Pretty Little Apron

lemon juice

Whole Spelt, Lemon, and Ricotta Pancakes

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I can’t even explain how excited I am to announce… I have finally purchased a REAL camera! Please bear with me through the process of figuring out how to use it. I have never even operated a professional camera so this is a learning experience for me all around. I can honestly say this is the first picture I have ever taken with a real camera and while it isn’t perfect, it is much better then the iPad photos I have been using! I’m really excited to continue growing my photography and feedback is much appreciated. 🙂

On to the pancakes… my husband actually had a dream that someone from his past was baby-wearing and making lemon ricotta pancakes at the same time. Seriously, I couldn’t make this up if I tried! Sunday morning I woke up refreshed because somehow I managed to sleep 12 hours after a really long day. It was glorious! Making up for lost sleep usually equates to a big breakfast here, and he mentioned the dream pancakes so I looked around the web but couldn’t find a whole grain version. I found this recipe on Cooking Classy and adapted it to a whole grain version using whole wheat pastry flour and whole spelt. I also made them a second time with whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour, and I have to say I liked the spelt better! I made a few other revisions to their recipe and they turned out fabulous! They are super light, fluffy, and have just a touch of lemon.

*I cook these in a cast iron skillet with about a tablespoon of melted ghee. The key to the perfect pancakes in cast iron is heating it correctly. Put the ghee or butter in your skillet when you begin mixing your ingredients. Keep it on low and let it get nice and warm. I turn it up to just under medium when I begin cooking the pancakes. Low and slow is the way to go! If your skillet is seasoned nicely you should not have to add any more ghee to your pan after the first tablespoon.

 

Fresh and Easy Peach Preserves

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The Preserves


Welcome to peach season! Peach season means summer, barbeques, and tons of goodies that include peaches. Right now I am working on a few different recipes that include these preserves but for now here is the preserve recipe.

The best part about this recipe is it makes a pretty good amount for only using 4 peaches, and it doesn’t contain any refined sugars. I do not believe in making sickeningly sweet preserves and jams loaded with refined sugars so don’t worry, this recipe is not one of those! I sweetened these delicious peaches with raw honey, and only used one other ingredient, lemon juice. These preserves keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks but they didn’t last nearly as long in my house! 🙂

Peeling The Peaches

Before you put the peaches in the pot to make the preserves you have to take the fuzzy skin off of them. It is really easy to do, just boil a pot of water on the stove and put the peaches in the boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Take them out of the water and run them under cold water while attempting to peel away the skin. If it isn’t budging, return them to the hot water and give them a little more time. It shouldn’t be hard to peel the skin off once it is ready.

 

Unprocessed Lasagna Helper

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Once upon a time I went to the grocery store and came home with a LIVING basil plant by accident. I don’t do plants because I live in an apartment with 3 kids and a husband and well… boys love dirt! I’ve tried and tried to love on a plant in my very own home but it never really seems to pan out the way I was hoping.


Like the time my mother in law sent me a plant when my middle son was born. I had such high hopes, I brought him home from the hospital with the new baby and he was like a new member of the family. We took him outside, we gave him a great home, and he even moved all by itself! Planty was his name and I have many fond memories of him brightening my day with his wonderful natural presence.

Then one fateful day my baby grew into a toddler and started tearing up my house. Little ol’ Planty never even saw the big bad toddler coming. All of a sudden Planty was flipped upside down all over the carpet, his dirt everywhere.

“What should we do with him?” I asked my husband, who kindly suggested Planty be banished to the porch forever. As the days grew shorter and the nights colder, Planty began to shrivel like a poor ol’ fellow and one day…. I knew it was his time. The plant I tried so hard to love on, was gone forever, his leaves shriveled and yellow. RIP Planty!

Now, what is a mom of 3 boys to do with a basil plant that will inevitably be ruined by one of them? For now Basil Man is sitting in a mason jar on a window sill, unharmed by any children. Here is sweet Basil Man now sitting pretty as a food prop! Isn’t he beautiful! 🙂

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Speaking of basil, nothing puts a smile on my face like the smell of fresh basil. Why buy something in a box and miss out on such a wonderful smell and taste? With this recipe you will never have to miss that perfect fresh basil smell again. Just like my Unprocessed Hamburger Helper recipe, this is the all REAL ingredient version of a processed classic that contains nothing but awful ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients it is time for me to go all ingredient freak on you because this is important stuff, right? OF COURSE! The boxed version of this includes partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats), MSG, monoglycerides (potential hidden trans fats),  GMO cornstarch, hydrolyzed soy protein, artificial colors, and a few other questionable ingredient. For reals General Mills? Like are you trying to kill people or are you trying to kill people?

Thankfully, we never have to turn to General Mills again for this delicious dinner. It is SO SIMPLE and easy to make yourself and the ingredients are quite obvious. Cheese, buttermilk, basil, tomato, salt, spices, VIOLA! This is made just like the old classic…. brown the beef, add the other stuff (except the basil), bring to a boil, let simmer, enjoy the goodness.

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Creamy Caesar Dressing…. Mason Jar Style!

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ceacar Have you ever checked the ingredient list of the dressing you are using? Thankfully, I have… and all I can say is I will never be consuming store bought dressing again! Something about dumping a bunch of chemicals, artificial flavoring, and preservatives on a beautiful mound of spinach doesn’t make sense. Another reason I will never be purchasing store bought dressing again is the false advertising I have seen from the companies making these products. When I searched for the ingredients I went to the website for Ken’s Steakhouse and they were promising to be using “only the most select ingredients.” They have very clever phrases printed on their packages, for instance “Chef’s Reserve.” This gives the impression your dressing was handcrafted in a steakhouse just for you but unfortunately everything about Ken’s marketing is an illusion. Here are the 26 ingredients in the creamy Caesar:

INGREDIENTS: Soybean Oil, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Egg Yolk, Parmesan Cheese (Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Garlic, contains less than 2% of: Salt, Olive Oil, Sugar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Spices, Natural Flavor, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate and Calcium Disodium EDTA as Preservatives, Onion*, Xanthan Gum, Propylene Glycol, Alginate, Molasses, Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Anchovy (Fish), Tamarind, Titanium Dioxide (for color). *Dried.


Not exactly the select ingredients I thought Ken’s was talking about! I bolded all of the ingredients I consider questionable in this dressing, and there are a lot! Essentially your consuming genetically modified soy and a bunch of other unknown ingredients. Soybean oil is highly refined, unhealthy, and cheap so I choose not to consume it at all. For more on soybean oil click here.

I purchased a special glass bottle to make dressing that had a bunch of recipes printed on the bottle. In theory this was a great idea but trying to put thick ingredients into a small hole just doesn’t work out so well. I resorted to a half pint wide mouth mason jar and it was perfect! It fit just right into the jar and I realized this made it super easy to make without creating a bunch of dishes and a mess!