4.16.2012

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blackberry Sauce

I made these pancakes today for lunch. They were really good! And not very hard. Duke likes to find recipes for me to make and pins them for me on pinterest. This was one of those. They are light and fluffy and yummy. Plus I love all things lemon. and blackberry. So this was a winner.




Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blackberry Sauce (via annies-eats.com)
Yield: about 12 pancakes
Ingredients:

For the blackberry sauce:
12 oz. blackberries, rinsed and drained
¼ cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. cold water

For the pancakes:
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup milk
3 large eggs, separated
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1½ cups cake flour*
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup sugar
*You can substitute ¾ cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per 1 cup of cake flour.
(which is what I did)

Directions:
To make the blackberry sauce, combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries begin to release some of their juices and the mixture is simmering.  Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl; whisk until smooth.  Add the cornstarch mixture to the blackberries and mix well.  Reduce the heat to medium and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens slightly.  Remove from the heat and keep warm if desired.  The sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.

To make the pancakes, combine the ricotta, milk, egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk to combine.  Add in the cake flour, baking powder and salt and mix just until incorporated.  In another clean, dry mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy.  Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and continue to beat, adding the sugar gradually, until medium-soft peaks form.
Fold one third of the egg white mixture into the ricotta mixture with a spatula until completely incorporated.  Add in the remaining egg whites and fold in gently until the mixture is smooth and light.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  Grease as needed.  Ladle a scant ½ cup of batter onto the cooking surface for each pancake.  Allow to cook until bubbles begin to form on the top surface.  Use a large spatula to carefully flip the pancake and cook the other side until light golden and cooked through.  Repeat with the remaining batter.  If desired, keep finished pancakes warm in a 200˚ F oven until all the batter is cooked.  Serve warm with fresh blackberry sauce.

Enjoy!!!

howdy

I love the weekends soo soo much!!! Now that i'm working that is. I truly appreciate the beauty of sleeping in and relaxing. It is beautiful. Here's some pics from the weekend...

Friday night we went to a fancy tapas place that was probably the best place we've eaten at down here. The Global Grill. Highly recommend!!

My hot date

The next morning we went to a great cafe in Pensacola-Maximilian. Also recommend.

breakfast taquitos


Winston woke up that morning with the puffiest, saddest looking, goopy eye I'd ever seen. We took him to the vet and he had a scratched cornea and conjunctivitis. Broke my heart. But he was a trooper and hi eye's already looking better.

blurry, but you can kinda tell his right eye is jacked
My little cuddle monster


 Then we went shooting.

apparently this is the stance he learned at TBS. 



practically a pro.

My target vs Dukes'
Taking sickie for a walk at the park instead of dog beach :(

And that was our weekend! woo

Also, duke only has 5 flights left in primary!! Once he's done we'll find out what aircraft he is gonna end up flying. Very exciting.


4.11.2012

2 week update

Happy April!! Can't believe it's already here. I love it.

Life has mostly been filled with working and vehicle repairs lately. My car is in the shop for the second time in a week (for 2 different reasons, and we just got duke's motorcycle fixed. So we're looking at -$1800 by the end of this week. Ouch.

On a completely unrelated note. I think Winston is super cute.


And sometimes a little scary. .

2 weekends ago was the first weekend duke and I got to actually spend together in like a month. So we slept in nice and long and made a really big delicious breakfast, complete with blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fluffy biscuits and OJ.  Watched some conference and took my car to the shop.

THEN...i finally was successful in convincing duke that we needed a Sam's Club membership. So we spent some time walking around and buying yummy food! It was a joyous occasion. I don't know what is so fun about buying things in bulk, but it is strangely appealing.

And we went to the beach. Duh.


we rode the motorcycle to the beach of course!

This past weekend was pretty fun as well. We went canoeing with some friends and brought along the doggies. After about 10 minutes Winston decided he was over the boat ride and jumped right out of the canoe. Probably one of the funniest/cutest things i've seen him do. They say bulldogs can't swim, but winston stayed a float until Duke saved him! It was so cute. And i'm glad he didn't drown or get eaten by an alligator. (Side note-STILL haven't seen one, but the park people said they had caught a 9 ft alligator in the river the day before we went canoeing!)

Yesterday Winston graduated from intermediate doggy school. I'm so proud! He's learned a lot and he's doing really well. One of these days I'll post a video of all his cool tricks!



On Easter we decided to celebrate with a big feast because we really love food. I made a turkey for the first time and it turned out pretty good. I read a bunch of tips about roasting them breast-side down, that if you care more about flavor than presentation, it's the way to go. I can say it is tried and true. I did nothing but roast that sucker breast-side down and it was nice & juicy!!

The turkey carver
ALSO (longest post ever, i know!)

April 9 was the day that Duke and I got engaged last year. It's always fun to look back and see how much has happened in a year. It's been a really great year.