Sweet Potato Pancakes

After making traditional pancakes this morning and only managing to get one for myself, I decided to make a savoury style vegetable pancake to go with left-over veggies for dinner.  I had sweet potatoes in the cupboard, so that's what I made - Sweet Potato Pancakes.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

2 small sweet potatoes
1-1/4 cups plain flour
3 heaped tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
50g butter - melted


Peel and cut the sweet potato into small chunks. Place the pieces into a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook the potatoes for approx. 15mins until tender. Drain, mash and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, gently whisk the eggs, then stir in the sweet potato, milk and butter until well combined.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold together until all the flour is mixed in and a batter is formed. It may be slightly lumpy but that's ok.

Heat a lightly greased pan and pour a spoonful of mixture in.  (I use a soup ladle for this.)  Cook until bubbles start forming on the top of the pancake.  Flip it over and cook a minute or so longer.  Transfer to a warm plate.  Repeat until all the mixture is used up.

Serve as a side, or underneath, stir-fried veggies.  Or you can simply eat them with butter and syrup, alongside a cup if tea.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Lavender Blueberry Pancakes

With all the talk about Pancake Day coming up and seeing pictures of pancakes in grocery store magazines, I woke up this morning and had to make some.  Having some lovely lavender and fresh blueberries on hand I thought they'd make a great combination and I wasn't wrong! :)

Below, I have shown the ingredients that I used, but you could certainly change a few things if you preferred.  For example, I felt like a more wholesome pancake and used wholemeal flour, but you could replace this with white flour, or even use 1 cup of each.  Also, you could use regular milk instead of the almond milk, and/or replace the creme fraiche with buttermilk or sour cream.  As mentioned, I used a pestle and mortar to crush the lavender, but you could use a food processor or coffee grinder.

Lavender Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups wholemeal flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp dried lavender (gently crushed in a pestle & mortar)
1 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs butter - melted
1-1/4 cups almond milk
200g tub creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla
200g punnet fresh blueberries


In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, lavender, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, creme fraiche and vanilla.

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and gently mix until combined. The mixture will be a bit lumpy. Stir in the blueberries.

Heat a well greased pan and pour in a large spoonful of batter. Cook until little bubbles start appearing on the top, then flip over and cook a couple of minutes on the other side. Remove pancake to a plate and keep warm. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

Serve with lavender honey butter and an extra drizzle of honey, or whatever else takes your fancy.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Chilli Con Lentils

I do love my lentils and the fact that they are full of protein makes them even better.  This is a delicious vegetarian chilli which should really be called "Chilli Con Lentejas", which translates to chilli with lentils, as opposed to "Chilli Con Carne" which is known as chilli with meat.

Chilli Con Lentils - or - Chilli Con Lentejas

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups French lentils (or Puy lentils)
2 bay leaves
1 small cinnamon stick
4 cups vegetable stock
1 onion - diced
2 large cloves garlic - diced (or crushed)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli (or more, depending on how hot you like it)
1 tsp paprika
1 large carrot - chopped into evenly sized pieces
2 large romano red peppers - sliced into evenly sized pieces
1 400g tin kidney beans - drained and rinsed
1 200g tin corn
1 400g tin tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs brown sugar
1 cup water
Fresh coriander - roughly chopped


Place the lentils, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and vegetable stock in a large saucepan.  Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer for approx. 25 minutes, until lentils are cooked.

Meanwhile, cook the onion and garlic in a little oil, in a large pan for a minute, until the garlic becomes fragrant.  Add the cumin, chilli and paprika.  Cook another minute or so.

Add the carrot and red peppers.  Stir until well covered with the spices.  Pour in the cooked lentils, including any liquid.  Add the kidney beans, corn, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and water.  Stir well until combined.  Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked.

Serve in bowls, over rice.  Top with coriander.  You could also make a simple guacamole to serve with it.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Lavender Honey Butter

This is a lovely sweet herb butter that could be used in all sorts of different ways.  I especially made it to go with my Lavender Scones.


Ingredients

100g butter - softened
1 tbs lavender buds
1 tsp honey


Just like with my lavender scones, I used a pestle and mortar to grind the lavender buds.

Add the ground lavender and a nice squeeze of honey to the softened butter.  I used a wooden spoon to mix it all together.

When everything is mixed as evenly as you can, spoon the lavender butter onto a piece of cling film and roll into a small log shape.  Wrap and place in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Delicious with Lavender Scones or spread on toast or crumpets!

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Lavender Scones

My beautiful daughter recently gave me a bag of organic culinary lavender.  I love lavender, not only for it's fragrance, but also for it's wonderful healing properties.  Among it's many benefits, including being a great stress and pain reliever, it also helps with digestion, upset stomachs and bloating.  These scones are my first attempt at cooking with lavender.

Lavender Scones

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp lavender buds
40gm butter - softened
1 cup milk
1/4 cup creme fraiche (or sour cream)


First, I used a pestle and mortar to grind the lavender buds.  You could also use a food processor or coffee grinder.

Sift the flour into a large bowl with the sugar and ground lavender.

Rub in the softened butter with your fingertips until completely combined.

Mix the milk and creme fraiche together, then add to the bowl, gently stirring with a blunt knife until the mixture becomes a soft, sticky dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly until smooth.  Using your hands, carefully press out the dough to approx 2cm thickness. Cut into rounds (approx. 5cm) with a biscuit cutter or the rim of a drinking glass. Place scones onto lightly greased baking sheets, or into a lightly greased cake pan. Gently knead remaining dough scraps together and repeat the pressing and cutting out until it is all used.

Brush the top of the scones with a little milk.

Bake in a hot oven, approx. 220 degrees C, for about 15 mins.

Place the scones onto a wire rack immediately after taking out of the oven.

Delicious with Lavender Honey Butter.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥