Quinoa Cakes with Maple Pear Topping

In one of the more recent issues of Everyday Food there was a recipe for Quinoa Cakes. Similar to pancakes, but made with the goodness of quinoa, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite ingredients. The batter gets dropped into the pan in a heaping tablespoon, which will seem small, but it spreads out and puffs up quite a bit. They aren't as light or fluffy as pancakes, but I would go so far as to say that I like them better.
I topped it with a maple pear topping. It is a creation from my friend M, who is a genius in the kitchen. The recipes for both are after the jump.

Cinnamon Buns

I love The Pioneer Woman. I have only one small problem, she is generous with the fat and sugar in her recipes. So generous, that sometimes I wonder if she is doing it for shock value. I have her cookbook, and she has a recipe for the most incredible looking cinnamon buns. I tweaked the recipe slightly to lower some of the health concerns I had regarding them, and this is what I came up with:

Breakfast Bakes

I had half a loaf of french bread leftover from dinner one night. The next day I wanted to use up the bread, but as it was a day old and slightly stale, slicing it up and serving it alongside dinner wasn't an option. I had an intense craving for french toast, and while I was searching for recipes I found one that inspired a french toast bake. Read after the jump for the recipe for the french toast bake, as well as a savoury breakfast bake.

Pancakes

Throughout the week my breakfast consists mainly of cereal. I love cereal, but when the weekend rolls around I love to make more substantial breakfasts like bacon and eggs or pancakes.
I once made these pancakes for D, when she got stranded in Edmonton for a week. It was right around the time that egg nog was available in the grocery store, and I thought it would be Christmassy to make the pancakes with egg nog.
Problem. Egg nog is way thicker than milk, so the batter didn't actually pour, it kind of just glopped. The outside of the pancakes were dark, and the insides were raw. I tried to convince her that I have successfully made pancakes before, and it was the egg nog that tripped me up, but I don't know if she believed me.
The pancake recipe comes from Everyday Food. I put E in charge of making them this past weekend, as we had company and I didn't want another one of my guests to think I don't know how to make pancakes. (Sure, she can make a mean beef bourguignon, but pancakes allude her?)

To top it off I made a berry sauce. I used about a cup and a half of fresh berries (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries). I put the berries in a saucepan and sprinkled them with about a tbsp of sugar. I put them on the stove over medium heat. The berries end up breaking down and releasing all their juices, which turns into a pretty tasty sauce as is. This was not enough for me, and I added a generous splash of rum to the mix. I let it bubble away for about 5-7 minutes before removing from the heat. (If you prefer your berry sauce rumless, you could add orange juice for flavor)

Isn't my mini gravy boat the cutest thing you have ever seen?
Since pancakes with berries would be incomplete without whipped cream, I took some Cool Whip, mixed in a dash of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla, and served that alongside the pancakes.