Not Your Everyday Pancake

This morning I woke up all alone in the house and it was late-I don't think I've slept that late since before I had children!  And instead of just enjoying the peace and quiet, I sat and thought of what I would make for breakfast if there were anyone around to eat it.  Quite sad, really.

What I came up with are these pancakes that my sister makes.  You don't even have to have syrup to put on them, they are so sweet and if your family is the size of mine, you have leftovers for later.  I know, I know, you're saying "leftover pancakes?"  Yes, I say leftover pancakes.  Anything can be a leftover, oh, except for true Mexican food.  I tried that once.  My Mexican neighbors brought us some sort of wonderful concoction once and there was so much that I decided that it would make THE best lunch at school the next day and I would make all my co-workers jealous.  What I didn't know was that when left together, that stuff gets even hotter than it was to begin with, if that is even possible.  Needless to say, I went fairly hungry at school that day and my co-workers were pea green with laughter and not envy as I had hoped!

Anyway, back to pancakes:

My Sister's Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes

1 egg, beaten

2 TBSP oil

1 cup buttermilk (1 TBSP vinegar in one cup and fill rest with milk, let sit for a minute)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 TSP baking soda

1/2 TSP salt

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP quick-cooking oats

Combine egg, oil, and buttermilk.  Combine flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar; add to egg mixture.  Stir in oats.  Pour by 1/3 cupfuls onto lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles forms on tops of pancakes.

As a side note, I never combine all the dry ingredients and then put them with the wet ingredients.  I'm sure that cooking experts can give me all these reasons why it is important to do that, but can any of that evidence trump the fact that then I don't have to wash another bowl?  I don't think so.

While I will admit that I love to cook, I HATE TO WASH DISHES!!!  Hate it, hate it, hate it.  At my mom's house, dishes never get left more than thirty minutes after a meal time.  You clean up and do the dishes and then go relax.  Sometimes you even do what dishes there are BEFORE the meal so there isn't so much to clean up afterwards.  Don't get me wrong, I completely see the merit in this train of thought-I was even part of that train for the years I lived there and when I return now.  My excuse, because of course, I always have one of those, is that there are always people around at my mom's house to help with the dishes.  My dad does the dishes.  Let me repeat that-MY DAD DOES THE DISHES.  I know, right?

And, yes, I do have young'uns at home that should be learning how to do chores like that, but sometimes it's just easier to do them yourself.  Maybe that will be my summer goal-teach Bubba and Nannie to do the dishes...

Sweet Simplicity

Have you ever stopped to ponder the simple things in life?  Today I ponder the sweet simplicity of a graham cracker filled with creamy store-bought chocolate frosting.  So simple, there is no name really, yet so delicious that your mind simply clears and you just taste the deliciousness of it all for those few moments that it lasts.  The crunchy sweetness as you bite into the cracker and then the pure bliss as you get to the center where the creamy chocolate awaits.  Mmmmmmm.

And speaking of store bought luxuries, I heard someone talking about taking me to Perkins.  And to me, that means someone else is making me breakfast.  Now that's sweet simplicity found in the simple things in life!

Painter's Delight

Memorial Weekend is upon us and while many people are off to travel, I am off to paint instead.  The last time we all painted together, there were yummy bakery donuts and fast food deli meat and store bought salads, and it just plain made me feel bad!  I could have done SOMETHING so that they didn't have to feed everyone so expensively.  So this time, I am righting the wrong.  Maybe I'm the only one that will care, but at least I'll feel better!  It's what my mom would do and that to me is as good as gospel!

First I started with cinnamon rolls. This recipe comes from my sister, who like me learned to cook from our mother.  You CANNOT have a better teacher when it comes to cooking.  It seems, however, that we each learned different things from our mother or at least we adapted what we are good at and made it better.  My sister is artistic and learned decorating cakes and cookies and the art of presentation and precision.  You cannot cook with my mom and sister without measuring everything, and I mean, everything, very carefully.  Sometimes you even have to get out THE KNIFE.  Many of you, I'm sure, know the "proper" way to measure something is to level it off with THE KNIFE.  Seriously, they don't like to cook with me.  Not only do I not use a knife, but much of the time I don't use measuring utensils.  A little extra of something never hurt anyone, I think.  Anyway, we all are careful when cooking together-I try to wait until their backs are turned and I don't measure-they wait until my back is turned to use THE KNIFE for precision.  It all works out quite well, actually!

Anyway, back to my sister's recipe for the best cinnamon roll goop ever.  And, yes, I just called it goop...do you have a better word?

Patty's Cinnamon Roll Goop

2 sticks butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 TBSP milk

2 TSP flour

Melt the butter and then mix it all together and split between two 9 x 13 pans.

This recipe is already doubled and if you promise not to tell on me, I'll let you in on a little secret.  Sometimes I triple it even-those rolls are so gooey and yummy and I'm sure do wonders for any diet that you might be on at the time.

Next I have a roast in the crock pot.  When it's cooked, I will shred it and add a package of dry Italian seasoning to it and put it back in the crock pot.  If I were truly listening to my mother, I would also tell you that I made homemade hamburger buns to put the meat on, but alas, I did not.  I am a firm believer that too much of one thing can be bad for you and five years ago, I made all of the hamburger buns for my sister-in-law's wedding reception.  Trust me, that was too much of a good thing.  I don't think I've made them since!

Probably somewhere in here, I'll figure out some sort of salad to add to this, but I just haven't decided what yet.  You can't take a meal like this without a salad, you know.  Thanks, mom, for always subconsciously reminding me of what's appropriate!

Have a great Memorial Weekend everyone-be safe and happy travels.  As for me, I'll paint happily!

Fast and Cheap Cheese Sticks

Bubba, my son, is probably the pickiest eater I have ever met.  One time, I chopped up mushrooms into the tiniest pieces imaginable and added them to my hamburger, and this is what I got-"Mom, what are all the rubbery pieces in the meat?" as he tried to pick out each and every one of them.  Oh, brother!

Anyway, imagine my surprise when my pickiest eater loved this recipe and my daughter, Nannie, who will literally eat anything, didn't like it!  Some days you just want to give up, you know what I mean?

I think that I got this recipe out of a Taste of Home magazine, but I'm not sure.  I wonder what the copyright laws on recipes are???

Cheese Sticks

Egg Roll Wrappers

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks (string cheese)

oil to fry with or a deep fat fryer (if you don't have a deep fat fryer, shame on you-that's what my husband would tell you, at least!)

Roll the cheese stick up in the egg roll wrapper and seal with a little water.  Don't drench it.  Just get your finger wet and dampen the edges, then seal.  Fry in oil until golden brown.

The recipe said to serve with marinara sauce.  Come on, people.  If you are cheap enough to make your own cheese sticks, do you think we have marinara sauce just laying around the house???  I used cheap spaghetti sauce instead.  Bubba actually asks for these on a regular basis now!  And I have to admit, they are pretty tasty for a homemade cheese stick fix!

Rhubarb Season

I have ONE rhubarb plant, but that ONE rhubarb plant is a MONSTER!  That plant produces like crazy all summer long-I love that plant!  Now let me be honest and tell you that my rhubarb never gets used for anything other than Rhubarb Crunch and Strawberry Rhubarb jelly-that's it. Why mess up a good thing, right?

Today I picked my first of its crop and made Rhubarb Crunch for dessert.  Yummy.  I was SO hoping that the rest of the adults in my house would continue their "I don't eat sweets" kick so that my daughter and I could enjoy the whole pan for ourselves, but NO. By the time we were done, there was a measly half of a serving left. :(  Oh well, at least I have a good rhubarb plant.

Rhubarb Crunch (via my Mommy)

4 cups rhubarb, chopped of very very small

1/2 cup sugar

2 sugar free strawberry jello packets

1/2 of a yellow or white cake mix

1/3 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray and then pour in rhubarb.  Spread it out evenly, then sprinkle with the sugar, then the jello, then the cake mix.  Melt the butter and then pour it over the top.  Bake for 1 hour and then enjoy!

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use a metal pan to make this.  There is something in the rhubarb that reacts with the metal in the pan and it makes the dessert taste terrible.  You will have to throw away the whole batch.  It happened to me once...I cried-seriously, I did!

Welcome!

Welcome all to what I hope will be if nothing else, a great place for me to store my favorite recipes! I want to share my love of cooking and hope that others will share their love of cooking, too.