Whole Wheat Walnut & Chocolate Chip Pancakes

These were supposed to be Whole Wheat Walnut Pancakes.... The row of pancakes on the right above are with walnuts only, but somehow chocolate chips found their way into the rest of the batter! Delicious!!

Let me preface by saying that pancakes are usually a flop for me. I try a different recipe every time, hoping to find one worth repeating. This one's a keeper!!! Next time I'm throwing in blueberries instead of walnuts/chocolate!

*Recipe makes 8 pancakes!

You'll need:
1 cup + 3 Tbsp milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt 
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chocolate chips
butter and/or olive oil spray for greasing pan

Start by setting your griddle or pan to medium-low heat.

Whisk together milk, whole egg, and oil in a medium bowl until combined. (I used 1% milk.)

In a smaller bowl, combined the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. (If you're not a fan of the whole wheat, just use all-purpose flour instead.) Add to wet ingredients and fold together a few times.

Add walnuts and chocolate chips. Don't over-mix! The flour shouldn't be too visible, but lumps are good!

My chocolate chips were a little late to this party. You'll see them soon.

Put a little butter on your griddle and spread it around as it melts. I used a mixture of butter and olive oil. (Be sure to grease the pan between each round of pancakes.)

Use a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to scoop batter onto the griddle.

Usually pancakes will start to form tiny bubbles on top when they're ready to flip. Mine weren't as obvious. Just keep an eye on the bottoms and flip when they start to brown - about 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on your heat setting.

Drizzle with syrup, and serve!

Yum. :)

Chicken, Mushroom, & Spinach Quesadilla

Here's my latest fave!

You'll need:

Tortillas

Chicken, cooked and shredded

Sliced mushrooms

Spinach

Shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack!)

Olive Oil Cooking Spray

Begin by heating a small skillet on medium-low heat. Spray with olive oil cooking spray.

Build your quesadilla by layering cheese, chicken, veggies, and more cheese. The cheese on both sides helps to hold the quesadilla together.

Place in skillet and cook for about 5 minutes on each side. I like to place a small plate on top as a weight to flatten everything together. 

Flip over when golden brown, and cook for another 4-5 minutes.

 Move to cutting board to cut in quarters, and serve!

Enjoy!

THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are THE BEST chocolate chip cookies in the world. In the WORLD. And I've made A LOT of cookies. I got this recipe from another food blog (Apple A Day).

You'll need:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (OR 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 peanut butter chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start with butter and sugar - the way all good things start. Blend together the softened butter with both sugars until creamy.

Mix in an egg and vanilla, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

 

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually add flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, just until blended.

The trick is not over mixing, so stop blending before the flour disappears completely. Folding in the chocolate chips will take care of the lingering flour.

Use a mini-scooper to drop globs of cookie dough on parchment paper, and slightly flatten the tops.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, and no longer than that! These cookies don't really turn brown on top, so it is sometimes hard to tell when they're done, but 10 minutes is plenty!

After I put in the first tray, I had the urge to throw in a handful of peanut butter chips to the remaining cookie dough. Good choice.

 When you take them out of the oven, let the cookies cool on the tray for about 10 minutes before removing.

Gorgeous. Enjoy these - they get eaten fast!

Baked Rigatoni

When I was in college, this was a consistent request from friends. It's the best comfort food and makes great leftovers. :)

You'll need:

1 (1 lb.) package rigatoni
1 lb. lean ground beef

1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Newman's Own Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic)

1/2 a medium onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. Italian season
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil (or a few leaves of the fresh stuff)
1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
8 oz. container sour cream
8 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded


Dice your half onion.

Saute for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Add diced garlic and saute for another couple minutes before adding your ground beef. Brown the meat, breaking it up into tiny pieces.

Add the whole jar of spaghetti sauce.

Add some fresh basil if you have some on hand. Otherwise, the dried stuff will do the trick. Add Italian seasoning, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

Let the sauce simmer on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes.

While that's simmering, start cooking your pasta.

This is also a good time to mix the sour cream and ricotta in a small bowl.

Cook the pasta according the package instructions and drain.

Return pasta to its original pot and add the meat sauce. Stir that up!

Add half of the pasta mixture to a 9x11 glass dish that's been sprayed with olive oil cooking spray.

Top with the sour cream/ricotta mixture.

Layer that with the rest of the pasta/meat mixture.

Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Invite friends over to share, and serve while hot!

Enjoy!