Experimenting with produce: blueberries
Oct. 3rd, 2016 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebThere's a coupon at HEB right now. If you buy Thomas's English muffins you get free HEB brand pancake mix. There are several kinds but they are something I would never buy because they are all made from white flour. But the thought of a lot of free pancakes brought me to the pancake mix aisle to investigate.
They had two mixes that require adding just water: regular and buttermilk, so I got the buttermilk. I've read that just-add-water mixes don't taste any worse than the kinds where you add oil and eggs, but people feel too much like they're cheating or something. I am not one of those people. If the eggs and oil are included for the same price, why not get that? Plus, then you can make any amount of pancakes without having to figure out how to use fractions of eggs.
So, I tried a batch. As expected, it was not as good as my favorite pancake recipe, but it was okay and better than Bisquick pancakes.
I tried adding chocolate chips; they did not help. Then I thought that blueberries might really go well. (I know, finally we get to the blueberries!)
On my next batch, I tried adding dehydrated blueberries. Robin has recommended these as much better than regular blueberries for pancakes (the latter are too wet to work properly). However, I didn't like them. They were a little crunchy and also got lost in the batter.
Then I bought some frozen blueberries, let some sit out to thaw, and added them to my next batch. Yum. Yes, they turn the batter blue and there is a bit of a moisture problem, especially involving sticking to the pan a little, but they feel like success to me!
I have to say that it is quite nice to just mix up a small batch of blueberry pancakes instead of doing all the work it takes to make my double batch of banana chocolate chip pancakes. I have been feeling kind of gleeful doing it. And it doesn't wreck my diet, either, by which I mean that I don't automatically weigh more the next day every time I eat some.
But how much of a serving of blueberries am I eating? I like to make half a batch of pancakes, which means 1/2 cup of mix and 3/8 cup of water (I just fill the half-cup measuring cup about 3/4 of the way full). Then I added 3/8 cup of blueberries, and that seemed about right, and like a lot. But that turns out to be 1.5 servings of pancakes and 1/2 a serving of blueberries. So, this is not a nice, easy way to get a serving of fruit. So sad. However, it is a nice, easy way to get a half serving of fruit! Yum!
My next step is to try the smaller wild blueberries for sale at Trader Joe's. I also checked Trader Joe's for just-add-water pancake mix and they do have one but it's also made with white flour. (And coconut, interesting.)
When I run out of this mix, I may try making my own with whole wheat pastry flour. But how easy is it to find powdered eggs and powdered buttermilk or whatever? I checked the ingredients list and noticed that there are no eggs at all in my mix. Weird.
I actually found two recipes online. They do have some weird ingredients.
* The one from Anastasia's Palace just has powdered milk.
* The one from My Food Storage Cookbook involves egg powder, butter powder, powdered buttermilk, powdered milk, and malted milk powder.
They had two mixes that require adding just water: regular and buttermilk, so I got the buttermilk. I've read that just-add-water mixes don't taste any worse than the kinds where you add oil and eggs, but people feel too much like they're cheating or something. I am not one of those people. If the eggs and oil are included for the same price, why not get that? Plus, then you can make any amount of pancakes without having to figure out how to use fractions of eggs.
So, I tried a batch. As expected, it was not as good as my favorite pancake recipe, but it was okay and better than Bisquick pancakes.
I tried adding chocolate chips; they did not help. Then I thought that blueberries might really go well. (I know, finally we get to the blueberries!)
On my next batch, I tried adding dehydrated blueberries. Robin has recommended these as much better than regular blueberries for pancakes (the latter are too wet to work properly). However, I didn't like them. They were a little crunchy and also got lost in the batter.
Then I bought some frozen blueberries, let some sit out to thaw, and added them to my next batch. Yum. Yes, they turn the batter blue and there is a bit of a moisture problem, especially involving sticking to the pan a little, but they feel like success to me!
I have to say that it is quite nice to just mix up a small batch of blueberry pancakes instead of doing all the work it takes to make my double batch of banana chocolate chip pancakes. I have been feeling kind of gleeful doing it. And it doesn't wreck my diet, either, by which I mean that I don't automatically weigh more the next day every time I eat some.
But how much of a serving of blueberries am I eating? I like to make half a batch of pancakes, which means 1/2 cup of mix and 3/8 cup of water (I just fill the half-cup measuring cup about 3/4 of the way full). Then I added 3/8 cup of blueberries, and that seemed about right, and like a lot. But that turns out to be 1.5 servings of pancakes and 1/2 a serving of blueberries. So, this is not a nice, easy way to get a serving of fruit. So sad. However, it is a nice, easy way to get a half serving of fruit! Yum!
My next step is to try the smaller wild blueberries for sale at Trader Joe's. I also checked Trader Joe's for just-add-water pancake mix and they do have one but it's also made with white flour. (And coconut, interesting.)
When I run out of this mix, I may try making my own with whole wheat pastry flour. But how easy is it to find powdered eggs and powdered buttermilk or whatever? I checked the ingredients list and noticed that there are no eggs at all in my mix. Weird.
I actually found two recipes online. They do have some weird ingredients.
* The one from Anastasia's Palace just has powdered milk.
* The one from My Food Storage Cookbook involves egg powder, butter powder, powdered buttermilk, powdered milk, and malted milk powder.
no subject
on 2016-10-04 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2016-10-13 06:16 pm (UTC)Yep, today I will be looking for some of these ingredients. Thanks for the advice! The people who like to have three years of food in their basements also have sources.
no subject
on 2016-10-04 05:56 pm (UTC):-) Cat
no subject
on 2016-10-13 06:17 pm (UTC)