Spaetzle Gratin
I drove to Boulder today and had lunch with some fantastic friends at The Pinyon. It was such a great time with great food, but it was too short! Lots of laughs and that’s certainly good for the soul. Looking forward to the next time Jen, Butter, and Michael!
My husband really loves pancakes and since he’s not here whenever I make them, I think of him. I’m pretty sure he could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if given the chance – with crispy bacon and a generous amount of pure maple syrup and butter. I like pancakes enough, but I can’t say that I love them as much as he does.
I was in the mood for some cornmeal pancakes this morning, after taking a walk in the snow that fell last night. I love how I can see my breath and the crunch of the snow underneath my boots. What better way to warm up than with a hot mug of café con leche and fresh cornmeal pancakes?
I didn’t use a recipe, I just eyeballed it. I used sprouted cornmeal flour, homemade kefir & butter, vanilla extract, a touch of baking powder, and sea salt. I wanted them to come out thin enough so that I could roll them, so the batter was runny. I rolled them up while they were still hot and topped them with butter and pure maple syrup. So satisfying.
If you need to use a recipe when you cook, here’s a cornmeal pancake recipe from Mark Bittman. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks good.
A friend of mine recently had a birthday and her husband made her some soaked flour gingerbread using a Nourished Kitchen recipe. I’ve had this recipe on my to-do list for a while, so I decided to finally make it.
I bought some whole wheat flour from Denver Urban Homesteading and soaked it overnight in homemade kefir. I actually added a half a cup more of kefir because the mixture looked dry. I also added some chopped crystallized ginger into the batter right before I put it in the pan to bake.
Our home smelled so good while the gingerbread was baking and I was impatient waiting for it to cool. Luckily I had things that I needed to do, so I was able to “forget about it.” When it was time, I topped a piece of still slightly warm cake with unsweetened raw whipped cream. This gingerbread is really good, richly flavored and dark and the bits of crystallized ginger adds a nice texture.
2012 is just around the corner and I for one am really looking forward to it. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and all the best for the new year!
