Self-Rising Baked Pancake with Berries

If you're planning to wake Mom up with something special yet easy for Mother's Day, make this pancake for brunch. Instead of standing at the stove flipping a bunch of smaller pancakes, you stir together a simple batter, drop berries over it, and stick the pan in the oven to bake.  The pancake is moist and tender, and insanely good with the strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries -- topped with maple syrup, of course.  One of these will feed three or four people, with some bacon or scrambled eggs on the side.  If you're feeding a crowd, double the recipe and bake them in two pans at the same time.

I adapted this recipe to use self-rising flour for two reasons: I ran out of all-purpose flour, and I can't find enough uses for my self-rising flour.  I've included directions for using either in the recipe below.  I recently traveled to see my mom and won't be seeing her this Sunday, but I can't help thinking she would love this if I made it for her.  I'll have to give her a rain check.  If you're seeing your mom this Sunday, treat her to this pancake.  She'll love it.

Corn Cakes with Smoked Salmon

If you're looking for a brunch dish that's a little indulgent but not heavy, and just fancy enough for weekend guests, this is it.  I made these on Easter and just loved them, and they'd be great for treating moms on Mother's Day morning.  This savory spin on pancakes is made with cornmeal and corn, topped with slices of smoked salmon, and dolloped with light sour cream.

I also experimented with popovers recently.  These are my first ever.  Look at that pop!  This is a plain one, but I also experimented with crumbled bacon and want to play more with them.

For those of you who prefer a better corn product for the corn cakes, I found an organic yellow cornmeal made by Arrowhead Mills at my local health food store.  No luck in the supermarket organic section.  If you don't eat fish, you can substitute the smoked salmon with slices of ham, or top it with a fried egg.  The recipe is pretty easy, and if you have a large electric griddle you can make all the corn cakes at once in one batch.  That equals a little more time for weekend relaxin'.

Flour's Tortilla with Chorizo, Peppers & Potato

I've been making liberal use of my oven during the recent snowstorms and "polar vortex," the better to warm up the house. Icy, grey mornings call for a hearty breakfast or brunch like this tortilla.  Red peppers are sauteed and potatoes get browned before pouring in an egg mixture laced with Parmesan, and then the skillet is thrown in the oven to finish.  You can keep the recipe vegetarian as is, or add some chorizo like I did.  It adds a nice, salty bite.

Sprinkle on some chopped scallions and parsley for freshness, then slice into wedges.  I like that the tortilla can be served hot or at room temperature, and that you can make it a day or so in advance and reheat when serving.  Perfect if you want to get a head start before house guests arrive, or for getting one weekend brunch dish out of the way.

Making a Spanish tortilla usually involves flipping the eggs, hot skillet and all, onto a plate, and then sliding the filling back into the skillet to cook the other side.  I'm not a fan of inverting piping-hot cast iron skillets with ingredients that could still be runny, so I'm glad this recipe involves no flipping!  When the next snowfall hits, I hope this is in my oven.  It'll sustain us through lots of shoveling.  Stay warm, friends!

Pumpkin Waffles with Maple Butter

I love homemade waffles.  I grew up eating the kind you buy frozen, but there's no comparison with homemade.  Plus, when you have a little time on the weekends, waffles are really easy to make.  And these are pumpkin waffles.  They're spiced just like pumpkin pie, with cinnamon, ground ginger, and clove, and topped with a scoop of maple butter.

If you think that's decadent, I should tell you that the original recipe on Foodness Gracious included maple bacon butter.  Despite being a bacon lover, I decided to forgo the meat for breakfast.  And instead of using maple syrup to make the butter, I decided to try maple sugar, figuring the butter wouldn't get loose and runny the way it might when adding liquid.  Now, I actually never put butter on my waffles or pancakes, and I don't think it's needed here -- the maple sugar gets lost in the additional syrup you pour on top.  But I plan to spread this delicious butter on toast and English muffins, and it would be great on biscuits.  My other tweak is one I always use with homemade waffles, and that's to substitute half of the flour with white whole wheat flour.  Tastes just like regular waffles, and they're a little better for you.  Who's ready for brunch?

Handy tip: Freeze leftover waffles wrapped in plastic for a quick breakfast during the week.  Thaw on the counter, then heat in the toaster oven briefly.

I almost forgot: I finally made a Facebook page for my blog.  Visit it and "Like" it?  I don't have any giveaways to entice you with, but I hope to see you on that end anyway.