This was an experiment that turned out pretty well — fish, herbal tea and…other stuff. I am trying to come up with some new recipes for work and this is one of the first ones.

I used Stash Lemon Blossom Herbal Tea but you could also use maybe some lemon zest and Old Bay seasoning or any other seasoning mix or combination you like. I’d even try throwing some lemongrass in there perhaps. Or, just use the tea, because I know that works very well!

Lemon Blossom Seafood Chowder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp AP flour
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 leek, white part cleaned well and diced
3 Lemon Blossom Tea Bags
1 sweet potato, diced into bite sized pieces (keep potato cubes in water until ready to add to soup)
1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay, Pinot grigio, Pinot gris, sauvignon blanc)
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 lb assorted seafood, (cut into bit-sized pieces — 1/2 lb peeled shrimp and 1/2 lb firm white fish like halibut, cod or tilipia work well…I used turbot)
1 cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste
fresh herbs for garnish
lemon wedges for garnish

Heat the olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, carrot and leek and saute 5-6 minutes until soft.

Add the contents of the three Lemon Blossom tea bags and the flour. Continue to cook for about 2 more minutes to get rid of any raw flour taste.

Add the wine and stock. Stir and make sure to lift any vegetables/flour up from the bottom of the pot. Stir to combine and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are a soft but not mushy, about 15 minutes.

Add the seafood and cook for 5-7 more minutes until fish is cooked opaque and just cooked through. Add the half and half and stir to combine. Do not bring to a boil, as it may curdle now that you’ve added the dairy. Salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls and top with fresh, chopped herbs and lemon wedges.

It’s really very good!

The original recipe called for vanilla soy milk. We didn’t have any so I used fat-free milk plus some vanilla and a bit of honey. I also messed up the ratio — I was doing a half recipe and I accidentally did not halve the whole wheat flour, which was actually no problem. The batter looked and worked just fine. In fact, if I had used the amount of flour that the recipe originally called for, I think the batter would have been too runny. So, the recipe below is exactly how I made my pancakes. Double the whole recipe to feed more than 2-3 people.

Taste-wise, I really enjoyed these. The ginger-peach green tea added just enough flavor in the background to make them interesting, while the texture was rather light and fluffy. These are, of course, healthy pancakes and you can kind of tell that while eating them. So, just, uh add a side of bacon and you’re in business. Oh! And fruit. Fresh fruit. See, healthy again!

Heart Healthy Oatmeal Green Tea Pancakes
Recipe adapted from one appearing in the Orlando Sentinel, which in turn was adapted from WomenHeart’s All Heart Family Cookbook: Featuring the 40 Foods Proven to Promote Heart Health by Kathy Kastan, Suzanne Banfield and the members of WomenHeart
3/4 cup fat free milk
1 flavored green tea bags or 1 tsp loose leaf tea — for this I used Stash ginger peach green which was very good (here’s the loose leaf version)
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Bring the milk and honey to a light simmer (you do not want it to actually boil at all) on medium heat.

Remove from heat and add the tea bag or the loose leaf tea in an infuser. Let steep 3 minutes. It will smell very good. You will be tempted to drink some but don’t — you need the green tea milk for the pancakes! Discard tea bag or remove infuser. Press on tea to get all of the milk out.

Add the vanilla and stir. Cool the tea/milk mixture to room temperature. Stir the infused milk into the oats and let stand 15 minutes.

Whisk together the buttermilk, oil and eggs. Stir in the oatmeal mixture, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Coat skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Place on medium-high heat. Drop batter by 1/4 cups onto the griddle. Cook 2 minutes, or until bubbles appear on the top and the edges begin to look dry. Turn and cook 1-2 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit. Or, as mentioned earlier, bacon.

This makes a great weekend breakfast and will definitely give you enough energy to trudge all over Mt Tabor Park for a nice, if a bit chilly, 2.5 mile walk.

Monday night, the WCC round-up* will be up but for now…it’s cookies. I altered a recipe I found at the Whole Foods web site to include matcha (powdered green tea). Where can you get matcha? Try here!

I rolled them out and used my new, cool Halloween cookie cutters for some great shapes — a bat, a ghost, cat, jack o’lantern and a witch boot. But, you could also just roll the dough into two logs, chill and slice into rounds. That would work just fine too.

I really liked the fact that this recipe calls for brown sugar. I think that it held up to the green tea taste really well.

Green Tea Halloween Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp matcha
1/2 tsp non-aluminum baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
2-3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp granulated sugar

In large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well blended.

In a separate bowl combine flour, matcha, baking powder and salt; then, with mixer at low speed, beat into butter mixture to blend well. If mixture is a little dry, add 2-3 tablespoons milk until it comes together. Form dough into two balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Sprinkle unbaked cookies with a little granulated sugar.

Place about 1–1/2 inches apart on ungreased, parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake 10–12 minutes. Cool on wire rack and store in an airtight container. Or use shot glasses and stand the up on your dining room table for a photo…

* If there are any stragglers, you have until 4PM PST, to get me your entry.