Valentine's Day Sourdough Pancakes

My husband isn't really affected by food. I mean, when people ask me what I craved when I was pregnant, I'm stumped because I crave food irrationally all of the time.

But to Evan, food is fuel. He can tell the difference between a mediocre steak and a fantastic steak, but eating a fast food burger doesn't bring him down. It can be kind of hard to please a guy who is so easily pleased, if you know what I mean. For the first bit in our marriage, I was really stumped how to get him emotional about food. Since the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, I kind of felt like I wasn't really getting to him.

And then I realized that his one true (food) love is breakfast. From stuffed French toast to waffles, he loves it all. This all works out perfectly because he's made it a tradition that he'll make me dinner all by himself every Valentine's Day. He thinks that Valentines Day is solely a male responsibility, but since I love the holiday and don't want to be excluded, I've taken over breakfast.

This year, I wanted to try something that scares me. Although Evan's favorite pancakes are the sourdough variety, I've shied away from the task because it seems so daunting. But, I decided I would do it this year so I did my sourdough starter last week and it wasn't as hard as I thought!

Here's the recipe:

1 cup flour

1 cup water

Keep mixture in a container with a loose lid in a room temperature location. Dump half of the mixture out every 24 hours and replace with another cup of flour and another cup of water. Mix. After 4 to 5 days, place mixture in the refrigerator and feed it on a weekly basis.

It's that simple! Who would've thought? I did do my research though, and here are the things I found out: 

There are lots of starter recipes out there. 

I searched around the interweb for quite some time and realized that there is an abundance of different recipes for starters. Some recipes call for sugar and yeast, this gives your starter a little boost and feeds it right off the bat. What I read about these recipes is that the end product will not be as potent. I never got a full reason why, but I decided to trust the other blog writer. Apparently, people have been doing the flour and water equal ratios for centuries (for reals). There are some restaurants in places like France that have sourdough starters that have been in the family for generations. 

This recipe seemed the easiest and the most authentic, so that's the way I went. 

It's hard to kill your starter.

This is really fortunate, because I'm not the best person to keep things like plants alive. This is why I have an aloe plant, which is pretty much just a fancy cactus. This is a feeding bacteria colony and it thrives when it has food and water, so you just need to remember to feed it on a daily, and then weekly basis. You will have sourdough for the rest of your life if you want it! Just remember to dump some out or use it so that it won't turn into a monster that takes over your fridge. 

You will see results quickly. 

The first day, the starter will just be a runny dough. The second, it will have bubbles and a darker color. The third, it will start to have a sour smell similar to beer. It will also have a thin layer of liquid on top. The fourth day, it will appear frothy and the smell will be a lot stronger. When it starts getting really bubbly like the picture above, it is okay to use. You can really use it before then because you can smell the sour smell faintly on even the second day, but if you want a strong flavor, wait until the fourth day. 

If you need any more reasons to make a sourdough starter, read the blog post from Nourished Kitchen here, although I didn't use that exact starter recipe or pancake recipe. There's just so many to choose from. 

The recipe I used came from here. 

Rich Sourdough Pancakes

3 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups Sourdough Starter
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter melted

Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Add milk and sourdough starter.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar;
add to the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in melted butter.
Lightly grease a hot griddle. Drop the batter by 1/4 cup onto
the griddle and cook until light brown, turning once.
Makes 6 servings.

I was a little scared at first to try them, just because I wasn't sure how well my starter turned out, but they were amazing! They tasted like a thicker, richer crepe. Add some strawberries and bacon and I know our Valentine's Day breakfast will be a big hit. 

If you're reading this and thinking, "well, shoot. It's too late to start." I'd still give it a try! My starter began smelling fermented the very next day, so you could definitely try it. The flavor just might be a little more mild, but a lot of people like mild sourdough. You can also put a little bit of yeast and sugar in to boost the process. 

Even if you don't have time for Valentine's Day pancakes, making a starter is a great idea! I'm really excited to keep feeding and using mine for breads, waffles, biscuits, and more. You can even make cookies and cakes, which would be pretty exciting. 

Lisa

14 Days of Husband Valentines on a Budget

Normally at the end of the month, I think about how quickly time has flown and how much stuff I didn't get done the previous month.

But it's February, and I've been waiting for February to get here forever, because I'm in charge of our Valentine's Day this year, and I'm going to make it awesome. You see, usually, my husband is the Master of Romance, and no matter what holiday it is, he always seems to outdo me. I'll get him something pathetic, like a movie he only semi-wants to watch, and he'll buy me a spa package, rent sound equipment and get his buddies to surprise serenade me, or find a good deal on a weekend getaway.

That jerk.

Obviously, all those things cost a pretty chunk of cash. We've got two kids now, plus one on the way, so the name of the game is Awesomeness-Through-Frugality. Well, he's in for a surprise, because this year I'm doing 14 days of little surprises, from now until Valentine's Day. They aren't crazy expensive (some of them are free), but they are thoughtful and take a teensy bit of planning.

Here they are! My 14 Days of Valentines aren't in any particular order. Maybe you can get some ideas for your special someone, too!

1. Note of appreciation: In this note, I will focus mainly on telling him how grateful I am for him as a husband, father, provider, etc. This will be one of my first Valentines, to start off slow. I don't want him to know this is going to be a daily thing yet.

2. Favorite "special" beverage at home: Every guy has their favorite beverage that they only get on special occasions. My husband's favorite is fancy root beer. If it's in a can, it's no good. We're lucky to have a BevMo close by with a ton of specialty root beer options.

5. Favorite "special" snack: My Valentine has certain dietary restrictions that make every day snacks a little out of our price range. I usually stick to a few budget-friendly items, but for this day I'm going to leave a little "snack attack" in his work bag to surprise him.

4. Note of love: Different from the appreciation note, this one will focus on what I love about the guy. Maybe I'll bring up the first time I knew that I loved him, or something along those lines. You can see I have this well-thought out.

5. Another surprise in his bag: Sorry this isn't original, but he could really use two days of this.

6. Inexpensive new card game: If you're married with kids, you know how easily you can get stuck in the rut of dinner, dishes, bed time routine, then hit the TV, night after night after night. So, for this day, I'm going to get an interesting-looking game at Walmart or Target and host a couple's game night, in lieu of our normal routine.

7. Framed family picture: He's not one to collect clutter on his desk at work (or at home), but he would like a framed picture of his family. I'm just typically too lazy of a wife to order one picture at Costco and go pick it up. I live in a world where romance is all relative.

8. Notes from our boys: Of course, they've got to do their part.

9. Chocolate dipped strawberries: This is my husband's favorite Valentine's-specific dessert. It's so simple, but, boy, does he love those things. I'll probably make them while he's at work and have them waiting for him.

10. Song from iTunes: This is one of my favorite ideas. My guy loves music and knows a lot about it. I enjoy music, but I don't know nearly as much as he does. So, with a little research, I'm going to purchase a lovey-dovey song that he doesn't already have and send it to him.

11. Do a "man" job for him: For us, this means washing the car. This guy is an anti-clutter, neat and tidy, put-everything-we-haven't-used-in-a-day-on-Craigslist nut. So having the car clean on the inside and out makes his heart sing.

12. Chocolate delivery: There's a fancy chocolate place that delivers close by to where he works. They deliver for free within a certain distance. Awesome! I'd do flowers, but I wouldn't want to embarrass him in front of his work buddies.

13. Date night: Obviously, one of the more expensive days, but it's a given.

14. Family Valentine's dinner, complete with heart-shaped sugar cookies: My kids love Valentine's Day, too, and I keep telling them we'll use those heart-shaped cookie cutters on Valentine's Day. It's gotta happen.

It's obvious that my man's heart lies within his stomach, with all the consumables he'll be getting as Valentine's. And even though my Valentine isn't into golf, guns, or gluten, it is still possible to tell him I'm thinking about him this Valentine's Day.

Robin

Resolutions and Lettuce Wraps

I woke up this morning not feeling very nice. Everyone at this house has gone through the Christmas holiday flu and I thought that I made it through unscathed. I was so wrong.

To make it worse, when I looked on Pinterest to get my mind off of my rolling tummy, I was bombarded with pictures exclusively made up of rock hard butts and glitter (only the butts were rock hard, not the glitter) and I realized that the new year is upon us! Everyone is looking forward to their cool parties and to working off all the Christmas poundage for their New Year's resolution.

It's been a pretty long time since I've made up some resolutions so I figured I would make a simple list. So I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this next year, grabbed my snuggle buddy for a couple of pictures (he loves to look at the screen while we take them), and waited for his nap time so I could write them down. Which brings us to now:


2014 Resolutions

1. Be more outgoing.

I have always struggled with this, but now that I'm a stay-at-home mommy, I have to work harder than ever to make good friends. Before, I could easily be friends with the people that I worked with because we had so much in common anyway. Now, I have to find people that I share similarities with, or try extra hard to be friends with people who are really not like me at all.

2. Be more spiritual.

Okay, so these aren't in any particular order. If they were, this one should have come first.

I used to take my spirituality personally, but now I realize more and more how important it is for me to be a good example for my son. I want him to grow up knowing he is a son of God and that there is more to life than just climbing the next great mountain or buying the latest sports car. I want him to learn that he should show compassion to others, not just because it's what he would want for himself, but because everyone around him is his spiritual brother or sister. I want him to know that he can find peace in heeding promptings rather than escaping life through loud music or social media.

The only way I can teach him all of that is by being a good example of faith. He needs to see me take time to be spiritual every day.

3. Lose that baby weight!

I am still 20 pounds heavier than I was pre-pregnancy. I kind of feel like I'm in AA when I say that. I don't care so much about the pounds, but my selection of clothes is not so hot. I'm really trying to save money by not buying a whole new wardrobe. If I can fit into my pre-pregnancy pants before the end of next year, I will be satisfied.

4. Be more productive.

This is a pretty big goal and it's hard to measure. I mostly want to keep the house clean and stick to a cleaning schedule. When the house is clean, I want to eat and cook healthy meals, I am more motivated to work on my freelance jobs, and I feel more satisfied at the end of the day.

5. Stick to the budget.

Evan and I have made a new budget and we're pretty satisfied with it. I am in charge of most of the bills and other things, so it is really my job to make sure we are spending as efficiently as possible. We have a lot of things to save for, so this is super important!

I think those goals are big enough to keep me busy for the next year. I've realized that being a mom means your work is never done. I used to see goals as hurdles to jump over. Now goals are something that you have to start and keep up forever!

Now that you've read up to this point, I have a little recipe for you that was a big hit in our house a couple of night ago. They are Chinese lettuce wraps. I think they are similar to P.F. Changs, but I haven't had them in a while, so I don't know how close they are. All I know is that they are delicious. Enjoy!

Chinese Lettuce Wraps
Serves 4 people

2 large chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
6 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoons orange marmalade
1 to 2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 green or red bell pepper (finely chopped)
3 stalks green onion (chopped)
course black pepper
1 to 2 heads of lettuce

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, orange marmalade, and sriracha and mix. Add more sriracha to taste and set aside.

Pour 1 Tablespoon of oil into frying pan and heat. Cut raw chicken breasts into small pieces, about the size of a fingertip. Place chicken into frying pan with oil and pepper and cook until done. Remove from pan and pour more oil into pan. Add garlic and chopped bell pepper and heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add cooked chicken, green onion, and sauce and stir fry. Let the mixture simmer for about a minute and remove from heat.

Carefully remove lettuce leaves from the head and wash. Try to keep them as intact as possible since this will be your vehicle for the chicken mixture. Put a few spoonfuls of chicken into a lettuce leaf, roll like a tortilla, and eat.

Lisa