Pancakes and painting

Oh...my...GOD.
IHOPs Cinn-A-Stack pancakes should be BANNED they are so darn good. The cinnamony, syrupy goodness with the cream chees icing is sinful--LOVE THEM! So today while I gold leaf my way into a coma, I may stop and make some.

By the way, Jones Tones glue makes great raised layers and is fantastic for use with gold leaf and foils. I also love Aquasize and Mona Lisa foil and leaf glue. Embellishing my paintings can sometimes take almost as much time as it does to paint them. Its a long and detailed process--which kills my back---so I think I deserve some cinnamony goodness today!

"Serenity's Fall" 20 x 24 oil on canvas w/gold leaf

Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes

Cinnamon Sauce
Ingredients:
    1/4 cup butter (salted)
    3/4 cup dark brown sugar
    3 tablespoons half and half
    1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
    1/8 teaspoon salt
    1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
    1 tablespoon flour

Cream cheese Icing
Ingredients:
    4 ounces cream cheese, softened
    1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
    1 teaspoon lemon juice
    1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
   
    whipped cream

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add
brown sugar, 2 tablespoons half and half, cinnamon,
salt and cloves and cook while stirring constantly until
mixture comes to a simmer. Immediately remove from
heat, add remaining half and half and stir in the flour.

Combine ingredients for cream cheese icing in a
medium bowl. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer
until smooth.

To serve:
Spread cinnamon sauce over each pancake and stack them.
Spoon icing over stack and top with a dollop of whipped cream.
yummy!

'Zombie attacks' spread through the Deep South

'Zombie attacks' spread through the Deep South

Do I have to start boarding up my windows?

Vegan Dip

I have to say I am NOT a huge fan of vegan food. I know people who will swear up and down about the health benefits, the wonderful flavors etc etc, but I just can't live without a good steak, cooked medium rare with a roasted red pepper sauce. Maybe its genetic, maybe I'm more of a caveman/woman, I don't know. I do know that when I eat too many carbs I get fat and can't lose weight no matter how much I count calories or cut fat, so I'll stick to my low carb lifestyle. Plus my husband doesn't consider a meal a meal unless it has some kind of meat involved. Switching to a virtually no-carb diet has made us lose weight and his cholesterol has dropped considerably, so I think we're on the right track. I am open minded and will try vegan foods whenever I hear about something good. Like today on  the Rachal Ray show I saw her make a tasty veggie dip with tofu cream cheese that sounded really tasty and though she mentioned she had it on a bagel (omg the calories and carbs in one of those) she served it up with zucchini strips, red peppers and carrots. The recipe did not have any salt or pepper in it so I added some, it really needs some spice, I also added  squish of lemon juice.
Yum!
Serve cold with veggie strips.

Rachal Ray's Vegan Dip

Ingredients

    1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and wrung dry
    1 tofu cream cheese
    2 cloves garlic, grated
    1/4 cup onion, grated
    1 can water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
    4 scallions, whites and greens, chopped
    1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
    1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
   
    I added:
    salt and pepper to taste
    splash of fresh lemon juice
    dash of crushed red pepper flakes


blend in food processor until smooth.