Recipe For Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Cooking really can be fun, especially if you have a goal in mind. Many really do not like to cook, but when you consider how much more nourishing food is when you make it yourself, that should be enough incentive to learn how to cook, at least some things.

I found this recipe for Greek Yogurt Pancakes here: http://lecremedelacrumb.com/2014/12/greek-yogurt-pancakes.html
and you might find this a good recipe and way to incorporate healthful ingredients. I know many cannot handle wheat products so perhaps you can substitute the flour for gluten free flour.

  This recipe calls for Greek Yogurt, which I have been making for a couple of years now, but I never knew what I could do with it, except to have beef marinate in it for a couple of days to make it tender. Now, I have another use for it! (I actually do not care for yogurt mixed with fruit, and will not buy the stuff in the store because I know it has sugar in it as well as other undesirable ingredients).

  I will share this recipe from 'Creme De La Crumb'. It says that it makes 4 servings. I would use coconut sugar if you want to use sugar at all. If you insist on using regular sugar, you can always buy organic sugar.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

• 1½ cups all purpose flour (or whole wheat flour)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar (optional, I like the extra touch of sweetness but they're healthier if you leave it out)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (or ½ teaspoon almond extract)
• ¾ cup plain greek yogurt (or vanilla greek yogurt)
• ¾ cup milk (I used fat free half & half)
• topping suggestions: syrup, powdered sugar, honey, fruit, etc

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat a pan or griddle to 325 (medium heat). Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, mix oil, eggs, vanilla, and greek yogurt.
2. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir. Stir in milk until all ingredients are combined - don't over mix, there should still be a few lumps.
3. Grease griddle and pour ¼ - ⅓ cup batter onto the griddle. Allow to cook for about 2 minutes or until edges begin to look "dry" and bubbles form in the batter. Use a thin spatula to flip the pancake over and allow to cook for a mother minute. Transfer to a platter and continue with remaining batter.
4. Top pancakes with desired toppings such as syrup, powdered sugar, honey, and fruit.

You can also soak the wheat if you desire. I am not an expert on this, but I guess you mix it with the liquid in the recipe and leave it to sit on the counter overnight. I can't wait to try this recipe. You can also just buy the yogurt at the store, but, if you have a yogurt maker, you can make your own at home. You can get the culture for Greek Yogurt from 'Cultures For Health' (http://www.culturesforhealth.com/ ). They have a good selection of all kinds of cultures, as well as instructions on how to culture food and make cheese. If you want to be more adventurous, you could get your own yogurt machine (amazon.com has lots to pick from). I have two yogurt machines, and after contemplating what I really would want in a machine, I decided I like the machines that use glass jars in making the yogurt. Here are a couple of yogurt making machines from amazon:

I have this yogurt maker and it
must be 30 years old or so. I
still use it regularly.

I have one similar to this, and
it makes one quart instead of
individual jars. 

                          

Making Your Own Pantry Items - Making Buttermilk And Sour Cream

Did you know that there are tons of things that you can make yourself? For instance, you can make your own yogurt or buttermilk? You can make your own laundry soap or deodorant. If you are in a pinch, you can make your own cake flour or self rising flour.

  We live in a day where we think everything should be easy or convenient. Our minds do not comprehend what it means to actually do some thinking, planning, and working to produce something worthwhile. But those who went before us knew how to make life work for them, using whatever they had on hand or whatever they grew in their yard or farm.

   I will tell you simply how to make buttermilk or sour cream. Both are similar to make and both are very easy to make. For buttermilk, you take about a cup of milk, put it in a glass jar and add to it 'mesophilic' culture (you can get it from here:).

You just sprinkle a little over the top of the milk, and cover it with a towel or napkin (I would use a rubber band around it to kind of seal it around the edges so bugs don't get in).

  To make sour cream, it is basically the same, except you will use heavy cream, or whipping cream instead of milk. Take a cup of cream, or how ever much sour cream you want to make, sprinkle the mesophilic culture over it (just use about 1/8th teaspoon), and cover it. Do not stir and do not use metal utensils or bowls because the metal could kill the culture. I use plastic and glass. Leave the jar to sit overnight or for about 8-12 hours. Refrigerate when finished.

  You can use the milk or cream from the store, but it is better to use raw milk or cream if you have it available.


Here is a book that tells one how to make a lot of these items at home. If you are like me, when I get into a pinch, I run to the Internet and do a search. But this book seems to have a lot of things you can make that you would normally buy already made from the store. You might wonder why a person would make something from scratch if you can buy it from a store. One big reason is that the food items you buy from a grocery store are lacking the proper nutrients, due to processing or a short shelf life. In order for stores to have items that will be somewhat productive for the customers, the items have to have preservatives added to them to make them last a long time, should they not sell quickly enough. You can get way more nutrition from making your own stuff.




  We are called to run our households and take care of our families, and nourishing those who are in our homes is one out of many responsibilities. We need to take the welfare of our families seriously!

Two Childhood Games To Play With Your Children

My mom was great at nursery rhymes and playing games. So were many of the adults around me when I was a toddler. One little nursery rhyme/game I hated was 'This Little Piggy Went To Market". The reason I hated this one was because when it got to the pinky toe, they would pull on it and say, 'This little piggy went wee wee wee wee wee all the way home". They would pull and wiggle on my toe and it would hurt!

  Anyway, there are some fun games for us to play with our kids, even small ones. One was called, 'Huckle Buckle Beanstalk'. You take a bean bag (or any small item) and have the children or child go out of the room. You then hide the bean bag. The place where you hide it will depend upon the maturity of the children. For example, you don't want to hide the bean bag in a bin inside the closet, for a two year old. You will want it in an easier to find place for a little one, or they will get frustrated. Bring the children out and let them try to find the hidden bean bag. When a child gets close to where it is hidden, say to the child, 'you are getting warm'. If he is really close, then tell the child he is getting hot. When the child finds it, have him or her say, 'Huckle buckle beanstalk'!

   The other game is 'colors'. Pick out an object and notice its color. Then say, 'I see and color, and it is red (or whatever the color of the picked out item is)'. Have the children try to guess what the object that you looked at is. The child who wins the correct guess can have the next turn. He or she can pick an object and have the others try to guess what the object is.