Streusel Apple Pie Pancakes

My Sundays are lazy...

They are for making a great breakfast and doing things at your own pace at home.  I've been seeing so many different Bananas Foster variations around Pinterest and on all the blogs.  Have you seen them?  There's french toast, ice cream, parfaits, smoothies, and even pies.  So all these yummy dishes gave me inspiration to take a favorite dessert of mine and turn it into something different. 

Like pancakes.

Not just any pancakes, but some worthy of the season, and a lazy Sunday.  

One of my favorite desserts for this time of year is Apple Crisp.  I love the tartness of the apples along with the streusel crumble crust.  A match made in heaven for me!  So why not turn this into some scrumptious pancakes.  Let's do it!

These pancakes are bursting with apples and one side is topped with a traditional streusel filled with brown sugar, oatmeal and butter.  This can't be beat!  Once you top on side of the cooking pancakes with the topping and then flip it over to cook....oh my!  You get a crunchy caramelized side to your pancake.  It's just perfect!

These are pancakes the whole family will love.

Enjoy your lazy Sunday!

Streusel Apple Pie Pancakes 

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup quick-cooking oats

3 tablespoons cold butter

Basic Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 large apple, cored, peeled and diced
3 Tablespoons butter

In medium bowl, mix your topping brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in butter using pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

In large bowl, stir all pancake ingredients up to the butter, until well blended. Heat a nonstick griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat. 

Once heated add 1 Tablespoon of butter and swirl around to coat the pan.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan to form a pancake.  Continue making 3 or 4 pancakes at a time. 

Sprinkle each pancake evenly with about 2 Tablespoons of the topping. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly on top and dry around edges. Flip and cook the streusel side until light golden brown around edges about 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds. 

Add additional butter between batches of pancakes. Continue with additional batches of pancakes.  

Serve streusel side up with warm syrup and butter.

 

Slow Cooker Meal: Rustic Beef Stew

Yum

I'm loving the fall weather!  We finally got a break in Los Angeles, and the weather has turned cooler.  70's is cooler to us!

When the weather changes I crave soups and stews.  My favorite soup is one that Mom always made. A hearty vegetable beef soup that full of potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, and tomatoes, slow cooked with stew meat to make a warming soup.  Here's her recipe.  Today I feel like something more stew-like but with similar flavors.  

Browsing though my "to make" Pinterest folder I came across this pin that just fit my needs.  Do you all know Christy Jordan?  She has a wonderful blog called Southern Plate and also is the author of a great cookbook by the same name.  I found this recipe on her website and adapted it slightly to fit my taste, but pretty much followed her lead.  

One item that she used and I ended up purchasing was Dale's Seasoning.    Dale's Seasoning is a savory blend of exotic spices that enhance the flavor of beef, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, wild game and vegetables.   Sold mostly in the South, but you can buy it online here. I was intrigued by this sauce enough to want to purchase it, but you can leave it out or just add a little Worcestershire and soy sauce instead or use Kitchen Bouquet.

This was a very easy stew to put together and we left for the day and came home to a wonderful, hearty dinner.  I dare say it was "fabulous"!  this will be my go to slow cooker beef stew recipe from now on. 

You must try this out soon....there's nothing better than a delicious stew during the cold evenings.
Enjoy!

Rustic Beef Stew

serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs  stew meat

1 teaspoon black pepper
1 c flour

3 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

3/4 medium onion, sliced

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

32 ounces beef broth

1/4 cup Dale's low sodium seasoning

1 tablespoon thyme

Instructions

Season the stew meat with pepper and add to a plate.  Pour flour over and stir to coat.  In a large skillet add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium high heat. Add meat and cook just long enough to brown.  Turn meat to brown all sides.  

Add potatoes, onion, carrots to the slow cooker.  Place meat on top and add broth, Dale's marinade and thyme.  Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.  

adapted from:  www.southernplate.com

Pumpkin Cranberry Scones - Product Review: King Arthur Flour Harvest Pumpkin Whole Grain Scone Mix

I love having girl time with old friends.

There is just something about a test of time friend that comforts you.  You may not have seen each other for a while but when  you come together it's as if a day hasn't passed. Do you have friends like that?  Someone that you can just be girls with.  Laugh, be silly, and have fun!

Plus, they know you.  My friend Andrea is like that.  We've been friends for years.  Lately, we haven't been able to get together too often.  Life is busy.  The other day she called and we made a date to meet for brunch at a great spot down in Santa Monica, facing the beach.

We laughed and reminisced about our antics in the past. Watch out, Lucy and Ethel are together again!  We had so much fun that I didn't want the afternoon to end.  It's always such a joy to be with good friends.  And this good friend came baring gifts!

In she came with a pretty bag containing several King Arthur Flour mixes.  Ahhhh, she knows me! I adored the gift and her for thinking of me.

So this weekend I broke out one of the mixes and whipped up a batch of Pumpkin Cranberry Scones using King Arthur Flour's Harvest Pumpkin Whole Grain Scone Mix.  It was very easy to follow and only needed several ingredients such as butter, eggs, salt and milk.  I added dried cranberries because I love the flavor combination. I'm glad I did, because they came out GREAT!

The whole grains provided a nutty flavor, and it was bursting with pumpkin and spices.  They were very tender and moist and with the addition of the cranberries, WOW!  These are the perfect fall breakfast, brunch, or snack time bite.  MGG inhaled one down right off the bat.  He said these were a winner, and please can I make them again.  SOLD!

The package gives you instructions for drop scones, which is what I did as well.  It's just easier than rolling them out and they come out with that rustic look.  I got 9 pretty large scones out of the mix, and the box states you'll get 8 using a 1/3 cup measure.  I used a scoop so that would account for the extra piece of heaven!

Overall these were a hit.  I would certainly recommend this mix to anyone that wants a shortcut from making them completely from scratch.  In my opinion King Arthur has some of the best quality products out there.  I use their flour religiously, so it's no wonder that their scone mix is a winner.

You can purchase this mix here.




Pumpkin Cranberry Scones

1 17oz box of King Arthur's Harvest Pumpkin Whole Grain Scone Mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pats
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup dried cranberries

1. preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment paper.

2. stir together scone mix and salt, then work in butter with a pastry blender, mixing until everything is crumbly. In a separate bowl, stir together egg and milk. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. (If dough is too dry add a splash of milk)

3. scoop dough onto the baking sheet, using a large scoop for each scone.  Space by 2" between them. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Remove from oven, wait 5 minutes and serve warm.

adapted from King Arthur's Harvest Pumpkin Whole Grain Scone Mix box instructions.