Puzzled Pancakes

What puzzles you in life?


Recently many things in my life have puzzled me. 
Puzzling... euhm what? Ok being puzzled or something is puzzling, means that something is confusing, it doesn't add up, you can't see the whole picture and are therefore not sure of what you have in front of you. Capiche?


Well I thought of it, and basically everything in life can be one big puzzle! Let me elaborate:

Life: from the minute you are born until the day you die (ah one certainty that is NOT puzzling) you have to take one step at a time to make your life complete. Each step is a puzzle piece that is supposed to fit somewhere in the puzzle that will create your life. Sometimes I come across pieces - or steps - which are, in my eyes at that time, simply unplacable! I think to myself 'where the hell does this piece fit and what's the point of it fitting???' What I tend to do with the unlucky puzzle pieces is to put them aside for later. Yep, I'm an ostrick cos I stick my head into the sand! Ciao! Once the head comes popping out luring to see if the coast is clear of course I am bound to find that piece again. Solution to that problem: I start cooking to work through the process of putting the piece somewhere in my life: in the upper right corner seems to be a good spot.... Because in the end, every step and every puzzle piece makes your life yours and is needed to be complete.

Love: Now this is a complicated puzzle because I think men work with round puzzle pieces and women with squared ones or vice versa. How can that ever fit?????????? Hence the invention of the actual puzzle piece that you have in mind when talking of puzzles ...
So I guess to make this puzzle work, and get to a complete and beautiful puzzle, the trick is to communicate and always ask whatever makes you puzzled!
But other than that you need to have pieces that fit into each other. So the question is: does love work when the pieces are rather the same or do opposites work better together? Do accomplished puzzles even exist?

The solution to being puzzled = cooking... even though cooking is also one big puzzle at least it's not made out of carton puzzle pieces but out of ingredients; beautiful diverse raw materials that when put together it turns out a gorgeous and usually well-turned-out puzzle! It's up to you how to make your puzzle according to how you feel that day. And that is the absolute joy of cooking: you can make your own puzzle and actually see the result in a matter of minutes or sometimes hours... and be proud of yourself!

Happy Puzzling!

Protein Pancakes

These puzzling thoughts all came up to me while devouring a pair of proteined pancakes! If you're training, wanting to loose some weight (summer is around the corner you know!) or simply want to eat healthy, but still want some pancakes for breakfast, these babies are the answer to your prayer.
I got them over at The Novice Chef...

Ingredients: 4 pancakes

• 250 gr egg whites
• 150 gr oats
• 250 gr cottage cheese
• 20 gr brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 0.5 teaspoon salt

How to make it:

Mix all the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Heat up a medium sized skillet with a teaspoon of sunflower oil. Add a big spoon of mixture and spread.

Bake until little bubbles come up - then you turn the pancake delicately.

Cook well for 4-5 minutes.

Keep the baked pancakes hot in a slightly heated oven.

Outcome: serve with fresh fruit, yoghurt, peanut butter, maple syrup, jam... whatever piece of puzzle works for you to make this puzzle perfect!

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph