Cottage Cheese Pancakes

This is a ridiculously easy, fast and good-for-you breakfast.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

1 egg
1/4 cup Bisquick mix (I use the heart smart variety)
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

Makes 2 large pancakes.

Mix in a bowl.

Batter looks lumpy and non-appetizing.

Place half of batter in a small to medium sized frying pan. Use butter, margarine, or any kind of oil. I use grapeseed oil in a Misto sprayer, just enough to barely coat the pan.

Flip when bubbly.

Slam dunk the pancakes into your stomach.

Verdict: Sooooo good. My husband claims he tastes a sourness in them, but I disagree. This recipe makes 2 hefty sized pancakes and is very filling. Obviously, scale up if you are cooking for more than yourself.

Ideas: I recommend putting cinnamon and/or nuts and/or fruit in the batter. Top with maple syrup and raspberries, or peanut butter and nutella. I want to try them made with cardamom and chocolate chips next time.

Growing blueberries

Blueberries make superb container plants. After my first year of growing them, I'm convinced every home with a need for a lawn/landscaping/shrubbery should include blueberry bushes. Even if you live in a condo with a cement patio for a garden area, that's no excuse not to grow them! They're easy, forgiving and good-looking. I purchased mine at a bigbox home improvement store for $9.99. Worth every penny. The plants were big enough to produce berries that first year, which may appeal to you if you enjoy a quick payoff. 

When selecting blueberry bushes, be sure to choose at least 2 different varieties which will help with cross-pollination. This means more flowers get pollinated and more berries for you. I read somewhere that a gardener should grow 2 blueberry bushes per person in the household. Keep in mind some of the berries may be lost to bird-thieves who get up earlier than you do. My first year I grew two bushes. While we had berries all summer long, it was never enough. I added three more this year. If I had more outdoor space I would add even more. 

A good potting soil I can recommend is Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting soil. When planting your bushes, choose a big container. If you don't have one, you can always transplant later. But I prefer to go big right off the bat and then not have to worry about it. With the help of craigslist, I acquired several inexpensive large plastic pots. Leave several inches of bare space at the top. Some sites recommend 2 to 3 inches of a drop between the top of the pot and the dirt. If your container is big, you can and should get away with more than that. Maybe 3 to 4 inches. This will leave you for plenty of room to dump your coffee grounds.

That's right, dump your coffee grounds not in the trash but directly on your pots. Blueberries like acidic soil. When I first read this I wasn't sure I wanted the hassle of dealing with pH's in my lazy container gardening. But the blueberries are not going to whine about it. Both my mom and grandma don't do anything special for their lone blueberry bushes and that's fine too. My husband has been adding his daily coffee grounds to the pots for months now and the pH is still on the higher side of their preferred pH range (4-6ish). 

A few more notes about growing blueberries - the leaves turn a beautiful red color in the fall and will survive a winter in Michigan (zone 5) if left outside. No need to bring them indoors.

Mother-in-Law Cheesy Potatoes

Comfort food at its best. I've made some changes to my mother-in-law's recipe - waaaaay less butter and substituting greek yogurt for sour cream. This is a half recipe (to reduce tossing uneaten spoiled leftovers). Perfect for two adults for a meal, plus leftovers for the week.

Cheesy Potatoes

16 oz frozen hashbrowns
2 to 3 Tbsp butter or margarine
6 to 8 oz greek yogurt or sour cream
1 can condensed soup - cream of celery, cream of potato, or cream of mushroom
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup onion, diced (optional)
garlic, pressed our powder (optional)

Makes 9 servings

Place butter or margarine in your baking pan and melt in oven while preheating to 375 degrees. 

Mix the remaining ingredients in any order in a large bowl.

Remove pan and tilt to coat pan with melted butter.

Distribute butter on bottom of pan as best you can before dumping your potatoes mix in (not all in one corner). Leaving the butter in the bottom of the pan lets all the edges and bottom get nice and crispy - no more arm wrestling for the corner pieces.

Bake at 375 until brown on top. (I forgot to time it but will next time)

Verdict: Husband says "these are just like my moms, except there's not a puddle of grease on my plate". Exactly what I was going for. I would like to eventually come up with a healthier substitute for the can of condensed soup while keeping the flavor. Shredding your own potatoes may be worth the extra effort too.