A puff of a breakfast

I'm definitely a breakfast person. Sure it's the most important meal of the day but I'm not being any kind of nutritional purist here. It's really all about the food.

Homemade buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs fresh from the hens, juicy just-picked fruit (yes, I know it's still March... a girl can dream, can't she?) and of course a cup of rich organic fair trade coffee --I say, bring it on!

So when I read this post at Mama Pea's A Homegrown Journal for Blueberry-Banana Puff, I knew we had to try it.

First, here's the recipe for the puff part:

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 beaten eggs

1/2 cup milk

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.) Put butter in a 9" pie plate and place in oven until melted and hot.

3.) In a bowl, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt. Add the eggs and milk and whisk until smooth. Pour into the hot pie plate.

4.) Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are puffed and golden brown (this part is really neat.)

5.) Remove from oven.

Now, Mama Pea suggested using 1 1/2 cups fresh or previously frozen blueberries, topped with one largish banana (sliced), 1/4 tsp cinnamon and one rounded tablespoon of sugar.

We're in short supply of last summer's frozen blueberries, so I decided to use canned peaches as the main fruit and only about 1/4 cup of blueberries. Readers to Mama Pea's post also suggested using apples and cinnamon or lemon juice and icing sugar. So pick your favourites and continue with the steps below.

6.) Arrange fruit evenly in puff. Sprinkle with cinnamon and icing sugar.

6.) Cut into wedges, drizzle with maple syrup and serve immediately.

First, the practical evaluation: I like this recipe because it's simple, it uses ingredients I always have in the house and it made four nice sized servings, all at once. I find when I make pancakes or homemade waffles, someone usually ends up following their nose into the kitchen before I'm even done cooking the second one. That means there's a lot of waiting. Not this with recipe -- bonus points for efficiency.

As for the taste: mixed reviews here. The best way I can describe them is like eggy pancakes with fruit. In my belly, that's a good thing. Needless to say, my daughter and I really enjoyed it, and she's becoming something of a picky eater.

My son wasn't too keen, which is surprising, but he hasn't been feeling well the last day or two. He's usually upfront about his likes and dislikes (like whenever I say I'm going to make some homemade soup, the first thing he says is, "just don't make that pumpkin soup again") so I'll assume he liked it.

My husband said it tasted kinda like french toast, but without the toast. He said it was good, though he did learn early on in our marriage to be diplomatic about these kinds of things (most things taste good with lots of maple syrup.)

On the whole, it was a lovely way to start our day. So thanks to Mama Pea for introducing our homestead to this recipe -- it's a keeper!

Random moments of happiness #9

Waiting for spring.

Hello?

Anyone still there? I know I asked you to bear with me but really, a month is like an eternity in the blogsphere. Sorry about that, folks. It's been a weird and wacky time here on Rowangarth Farm.

I mentioned in my last post that we've been busy trying to figure out how to make a living out here. Well, that was something of a gross understatement. With all the economic scariness going on in the world, both my husband and I lost contracts that we were depending on. Being freelance, we know not to put all our eggs in one basket, but that still doesn't prepare you for what happens when the basket breaks.

I still have some ongoing contracts but times are tough for writers (and a gazillion other professions, I know.) Lucas has been hitting roadblock after roadblock, trying to start his computer consulting/training business and with each passing week, we sink deeper into the red.

We knew that it would be tough starting a new life. And never did we ever feel like we'd made a mistake moving here (okay, maybe once or twice when I was in the depths of 'What are we going to do?')

But what had me all wrapped up in knots for a time was this sinking feeling that if so many people had told us, 'Oh, we'd love to do what you're doing but it's just too hard'...

...maybe they were right.

For a while, I found myself disconnecting from the farm, like I was distancing myself from something that might never be. I became resentful of everyday chores, things like cleaning the barn or tending the wood furnace, because it was taking me away from figuring out how to make a living out here. That, in turn, was taking away from spending time with the kids -- vicious guilt cycle, that.

It became too painful to write about all my plans for this place because I had this deep-rooted fear that what if we can't make this work after all?

But about a week ago, I had something of an epiphany: It's time to leave the pity party.

Here's our reality: We need to find a way to make a living here, and keep at it until something sticks. Yes, we're in a nasty financial spot right now but focusing on that is going to paralyze, not motivate, us. Yes, this uncertainty is tiring and scary and yes, it's hard. Plain and simple. And we can either make the decision to stop or to keep going.

The thought of leaving this place makes me feel physically ill. So what choice do we have?

Only one -- to keep going.

So, we've started working on our present and taking steps towards the future again. Lucas is almost finished putting together his curriculum for his computer courses and next week, he's going to take his spiffy new website on the road and start pounding the pavement for clients.

I've starting pitching articles again and I'm just waiting for my seed orders to come in so I can start my seedlings for this year's veggie garden. I'm even allowing myself to get excited again for all the possibilities we have here.

I always battle some darkness (figuratively and literally) in February but March brings sunshine and longer days. And while these are only first steps, at least we're moving forward instead of standing still. Because really, what good would that do?