Winner Winner, Pancakes for Dinner!

First things first... the winner of the Brownie Zbars has been chosen, and the winner is... Livin it! Just Email me the address to send these bad boys too and I will ship them out faster than you can say Meatball. Speaking of meatballs....

Many of you may remember the film review that took place one post ago. Well, remember how i said it was making me hungry..... im a sucker for craving things. what can i say? Thus i give you..

Spa-pancake and Meatballs!

It almost looks too good to be true... doesn't it. Either that or your looking for the bucket because:" There is no WAY this can taste good". Well, you would be wrong friend. These bad boys are Savory beyond all reason (and are designed for dinner rather than a breakfast). Although, i can think of no better cure for a morning hangover than a good plate of these bellas. Also, those of you non-believers, let me stifle you gags with a question... Have you ever re-heated some pizza in order to break your fast? I.rest.my.case.

My apologies for not posting this weekend (on the standard american pancake day) but things got a bit more hectic than i would have liked toward the evening. The kitchen was being overtaken by parent 'chicken cookery' so the cooking of things was much easier said than done. Why you ask? Well... thats the secret to these pancakes. You see, there was one thing i was not going to give up on and that was the meatballs creating a 'hill effect' in the billow-y cake plain. The question is: "How do you heat the whole top when there are two kick stands holding up the cake? Then i remembered: baked ziti, mac and cheese, pizza and spaghetti pie. These dishes get the tops cooked because they're baked! So... the key is to prep the broiler while you are mixing (but not over-mixing) the batter and just throwing the cakes in the oven to crisp the top at the time you would normally flip them. Keep them there for no longer than two minutes and then take them out... the next one should be ready for you to pop in there. Now granted, there are a couple more movements involved... but the extra "aerobics" will make us all feel better since we care technically having comfort food from two different continents for dinner. However, these are not only vegan... but theyre not bad for you at all (whole wheat flour, brewers yeast and a bit of EVOO <--- thanks rach).

Not only was the kitchen occupied, but i found out last night that i had to go into work this morning which means jetting out for the radio station at 4 in the AM. The sun isn't even ready to greet me with his two scoops of rasins and im driving around the city of Miami. Thank goodness i LOVE where i get to go every morning.

Also, quick review.... i tried the newest Clif Bar at work today. Let me be the first to say that these will NEVER be given away... they are too packed full of awesome and pecan pralines and MAPLE SYRUP! This clif was totally a coincidence (maple syrup and all) but put me in an awesome mood and had be almost skipping around the station this morning. Im going to give this bar 9/10 bottles of syrup.

Well fellow cake-amore, I am off to get sexier at the gym for a bit (before the crowd shows up). As usual, shoot me a message if you would like to make these yourselves and stay tuned for more shennanigans (*pistol-whip <-- anyone who knows this reference is awesome!). Unitl next time this is PanClayke reminding you that this is the cake... such a beau-tiful cake.... and they call it Bella Notte.

The Rabbit, the Pear and the SCARE!

OK... so all this went down in the span of like four hours, and that includes right now (so this stuff is REALLY fresh). First things first..

1. The Rabbit: HAPPY RABBIT RABBIT DAY!! What? Does anyone else not remember when Nickelodeon ,*cough (was good) cough cough* , used to have a theme devoted to everyday? One day would be potato chip day and the next would be walk on your hands day or something? Well, the first of every month was Rabbit Rabbit day and your supposed to ensure good luck for the month by saying Rabbit Rabbit before ANYTHING else that morning. I have never done it.... until today! Apparently waking up at four AM to go set up for the most awesomest radio show in south florida has its advantages. Here's to a lucky September!
2. The Pear:

... or is it? BEHOLD THE PRICKLY PEAR!

Those avid cake-ers that remember the Dragonfruit post will recall the bold red color that ensures an amazingly sweet flavor. The color is shared, but where the dragon was bland the prickle is grand! This fruit was sweet and similar to the flavor of a sweet kiwifruit. The only catch is that you have to peel it, chop it, mash it and strain it. This xtra effort is brought to you by course seeds which are random and hard to swallow, like a Paul Walker movie (FACED!).

Speaking of faced... it was happy to see me! And to answer your questions

• the pan is working awesome
• the Pear Puree was sweet and honestly should have been thickened and used as a syrup
• and the color due to Dark Chocolate powder!

I figured since it was a latin american fruit i would try and pair it with something remnant of a mole, however... there was not enough sweetness in the puree to combat the cocoa. So... these ended up tasting more like the wafers in an Oreo cookie which are AWESOME!!! (note: totally remaking these and sandwiching in some tofu ice cream = ice cream oreo!) All in all, im giving these 4.5/5 syrup bottles (<-- new rating system!)

And yes... i ate one with my hands. This... is MEDIEVAL TIIIIIIIIIIIIIMES!!!

3. The Scare: Well, those of you that know me well know how frugal I am. Other than impulse buys i hardly ever buy anything myself, especially since im between jobs right now. So, stopping at the store for something frivolous almost never happens. However, something got me wanting to try a new fruit so i stopped at on the way home. Im expecting to find a nice spice, maybe even a new marmalade... but the fruit jumped at me. AND it was cheaper so im thinking 'double score'! The only thing is that this decision took a lot longer than i thought, and i was sleepy, so i grabbed a soda and started to sip... and sip... and *gasp*. GONE?! Is this okay? Will they be mad. Moreover, is it stealing if i dont pay for it... technically its still in the store right. Well... this look of trepidation must have been plainer than i thought cause all of a sudden a heavy-set jamacian woman came out like a thief in the night and started grilling me about whether i was paying for that soda or not.

My response: "No. But im not taking it with me either... where's the Bathroom?"

Having never said the most unfunny thing ever, i was shocked to see her face... but then cowered in fear and told her that nothing would make me happier to pay. Then i helped her restock a box of Trix that fell off the shelf (im a wuss).

So.. there you have it. Another wonderful pancake to get us all through the week, a bad day at work and the occasional wild rodent. As always, feel free to make suggestions for future creations and message for the recipes. Until next time this is Panclayke reminding you that not all heavy people are jolly.

Good Deals and Good Deeds

So the results are in and i am officially the worst posted in the Blogsphere. I like to think of myself, in regards to my blog, as that kid who gets all the sources for a research paper right away and then just procrastinated while looking at them sit next to the computer. Im still pounding out the p-cakes like a madman, and documenting like whoa but then i just look at the computer really hard hoping ill develop the ability to talk to machines, in which case i would change my name to rebel and start busting my friends out of jail so we could go fight crime and, DAMN! I need to start watching Heroes.




Anyway, onto the cakey wonder or what the title 'good deal' refers to. You see, being a new vegan has led me to spend a lot more time in the grocery store produce department and noticing whats on sale and whats in season. Today on my Publix excursion i found the lovely strawberry telling me that i should buy it. 2 baskets for 3 dollars! Am i retarted? dont answer that!










OR I WILL CUT YOU LIKE I DICED UP THE RECENTLY PURCHASED BERRY GOODNESS! That being said i now know why chefs are so amiable, they get to play with knives and cut things... and get paid for it! Definitely a reason to take the profession on. Anyhoo, since the berries were such i good deal i decided to make some strawberry p-cakes, with a special vegan component that will have the spotlight in the next entry (gotta leave them wanting more). So, i got the batter together - my pan hot - and the coffee brewed an away we went.













There is a small secret to this one... DO NOT mix the berried in the batter before you put these on the griddle. This will make the sugars hit the pan rather than the batter at some points and it WILL burn to the pan and make flippage difficult. In the words of Napoleon, you'll feel like a "Flippin Idiot" (<-- see what i did there?). Ergo, i employed what i have dubbed the 'boop droop', meaning you drop the batter, THEN drop the berry slices (or what have you) then you give the new addition a little push into its new bed. And i dont know why but every push makes you want to say 'boop' in a cute voice (go ahead and tell me im wrong). After that its smooth sailing, three minutes or so on one side and one-ish on the other. Then...





... we have the berry pancakes of vegan magic. These bad boys didn't even need syrup cause the berries are already juicy (but we added some anyway, of course). Oh, and remember the burned berries that we were trying to avoid earlier? Well it turns out that what you want to avoid on one side is the best part of the other. I swear it was like a combination of the crispy cheese on the panini and Jesus.



S, by now your probbaly asking A) why is e ranting about something simple and B) what 'good deed' means in the title. Well, during my grocery excursion and the finding of the berry deal and such, I noticed how nobody can buy a whole hand of bananas. I dont care if a family of nine is buying one, the mother will grab a hand of six and rip one off and leave it there. At first i thought it was funny, but then i thought of the hand as a family... i mean, they were born and raised together, traveled the globe, went through banana puberty and got into fights with the plantain gang from down the road who tried to get them hooked on that bad shiz. And this woman sees fit to destroy sich a beautiful family group, this can't keep happening! There-go, i found the biggest hand in the bunch (8 friggin naners!) and rounded it up to nine by taking home the orphan banana. OR, as i named her...

"Little Orphan Nanny"

All in all it was an extremely successful pancake morning. Once nourished it was time for some nice reading by the pool and an afternoon film of 'Hamlet 2'. Rock me sexy Jesus indeed. Later on, it appeared as though my good deeds brought the good Lord to tears cause the rain came out to play and i had to retreat into the house to peruse blog-land for a little while before i dove into another pancake adventure (but thats another story).

On a serious note, things at the radio station are going really good. Im learning a crapload about the radio industry and am loving the people i work around which is definitely a pleasant shift. Couple that with a recent reunion with some old friends and a tip down memory lane which led Pan-Clay-ke to Calvary Chapel for the saturday service and you have the makings of an amazing weekend. Speaking of church happenings and friends and such there is a much more serious post coming soon so be ready, i would venture to go the distance now but i feel i have rambled for long enough and The Next Food Network Star is about to start. Again... always leave them wanting more.

So, until next time please remember to live well, laugh often and, for godness sake, dont split up the banana family!