A recipe for you and me

Years ago, my late husband, Mario did one of many wonderful things, he complemented me as I was learning to cook, on almost everything I ever tried to make. It was WONDERFUL incentive and surely gave me my love of baking and cooking. When I married at the tender age of eighteen, I knew NOTHING (my sweet mother, who really didn't like cooking that much, but was a good cook none the less, told me that she would not teach me to cook because my poor father had to go through her learning to cook and it wasn't fair to do that to him twice!).


Mario was in the Army and a week after we married, I was in Alaska with him. I remembered that my mom used dried green peppers in her hamburger, so I went to the Commissary and could only find dried red peppers. Thinking they were the red variety of green peppers, I liberally sprinkled them over my made up hamburger concoction for my new husband. One bite and I ran to the faucet for water. Mario, on the other hand, said "Yum" and even ate seconds, despite my warnings. The next morning he got up (or tried to) at a right angle...he bit the hot peppers and the peppers bit back!! Never did that one again!


For the first few years I bought cake mixes, pancake mixes and hamburger helpers etc. until one day I decided to cook and bake healthier and more creatively. Consequently, I came across this terrific recipe for banana (or any fruit) pancakes:

BANANA PANCAKES

1-2 lg Egg(s)

2-3 Ripe bananas (or a cup of whatever fruit you like)

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Baking powder (I use Rumford because it has no aluminum in it)

1/2 C Oil (I use sunflower oil since it is so good for you)

3/4 C s Oatmeal, ground (I put regular oatmeal in a blender) or whole oatmeal (great for the heart)

1/2 C s Sour cream (buttermilk works great too)

2-3 Cs Milk (I use 1%)

1 TBs Milled Flaxseed (this is something new I've tried and it is so healthy and tastes great in everything, almost)

2 1/2-3 1/2(?) Cs Flour (I use unbleached)...you have to decide how thick you want your pancakes, so try the first one and see. If you are using blueberries, it is important to make it extra thinck or they will burst and stick to your pan.

Grease your pan or skillet with sunflower oil on a medium heat, pour 1/2 cup batter onto hot pan, wait until you see some bubbles in the pancake and flip and cook on other side. Butter (I use real butter) and serve (I also use real maple syrup...the health benefits make up for the extra expense as it is so good for you and so are the blueberry, blackberry, boysenberry and strawberry syrups by Smuckers).

Once cooled, any wrapped up leftovers refrigerate (or freeze) nicely and you have breakfast the next day or so!

Since I love cooking as well as baking, I am willing to be experimental, especially if a loved one expresses interest in something specific, so when Michael told me that he loved butterscotch, I thought, hey, let me try some all natural butterscotch pudding. Instead of using the web, I decided my mom's really old cookbook would be the way to go. Well, I don't know who thought up this rather demented recipe, maybe someone who didn't really like her husband, but I followed the directions and whoo, baby, it was not only lumpy, but the taste was kind of, sort of, well basically just awful. My step daughter Kelly came home and she normally loves my deserts and some of this goop was still in the fridge (I was hoping getting really cold would transform it into something edible). Kelly loves most things, but she walked into the dining room with a look of disgust and said "What IS this"? Having tasted it myself and trying not to snicker, I asked "What's the matter, don't you like butterscotch pudding?"

There is a happy ending to this tale of woe...I didn't give up, used some logic, altered the recipe and Voila...a very yummy and EASY all natural, smooth, edible butterscotch pudding:

BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING

1 1/3 Cs Brown sugar


4 TBs Real butter (not only healthier, it does make a taste difference)


5 Cs (1%) Milk


1/2 C Cornstarch (again, I use Rumford because it is not a modified cornstarch)


2 Tsp Vanilla (all natural)

Mix brown sugar and cornstarch in a medium sized pan, add milk and stir thoroughly, then turn heat on to medium. Cook till it comes to a gentle boil, but stir often so that it does not stick to the bottom. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Pour into seving dishes and eat warm or cold. This recipe can be cut in half, but we really like this pudding so this gives about 8 servings.

Please remember, the MOST important ingredient in any recipe is love!


~~~Lord, I thank you for the blessings of all the natural ingredients You give us to make our food.