Chunky Monkey Pancakes

I love going out for breakfast and ordering things that I would never make at home. Everything from fruity crepes to fluffy pancakes. But why is it that I don't make these things? They are simple after all and they taste good at any time of day. One Sunday morning I had a hankering for pancakes, so I went searching for the perfect recipe. I found a winner by crazycatlady on AllRecipes. I don't like maple syrup - or any syrup for that matter; so I like pancakes that have ingredients that make them naturally sweet. The bananas and chocolate do the trick in these. The great thing about this recipe is that the batter is really good - so you can mix the flavors up by substituting different ingredients for the banana and chocolate.

Chunky Monkey Pancakes

1 C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 C Milk
3 Tbsp Melted Butter
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Banana, Diced
1/2 C Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/3 C Chopped Pecans
Cooking Spray

1) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set bowl aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, melted butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix the batter. Gently fold in the banana, chocolate chips and nuts.

2) Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfulls of batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Flank Steak

I love a good piece of meat, but sometimes I am at a loss of what to do with it. My "go to" steak marinade is: garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper - but I wanted something different. One thing I dislike about a lot of marinade recipes is that they all require a long time to marinade and I usually fail to pre-plan long enough in advance to marinade for the length of time that the recipe requires. Because of this, the meat often doesn't get the full flavor that it would had I remembered to thaw my meat and prepare my marinade in time.
I found a great flank steak recipe on All Recipes by GUYCON. He grills this, and seeing that my grill is currently covered in 3 feet of snow I skipped this step (broiled instead), and I of course didn't have the 6 hours that this recipe recommends marinading my meat and instead marinated for 1 hour. The meat was still plenty flavorful and everything I look for in a steak. I may have found a new "go to" steak marinade - and maybe one day I will remember to take my meat out in enough time to marinade for the full 6 hours.

Marinated Flank Steak

1/2 C Vegetable Oil
1/3 C Soy Sauce
1/4 C Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbspn Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Tbspn Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbspn Dijon Mustard
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 Pounds Flank Steak

1) In a medium bowl mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, and ground black pepper. Place meat in a shallow glass pan. Pour the marinade over the steak, turn and cover. Refrigerate for 6 hours

2) Preheat grill for medium-high heat

3) Oil the grill. Place the steaks on the grill and discard the marinade. Grill meat for 5 minutes on each side or until it is to your liking.

Beef Stroganoff

January is comfort food month for me. After the holidays where you have to eat and make "pretty" food, the only thing I want to do is eat a bowl of something that will make me all warm inside. Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite comfort foods - it is simple to make, hits the spot and tastes even better the next day. I stumbled across Donna's Beef Stroganoff recipe on All Recipes and was intrigued by the 4.375 average rating out of almost 800 reviews - can't go wrong there.

Beef Stroganoff III

2 Pounds Beef Chuck Roast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black ground pepper
4 oz butter
4 green onions, sliced (white part only)
4 Tbspn all purpose flour
1 can condensed beef broth
1 tsp prepared mustard
1 6oz can sliced, drained mushrooms
1/3 C sour cream
1/3 C white wine
salt & pepper to taste

1) Season meat with 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper

2) In a large skillet, melt the butter and brown the beef. Then push the beef to one side of the skillet. Add the onions to the skillet and cook 3-5 minutes. Push the onions to the side of the skillet with the beef.

3) Stir the flour into the juices on the empty side of the skillet. Pour in beef broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and add the mustard. Cover and simmer for 1 minute or until meat is tender

4) Five minutes before serving, stir in mushrooms, sour cream and white wine. Heat briefly and then salt & pepper to taste. Serve over cooked egg noodles.