Hot Cocoa Pancakes

My kids beg for chocolate chip pancakes. Do yours? I've made them a handful of times and apparently the experience is stuck in their heads as the ultimate breakfast treat. I decided to use my go-to pancake recipe and added my homemade hot cocoa mix. Boom! Hot cocoa pancakes. 

First, make the pancake batter. Next, add the homemade hot cocoa mix. Stir to combine. 

Fry these babies in butter or coconut oil. Flip when little bubbles start to appear on top. 

Woot woot! 

Hot Cocoa Pancakes 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup buttermilk or plain kefir

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add buttermilk and oil and mix to combine, making sure not to leave any big flour lumps. Add egg and gently fold into the batter. Add flax meal, cinnamon, cocoa, sugar and vanilla extract and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. 
Pour desired pancake size into a hot, buttered pan. Flip pancakes when tiny bubbles appear on the top. This recipe makes enough pancakes for my three kids for three breakfasts. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.  

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Chick Pea Salad with Dried Mango and Avocado

Hello, lunch! Refreshing, filling, sweet and savory. YUM. 

Chickpeas with Dried Mango and Avocado

Ingredients
1/2 cup of chopped dried mango
1/2 cup of chick peas
1/2 avocado
1/3 cup chopped bell pepper (we used yellow pepper here)
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
2 teaspoons of olive oil
juice of half of a Meyer lemon
1.5 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro
teaspoons of fresh chopped mint

Method
Combine all ingredients and let the flavors dance together. This is best at room temperature and even better on day two! 

Honey Oat Whole Wheat Bread

I'm all about kids in the kitchen. I'll admit, it's sometimes hard to deal with the unbelievable mess that happens when kids pour and measure but in the long run, it only adds a few more minutes to the clean up and the pleasure of having my kids by my side to make our food is huge. 

I stumbled across this recipe on Food52 the other day for Honey Oat Whole Wheat Bread and asked my 4 year old son if he wanted to join me for a cooking adventure. It's actually not as simple as that... we measured the dry ingredients but alas! I had no yeast. There were about a million things that distracted us from going to get the yeast so this project was delayed for hours. I don't have a standing mixer so this was all done by hand. Happy to report, it was easy peasy! 

After the mixing and the rising, and then more rising, my son painted water on top. He LOVED doing this and asked if we could make another loaf! Once the dough was painted with water, he sprinkled oats on top. 

After that, we popped it into the oven and waited (somewhat) patiently as the smell of fresh bread filled our home. 

How good does that look?! It was dense, chewy, moist and oaty. It was slightly salty, so I think I'd reduce the salt next time - and there will definitely be a next time. 

For the full recipe, head on over to Food52 right here. Happy baking! 

Lentil Curry Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale

I'm knee deep in winter soup obsession. 

I'm pretty sure if there were a log of my cooking patterns, I'd see repetition every January with hearty soups. So when I saw this recipe for Sweet Potato Lentil Curry Soup on Food52 posted by Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Blog, I got all kinds of excited. 

Typically, I wanted to make it immediately, but I didn't have exact ingredients, so I made some substitutions. That said, I do plan to make the original recipe and am certain it's amazingly delicious. 

The first change I made was in the lentils; I only had black beluga lentils, not brown. Additionally, I didn't include the red pepper or carrot and I cut the amount of garlic in half and increased the amount of ginger. As long as I was making changes, I figured I'd add the last bit of lacinato kale that was in my fridge. We're all friends here, so I suppose I can admit that I had three bowls of this in one sitting. 

Give this a go! It sure hit that must-heave-hearty-winter-soup spot for us! 

Lentil Curry Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
1/3 cup peeled and minced ginger root
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (I used mild) 
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (or roughly 2 1/2 - 3 cups)
1/2 bunch lacinato kale, chopped 
1 14 oz can of coconut milk (I used full fat with the cream)
2 cups black beluga lentils
1 teaspoon salt 
7 cups vegetable stock (or water) 
Juice of 1 lime
1 bunch of minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup tamari

Method: 
1. In a large pot, saute the red onion, garlic and ginger in olive oil for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until onions are translucent. 
2. Add the curry powder, hot pepper flakes, sweet potatoes and kale. Sauté for 5-8 minutes or until the seasoning has evenly coated the sweet potato. 
3. Add the coconut milk, lentils, salt and vegetable stock. Simmer and cover until the lentils and sweet potatoes are tender, approximately 45 minutes. 
4. Add the lime, tamari and cilantro, stir and enjoy! 

Sayonara, Halloween Candy

Here's the deal in my house: Halloween candy can stick around until Christmas. Yep, that's right. They can have a candy from their bucket once a day if they choose but as of December 25, whatever is leftover is thrown out. Stale. Garbage. I say this because just when I thought I was done with candy for a while, this morning I noticed Valentine's Day decorations and candy everywhere. And next to that? St. Patty's Day stuff. 

But back to the Halloween candy... the Candy Fairy takes some of my kids' candy on Halloween night in exchange for a little gift - but that still leaves them with a bucket of candy.  Here's the funny thing: after about November 10, my kids don't even ask for Halloween candy. They're back to their usual dessert/treat requests. (Right now, my kids are all about Cuties, which are mini dairy-free ice cream sandwiches or mango sorbet). 

This year I chucked the Halloween candy on December 24 - a day early - when the stomach bug started to go 'round in my house. (I won't bother with those details, but suffice to say, the last two weeks have not been relaxing). That day, the kids watched me empty dozens of candies into the garbage without a word, as they have in years past, and I wondered - why didn't I do this a month ago? Maybe our Halloween tradition should be October 31 until Thanksgiving? Maybe earlier? 

As I gear up for the Valentine's Day onslaught, I'm thinking about holidays to come... perhaps 2015 will bring a new Halloween candy plan for us.

What's your Halloween/Valentine's candy strategy?