The Culinary Adventures of PanManCakes

Lately I (Pancakes) have had a lot of free time on my hands.  Since my new job doesn't start until August, I have one last hurrah of summer vacation which means I've been cooking a lot.  Sometimes when I'm bored, I like to just chop up all the vegetables in my house.  A great way to use all those chopped vegetables is in fancy tuna salad!

I started with cucumber, spinach, and red onion, then added bell peppers, spring onions, and of course the tuna itself.  

As you can see, "fancy" here just means "a lot of ingredients."

For the sauce, I always use a mix of plain yogurt and mayo so it's a little healthier.  You can also add things like:

This recipe came from a friend of my mom's.  As soon as I saw the amount of butter we'd be using, I knew it was going to be amazing. (The butter pictured above is a small fraction of the total.)

First, coat chicken breasts in flour seasoned with salt/pepper/anything you like, and brown them in butter until they are beautiful and golden.

Then lay the chicken breasts in a large baking pan.

Next, slice tomatoes so you have enough slices to put one on top of each chicken piece.  Coat them in flour and brown them as well.  It helps to have the pan really hot so they brown fast and retain their shape.  Lay the tomatoes on top of the chicken, sprinkle sundried tomatoes and tarragon over the top, and then drizzle cream over everything.  Bake until the chicken is fully cooked and serve with wild rice.

These aren't actually steamed, and my friend who taught me how to make them had no idea why they are called that.  Delicious nonetheless.

Batter for the rice paper wrappers:  pour 1 bag of mix (glutinous rice flour) into a bowl.  Then fill the mix bag with water - that's the amount of water you need!  Then just add 1 tbsp oil.  True brilliance.  

The filling:  browned pork with fish sauce, hoisin, cilantro, and green onion

Cook the wrapper batter like a crepe but leave the top relatively soft (don't flip it)

Summer is slowly arriving in the Twin Cities, so what better time to list some of our favorite warm-weather hangouts?  Here are Pancakes' picks:

Uptown Cafeteria/Sky Bar:  the rooftop has great views, but it's pretty expensive.  The real way to win at Cafeteria is to go to the downstairs part on a Wednesday when they have Happy Hour from 3-midnight and trivia from 8-10.  Order the all-you-can-eat pancakes for only $5.   

Punch Pizza:  various locations around the Twin Cities, fast, convenient, not too expensive.  Their pizza is legit - cooked in an 800 degree wood oven, thin crust, fresh mozzarella, and San Marzano tomatos.  

The Angry Trout Cafe:  you have to make the trek up to Grand Marais for this one, but if you're up north you can't skip it.  Fresh-caught Lake Superior fish, local/sustainable/etc produce, stellar northern MN accents.  

Fried Lake Superior whitefish with spinach fettucine and salad

Tin Fish:  continuing in the fish theme, this one is a Twin Cities favorite.  On the shore of Lake Calhoun, Tin Fish offers a variety of fish tacos, grilled or fried fish, salads, and more.  It's expensive though, so go with your parents or sugar daddy/mama.  Worth it for the huge patio overlooking the lake and the ample people-watching opportunities.  And the delicious food, of course.

Dunn Bros Coffee:  Dunn Bros is great no matter what season it is, but during the summer they have absolutely marvelous cold press drinks.  My favorite is Vanilla Iced Nirvana (cold press with cream and vanilla) but anything made with their Infinite Dark cold press is to die for.  You can also buy growlers of cold press to bring home!

Butcher & The Boar:  this place is a huge splurge, so again remember to bring your parents or sugar daddy/mama.  Their beer garden is gorgeous, though, and they do have happy hour there.  

Image via http://butcherandtheboar.com/tour/

Williams Pub & Peanut Bar:  300 types of bottled beer and 70 beers on tap, free popcorn and peanuts, always lively on weekends.  A night out in Uptown is incomplete without stopping in at Williams.   

Little Big Burger.  Perfection.

Burger with smoked gouda, spinach, thousand island, and caramelized onions; brussels sprouts.

Pancakes has recently become enamored of brussels sprouts.  The best way to cook them?  

Slice them into halves.  

Sautee garlic in butter until it is fragrant.  

Put the brussels sprouts into the hot butter, cut side down.  Don't move them too much until they're brown.  

Toss them around so all sides get buttery.  

This was quite the experiment.  First, I beat eggs with parmesan, tomatoes, spinach, black beans, and cayenne pepper.  

Next, I filled muffin cups with Pillsbury crescent roll dough and baked them for about 5 minutes, so they were starting to cook but weren't quite done.

Then I poured the egg mixture into each muffin cup and baked them until the eggs were fully cooked.