American Pancakes

While I was in Kansas City last weekend, my brother ran out of pre-mixed pancake mix, so I decided to make some from scratch. The key to good American pancakes is to have the pad reasonably medium-hot, and to drop a tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan. Drop the pancake batter in via a ladel. Wait for the edges to bubble. Flip them once.

My SIL said these were better than iHop’s, but really there’s nothing that special about them. They came from the Betty Crocker Cookbook (tripled for 3 kids and 3 adults and facilitating leftovers for the next day).

PANCAKES (CROCKER)

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 9 Preparation Time :0:00
白色e站 : Breads

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
1 Egg
1 c All-purpose flour*
3/4 c Milk
1 tb Sugar
2 tb vegetable oil
3 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt

Beat egg with hand beater until fluffy; beat in
remaining ingredients just until smooth. For thinner
pancakes, stir in additional 1/4 cup milk. Grease
heated griddle if necessary. (To test griddle sprinkle
with few drops water. If bubbles skitter around, heat
is just right.)

For each pancake, pour about 3 tb batter from tip of
large spoon or from pitcher onto hot griddle. Cook
pancakes until puffed and dry around edges. Turn and
ccok other sides until golden brown. Nine 4-inch
pancakes; 100 calories per pancake.

Blueberry Pancakes: Stir in 1/2 cup fcesh or frozen
blueberries (thawed and well drained).

Buckwheat Pancakes: Substitute 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for the all-purpose
flour. Use 1 cup milk. If desired, sprinkle 1 ts whole
bran or wheat germ over each pancake just before
turning. 10 pancakes.

Buttermilk Pancakes: Substitute 1 cup buttermilk for
the milk. Decrease baking powder to 1 ts and beat in
1/2 ts baking soda. 10 pancakes.

Whole Wheat Pancakes: Substitute whole wheat flour for
the all-purpose flour and packed brown sugar for the
granulated sugar.

*If using sellÿsing flour, omit baking powder and
salt.

Source: Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, 6th Edition

Pasta

This is a result of a recipe given to me yesterday, by one of my favorite chefs. 🙂  It’s from scratch (well, there were canned tomatoes involved).   I carmelized onions in extra virgin olive oil, tossed in ground beef, stewed tomatoes, a few cloves of garlic, oregano, basil, pepper, red wine and balsamic vinegar… all added in a particular order… tossing a few bits of pasta into the sauce while cooking to make it thick.

The bread was a purchase from a local grocery.. it was sourdough with cloves of garlic baked inside… whole cloves of garlic. 

I can cook.  I just wanted you to know.

Peanut Sauce

If you like peanut sauce, you can’t go wrong with this recipe.   Toss in some red pepper, if you like, for something spicey.  I made this tonight and tossed it onto chicken and rice. 

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
juice from half a lemon (can be less, depending on your taste)

In a non-stick pan, combine all ingredients, stirring constantly over medium heat until peanut butter has melted. Tastes great over noodles and vegetables, or as a sauce over chicken or beef.

Cooking 101

All this talk about compulsory cooking makes me smile.    Cooking, I know is not everyone’s favorite thing to do (you know who you are, missy… hehe) .    My friends who don’t cook usually get my speech explaining that cooking is relaaaaxing and creative.   

I cook all sorts of things.   Hand me a recipe.   All I have to do is read and measure.   

The thing is, my mom involved me in cooking when I was very young… 7, if I remember correctly.   My involvement in the Girl Scouts sometimes sent me seeking a cooking badge or two.    I try to do the same with my own daughter… she makes simple things like scrambled eggs…  helps me make cookies…make pizza.    She’s curious.   She loves to measure and I’m teaching her to read instructions.    It’s a fun thing to do together, really.

I enjoy recipes which allow me to be creative.  Some of them don’t even involve cooking.   A green leaf salad can be nice, for example.   Get a big plate, arrange it nicely with fresh vegetables (tomatoes fresh from the garden, onion, garlic, maybe some avacado, shrimp or chicken), a spritz of salad dressing.. you’re ready to go.

My mom taught me ALL about baking… scads of different cookies for Christmas, cake for special ocassions (even decorated some of them, thank you), etc.   My dad makes the most excellent Chinese/Korean food.   We also have those invaluable family recipes from the slovak and English side of the family, for example, Kolache  and suet pudding were common things to see during Christmas holidays.

But all of this talk about compulsory cooking has me thinking about all those nights when I just don’t want to be bothered with cooking.  Oh, I do it, but sometimes it’s just something quick to get it out of the way.     I need to think about doing something more creative with it again.

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

Cheesy Potatoes

CHEESY POTATOES

1 24 oz pkg. frozen hash browns
1/2 pt. half and half
4 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese
4 oz. Velveeta cheese
1 stick butter

Thaw hash browns in 9 x 13 pan. Melt the cheeses, half & half and butter over medium heat. Pour cheese mixture over hash browns and let set for one hour. Bake one hour at 350 degrees.

I’ve made the potatoes in advance, so all I have to do is pop them in the oven when I get hom

Easy Chicken Wings


You don’t have to go out and spend a lot of money on restaurant hot wings. These turn out great and don’t require any work at all.

Get this stuff:

A package of 12 chicken wings. (If you get Smart Chicken brand, they cut off the wing tips for you. This is a good time-saver)

A bottle (16 oz) of wing sauce. You can get Lousiana Hot Sauce, Cookies Wings and Things Sauce, Hooters Wing Sauce or just whatever you find in the grocery store. Look in the condiments aisle (where the ketchup is).

A can of dry bread crumbs (plain works fine)

Turn the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a pan with aluminum foil. Lay the chicken wings in a single layer. Pour the sauce on evenly. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Bake for an hour.

Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing, carrots and celery.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

I never have been one for chicken in things that beef so obviously belongs in. Like Chili. But we saw this made on Rachael Ray’s show and decided to make it.
This has a distinct buffalo wing flavor to it, thanks to the hot sauce. Instead of the coriander, I used chili powder. Who has coriander sitting around in their pantry anyway?
I also garnished the chili with some bleu cheese crumbles, which was really good (I love bleu cheese!) If you hate blue cheese, leave it out. It will still be good!
Instead of ground chicken, I used half ground turkey (cause I had it on-hand) and half chopped cooked chicken. If you do it this way, cook the chicken in water in the microwave till it’s done. Chop it up. Follow the recipe for the ground turkey part. Put the cooked chicken in the pot when you put the vegies in. Works great, and I was glad to have that texture, instead of just ground meat.
While you’re cooking, drink the rest of the beer. 🙂
Oh, and if this is a main course, serve it in a bowl, of course, but also double up the recipe if you’re serving more than 3 people.

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

I cooked this for dinner, and it was pretty easy and quick to do, plus it tasted excellent. This would serve 4 people, depending on appetite.

You’ll need:
4 chicken breast halves
8 oz sour cream
1/2 onion, to your taste (chopped)
8 oz cheese (cheddar or your pick)
8 oz enchilada sauce
4 flour tortillas (I used a 9 oz bag of whole wheat tortillas. Don’t buy the super huge ones. Taco-size works fine)
A rectangular casserole dish

Cook Chicken breast halves, dice them
Cool the chicken and mix with 8 oz of sour cream (I used light)
Mix in chopped onion and 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Divide this among 4 flour tortillas and roll them up, placing each one in a rectangular casserole dish. Cover them with 8 oz of enchilada sauce and the rest of the (8 oz) bag of cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

While I was cooking the enchiladas, I put 1 cup of rice in a microwavable dish, tossed in 2 cups of water and covered the dish. Cook at 100% power for 5 minutes, then 50% power for 15 minutes.

Everything pretty much is done at the same time.

When plating the enchilada and rice, put some of the sauce from the enchilada dish ontop of the rice.

I also zapped some green beans to go with it (hey, gotta be healthy, right?).

It was just the right amount of food and not overly spicey.

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