These were delicious! I skipped the Cinnamon Maple Syrup, the Orange Honey Butter serves as a syrup. I served these with fresh blueberries, banana slices and orange wedges. Yum!

Blue Corn Pancakes with Orange Honey Butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish
2 to 3 bananas, peeled and sliced
1 orange, cut into wedges
Orange-Honey Butter, recipe follows

Preheat a nonstick griddle. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a medium bowl until combined, then stir in the melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. If the batter seems too thick, add some of the remaining milk.

Ladle approximately 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until the bottom is light golden brown, flip, and continue cooking for about 30 seconds. Remove to an ovenproof plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. Serve 3 pancakes per person with a dollop of orange-honey butter, cinnamon maple syrup, and bananas. Garnish with blueberries dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Orange-Honey Butter:

3 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
2 sticks butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Place orange juice in a small non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 3 tablespoons. Place butter in a bowl and add the orange syrup, honey, and salt; mix until combined. Scoop into a large ramekin, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Reheat slightly before serving.

This is a very easy way to make a favorite Italian classic, with some help from Campbell’s Soup 1-2-3 Cooking:

1 pkg italian seasoned boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/2 pkg fettuccine or other choice of pasta
1 pkg pre-cut broccoli (that can be steamed in the microwave)
1 8 oz pkg pre-cut, pre-wash mushrooms
olive oil
1 can Campbell’s condensed cream of mushroom w/ roasted garlic soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 parmesan cheese
fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare chicken to be baked. Coat baking pan in olive oil and place chicken in a single layer. Bake 25-30 minutes or until no longer pink.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in pasta of choice and prepare per package directions. Begin boiling water just after chicken has been placed in oven.

Saute mushrooms in a large skillet using as much or as little olive oil as desired. Cover and set aside. Combine soup, milk and parmesan cheese in a small saucepan and warm over low heat, stirring frequently. Once thoroughly heated, combine with mushrooms in large skillet, set aside and keep warm.

Drain pasta when tender and combine in skillet with mushroom sauce. Mix well, coating pasta completely. Sprinkle the top with fresh ground black pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon).

Prepare broccoli in microwave as package directs. Either add to pasta and sauce or serve on the side with butter.

Remove chicken from oven and place a chicken breast on each plate and serve with pasta, sauce and broccoli.

Additions/Substitutions:

Since all shapes of pasta taste the same, ANY kind of pasta can be used. Some shapes to try: angel hair, spiral, or bow tie. For a vegetarian options, skip the chicken and add some cheese-stuffed tortellini (prepare according to package directions and add into sauce once cooked).

Other vegetables can be added or substituted as desired, such as peas, green beans, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers or carrots.

Regular condensed mushroom soup can be used instead of the roasted garlic variety, or 1 teaspoon of minced garlic can be added to mushroom soup to create the same effect.

Low-sodium varieties of soup with fat-free milk and light parmesan cheese can turn this alfredo sauce into a healthy meal. Try using part-skim mozzarella cheese, just make sure it melts thoroughly into sauce.

Italian seasoning can be added to the sauce to give it an extra kick, especially if italian seasoned chicken isn’t available. Try two tablespoons of italian seasoning, or a half-teaspoon of each of the following: basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary.

This is altered from a recipe I found in “Cooking for 2″ magazine from Taste of Home. The recipe has been adjusted to make a good side dish for more than two, but you can halve this recipe to make a main dish for two or a meal for one.

3 cups dry egg noodles
dash garlic powder
dash oregano
2 tbps butter
2 tbps olive oil
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
minced garlic (optional)
lemon juice (optional)

Using a large saucepan or cooking pot, heat several cups of water over medium-high heat on the stove. Sprinkle garlic powder and oregano over water. Add noodles once water is at a rolling boil and cook 8-12 minutes or until noodles are at desired firmness.

While noodles are cooking, combine butter, oil, basil, thyme and salt in a small mixing bowl. Top mixture with pepper.

Drain noodles and add herb mixture, stirring thoroughly to ensure even coating of noodles. Top with parmesan cheese. Minced garlic and lemon can also be added to taste. Stir well before serving.

If serving with Honey-Lime Chicken, I recommend omitting garlic and lemon. The garlic and lime flavors in the chicken will compliment this dish nicely. If you begin boiling the water for the noodles a few minutes after putting the chicken in the oven, the two should be done at about the same time.