Cake Pan Pancakes

Yes, I know I’ve been on a bit of a breakfast thing, but I’m ok with that.  I am perfectly content eating breakfast foods any time of day, especially when Hubby is out of town on business.  Not only is this recipe perfect for being able to feed a crowd all at once, but even if you are eating by yourself, you can still make the whole pan, and just reheat pieces in the microwave when you want them. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 egg 

First things first.  Preheat your oven to 350° and butter an 8x8 pan. 

Place all your dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.

In a separate vessel, (I like to use a glass measuring cup) pour your buttermilk.  Because you’re using oil rather than butter in this recipe, you don’t have to worry so much about the ingredients being room temperature.  It’s ok if everything is cold.  Go ahead and add the egg.

Oil

And vanilla.  And no, that’s not a typo in the ingredients list.  I really did use a tablespoon.  If you’re not a huge fan of vanilla, feel free to cut it back to a teaspoon or two. 

Whisk that together and pour it over the dry ingredients. 

Gently stir/fold that until it just comes together.  You don’t want to overstir it.  It’s ok if it’s somewhat lumpy. 

See, lumpy. 

Pour it into your prepared pan and level it out on top. 

Into the oven for about 20 minutes.  It’ll be light golden across the top when it’s done.

A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. 

Go ahead and cut it into squares and serve them like you would any other pancakes. 

And speaking of any other pancakes, if you want to make these into flavored pancakes, it’s easy to do.  Before you put the pan into the oven, just sprinkle over whatever addins you want.  Blueberries, chocolate chips, pecans, anything you want, really.  You could even do crumbled bacon if that’s your kind of thing.  For me, nothing is better than just a plain old, vanilla pancake.  What’s your favorite variety of pancakes?  

Avocado Awesome Sauce

I know what you’re thinking, “Taneasha, that doesn’t look very awesome.”  And you’re right, it’s not very pretty, but what it lacks in beauty it more than makes up for in taste.  Think hollandaise sauce, only better, and if that wasn’t good enough… it’s healthy!  Woot woot!  Oh, and did I mention it’s ridiculously easy to make? 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 avocado
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lime juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¾ cup hot water 

Step 1.  Juice your lime. 

Step 2.  Cut your avocado in half.  (Mine wasn’t the prettiest avocado ever, but it still tasted amazing, so whatevs.)

Step 3.  Carefully cut the avocado into cubes while it’s in the skin.

Step 4.  Place all of the ingredients into your blender.  Turn it on, starting with the lowest speed, slowly increasing it until you have a nice smooth sauce.  If it’s too thick, add more hot water, 1 Tablespoon at a time. 

Now just pour it over whatever you want to have it on.  I had mine in place of hollandaise for eggs benedict.  With a whole wheat English muffin and this sauce, you now have amazingly delicious eggs benedict that is actually good for you.  I bet you didn't think that was possible. 

Don’t limit yourself to breakfast, though.  It would be fabulous to use for a base for chicken salad, as a spread for a sandwich, or in tacos.  The sky’s the limit, really.  This sauce is so good, you might just want to eat it with a spoon. 

What is your favorite thing to do with avocado?