Aebleskivers Baby!

Every year there is a swim meet Michelle and I go to in Wenatchee.  It is always hot, the pool is outdoors, and Michelle drops a ton of time.  Our favorite part of this meet every year is that we stay in what Michelle calls "Her little German town" Leavenworth which is about 30 min away from the pool. 

 

 

 

 

 

We love Leavenworth, it is just a great girls escape.  We eat German food, we shop in the cute stores in town, and we just relax and unwind.  Its a magical place where anything can happen including seeing the mythical double rainbow.

 

 

 

 This summer when our usual hotel was booked up and I had sticker shock from the room prices at the other hotels, I stumbled across the Granite Hills Inn. 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful bed and breakfast about 5 minutes outside of Leavenworth.  It's beautiful, the rooms were cozy, and the breakfast was amazing.  We had such a good time there that I immediately made reservations for our anniversary (since it was my year to plan it) and for Karie's birthday present from us.  Due to an unforeseen business trip to Florida Jim and I had to reschedule our weekend but we were so glad we did. 

 

We went earlier this week and got to enjoy the amazing fall colors.  While wondering around town before we checked in to Granite Hills Inn, I saw an aebleskiver's pan in a kitchen store.  When Michelle and I stayed there over the summer Bill, one of the owners, made aebleskiver's one day for breakfast.  Since Michelle and I had talked about the to die for breakfasts a few times I decided to pay attention when Bill and Paula cooked for us so I could make it myself at home.

 

Paula mentioned that they had put the recipe for aebleskiver's on their website blog, www.granitehillsinn.com, which meant less for me to try to remember.  I paid close attention while we were there and decided to do a post about my latest cooking adventure.  Breakfast for dinner ala Bill and Paula!

 

 

 

I started off with my version of country potato's.  I love my mandolin and use it every chance I get.  Thankfully I've learned to use it without taking off the tips of my fingers.  I melt butter, add garlic and an onion, throw in my fancy cut potato's.  Easy!

 

I understand why Bill and Paula cook at the same time, once I started on the ableskiver's I needed 10 hands.  Maybe it gets easier with practice, but I have to be honest and say I needed help.  Thanks Dad!

I should explain what an ableskiver is, because I still barely say it and if you ask me I'll probably say it three different ways in a matter of minutes.  Ableskiver's are pancakes shaped like donut holes. Got it?

 

Next I started in on the batter, a basic butter milk one, Bill said it his version of a buttermilk donut recipe.  All I can say is the finished product is amazing. 

 



Now unfortunately I dont' have a lot of pictures of the cooking process for the potato's and aebleskiver's (hello 10 hands experience) but I did take a picture of the pan so you can visualize.  You fill the cups about 3/4 full and it bubbles and cooks, then you use wood skewers to turn the cakes about a 1/4 turn at a time until they are a perfect little ball of aebleskiver perfection.  Let me tell you easier said than done, some were a little too brown, some were not done enough and had to be microwaved, but by the end I got it down and was impressed that I was able to come up with a decent finished product. 

 

Next item on our menu is Paula's eggs.  Her eggs are buttery, creamy, and delicious.  I paid close attention to how she cooks them because there is a trick to them which I had never heard of before.  So I am going to share with all of you today.

 

 

The secret to Paula's eggs is you start with a cold pan.  Normally when I make scrambled eggs I use milk and beat them before adding them to a hot pan.  I was shocked to realize she made these eggs with nothing in them except the eggs.  Let me tell you once you've had eggs like this you will never go back.  So you start with a cold pan on a medium low heat, you let the eggs slowly start to scramble and gently fold them while they are cooking.

When the eggs start to get a little more done you turn the heat up to medium and start folding the eggs more often and the yolks will start to break.  Keep folding, I know this all sounds weird to you, but trust me and if not me trust Paula. 

 



 

It takes a little more time but it is worth it.  The eggs in the end are heavenly and oh so wonderful.

 

Another recipe I picked up at Granite Hills Inn was Bill's Candied Bacon. 

 

 

Due to my ten hands situation I did not get pictures before I put in the oven, I did think to snap a pic though of the dredge for the bacon.  Equal parts flour and brown sugar, add some fresh pepper and dredge the bacon in it and bake for about 18 minutes. 

 

Michelle wanted to finish off our dinner with cupcakes for dessert.

 

 



Our current favorite cup cake recipe is the Pioneer Woman's (shocking I know) vanilla cupcake.  It is easy and we generally have all of the ingredients on hand whenever the mood strikes us.  Her cream cheese frosting is to die for!  Michele even decorated the cupcakes for family dinner.  When we do dinner we go all out.

 

 

 

I love, love, love, the way everything turned out.  We had some leftovers perfect for snacks on Sunday and breakfast for the kids Monday.  I would love to say the cupcakes made it until dinner Monday night, but by the time I got home from work they were gone.  Making this was a big leap outside of my comfort zone, but hopefully I did Bill and Paula proud! 

 

 

 

Challenge Week One

I started out the week with the intention of prepping a whole bunch of breakfasts and snacks. Let's just be honest and admit that did not happen.  So this week I am winging it, and hoping for the best.  I did make sure I planned ahead and have enough groceries for all the dinners I have planned. 

I did want to have some breakfast left overs, so I decided to try Chrissy Tiegen's French Toast Casserole.  I was excited because what is there not to love about a casserole that has rum in it?  Yes please! This was really quick to prep, but I wish I had read the instructions earlier.  I knew it had to set in the fridge for a few hours, but I didn't realize it was 12 hours!  So I switched this from a breakfast to a dinner.  Another lesson I learned was to read the instructions completely, and then plan ahead don't just skim.  I also made candied bacon to go with it, super easy, just brown sugar and black pepper.  You mix it in a baking dish and press the bacon into the mixture then bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Sunday after we ate breakfast the kids and I decided to head up to my parents property at Lake Conner.  We did a quick Safeway stop to purchase hot dogs for lunch and then we spent the day in the sun relaxing after a long week at camp.  When we got home I was not in the mood to cook and I was already regretting this whole idea of mine.  However I powered through and decided to make the Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes from her website.  They are fast to make, and are also Michelle friendly without all the additives of using a spice mix or a canned sloppy joe sauce.  In my hunger I forgot to take a finished picture, but I'm sure you all know what Sloppy Joes look like, just know they are super yummy. And Jason Approved!

Day two was hectic as usual and I was trying again to talk my self out of cooking.  Monday is Jim's day off and I went over the meals I had planned for the week and he asked me to make the enchilada's I had planned.  I started making the sauce from scratch which was much easier than I thought really start to finish took me about 15 minutes.  Last week I had pre-shredded some chicken which came in handy with an unexpected phone call from Karie saying they were trying to figure out what to have for dinner.  I took the second bag out of the freezer, and ta da I had dinner for 6 with leftovers for lunches later in the week.  While they were baking Gavin and I ran to the pool to pick up Michelle from swimming.  I asked Jim and Karie to put the cheese in the shredder on the enchilada's....  Well you can see what happened yourself.  Day two completed and still going strong!

 Day three done!! I have to be a child and say naner naner boo boo, Jim cheated first!!  He went hiking and stopped and Jack in the Box on the way home.  He said it doesn't count because he had money from last week in his wallet, but no way man!  He caved before I did, I feel like that is a major accomplishment. 

So on with the day, I made pancakes and bacon for dinner no biggie. I decided to make some cookies, I have not made chocolate chip cookies in probably 15 years, but in the interest of adulating I decided to tackle it.  I read a lot of different website's and decided at the end of the day to try the Pioneer Woman's chocolate chip cookies.  I don't know where these have been my whole life, she has you brown the butter and let me tell you it was like heaven in a bowl.  Did you know that if you brown butter it starts to smell nutty?  I don't know how or why, but it adds a butter scotch flavor to the cookies that is amazing.  Everyone should try it!



I wish I could give you all a cookie, but by the time this comes out they will all be gone. 

Wednesday night was the best night so far, I didn't cook, I didn't buy dinner, and I didn't cheat.  Karie and I went to the Des Moines farmer market.  I was really cute only a few vendors on a Wednesday night, but there were food trucks.  Dinner was on Karie, and I had a night off.  Yeah!!

Thursday nights dinner was a major Pioneer Woman fail; I know shocking!  I was so excited to make grits and stewed beef, but it was too spicy for us buy about a million.  It was crazy, crazy, hot. next time I would recommend adjusting the spices.

Friday night we had breakfast for dinner -scrambled eggs nothing exciting.  The most important thing is I made it through an entire week without buying food out to dinner or lunch!  It was awesome and I am really proud uf us.

Birthday Pancakes

What the birthday girl wants the birthday girl gets. Kinda.  I saw that Michelle had asked Jim to make her chocolate chip pancakes for her birthday breakfast. Nothing makes me crazier than when he whips out the Bisquick, full of bleached enriched flour; all bad for Michelle.

I got up to run errands and decided to make sure I had everything I needed for homemade pancakes.  One of the first things I learned how to make was homemade pancakes and waffles a after Michelle's diagnosis.  Breakfast for her was generally an Eggo waffle before school if we could get her to eat breakfast at all.  So most of the time now I keep heatly waffles and pancakes in the freezer for breakfast, she throws them in the toaster and breakfast is done.  A much better alternative than the chemical filled Eggos.

I gathered the usual cast of characters to start making breakfast, however I did spring for the Ghiradeli Chocolate Chips as a birthday treat.

I would generally say making pancakes or waffles from scratch takes about 5 minutes longer than making them from a box, but I promise if you have the 5 minutes is it worth it.  I found that taking the time to sift the dry ingredients really does make for fluffier pancakes, some day I might even buy a real sifter instead of my ghetto version.
  
The recipe calls for melted butter, oh delicious heaven is there anything prettier then a bowl full of pretty yellow liquid?

Melted butter, butter milk, flour, baking soda, sugar, and some vinalla is all it takes!

Throw in some chocolate chips, and you have a happy birthday girl!