Hot Apple Cider - Vitamix Style

Hot Apple Cider

Mid January and the wind chill is finally chilling us to our bones(not a good thing, I’ve been enjoying this mild winter) but time for some hot apple cider! I love hot apple cider but I'm not crazy about all the unhealthy stuff in the instant cider.  The Vitamix salesman gave us a sample of some hot apple cider, so of course I had to try it myself.  It was so yummy and healthy that I could truly feel good about drinking it and feeding it to my kids in the middle of the afternoon! So here is the recipe...

 Hot Apple Cider – Vitamix Style

5 medium gala apples (or any kind of apple)
3 cups of water
2 tsp vanilla extract (everything is better with vanilla)
2 tsp cinnamon (that made for a very strong taste of cinnamon, so if you aren't crazy about cinnamon reduce this)
1 tbsp pure maple syrup (like most of my cooking and baking it isn't super sweet, so you made need to add more sweetener of your choice)

Put all of this in the Vitamix, start at variable speed 1, quickly increase to 10 and then flip the switch to max and let it blend for 5 minutes or until steam escapes through the top. The beauty of the Vitamix and making hot drinks is you can stop it when it is warm and feed your kids then blend a little longer until you have reached the desired temperature for yourself!

Whole Wheat Oven Baked Pancake

I love breakfast! I really enjoy pancakes but I find them a little tedious when making them the traditional way on a griddle or frying pan. So on this beautiful, yet cold Saturday morning I decided to try an oven pancake. This particular oven pancake was quite different than the ones of my childhood but just as delicious! This isn't your traditional pancake not only in regards to the method of cooking but in it's texture and taste, think of it more as a pudding rather than pancake and enjoy!


Whole Wheat Oven Baked Pancake

Ingredients:
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup butter
1 mashed banana
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
Directions: Preheat oven to 425. Melt butter in a greased 9" pan (I used a round glass one, maybe it is 9") in the oven. Combine the sugar, cinnamon and flax. In a blender or using a mixer, whip eggs, banana, and milk. Add flour and beat until well combined. Pour batter into pan with the butter (I gave it a little stir, more like a swirl to just to sort of mix the butter in with the batter). Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix (no mixing here this makes delicious topping). Bake for 20-25 minutes. The original recipe says to bake until puffy and golden, however because I used brown sugar so it doesn't really ever turn golden. I did a toothpick test (stink a toothpick or knife into the middle of the pancake, if it comes out clean it is done, if not continue baking) at 22 minutes.

Please try this recipe out and let me know your thoughts!