Old Favorite: Buttermilk Pancakes

This is not a Weight Watchers recipe, but I re-built it in the WW tool and did the calculations, and as long as you limit yourself to just a few pancakes, it's not too bad. The pancakes are so yummy, and now that we have a griddle we've revived the recipe. I don't normally like pancakes, but these are the ones my dad made when I was growing up, and they are delicious.

Buttermilk Pancakes: Makes 12 servings; 3 WW points per serving

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 2 ¼ cups buttermilk
• 3 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
   
2. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter.
   
3. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Let rest for a few hours, refrigerated. [My father always uses it immediately and I did the same.]
4. Gently fold in any additional ingredients such as berries or chocolate chips.
   
5. Heat a griddle over medium heat until a drop of water dances lightly across the surface and lightly grease it.
   
6. Using ¼-cup measure for each pancake, pour the batter onto the griddle. Cook until bubbles form on the surface, the edges are dry and the bottoms are golden brown, 4 minutes. Turn once, cooking again until the bottoms are golden, 2 minutes.

The verdict: These are absolutely delicious, and not just because I ate them as a kid. They're just so fluffy and tasty and really good with maple syrup. The first few that I made came out very light-colored and not golden, even though they were fully cooked. I eventually figured out that it was because the griddle wasn't quite hot enough, but even the pale yellow ones were delicious. This is a great weekend breakfast--or dinner!

Old Favorite: Havarti Dill Smoked Salmon Risotto

This was one of our favorite recipes back when I first started Weight Watchers, and in the spirit of my post on my personal blog about wanting to get back into that mindset, I thought I'd post it here even though I don't have photos. And I think I'll make it again soon. After all, it is delicious.

Havarti Dill Smoked Salmon Risotto: Makes 2 servings; 7 WW points per serving

Ingredients

• 5 1/4 oz milan-style risotto mix, with seasoning packet [Instead of risotto mix, I just use about a cup of risotto rice and cook it in low-sodium chicken broth instead of water, and add spices--lemon pepper, basil, oregano, a couple chili flakes, a bit of onion powder--and a splash of lemon juice to make it flavorful]
• 2 cups water [or chicken broth--see above]
  
• 2 tbsp dill, fresh, chopped
• 2 oz smoked salmon, diced
• 1 oz havarti cheese, about a 1/4 cup, grated
• 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
• 1 tsp dill, or 2 small sprigs, for garnish

Instructions

• In a saucepan combine rice and seasoning mix [or, in my case, all the stuff I mentioned in my parenthetical aside above] with water [or, like I said, chicken broth]. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Stir in dill, salmon, pepper, and Havarti. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.
• Serve in shallow bowls, garnished with dill sprigs.

The verdict: Well, I suppose this is obvious since it's an old favorite and all, but OMG yum. And plus, it's so easy to make! Seriously, you just dump a bunch of stuff in a pot, wait, and eat. And it is delicious, and the risotto is almost creamy, so it feels like it's much worse for you than it actually is. Bonus!