Banana Berry Smoothie

Feb 23, 2012 by lovelypantry

I haven’t posted a smoothie to The Lovely Pantry in a while. My first (and only) smoothie post thus far was the Banana Nutmeg Smoothie. I think its safe to say that every smoothie that I make will have a banana in it. Everything else is purely optional. For  the past week, I’ve been eating soft foods and so smoothies almost became mandatory – which is great. I’ve been whipping up smoothies for me and the kids, and even allowing them to choose some of the ingredients. Great!

 

 

I generally keep smoothies pretty simple. Occasionally, I’ll add vegetables or a flavoured protein powder (if I’m making just for me).

 

 

 

Frozen berries are always in my freezer specifically for smoothies. That way I have them on hand throughout the year and also I don’t have to add ice. I’ll use frozen bananas too if I don’t have fresh on hand. Whatever works, right?

 

 

My cousin told me that she adds spinach to her smoothies. I’ve been putting it in my smoothies ever since. You don’t even know it’s there. But I let my son put it in the blender so that he knows there is goodness his smoothie.

 

 

 

 

 

And here you have a healthy and refreshing breakfast drink!

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Take good care of yourselves 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chicken Soup With Dumplings

Feb 20, 2012 by lovelypantry

Some recipes show up when they are most needed. If ever there were a time that I needed something to comfort me and make me feel better, now would be it. Last week was a rough week. Between eye infections, visits to the doctor, a trip to the hospital and a root canal, I’d say the members of my family have been pretty active. I think this is the first time in my young family’s history where we’ve all been hit with “something” in such a short space of time. It was a lot to deal with but I sure hope we are finished. Mama’s got things to do.

To put everyone at ease, we are all doing much better now. Apparently we bounce back very well. I was the one who ended up at the hospital after picking a strange infection after frolicking in a pool. The following day I went in for a root canal. I’m still eating soft foods for now. Which of course sent me looking for recipes – ah! the silver lining! Today’s recipe  is from Everyday Food, Issue 89. It was just perfect. I’ve made it twice so far and plan to make it again this week.

These are not the dumplings my mother makes! I’ve never had dumplings like this before. They were so good! Making them was fun too. Scoop with two spoons and drop in the broth. Its way better than rolling the flour in your hands and getting all messy. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now this was a soup worth  making!

Happy Monday! And to all my  Canadians in ON, AB & SK – Happy Family Day!

 

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Special Banana Pancakes

Feb 10, 2012 by lovelypantry

My children enjoy pancakes immensely. When I have time, I like to make what we call “special pancakes”. These are the pancakes that… don’t come from the freezer. Mommy gets the ingredients together, and lovingly prepares a variety of pancakes to everyone’s delight. Very special indeed! I experiment with pancake recipes to ensure that we are experiencing different tastes, and sometimes different textures too. I came across a recipe that made me so eager to try – Banana Bread Pancakes. Oh my goodness. So light and fluffy and banana filled. I did make a small change… I added Quinoa Flour. I went half and half with it. Good choice.

The itsy bitsy spider… climbed up the water spout…

Of all the bugs, they liked the spider. And so they sang while they waited for their pancakes.

 

 

I can’t tell you how this little pancake griddle brought such delight to my children. I told them we were having “bug pancakes”. Somehow, they found that really, REALLY funny. The sound of your children’s laughter truly is a beautiful thing. Now every time I see this griddle, I’ll remember their smiles, and how much we enjoyed these mini-pancakes.

 

 

This recipe is adapted from The Slow Roasted Italian.

 

 

 

 

These pancakes were so delicious. I honestly did not need any syrup. The kids started to eat them without any syrup but half way through, they asked for it. I guess pancakes are supposed to have syrup on them. I look forward to making these again. Using the griddle did take more time, since the pancakes are smaller. Maybe next time I’ll use a regular griddle. Bigger pancakes 🙂

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone! Make special pancakes! ~ Lyn

 

 

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Chicken Rundown

Feb 6, 2012 by lovelypantry

 

 

Today’s recipe came to fruition from a simple request from a friend on Facebook. “Lyn, do you have a recipe for Rundown?” I love questions like this. Really I do.

I’ve only had Rundown twice in my life. It was Mackerel Rundown. And it tasted so GOOD. I had it with boiled dumplings and boiled green bananas. It wasn’t an attractive dish, but it was very nice. Which explains why I had it a second time. Rundown always seemed to be an exotic dish in my eyes. It was not a dish that was prepared in my own home growing up, and I had not met anyone who made it until I was an adult. Furthermore, I thought there was only one type of Rundown ~ Mackerel. As I jumped into my research, I found out that Rundown itself is in fact the sauce (Coconut Milk) in which the mackerel is cooked in. It only stood to reason that you could use Chicken. Right? I did see some recipes out there on the internet but they did not seem to be exactly what I wanted to do. So I just did it how I felt comfortable. As long as the basic ingredients are present, I’m quite happy to call my dish Chicken Rundown. Thanks to “Farmgirl” for asking me and getting my creative juices flowing!

It tasted good. Yes, I’ll make it again. I’ll even make it with scotch bonnet pepper! Maybe.

I served it with rice because I felt it paired better than if I tried to serve it with boiled dumplings.

 

 

 

I think this came out quite well. I’m toying with the idea of a vegetarian version using root veggies. Hmmmmm….

 

Happy Monday! Have a splendid week 🙂

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Creamy Orzo With Pancetta

Jan 30, 2012 by lovelypantry

I had an opportunity to try a pasta called orzo. It’s a small pasta shaped like a grain of rice quite suitable for salads, soups, risotto or creamy pasta dishes. It’s a wonderful addition to my Pantry. This is a very quick and easy week night meal that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did. I made quite a few changes to the original recipe but I was more than happy with the result. Sometimes, all you need is an idea to get your creative juices flowing. The texture of this recipe reminds me of a risotto since the pasta has to absorb the liquid that it is cooked in.

I enjoyed making this dish and I can actually think of a few variations that I would love to try – like meatless, or with chicken instead of the pancetta. I love that there are so many options. The first time I made this dish… I forgot the cheese. I’ll just call that the “reduced calorie” version 🙂 It looked pretty though, and tasted great too.

 

 

Here’s how I made it. So easy. I bet you’ll be making this meal this week 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remembered to add the cheese this time 🙂

 

 

 

This recipe was adapted from Everyday Food

 

Happy Monday!!! ~Lyn

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