Pana-cakes



This is the batter. Note: The consistancy of the batter. Not thick, but not
like water either



This is perhaps  THEE best pancake recipe to date! The word "Pana" means cream in Italian.  translate that and you get Cream Cakes. I know. It sounds mouth watering even more now. Right? My brother in law who served his mission in Italy named them after he stated "These are the best pancakes I've ever had!" So they aren't perhaps the best pancakes. They ARE the best pancakes.

The best part is that these pancakes are super filling. Don't let the thinness fool you! 

                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                  Ingredients

3 Eggs

1 cup Cream

1/4 cup half and half or milk (I've also done straight cream)

1-6 T. Sugar (depends on your sweet tastes. I do about 4T.)

If I am really wanting deliciousness putt just a few t. of vanilla coffee creamer (SO GOOD!)

3/4 Cup Flour

1/2 t. Salt

1/2 t. Baking Powder

3 t. Vanilla Extract.

any toppings you like!

Butter

Side note: You have to use cream! I have tried not to and thickness is never right nor does it have the flavor! I made it for some friends when they came to visit, but we didn't have cream. I hated them without the cream.

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients(apart from toppings and butter) and mix together. Make sure to mix well. The batter is not your typical pancake batter. These pana cakes are pretty thin, but not crepe thin.

2. Let the batter rest for about 10-15 minutes. Usually this makes it less lumpy.

.

This is the panacake with butter on it already... Yummy right?!

.3.On a hot (250-300 degrees adjust to how panacakes cook) un-greased griddle poor batter.

4. Once you have flipped your cakes take a pat of butter and smother it on top (note: left picture). Do this WHILE the other side is cooking! Doing this makes the and keeps the pancakes really moist! I learned this in Russia. Just do it, and TRUST ME!

 

 5. Do this till all the batter is gone.

6.  Stack your panacakes on top of each other then add your toppings! We like to have a variety on hand.

7. EAT AND ENJOY!!!!!

Ron. Chose Strawberries and Cream. (That was homemade cream, we don't fool in this house. It taste way better. Hands down!)

I did peaches and cream.  Then I added a sprinkling of Cinnamon and Nutmeg.

Fillets and Spinach with Balsamic Vinaigrette

For those of you who don't know or haven't really been around Ron and myself, we really like to eat healthy or rather make healthy subsitutions for foods that are okay for foods that are best for you. Its actually a hobby and something that I enjoy doing, and I'm trying to get back into school to get my degree in (nutrition I mean). I am still learning the ins and outs to it all cause you can always learn something new. The result ends up being that red meats are very rare if ever eaten in our household. With the rare exception of having a steak or roast every once in a while. We'll go months without either.
Anyways whats my point? Lately I have really been trying to incorporate more fish into our diet. Fish is a powerhouse food for your body. Its loaded with protein and is basically one of the best meats you can eat. I have been really trying to incorpate said food with hardly any NEW ideas on how to get us to eat it more. Well I found an awesome recipe and I wanted to share it with my friends and family.. Maybe you can enjoy it as much as my family does.

This recipe includes three powerhouse foods (aka super good for your body)
Fish
Spinach
Sweet Peppers

ENJOY!

Start to finish 30 minutes (oh ya forgot to mention it was way FAST!, Easy!, and I used only 1 PAN! Can't complain about that!

Serves:4

Ingredients:

-1 pound of fresh or frozen fish fillets. (i.e haddock, cod or anything else. I used Tilapia cause you can get 40 oz of fillets at walmart for 6- 8 bucks not bad)

-4 cups baby spinach trimmed (I didn't trim mine cause I'm lazy. Also, I only used 3 cups cause 4 was a bit much for our tiny family)

-1 medium onion cut into thin wedges

-3 tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil (I always use olive oil if I can help it. Its just a way better oil for you)

-1 medium red or yellow sweet pepper (I only had mini sweet peppers on hand which I like better cause I didn't have to seed them. I also had a mini green bell pepper that I added for more color and variety).

-2 cloves garlic medium chopped (optional) The recipe doesn't call for it but I added it cause again Garlic is awesome for you and it tasted good too!

-1/8 teaspoon of salt (I did it by taste measuring salt in some recipes such as this is a waste of time. Thats just me. I used less I am sure because of it too).

-1/8 teaspoon of Pepper (again I just eyed it)

Directions:

Thaw and rinse fish fillets. Pat dry and put aside for later. Put spinach in a cassarole dish and set aside (I just used a little square one).

In large skillet heat up 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook onion and garlic over medium heat until tender and slightly golden in color (5-6 min.). Add peppers. Cook and stir approx. 1 min. Add onion mixture to spinach. Mix it up.

Sprinkly salt and pepper to both sides of your fish fillets. In the same pan cook fish in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high for about 4 minutes. Carefully turn fish, and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until fish begins to flake with a fork. Place fish over the wilted spinach mixture, cover, and keep warm.

IMPORTANT: Reduce your heat for the next step (I learned the hard way and burned my hand)

For the Vinaigrette in a small bowl stir together balsamic vinegar and honey. Add to skillet. Cook and until heated through,scraping up any brown bits.

To serve:

Place spinach and fish on plate and spoon the vinaigrette over the spinach mixture.

This main dish is only 225 calories of serving!!! Thats one cup of the veggies with fish fillet and 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette.

I took a picture of the whole meal cause I literally put everything you need for you daily diet in this meal. You will get a serving of each.

Fruit: Cantelope

Veggies: Spinach Mixture

Protein: Fish

Whole Grains: Whole Wheat bread

Fats and Oils: olive oil and 1 tsp of butter on bread

Dairy: 1 cup of skim milk

I just wanted to add that even my Hayden my 15 month old son loved this meal! He couldn't eat the spinach cause of his lack of teeth, but everything else enjoyed. Nothing but MMMMmmmmm's and growls came from this little boy when we fed him. (Note: again if you don't know Hayden which most of you do; he growls when ever he REALLY REALLY ENJOYS EATING SOMETHING! so you know it is good.)

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So lately I've a major mental block when it comes to meal ideas. I don't know why, but I have and its terrible. So bad in fact that I dread dinner time cause I have absolutely no idea what to make. The Result? Poor Ron ends up making frozen burritos or something. Not very healthy or filling might I add. They say that families you usually stick to around 12 recipes in there house. Well I'm so sick of those recipes!!!! This makes me sad cause I really do love to cook for my family, but I like cooking and trying new ideas and recipes. So here is where my blogger friends come in. I wanted to do get some new recipes, and I've been scanning the internet like crazy, but then I thought about it who better to ask then some of my good friends right? So I've decided that we should do some sort of recipe swap. I haven't figured how it all should work, but maybe if a few of you were in on it we could do a recipe swap like once a week. Maybe pick our favorite or our families favorite meal we had? Then we can just post them on our blogs. Easy enough I figured. Comment or facebook me and let me know if you're in!!!! I'll be posting a couple of recipes that I found this week. They both turned out awesome for me, and Ron was in love with both so maybe your hubbies will be too!!!!