Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

I made these Easter Sunday morning and this will for sure be our new Easter Sunday Breakfast tradition. It was SOOOO yummy!! The girls said it was just like being at IHOP.

I made regular pancakes (the just add water kind- Krusteaz). It made about 16 pancakes. I added 2 tsp Vanilla (mine is double strength vanilla). I used a 12 oz package of frozen blueberries thawed- take out 1 cup of the blueberries for the syrup and add the rest of them to the pancake mix.

Blueberry Syrup Recipe:
1 cup sugar
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 TBSP Butter

Add sugar and cornstarch to a saucepan and mix together. Add Water and bring to a boil- cook for 3 min. Stir in blueberries and reduce heat. Simmer for 8-10 min until berries burst and syrup is thick. Stir in butter until melted. Serve over pancakes with a squirt of whipped cream.
*Note: We didn't eat all the pancakes, but all the syrup was gone- you may want to double the sauce if you want it to go on all of the pancakes. We used the leftover pancakes the next day with just maple syrup.

Fusilli with Creamed Leek and Spinach

I found this pasta dish on the internet. It was easy and we all liked it. I served it with Chicken Sausages. Now that I've tried it once though, I would had a few cloves of garlic to the recipe when you cook the leek in the olive oil for flavor.

3/4 lb (12oz) Fusilli or Rotinni

1 1/2 TBSP olive oil

1 leek (white and light green parts only, thinly sliced)

1 cup heavy cream

4 cups baby spinach (coarsely chopped) (I just used a large handful)

1/2 cup lightly packed basil leaves (finely chopped) (or 1 tsp dried basil)

1/2-1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

I sprinkled a little shredded parmesan (not the canned kind) cheese on top and stired it in.

Boil pasta and set aside (add a little salt to the water). In a deep skillet, heat olive oil and add the chopped leek (a leek is the vegetable that looks like a monster sized green onion- they are usually sold in bunches of 3) and cook over med. heat until softened. Add cream and simmer until slightly thick- about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and the basil (if using dry), salt, and pepper and cook until spinach wilts- about 2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta into the skillet and toss with sauce. Remove from heat and add basil (if using fresh) and sprinkle parmasean cheese.