Maple Syrup Recipe

 

As promised in my pancake recipe post - here is my maple syrup recipe.  I found this in the More-With-Less Cookbook.  Over the years I gradually decreased the amount of sugar to eliminate the problem of sugar precipitating out after sitting in the refrigerator.  I love sugar as much as the next guy but figure if it is precipitating out  it is wasteful and reducing the amount won't affect the taste.

Warning - once you try this you will never want to go back to Mrs. Butterworths! 
And I loved that stuff when I was a kid.


Recipe

3 - Cups Water
1 - Cup Brown Sugar
4 - Cups White Sugar
1 1/2 -  tsp Maple Flavor
1 1/2 -  tsp vanilla

• Measure water into sauce pan
• Measure sugar (white and brown) into sauce pan
• Stir
• Turn heat on high and bring to boil

Boiling Maple Syrup

• Turn heat to Low
• Cover for 1 minute - Time is not critical just want to make sure all the sugar is dissolved   Sometimes I don't cover the pan and just let it boil.  
• Remove from heat and let cool for a couple minutes
• Measure vanilla and pour into pan
• Measure Maple Flavor and pour into pan.
• Stir

Here is our beloved syrup container - an old peanut butter jar

Our Beloved Syrup Container

Now your ready enjoy!

Peter (and Hanni) In Blueberry Land

Look at these two.

Gina took this as Peter and Hanni headed to bed.  They just finished watching Phineas and Ferb while munching on a frozen blueberries they picked last summer. Hanni's right hand was almost entirely blue from pulling berries out of the bag.

A great children's book inspired the title of this post - 

All our kids enjoyed this book and Autumn reads it to the children she babysits.Guaranteed to please!

Pancake Day - A recipe

In honor of National Pancake Day I present my own recipe.

Almost every Saturday morning I get up and make pancakes for everyone. I estimate that on more than 90% of the Saturdays since 1990 I have cooked up pancakes.  That would be 1076 pancake mornings.  So this recipe has been field tested and changed through the years.

A couple notes about this recipe.  I only use whole wheat flour and we grind our own flour.  I realize that is a little hard core but once you meet Gina you will understand.  I grew up with Bisquick pancakes and it took me awhile to appreciate the whole wheat flavor. Now, I would never go back to the bland tasting Bisquick.  Whole Wheat All the Way for me.

Recipe:

Dry Ingredients
4 cups whole wheat flour - I prefer to mix half pastry flour and half bread floor.  Their is real division in our family over this mixture but this half and half is ok with everyone
4 tsp of baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs of Brown Sugar

Wet Ingredients
4 Eggs
3 1/2 cups Milk
1/2 cup plain Yogurt (If you have Orange Yogurt use that - it really cuts down on the bitter flavor of whole wheat that bothers newbie whole wheat eaters)  You can skip the yogurt and use more milk if you don't have the yogurt available
4 Tbs of Butter

Directions:

1. Measure out 4 level cups of flour into a large mixing bowl.  For best results whisk the flour before measuring. You want some air in the flour
2. Measure out the baking powder, salt and brown sugar into the mixing bowls.
3. Whisk all dry ingredients together well.
4. Heat up your skillet now and melt the butter in the skillet.  While the butter is melting.
5. In a separate bowl measure out the milk. (Actually I use a very large measuring cup to mix all the wet ingredients.
6. Mix the eggs yogurt and milk together.  When butter is melted add to liquid and mix well.
7. Pour wet ingredients into dry mixture.  
8. Mix only until their are now more dry ingredients.  Lumps are good but not huge lumps. It should be runny not thick.  The batter will thicken up as it sits
9. Let mixture set for 15 minutes before using.  Bubbles will form on the surface.
10. Now you are ready to cook.
11. Enjoy

I also make my own maple syrup. 

Old Photographs #2

Sisters -  Ellie was so happy to have a sister to share life with.  Here she is holding Autumn.  Autumn is young in this one, she can't hold her head up. 

Here are they are a few years later.  Autumn is so happy and Ellie looks like she just did something wrong.  I also see the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons on the couch.

Looks like Luke did something wrong but this is his typical look.  I think he is holding Elspeth.

If only Abe was still this happy when the cat was sitting on his lap.

A couple really rare sites.  First Babbo. He is with Silas in this one.

Add caption

And Scott with no beard and only two kids. 

Family portrait taken in Phoenix.  We never had money for portraits. This one was taken right after Luke's birth.  The occasion was the church directory.

Taken on one of the most beautiful days I've experienced on the Oregon Coast.  Short sleeves and you can see forever.

Conviction or Condemnation

Mars Hill Church in Seattle puts out some great information.  I ran across this today and it caught my attention.  Recently a young married man and I were talking about this subject.  It would've been great to have this available to help explain the difference between Conviction and Condemnation.

The Link ==> Conviction vs Condemnation