Kitchen Sink Salad

Greens, walnuts, kalamata olives, avocado, tomato, cheddar and egg. This is definitely a dinner salad! You never know what sleepy Beth will eat for breakfast!

Buttermilk Pancakes from scratch

Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, eggs, butter and buttermilk. Easy, fast, and I always have these items in the apartment except for buttermilk. But, if you buy a jug of buttermilk to bake a cake... what are you supposed to do with the rest? Pancakes! Perfect! This is my new plan for the rest of my life.

When I find the motivation to mix up the batter rather than open up the mix, I will just bake a cake too! Pancakes and chocolate cake are truly two of my favorite foods.

These cakes were so light and fluffy, they would be perfect for pigs-in-a-blanket! Or possibly a fruit stuffed cake.

I reheated the leftovers the next day when I got home from work, and they were just as good as the morning before.

We are OUT of maple syrup! (Positively a sin. I know this.) I made some blueberry topping for them instead. Thanks to Dad, I always have some BB in the freezer. Last year we ended up with some rather sour BB's, this is perfect for adding some sugar and making into a sauce.

A thought I have when I see this picture is the pancake-cake. Not sure if it needs to be crepes or pancakes, but I have seen many photos of griddle cakes piled high with fillings and toppings to make a stacked up layer cake! This is on the to-do list, so I'll get back to you with the results!

http://www.marthastewart.com/

She always has the answer to a simple question... with a recipe that is tried and true!

Chocolate Orange Cake

I made the orange filling first, thinking, if this fails, then I won't bake the cake! After cutting 8 oranges and topping with orange juice, I dumped in a cup of sugar. This pot of oranges cooked for over an hour, until most of the moisture was cooked off. The end result was a soft orange marmalade! I've made a lot of jam for canning with pectin to thicken, but this was some potent orange flavor. (I will absolutely do this again... and I did with some blueberries you will see soon!)

Chocolate frosting - this is where the orange zest ended up. Smooth and creamy with a punch of bright orange flavor. This will be a recipe idea I use again and again. I often add lemon zest to my cream cheese frosting, so it only made sense to add orange zest to this yummy chocolate frosting.

Brian was my guest photographer. He snapped so many great shots it was difficult to choose which ones to use... so I used A LOT of them! Here are a few more!

That is it, I guess, except for the eating part! By the way, this cake was Brian's idea! What a great idea!

Mama Dodge's Mac 'n Cheese

Often when we have dinner at the Dodge's, Paul enjoys homemade macaroni and cheese. Each time I see him scoop the gooey, cheesy wonder onto his plate, my heart aches just a little bit!

Lactose intolerance keeps me from my favorite cheesy goo! HOW SAD! Recently, I was reading the back of the package of Cabot Hunters Cheddar cheese. "Naturally Lactose Free." THANK YOU CABOT!

I have done a bit of research. From eating cheese to reading online - it is absolutely true! So, taking Mama Dodge's recipe and modifying it just a bit, I can enjoy cheesy goo again!

I use extra sharp cheddar cheese and soy milk, voila! Not exactly the same, for a girl who has been without macaroni and cheese for so long, this is an amazing discovery!!