Pancake Syrup

Do you ever have one of those nights where you get ready to start fixing dinner and realize that you probably shouldn't have put off going to the grocery store that day after all?  Today was that day for me. 

Here it is, Friday night.  I don't feel like thawing some chicken to cook, so what are my options?  I don't have enough cheese left for quesidillas, and the only thawed meat in I have in the house is some bacon.  However, it just so happens that this is some very excellent bacon given to me by a friend whose husband works for Hormel... okay, it's breakfast for dinner!

But wait!  I have exactly 4 eggs left in the house, so no scrambled eggs - what now?  I guess we're having pancakes.  So I put the bacon in the oven to bake and start the pancakes.  Just then I glance over at my kitchen sink area, which happens to be slightly cluttered.  Okay, okay - I confess!  It's a Disaster Area.  But my recycling is over there, rinsed and waiting to go out to the recycle bin.  And what do I see?  The syrup bottle that we finished earlier in the week.  Oh, great.  What now?  Do I send The Honey to the corner store to buy a bottle of syrup for $4?

Actually, there IS another option.  One nice thing about growing up poor with a mother that was born in the depression is that she made a lot of things that other people's parents bought.  Thousand Island salad dressing (nasty), mayonnaise (only once or twice), and yes!  Pancake Syrup.

My mother always made it with equal parts brown sugar, white sugar, and water.  She didn't use maple flavoring or any of those "fancy" things.  But I decided to experiment a little tonight.  Not with maple flavoring, however.  I already know the Peanut Gallery will not be impressed with that.  But how about a little butter and vanilla?

It's a gamble that paid off, let me tell you...


Pancake Syrup
(Yields 1 c. of syrup, enough for a small family.  If you plan on storing the extra or have a large family, you may want to double this!)

1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. water
1 Tbsp. butter
Splash of vanilla (1/2-1 tsp?)

In a medium or small saucepan, combine sugars.

Add water and stir.  Your mixture will look opaque because the sugar isn't dissolved yet.

Now you need to bring the mixture to a boil.  Turn the heat up on the stove to about medium-high, and be sure to stir constantly so it won't burn.  When you start seeing bubbles around the edge like the picture, you'll know you're starting to get close to the boil - but you are not there yet!

When you start to see it boiling more like this picture (note the bubbles in the middle of the pan), you can go ahead and set your timer for 7 minutes.  Whatever you do, do NOT stop stirring at this point.  This stirring can be a great job for your 9-year old if you're busy doing something else from time to time.

When the syrup starts getting foamy, turn the heat down to medium.  It'll keep boiling, trust me.

Finally, after about 7 minutes, remove the syrup from the heat.  It should look something like this.

Next add your square of butter and splash of vanilla.  Mix until melted and set aside to cool.  As the syrup cools it will thicken slightly.

Serve warm over pancakes or waffles.  Any leftovers can be stored in a sealed container (or old syrup bottle) either in the cabinet or the fridge.

Avocado-Lime Pico De Gallo

It's almost embarrassing that it has been a month since my last post.  I don't know how the time gets away from me!  Actually, I do.  I used to blog at night after my kids went to bed.  Lately I've been walking with my neighbor and my dog most nights around 8:30, and since I'm pregnant and tired, I'm in bed by 10:00.  It's a severe strain on my blogging time, let me tell you!

I know I promised you a bread recipe next (for those of you who DID save your potato water from those garlic mashed potatoes), but I'm going to break that promise for two good reasons.  First, it's been hot around here lately, and I don't know about you but when it's hot outside the last thing I feel like doing is turning on my oven for any reason.  But second, and even more important is that this stuff tastes so freakin' good that I couldn't wait another minute to blog about it.  I ate the first batch I made for lunch today with some tortilla chips - the whole batch!  I didn't even wait for the flavors to blend in the fridge first.  To hide my crime I had to make an additional batch to have with our tacos tomorrow night.  Shame on me, but it tasted oh so good!


Avocado Lime Pico De Gallo

1 can diced tomatoes
3 green onions
40-50 leaves of cilantro (about 6 or 7 sprigs)
1 1/2 jalapeno peppers
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 avocado

Who would have thought that these simple ingredients could bring such pleasure?

Open the tomatoes and dump them into a strainer in the sink.  DO NOT RINSE WITH WATER.  However, you do want to get the extra juiciness out as much as possible, so shake your strainer just a bit.  As you can see, you'll have some tomato-juice-splatters to clean up later.

Next, let's pour those tomatoes gently onto a cutting board.

I like my tomatoes chopped a little smaller than the can of regular diced tomatoes has them.  One solution for this is to use petite diced tomatoes, but I didn't have any on hand today.  So I opted to just chop them a little more once they had drained.

Next, scrape them into a small bowl.  See how they are still juicy around the edges?  This is good!

 Next we'll do the green onions.  Take three and wash them.  Cut off the very end where the roots come out and about 3 inches or so above that.  Discard both ends and keep the middle.

 We want the green onions finely chopped, and since I don't have a food processor that will do it for me, I start by slicing each green onion down the middle.

 Next I take my knife and cut off slices about 1-2 mm thick.  Voila - we have finely chopped green onion to add to the bowl!

 Now let's move on to the cilantro.  Pick off about 40-50 leaves and chop roughly on the cutting board.  You're done!  Add it to the bowl.

 For the jalapeno peppers, you will start by slicing them down the middle and "seeding" them, which is an easy way of saying cut out the middle parts and keep the outside.  If you're a sissy about spicy stuff like I am, you want to make sure you keep the seeds out of the bowl, so once I have seeded them I rinse them with water to get all the random seeds off of the outer part.

 Next, cut each half into skinny slices.  As you can see, my half was cut into about 8 pieces, which is pretty slim!

 And then we're going to chop each bunch of slices into small pieces, just like the onion only slightly bigger.  And we have... finely chopped jalapenos.  Fancy, eh?

 Once you've added the green onion, cilantro, and jalapeno to the bowl you can also toss in your garlic powder, salt, and lime juice.

 Mix well.
Looks pretty, right?
Well, we're not done yet!

 The reason I have added the avocado last is because you don't want to add it right away unless you're serving this the same day.  A plain avocado will turn brown once it's exposed to the air - kind of like a banana - so unless I'm eating this the day I make it, I won't add it in just yet.  However, when you get ready, here's how you chop that avocado without making a mess.

First, cut the avocado in half lengthwise and remove the pit.  Then, using a small knife, cut the avocado flesh into small cubes, being careful not to cut all the way through the skin of the avocado.  What you see should look something like this:

 Next you're going to take a large soup spoon and scrape it along the inside of the avocado peel.  This will scoop that diced avocado right out of the peel and into the bowl...

 ... leaving you with an empty skin.

 Mix in the avocado and you're done! 

Now.  Here's where it get's tricky.  You're supposed to let things like this sit for about 30 minutes or so before you eat them so the flavors will "marry" properly.  If you think you can wait, you go right ahead.  But me?  I usually go ahead and start eating this stuff right away with my tortilla chips.  It's also a great topping to put on your tacos, nachos, or any other Mexican dish.