Sourdough Pancakes

Last weekend, I was inspired to make yet another wonderful recipe from the apron my parents made me for Christmas. (If you're new to the blog, you can read about it here and here... among a zillion other posts.) With all the crummy weather we had last weekend, I wanted to lay low on Saturday morning... so I decided to make my Uncle D's Sourdough Pancakes. I started the recipe on the night before with these basic ingredients. And while these pancakes take a little planning (since you start the sourdough the night before), they are totally worth it! Per my Uncle D's very specific instructions, I dissolved some yeast in water and let it sit in there for 17 minutes. (Please excuse the white stuff on my kitchen timer... it's frosting from the last cake I made... I think...)
In a separate bowl, I measured some flour. I decided to use white flour, but my Uncle D says you can use a mixture of flours, if you'd like!
After the 17 minutes were up, I poured the yeast into the flour...
Which looked just like this:
And after some steady mixing, I had this:
Again, per my Uncle D's instructions, I covered the starter in a warm place and went to bed.
The next morning, I began with THIS cast of characters. (See the sourdough starter in the bowl? That's what it looked like the next morning!)
And I proceeded to add some additional ingredients to the sourdough starter I had concocted the night before.
I also mixed some baking soda and water in a small bowl...
Before adding it to the pancake batter.
Once everything was combined, I put my beautiful, new Calphalon pan on the stove to heat up... since I don't have a griddle.
And then I started to make pancakes.
When they started bubbling on one side, I flipped them... waited a bit... and slid this baby right off the pan.
Come on- doesn't that look like the best weekend breakfast you can imagine?
And it only got better... because there's enough batter to make TONS of these tasty pancakes! The only thing you'll have to worry about is having enough syrup to cover 'em!
If you'd like to make these for yourself (or anyone else who eats breakfast at your house), here's the recipe:

Sourdough Pancakes
Night before: Dissolve 1/2 tsp. yeast in 1/2 cup water- wait 17 minutes, add 2 cups flour (1 cup white and 1 cup other, if you'd like) and 1 1/4 water , mix to a thin paste, and cover in a warm spot.
In the morning add: 1 large egg, 2 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp salt- beat well.
Combine: 1 tbsp. water and 1 tsp. baking soda- add to batter.
Bake on hot griddle.

Thanks, Uncle D, for sharing this amazing recipe... I can't wait to make these again!
Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

Sledding in the City

Remember how the East Coast was hit with a major snow storm this weekend?
SFS bought a sled for the occasion! Of course, since we live in NYC, we had to take it on the subway with us... it was quite a sight! Eventually we made our way to Riverside Park, at 103rd and Riverside Drive.
It was a perfect day for sledding- and apparently all the other kids in the neighborhood thought so, too!
After looking for a bit, we found a spot on the hill where we thought we wouldn't accidentally mow down a kid... I can't say I have a lot of control on a plastic sled! SFS was up first... don't you love his purple sled?
And moments later he made it down the hill in one piece!
And a little while later, it was my turn... yep, that's me posing at the bottom of the hill- so demure!
I can't help it- we were having so much fun!
Plus, I had my camera with me, so I was taking tons of fun pictures.
Oh- did I mention it was a beautiful day?
And to top it all off, we built a mogul.
It looked pretty unassuming on the slope, but when you hit it with the sled straight on...
You could get some pretty good air!
And since I'm not one to let the boy have all the fun (oh yeah- can we take a moment to appreciate JUST how dorky I can be?)...
I took my turn on the mogul, too!
But after all that fun, I was pretty tired.
So SFS took pity on me and dragged me home.
(Okay- he didn't pull me ALL the way home, but he took me on a good, long ride along the river which was the highlight of my day!)
We had such a fun day sledding!
Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Parkey Stew

When the weather gets cold and snowy, all I want to eat for dinner is a warm bowl of... something! So when we were slammed with snow on Friday, I decided to try a recipe my parents had recommended a few months ago: Parkey Stew! Here's a shot of the ingredients:
I started by adding olive oil to my dutch oven. (Okay- so I might have made this stew to try out my new dutch oven for the first time... can you blame me? It's so cute- and heavy!)
Then I sliced up some leeks...
Before adding them to the hot oil in the pot!
After that, I sliced up the carrots (into 'coins') and added those to the pot as well.
Then I minced some garlic...
And rough chopped a head of red cabbage (though you can absolutely use green).
After the carrots were tender, I added the crushed tomatoes...
The cabbage...
And the chicken stock.
While it simmered, we cooked up some Italian sausage. We ran into a bit of a snag, as the recipe called for kielbasa- but I couldn't find it ANYWHERE in my neighborhood. So SFS came to the rescue and picked up this tasty Italian sausage. Once it had cooked, we added it into the pot, along with some herbs.
Once all the ingredients were included, I let the stew cook down for a good half an hour- and boy did my apartment smell DELISH! But before I show you the finished product, wanna see the soup bowl I used?
I figured the image inside the bowl was just perfect for a snowy day in NYC! But, back to the task at hand- the Parkey Stew!
Doesn't that look wonderful? And let me tell you- it tastes even better than it looks! It's full of warm, hearty ingredients that leaving you feeling really full after just one bowl! I served it up with a couple slices of Italian bread from a local bakery... talk about a warm meal on a cold day!
If you'd like to make Parkey Stew for your friends or family, here's the recipe:

Parkey Stew
3 T Olive Oil
4 carrots peeled and thinly sliced “coins”
2 leeks, thinly sliced, both ends removed
2 cloves of garlic, minced
16 oz. Chicken broth
1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 small head of cabbage, roughly chopped
1 lb. turkey kielbasa, sliced
1 tsp. Caraway Seed
1 tsp. Marjoram
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

Instructions: In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots and leeks sitting frequently until cooked tender, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes, cabbage, and kielbasa to the pot, along with the caraway and marjoram. Simmer until the stew is hot and the cabbage is tender, 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Snow Day, version 2.0

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when I was going on and on about the Snow Day we had here in NYC? Well, wouldn't you know it... but we had ANOTHER ONE on Friday!
And while they cancelled classes at my school, I still had to go into work... thanks a lot, public transportation! (Since I live in the 5 burroughs, I was still expected to be at work, since the subways were running.) But it continued to snow almost all day, and things were still pretty messy when I left the office later that evening. So I decided to take some photos of my normal route home...
There were loads of people in Central Park- check out all these people sledding:
Here's a shot I've taken before, but you can barely see the park benches beneath all that snow!
The snow on Friday was pretty wet, and it stuck to everything... including the trees.
Now, on my walk home, there's a particular place I like to stop and take pictures from. It's a little outlook over the park, and it offers a neat view- see?
Plus, it also has these gorgeous street lights:
Unfortunately, this is what I had to slosh through to get there!
Yep- where are the snow shoes when I need them? Here's what my pants and boots looked like after that little foray into the drift.
What a mess, right? But there were so many people out and about, enjoying the storm, I was hardly the only one covered in snow!
But before I jumped on the subway, I had to snap a photo of the monument at Columbus Circle... I've shared pictures of it on my blog before, but doesn't it look different covered in snow?
As I'm sure you can imagine, we had a blast enjoying the weather this weekend- and I have lots of pictures to show for it! I'll post them over the next couple of days... I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well- thank you for stopping by!