Pee Tasty. To be honest, we still call it that today.

Topping:

½ C water
½ stick butter
½ C flour
2 eggs
½ t almond extract

Bottom:

½ C flour
½ stick butter, softened
1 T water

Icing:

1 T butter, softened
½ C powdered sugar
1 ½ t milk
¼ t almond extract
1/8 toasted, sliced almonds

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Top: Bring the water and butter to a boil, Remove from heat and immediately stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Beat till smooth. Set aside while you make the bottom of the pastry.

Bottom: In a bowl, combine the flour and butter and blend well. Add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough tends to form a ball. Place on a cookie sheet and flatten until it’s about ½ inch thick (dough shouldn’t reach the edges of the baking sheet).

Top: Now add the eggs one at a time to the still-warm mixture in the pan. Beat well after adding each egg until the mixture is smooth. Add the almond extract and mix well. Spread the mixture over the dough on the baking sheet coming to within ¼ inch of the edges. Bake for about an hour (don’t open the oven). Cool about 10 minutes before frosting.

Icing: Blend the butter, powdered sugar, milk and almond extract until smooth. Spread over the warm pastry and sprinkle with the toasted, sliced almonds.

This version is cut in half from my mother’s version. If you want to make the full recipe, increase the eggs to three, not four. Otherwise double everything else.