Carrot Pancakes

Everyone loves pancakes at our house, so I can always use another pancake recipe. In this case, I was actually searching for a way to use some of our carrots. And I figured since my family loves carrot cake, they would also love carrot pancakes.

This is our traditional, family pancake recipe (whole wheat, of course); this is the one we love in the fall when we have fresh pumpkin on hand; and here is the one I just tried from the Taste of Home website, modified a bit, as usual. By the way, they were a hit, especially with homemade maple syrup--though I'm sure they would be as yummy with just honey, and are honestly quite tasty without any topping. (Modifications: Substitution of honey for sugar, and the addition of the oil. The original recipe has you grease the pan in between each pancake, but I prefer not to do that and feel that I actually use less oil by adding it to the batter.)

Carrot Pancakes

1-1/4 c. whole wheat flour

2 Tb. finely chopped pecans (I'm sure these would be good; I didn't have them)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 egg

1/3 c. oil

1/6 c. honey

1 c. milk

1 c. grated carrots

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pulverize carrots in blender, using some of milk, if needed. When carrots are blended well, add milk, egg, and honey

Add flour, oil, and remaining ingredients. Blend until completely mixed.

Drizzle batter onto heated pan(s) to make pancakes of desired size.

Serve with homemade maple syrup (see link above).

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who participated in my poll this past week! Your feedback has been helpful and I appreciate it. To those who haven't yet taken my poll, you have a few hours left to do so. And if you marked "Other," please email me at katrinaskitchen35.blogspot.com to give me more details.

Thanks again,

Katrina

Please?

Only 4 of you regular readers have time to answer a four-question poll? Come on, folks. I know more of you check this weekly than that. Please?

Your Help

Inasmuch as our new baby arrived almost simultaneously with summer, my life is even more hectic and busy than it was before. I have had much less time to research my favorite topics for this blog, and have done a lot less cooking. I imagine most of you who are regular readers have also experienced some changes to your schedules with the arrival of warmer weather. So my blogging and your reading may be a little more erratic at the moment.

Taking all of this into consideration, I would like to take this week to do another poll in order to get your feedback and receive some help in knowing what topics help you the most. I've done this once before, but my readership is somewhat different now, so I wanted to do it again. What interests you or gets you excited and motivated to live a healthier and more economically sound life? Please leave me a comment; I would love to know specifics. The things that motivate you may very well motivate the rest of us too.

And please, if there is a specific topic you want to know more about or want more ideas on (this is where "Other" comes in, on the poll), send me an email at katrinaskitchen35.blogspot.com and let me know. So if you mark "Other,"I expect details... :)

Thank you! I love to hear from you and I want to know how this blog can serve you best.

The Popsicle Alternative

This time of year my girls get excited about popsicles (what little kid doesn't?) as they see them in stores everywhere. Since we generally try to avoid sugar at our house, I opted for homemade sugarless popsicles, which I remember loving as a little kid.

So I bought some popsicle molds, made a smoothie (with strawberries, mango, yogurt, fruit juice, and a little honey), froze them, and wa-lah! My girls were so excited and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It's so easy to do, versatile (you have so many different options), and healthy too.

Savory Baked Trout

A few days ago my family participated in a free kids' fishing day that happens every year here. It was a great family outing and fun for our little girls to catch two trout each. Then they were excited about the prospect of eating them. We don't have a lot of experience yet with catching and eating fish, but we're trying to learn.

I had my tried and true, favorite salmon recipe, which I have tried with trout before, but it's just not as good without the salmon. So I searched the internet for a different recipe and found this one on allrecipes.com. After reading the accompanying comments, I opted for a variation that included flavors we like and had on hand, and excluded ones we don't like (or that our kids don't). The result was fabulous! (Now if we could just figure out the best, most efficient way to remove all those itty bitty bones...)

Savory Baked Trout

2 rainbow trout fillets (we used 4 small ones)

1 Tb. olive oil

2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. dill weed

1 Tb. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse fish, and pat dry.

Place each fillet on a large sheet of aluminum foil which is placed on a baking sheet. Rub fillets with olive oil, season with above listed spices. Sprinkle lemon juice over all. Carefully seal all edges of foil to form enclosed packets.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on size of fish. Fish is done when flakes easily with a fork.

Freecycle Revisited

Not long ago I posted here about Freecycle. I have now had almost two weeks of experience with it and wanted to report because I'm so pleased with it. And let me say, I've been amazed by how quickly items are claimed; so the group is alive and well!

Last night I claimed my first item. It's one of those Genie Diaper Disposal Systems, basically brand new, I just had to wash it off (which I would've done anyway, of course). That saved me about $36 (the going price at my local Wal-Mart). It's such a good feeling to get a quality item for free!

Today I posted my first offer: a few bags of used clothing that my family needs to pass on. I look forward to getting that same good feeling--in reverse this time--when someone claims my offer. Maybe it will feel even better to be on the giving end; it usually does.

Sharing really isn't overrated...

What's One Big Thing You Can Do to Live Longer?

I very much enjoyed this post on Word of Wisdom Living, which gives a surprising (though not really so surprising) answer to the above question. It reminds me of what I posted here a while back, with the accompanying video. I just hadn't thought about it in quite the same way as Word of Wisdom Living presents it...

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe--Revamped

The mother of my very good friend passed along this recipe to me years ago and I decided the other day to modify it to be sugarless and use whole wheat flour--with the exception of the chocolate chips. It turned out great and my kids loved them! (I also love that it's such a simple recipe to whip up.)

Sugarless Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. shortening (I use butter, of course)
3/4 c. honey
1 tsp. hot water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. oatmeal
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. chocolate chips

Beat shortening and honey until smooth.

Add eggs, blend well.

Add water and vanilla and blend.

Add oats and dry ingredients.

Drop onto greased* cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

*I greased the pans for the first batch and the cookies spread way too much, so I didn't add any more grease for the second batch (and actually wiped some of it off) and they turned out much better. With all the butter in this recipe I'm really not sure the pans need to be greased at all...

The Power of Health Education

My husband's cousin and her husband are heading to Uganda in several days to do service work there, and they have quite an agenda of things they want to teach the people, to help improve the quality of their lives. This is the sort of cause I have always been inspired by and dream of doing myself someday. The only possible setback for these good people (and many others, I'm sure) is lack of funding. They are asking for donations from those who can, to help them help others, through HELP International. (See above link for more information.)

Something that is particularly important to my husband's cousin is empowering women. As part of this she wants to teach feminine hygiene to Ugandan women to help improve their health, well being, education, and income. If you're not sure (as I wasn't) how improved feminine hygiene can lead to all those things, check out her blog post here. We take so many things for granted here in the United States, not the least of which is sanitary pads. We also don't think much about our basic knowledge of how to take care of ourselves during our monthly cycles. But when you read the above post and consider how the absence of both these things might affect your life (if you're a woman) or the life of a woman you love (if you're a man), it certainly gives pause.

Education on any aspect of health can definitely be empowering!

Budget Saver Tip #23: Yard Sales and Freecycle

If you've never gotten into the "yard saling craze" you're really missing out. It's kind of like going on a treasure hunt: sometimes you find exactly what you're looking for and the extremely low price you pay for it just makes your week! Other times, you're not so lucky; but over time you can really save a lot of money and, if you're patient, find what you need. And you'd be surprised what nice stuff you can find at yard sales, too--it's not all junk.

This is the time of year I can really hit yard sales with a vengeance. I have many items to look for this summer (like a larger kitchen table and bikes and other outside toys for my kids), so I'm hopeful that I'll find at least a few of them before the summer is over. A couple weeks ago I found a red wagon for my girls--something they've been wanting for a while--and they're still excited about it.

Along these same lines, I just found out about a service called Freecycle, where everything is given away free. It's an effort to bring communities together and keep gently used items from landfills. You may have already heard of it, but it's all new to me. Since I live in a small, rural town I figured this service hadn't been started here yet, so I was thrilled to discover that it's actually been going here for four years! So I joined my local group. We'll see if I'm able to pick up some of the items on my list this way, as well as give away items I no longer need to people who can use and appreciate them. What a wonderful way to reuse resources and conserve the earth!

Here's a short video clip about Freecyle, for those who are interested in learning more and possibly starting a group in your area: