To Everything There Is a Season

Oftentimes during winter, I'll find myself working so hard to keep warm with teas, soups and the like that I will up and forget to have any items from my favorite food group - fruit.

This is horrendous. Why? Well, to start out with, as I previously mentioned, it is my favorite.

Fruit is also a stupendous source of a plethora of vitamins and minerals that provide all sorts of benefits to our bodies.

fruit ice cubes are always fun and a great way to store leftover fruit before it goes bad - put 1 unit (i.e. one raspberry, a couple blueberries, a slice of kiwi, etc) in your ice cube mold and fill with your favorite liquid (water, lemonade, orange juice, etc) and freeze. they make grown-up drinks sophisticated and flirty.

Contrary to common belief, fruit does abound in the winter as well, and yes, even outside of the frozen food section. In season, you will find banana, pomegranate, apple, pear, kiwi, and clementines to name a few.

Down here in Texas, we also have strawberries which you may recall top my absolute favorite food list where they have stood, in all their sweet and pink glory since the tender age of two. They tie with artichokes, but this is a post about fruits and not vegetables, so onward we go.

"Why buy in season when my local Whole Foods carries all fruit year round?", you may wonder. There are so many reasons. To cut right down to it, buying in season will save you loads o' dinero. It will also taste better because as you would imagine (if you're the imagining sort), anything grown in its preferred season will grow better and in this case, tastier.

My personal favorite reason to buy fruit in season attests to the cleverness of Mother Nature. The particular vitamins in the particular fruits you purchase in season provide benefits that are of particular interest to you during that time...particularly.

For example, clementine, kiwi, pear and apple are all extraordinary sources for vitamin C. And if you, like me, are serenaded by the orchestra of coughing and sneezing about this time of year, you'll note that vitamin C is crucial come winter to stave off the dreadful common cold.

One way to take advantage of the variety of winter fruits is a jazzed up fruit salad. Take any fruit you have lying around the house and chop it into bite-sized pieces. Put it all in a bowl, add cinnamon to taste, one teaspoon of fresh mint, lemon and lime juice to drizzle but not drown.

2 1/2 cups of grape, banana, apple, blueberry, kiwi, clementine, strawberry with the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1/2 a lime, 1 tsp fresh mint and approximately 1 tbs cinnamon - it's even better next day after everyone has had time to get to know each other, get married, and procreate all sorts of yumminess

For Goodness (cup)Cake!

Is nothing sacred anymore? Apparently not to the TSA. In Massachusetts yesterday, a woman's cupcake was "confiscated" at security because it exceeded the maximum allowance for gel substances.

What gel you may ask? The icing of course.

No word yet as to which cupcake and icing combination were taken eaten in the line of duty.

Stay tuned as we await further details in this crumb-y storyline.

cupcake of another variety courtesy of Ms. Leiber

I'll Make You Banana Pancakes

While working to avoid the grave this past weekend, I, like many people when they're ill, spent most of my time in front of the television. However, as you all know by this point, I wouldn't dare to meerly stave off death and watch television shows because that just wouldn't be enough multi-tasking for my soul. No, I also spent the time organizing my itunes music and waxing on nostalgically to the sound of The Food Network, old playlists, and my own soundtrack of sniffles, groaning and whining.

I promptly happened upon an old playlist from my senior year of college and Jack Johnson in his banana pancake making frenzy, ever so kindly, has remained stuck in my head since Friday afternoon. And this, was the first of many moments that lead me down a meandering path of wanting, ney requiring, banana pancakes desperately. I list them for you below -

1. I may or may not (read definitely did) have watched the marathon, in its entirety of The Notebook to fully capitalize on my misery. Unless you, like me, have reached borderline obsession with the classic film, you may not recall the blip moment that Noah's dad offers Allie pancakes at 10pm at night. Apparently, in the deep south circa 60+ years ago, breakfast for dinner was unheard of and very scandalous.

2. They were featured on The Cooking Channel.

3. They (sans bananas) also made an appearance on The Food Network.

Needless to say, I present you today with two glorious versions of the classic breakfast treat. However, I've decided to switch things up a bit and only provide you with one recipe. Why? Because I like mine. Keep your brows unfurrowed though, because true to my word, we still have a competition on our hands, that of method as opposed to recipe.

Today, I present you with two very popular pancake making methods and the pros and cons of both.

Let's start where I started in my foray into pancake making territory, with the recipe. Mine is as healthy as they get without risking taste. Many recipes that you read suggest protein powder and other funky replacements which definitely work in their own right, but I like to stay semi-traditional to ensure I don't lose the "comfort" in my comfort food.

What you'll find with this recipe is a light and fluffy pancake that is slightly nutty with a hint of cinnamon and a not-too-overwhelming flavor of banana. A testament to the hominess of the flavor, my little sister, with her superhuman tastebuds that can detect even the slightest variance to her favorite recipes did not recognize the whole wheat flour. Call me magical if you must.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
a dash of salt
1 tbp honey
1 average sized banana
1 cup milk (make it thinner by adding more milk by the tablespoon)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbp cinnamon

Start by mashing the banana smooth in a medium bowl - mashing utensils can include but are not limited to a potato masher (as seen here), a fork, a spoon, the bottom of a can, your hands, etc

Once the banana is mashed thoroughly, add the milk, vanilla and honey and mix just to combine

In a small separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon

Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and mix until combined but it's okay if there are a few lumps

Looking for ways to jazz this recipe or any recipe up? Try adding fruits, chocolate chips, substituting alternative spices to the cinnamon such as pumpkin pie spice or even cocoa powder.

Or, if you're in dire need of a mood brightener as I was this weekend, literally brighten them up with food coloring.

separate half of the batter into three bowls (so you'll still have the other half in your original bowl for all those color-phobic) and add 5-10 drops of food coloring to each bowl

At this point, you've got the flavor, but everyone has different be-all-end-all pancake preferences, and different cooking methods will provide different results.

If you're looking for a method to mass produce 5-10 pancakes at a time with little oil spatter, the griddle is the solution for you.

start by generously oiling up your griddle - think of it as a sunscreen for your batter, making sure it doesn't fry up. You can use olive oil which adds a nice fruity flavor, canola which is definitely the cheaper option, or butter

Next, you'll want to turn the stove on. No, I am not insulting your intelligence. I'm simply providing a friendly reminder so that you will not follow in my footsteps and proclaim that the griddle is broken when you've merely forgotten to turn it on.

You want it set at a steady medium heat and most importantly to the process, you want to drop a tester of the batter to make sure you're not overheating or underheating.

The goal is to have the tell-tale flip sign bubbles appear within 30-45 seconds of putting the batter on the griddle

tell-tale flip sign bubbles above...aren't they lovely?

Once the bubbles have appeared, flip the pancakes and cook for another 30 seconds or so and devour.

The griddle method is ideal for making multiple pancakes, a healthier pancake as less oil is required, and a quicker process to boot. However, the clean up is not kind and takes a strong arm. Luckily for me, grateful patrons to my pancake Sunday obliged and cleaned it in full.

blueberries and fresh whipped cream - classic

However, not everyone has a griddle, so are you doomed for a banana pancake-less existence? Of course not. For you, there is always the frying pan.

The frying pan provides those crisp edges with an almost flaky top and bottom and that smooth creamy center. Why is it so delicious and why is this the method most restaurants employ? Because it's fried. Typically, per pancake, the pan will need half a tablespoon of butter. This of course depends on the size of your pan. You want it thoroughly coated in butter but you're not building a dairy ocean. Food for the soul it is, food for your LDL levels, it is not.

To cut back on the calories and fat, try dousing your pan in Pam or a similar no-calorie spray butter.

To start, turn your pan on to medium heat and add your fat of choice - half a tablespoon of butter/margarine or a generous load of Pam.

Again, test the pan with a small bit of batter to make sure you're at the perfect goldilocks temperature.

At this point - add the batter, one pancake per batch

Allow the pancake to cook until bubbles begin to appear and the sides begin to fold upwards away from the pan.

Then flip and cook for another 30 seconds or so and remove from pan

As you'll note, the butter gets brown rather quickly, so you'll need to pour browned butter out between pancake batches and add more.

Cooking on the pan can be somewhat messy and the butter will spit up at you, but if you're fearless, these pancakes taste just like they snuck out of your favorite diner and popped up in your own kitchen.

I hate to let the last of the butter go to waste, so I took an apple, sliced it up and sprinkled it with a teaspoon cinnamon and promptly plopped it in the pan

I let each side cook for around 2-3 minutes until they softened up but maintained a bit of a bite to them in the center

with the apples and a drizzle of maple syrup, this batch tasted like an apple cobbler

Do you know of any other home-cook methods for whipping up your favorite pancake recipe?

Have you any menu items that have haunted your dreams as of late?

sick day

My body wasn't so fond of the back and forth weather switch up. We're on strike apparently.

Given that my smelling and tasting capabilities have been entirely incapacitated, I hope you'll kindly excuse me for a day.

In the meantime, care to share any mystical remedies?

Pennsylvania to Pura Vida

Hello fair readers and welcome back. Daring to assume I may have acquired a few of you who aren't aware of my every move and new location, allow me to explain - I've recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Harrisburg for Christmas followed by a stay in Costa Rica for the New Year.

Don't fret though; I return having amassed a plethora of new random facts you may or may not ever need to know in addition to loads o' inspiration.

Highlights of the trips include but are of course never ever limited to -

1. my first geese sighting (and for that matter my first goose sighting too)

2. my first stromboli (There isn't a picture...I'm terribly sorry but sometimes my stomach gets selfish). It is a fabulous calzone-like beast filled with whatever your heart desires, and it's gooey and crisp and thoroughly delightful. As it turns out though, it was rather fitting as their origin is traced back to a teensy township just outside of Philadelphia and I just so happened to have tried it a bit outside of Philly as well. Lovely. Even lovlier is their namesake - a melodramatic Ingrid Bergman film.

3. visiting the Liberty Bell

4. zip-lining through the forest with the greatest of ease

5. monkeys monkeys everywhere

6. lizano (to be explained at a later date)

If you're like nearly everyone else in the Western hemisphere, the name of the game we've all been playing for the last month is "Eat Yourself into Oblivion, Go, Go, Go". Good for you; you lived a little. However, we're all back in reality now, potentially a smidge jollier, plumper, etc than we were prior to leaving it.

Whatever shall we do? Hydrate, of course, and my very favorite method is with another highlight from Pennsylvania (or at least that's where I found it), Sassy Water. On my very first visit to PA, Jon's mother introduced it to me, and I actually crave it. Yes, I crave water. It's that thirst-quenching.

Sassy Water
from: The Flat Belly Diet (officially...)

8 1/2 cups of water
1 tsp grated ginger
1 medium cucumber, sliced thin
1 medium lemon, sliced thin
12 leaves spearmint (although I'd imagine any mint would work just as well)

Mix all ingredients together and let stand overnight.

Strain in the morning, enjoy, and hydrate.