Cranberry Cornmeal Pancakes

One of my favorite undergrad memories was when a roommate decided to make pancakes.  She offered me pancakes as well, and of course I accepted.  Who declines pancakes?!  Well, thirty minutes later I had a plate of beautiful, golden brown pancakes sitting in front of me waiting to be devoured.   I eagerly dug in, only to discover that while lovely, these pancakes we raw in the middle; ooey-gooey, runny, raw.  One bite in, we both stopped, exchanged glances, and burst out laughing.  So much for pancakes that day...

These pancakes are much different than those oozey ones.  They have a crispy outside and subtly sweet flavor, punctuated by tart cranberries.  I wish I could take all the credit for the idea, but alas, I cannot.  A cute little restaurant in Chicago, called The Bongo Room, is where I first ordered cranberry cornmeal pancakes.  It's been a good while since I had those, but I think these come pretty close to measuring up :)

Salty Medjool Caramel Dip

I've been mildly obsessed with dates lately.  It all started in April with the vegan caramels I whipped up--they were delicious.  Heavens, dates alone are delicious, I eat them like candy.  So when I saw the photograph and recipe at V.K. Rees Photography of salty date caramel, I had to give it a go.  You should too :)  The dip is rich and creamy, and the salt rounds out the flavor exquisitely. 

Vegan "Caramels"

Earlier this week I had a final presentation in my intellectual property class, and because my professor basically told us we would receive A's if we brought the class food, I brought food.  Not just any food, Spoon Fork Bacon's Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls with vanilla bean whipped cream and caramel sauce.  Now, let's not focus on the fact that my presentation was on a local company using a variation of the Apple logo... because let's face it bringing apple pie was basically irrelevant to what I was talking about... the more important fact was they they were incredibly delicious, everyone loved them, and I got to sit and watch everyone rave about them and not eat any because they were full of dairy.  Curse my lactose intolerance.  Cue delicious, no sugar added, raw, vegan caramels-- I could seriously eat an entire batch of these babies.  I was skeptical, but I was proven wrong, incredibly, deliciously wrong.  Just try them.

Berry Trifle

This dessert is ALWAYS a hit, and it consists of only a few store bought components.  I feel like Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee or something, guh she scares me a little.  She's like PTO mom, meets Martha Stewart, meets Stepford wife.  AND HAVE YOU NOTICED HER KITCHEN CHANGES TO MATCH THE THEME OF EVERY EPISODE?!  It's borderline ridiculous.  Plus I always scoff at her tablescapes...  and clearly I have watched far too much of her on television despite my mild fear of her.  I should probably spend my time doing more productive things, like making trifles. 
Because they're delicious.

oh and don't judge my cheesy smile,  this is the best photo of this dessert I had lying around.

Simple Vanilla Pudding

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, corn starch and salt. Add milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add vanilla and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Pour into individual serving glasses, or a bowl and chill until firm.

Notes:

• Often, a film will form over the top upon chilling, so cover in saran wrap, allowing the saran to make contact with the entire surface of the pudding.
  

Yields 5-6 servings.