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Monday, June 18, 2007

Tuna Patties

[adapted from Rock Bottom Salmon Patties at Hillbilly Housewife]


2 (6 oz) cans tuna, undrained
1 cup crushed crackers or crumbled bread
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 tsp minced garlic
bacon grease, oil or margarine for frying

Put tuna in medium bowl. Add crushed crackers or crumbled bread. Add the pepper, sugar, garlic, and egg. Mix with hands until everything is mixed together.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of fat in a skillet. Form patties out of heaping spoonfuls of the tuna mixture and fry until crispy brown on the underside (I use medium heat and never more than 3 to a pan at a time). Carefully flip the patties and brown the remaining side. Transfer the cooked patties to a plate lined with paper towels or brown grocery bag to drain.


Note: I play with this recipe a lot, depending on my tastes at the time of cooking. I've started adding ground and powdered spices to the mix with rather delicious results.

Sometimes I also add a third can of tuna. If only using the two cans, I don't measure quite to the 1 cup mark when I measure out the crushed crackers. If using three, I go a smidge over that mark.

Sometimes, however, I dish out a little bit of the third can of tuna to the felines and try to get the measurement of what I actually use in the recipe as close to 15 oz. as possible since that is the amount the original recipe called for.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Pancakes (from scratch)

[a favorite recipe called Pete's Scratch Pancakes at recipezarr - my notes in italics at bottom]

2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 eggs, beat them separately before adding to mixture
1/4 cup butter, melted (1/8 of a pound)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt


Mix the dry items first. Combine the eggs and melted butter to the milk and slowly stir in the flour. Let sit at least 10 minutes while heating the pan. These will be high, but light and fluffy.


This recipe makes a butt-load of roughly 4-inch pancakes. We've found that we can cook a batch one day, eat our fill and store the remaining pancakes in the refrigerator in a zipper bag to have for breakfast later in the week. Heating them carefully in the microwave after storing in the refrigerator; start with 30 seconds and add additional blocks of 15 or 30 seconds as needed.

Adding fruit works well, as does adding ground cinnamon.

We're still playing with this recipe so as of today, it remains just as I found it.