Savory or Sweet Puffed Oven Pancake

I'm telling you right now that the savory version of this puffed oven pancake may be one of my best creations ever. I think I've come up with some pretty tasty concoctions, and they each have a place in my heart. Many of them, however, have taken up a good time in the kitchen - with some frustration thrown in before finally giving me something I was satisfied with. This was one of those times where not only did it taste great and come out perfect the first try, it was easy.

I made the sweet version of this pancake one morning for breakfast. The entire house was in agreement that it was a keeper. I adapted the pancake part of the recipe from the Puffed Oven Pancake recipe out of the Better Homes and Gardens Our Best Recipes cookbook. They also had a suggestion for the fruit.

The savory version, however, was my concoction one of those nights where I not only didn't feel like cooking anything elaborate, we were also getting low on groceries. I declared it was probably going to be an eggs and biscuits kind of night for supper. As I started pulling out the ingredients for the eggs and biscuits, I saw the spinach and heard it calling, and suddenly thought of the puffed oven pancake I'd made for breakfast a few mornings before ...

Projected prep time for sweet version: 15 minutes; Projected prep time for savory version: 35 minutes; Projected cook time: 20-25 minutes

Pancake ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter
3 eggs
1/8 cup almond flour
1/8 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 rounded tsp. milled flax seed
1 tbsp. sweet rice flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Savory ingredients:
Grapeseed oil
1 medium white onion, diced
5 red potatoes, cubed in small pieces (Note: another potato type will work fine, just alter the amount for the size)
2 or 3 good sized handfuls of fresh spinach
3 or 4 eggs (you'll scramble them)
Monterey Jack cheese
Sea salt
Herbamare (original)
Black pepper

*OR*
Sweet ingredients:
3 cups sliced fruit
1/4 cup mandarin preserves or orange marmalade
Powdered sugar (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)

Note: If you do the savory version, you'll need to start cooking your potatoes and onions before baking the pancake. See below for instructions.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in a skillet (I used cast iron) and put in oven for two or three minutes until butter is melted, then remove from oven.

Sift dry ingredients together in small bowl.

Whisk eggs together in a medium mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients and milk, and whisk together well. Immediately pour into hot skillet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The pancake will puff up and brown. Note: I've made this a few times now and each time it has puffed up differently. Sometimes it puffs all over like the photo below and sometimes it puffs more evenly and then all the way up the sides - don't know why it's different each time, humidity changes, perhaps?

It will start to deflate some as it cools.

While your pancake is baking, work on your toppings.

I'll start with the savory (don't forget to start cooking your potatoes and onions before baking the pancake).

Place onions and potatoes in a pan with some grapeseed oil.

And cook until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Scramble eggs into pieces and season to taste with salt, Herbamare and pepper.

Mix the eggs together with the potatoes and onions over low heat and then add the spinach.

Toss together until the spinach is mixed well with the rest of it.

Spread over the puffed pancake.

Then sprinkle cheese on top.

Return pancake to oven until cheese is melted.

Kindly ignore the paper plate. And the poor photo. It was a throw-together supper on a crazy night.

And now for the sweet topping. I chose sliced peaches (they were frozen, but very close to fresh - immediately frozen after being picked fresh from my dad's peach tree) and frozen organic blueberries for mine.

In a small saucepan, melt preserves over low heat.

If you are using fresh fruit, just slice it and have ready to spread over pancake. If you are using frozen, you'll need to thaw it. I thawed my frozen peaches over low heat, then added the blueberries after I removed from heat, stirring just until thawed, and sweetened with organic sugar until it tasted just right.

Then I strained the juice out.

And spread the fruit over the pancake, then spread the melted preserves over the fruit.

Then I sprinkled some powdered sugar over all of it.

I wanted to put a dollop of whipped cream on each slice, but I was out of whipping cream. It tasted wonderful without it.

The entire pan disappeared pretty quickly (as it did with the savory version - no leftovers, but enough for seconds!).

Enjoy!

Super-easy chicken cacciatore with rice

I got this recipe years ago from a little mailing that Nestle (or was it Carnation?) sent out. To think I would have thrown it out as junk mail if I hadn't had a little extra time on my hands ...

This is super-easy, very quick and tastes pretty good if you season it right. Here is the recipe, with some variations on my part:

Projected prep time: 10 min; Total cook time (including rice, see note): 25 min. (1 hr if using brown rice)
(Printable Recipe)

3 c. cooked long grain rice or brown rice
1 lb. chicken breast, cubed into bite-size pieces
1 bell pepper, cut into strips lengthwise and then cut in half
1 container refrigerated gluten-free marinara sauce, or a jar (I usually use the jar of Prego marinara b/c I always have one on hand)
(Optional: 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste, if desired
Extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil

While rice is cooking, saute bell peppers in large pan with oil while cubing chicken. Add chicken, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until a little browned and cooked through. Add more salt and pepper to taste after chicken is cooked. Add marinara sauce (and tomatoes if you are using them) and bring to simmer. Cover and simmer at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add Italian seasoning to taste if desired. Stir in rice and add more salt or pepper to taste if needed. Note: If you use brown rice, it will not only taste great but be more nutritious. It takes more time, though, so you'll have to plan ahead more.

That's it! By the way, this will likely be my last post for a few days because of a very busy weekend. I plan to have something else for you on Monday. Have a great weekend!