September Daring bakes make puff pastry.

Sorry folks no pictures this time. My laptop has bit the dust...again...so I have no access to a computer that accepts whatever the little memory card out of the camera is called. You'll have to survive.

On to the challenge. Making homemade puff pastry. And using the to make homemade Vols aux Vents. Not a fail...not a success. They rose...a little. I did enjoy making them though. Quite a bit. Like others have reported they were super buttery and greasy while in the oven. You could literally see them bubbling away. Not so healthy but delicious. May have been my fault since I halved the recipe and baked them out of memory because I didn't have access to the laptop to check the directions. Overall a fun challenge and the pastry was DELICIOUS! I had high hopes of filling them with ham, asparagus, and some hollandaise. Instead they got sugar free whipped cram and strawberries. Not so gourmet but yummy regardless. We're gonna see how ift goes if I attempt them in the future. And I will post a post with the recipe and pictures hopefully once the computer is fixed.

Happy September. Hopefully next month I'll have a new born to help me =)

Banana pancakes!

There are no pictures of this deliciousness...a.) they looked like, SURPRISE, pancakes! and b.) I was starving. I realize that as I female in her ninth month of pregnancy I am pretty much always starving. But I ate mine up real quick and then froze the left overs for some post baby breakfasts with ease.

Ok on to the story...and the recipe...=)

I am a die hard Taste and Tell fan. Low and behold I see a pretty picture of some banana waffles with a link to the recipe at Cafe Zupas. Apparently it's National Waffle Week. Who knew? Well, I have some bananas in the freezer but since I shouldn't be eating too many carbs since they make my blood sugar high and blah blah blah Banana bread is probably not the best idea. I don't own a waffle maker though. Crap. Oh well...I followed the like to Cafe Zupas anyway just to see what it looked like and if I could make pancakes out of it without too much trouble. I find the recipe they used...as well as a little tag saying that they adapted it from a recipe on Epicurious. Hmmm. Now I want to go look at the original recipe and see what they changed! All this for a recipe for banana pancakes. Now mind, that by this time I have a craving and we ARE eating banana pancakes . End of story.

So off to Epicurious I go in search of the original recipe. BINGO!

Not actually all that different from the recipe at Cafe Zupas. Regardless, it's for....PANCAKES!! Not waffles! YAY! So I definitely made me and the husband some delicious banana pancakes.

Banana Pecan Cornmeal Pancakes

• 1 very ripe medium banana (about 1/2 pound) **I ended up using 2 what I would consider medium bananas to get 1/2 pound**
  
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt **left it out on accident, but didn't really miss it**
  
• 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup pecans, toasted lightly and chopped **None on hand, would be good with them, but I wasn't crushed**
  
• vegetable oil for brushing griddle **Used butter and only for the first batch**

Chop banana and in a blender blend with all remaining pancake ingredients except pecans and oil. Transfer batter to a bowl and stir in pecans. **I just poured my batter directly out of the blender since I didn't use the nuts.**

Heat a griddle over moderate heat until hot enough to make a drop of water scatter over surface and brush with oil. Working in batches, drop scant 1/4-cup measures of batter onto griddle to form pancakes about 4 inches in diameter and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip pancakes with a metal spatula and cook until undersides are golden brown and pancakes are cooked through, about 1 minute.

Serve pancakes with syrup.

Zuchinni bake!

Tonight while I was contemplating how to use the final bit of chicken from the whole one I'd roasted, I stumbled upon this. I am a fan of zucchini. I like to eat it in bread or muffins or sauteed up with onions and mushrooms. I will gladly eat it that way for the entire zucchini season. "It's a nice recipe," I thought to myself. After some more thinking, I decided that since we don't eat bacon all that often and I don't keep any in the house, what about my left over chicken?!?! Brilliant! Ooooooh. Yum!

I followed her recipe decently for myself. Translate that as I used to same ingredients...kind of...in random amounts. =) I'm like that, I admit it. Here is what I made.

1 medium Zucchini (not a baby one, but not grand daddy Z either. ), grated.
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 vine ripened tomato, diced
1 1/2 chicken breast, diced
5 eggs
3/4 (ish) cup flour (I added it in smaller amounts until it was a nice consistancy. lol)
1 tsp baking powder (again...more of an eyeball amount)
Mrs. Dash!

Mix it all up in a bowl and this amount filled a 9x9 perfectly. Bake at 400* for 35-45 minutes.

Husband ate his with Salsa. I just put some butter on mine kind of like a baked pancake type deal. LOVED IT! Will totally be making it again. Soon. Like tomorrow. I'm pregnant I can do what I want. =D