Oatmeal Honey Pancakes: Your Recipe, My Kitchen

 Since moving, I haven't been making menus like I should.  I am still not in the full swing of normal yet.  I don't know what I am waiting for...maybe school to start or the weather to stop being so bloomin' hot.   I need a good kick in the pants, but in the mean time, I am cooking according to whims and the contents of my cupboards.  So when I woke up one day and wanted oatmeal pancakes, I headed to the blog world and found a fantastic recipe on Coleen's Recipes.

They were light and fluffy and perfect.  Oatmeal gives pancakes a nice chewiness.  They were a hearty breakfast topped with jam or syrup.

Oatmeal Honey Pancakes (adapted from Coleen's Recipes)

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup oatmeal

1 egg

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in another, whisking the honey well into the buttermilk.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, let sit for 5 minutes to moisten the oats and then ladle onto a hot, greased griddle.

Your turn!  Feel free to link up anything you have made this week in your kitchen.  Please link back to this post or blog, too.

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Saturday Stories: Mrs. McGillicutty

My daughter has quite an imagination.  For the last two years, we have been living with my parents in Arizona and they, meaning my folks, have fostered that imaginative play.  Princess Pat (her online pseudonym) has gone through phases of being a cat, a dog, a swan and a horse...always belonging to Grandpa.  As we made plans to move, she announced one day at the dinner table that anyone who was going to miss his horse should raise his hand.  Other days, she would have my mom sing a "magic" song to be turned into a swan.   We never knew what she would come up with.

Princess Pat is also obsessed with families and family relationships.  All of her stuffed animals are related.  Pink Doggie is the child of Charlie the brown dog, Itchie is the brother of Grey Dog, etc.  She can pick up chess pieces and create a family.   For a while, she kept asking my husband and me who she was going to marry.  She was three!  We tried telling her that her marriage was so far off that we didn't know, but time is a hard concept for little children.  Finally, one day, my mom came up with a name for her future husband: Mortimer Tooter.  We called her Mrs. Tooter for a while, until she decided that she didn't like it any more.  That may have had something to do with the fact that we call flatulence "toots" around her.  I think she put two and two together and didn't like the implications.

The next persona she adopted was that of a horse called Mrs. McGillicutty.  That lasted quite a few months.  One day, my mother-in-law, who suffers from dementia, was on the phone and I called Princess Pat over to talk.  I was sitting close by to "help" with the conversation.  My mother-in-law started the conversation, prompted by my sister-in-law,  by saying, "Hello, __________, how are you today? "  My daughter stopped her right there and said, "Actually, my name isn't _______, it's Mrs. McGillicutty."    I had to rush out of the room to burst out laughing.  I don't mean to be insensitive to my mother-in-law's condition, but the idea of saying that to someone who is so easily confused was too hilarious, especially because it was done with no malice.

You just never know what children will say. Tweet

Butterscotch Cookies

 Have you seen the cookbook 101 Things to do with a Cake Mix?  Well, I happen to have it sitting on my shelf.  The thing I like about some of the recipes is that they call for "1 cake mix, any flavor."  How open ended is that; especially for someone like me who cannot help but change a recipe?

 So.  When the need for cookies attacked my family and I didn't really feel like going all out, I turned to this cookbook and used my imagination a little.  The original recipe called for chocolate chips and a yellow or chocolate cake mix.  I used a Butter Pecan cake mix (because I am living in the South and am so thrilled to find this variety in every. single. store. (You have to realize that in AZ, this variety is no longer available...they teased us and then took it away). (Sorry, too many parentheses).  I also substituted butterscotch chips for the chocolate kind.  I threw in some oatmeal because I was feeling guilty about using the cake mix. The results were sweet, sweet, sweet, oh so easy and just slightly good for you.

Oh!  By the way.  Have you heard about the Fairy Hobmothers from Appliances Online?  They are making their way around the blog world, granting $30 gift cards from Amazon to bloggers who comment on each others' posts.  I commented on a post from Debbie Does Dinner Healthy and then a bit later got an email saying that I had been chosen from the comment pool.  They will chose one of you who comments on this post.
 
Butterscotch Cookies (adapted from 101 Things to do with a Cake Mix)
1 Butter Pecan flavored Betty Crocker cake mix (if you cannot find this yellow will do)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup butterscotch morsels
1/4 cup oatmeal
Mix cake mix, brown sugar, oil and eggs in a bowl...with a spoon.  Stir in the morsels.  Drop cookies onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Tweet

Free Dinner Revolution ebook

Here is a giveaway unlike most.  Why?  Because everybody wins.  Chef Jeff Pirtle has written an ebook filled with quick and healthy recipes and he wants feedback.  So, in order to get the "book" into as many hands as possible, he is giving it away for a limited time (it will retail for $27).  All you have to do is follow this link to download it.

If, like me, you were wondering who Chef Jeff is, I found a pretty informative article with some more about him.  You can read it here.  You can read his blog at mydietchef.com.  Enjoy!

(I received no remuneration for this post, just my own copy of the ebook)
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Southern Style Yellow Squash

I recently got to cross off another item on my bucket list.  I met another food blogger in person.  Ann from Cooking Healthy for Me just happens to live within ten miles of my new Florida home.  She welcomed me with open arms.  We met for a lunch date and with wonderful Southern hospitality, she graciously made sure that I would be soon cooking "Southern" by giving me a cookbook, My Southern Food by Devon O'Day.  What fun I have had reading it!  The very next day, I was ready to make something from it.

For our Sunday dinner, I made a cheater beef bbq in my oven and served it with baked beans and Southern Style Yellow Squash.  I think it's the cooking in bacon drippings that makes this dish southern.  Boy oh boy was this ever the way to make squash!  We thought it was so much more tasty than normal. Of course, cooking in bacon drippings isn't the healthiest, so this won't be my everyday way of making squash, but for special ~ this is it!.  Thanks again, Ann!!

Southern Style Yellow Squash (from My Southern Food)

6 yellow squash, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

2 Tbsp bacon drippings

1 scant Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

black pepper to taste

Heat the bacon grease over medium heat.  Layer the squash and onion.  Sprinkle with salt and sugar and stir a bit.  Let cook until the vegetables caramelize, stirring every 5-7 minutes to prevent burning.  Sprinkle with black pepper.

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Cheddar Black Pepper Pie Crust Salmon Pie: Your Recipe, My Kitchen

I wanted to make a pantry meal the other night.  Salmon pie sounded really good.  I found a few that had puffed pastry crusts, but that wasn't an option.  Finally, I decided to punt and combine a crust from somewhere else and my own filling.  I found a great Cheddar Black Pepper pie dough on Coconut and Lime.  Originally, the author paired the crust with a fruit filling, which sounds fabulous, but it lent itself so well to a savory pie, that I couldn't resist.  I think I would actually add a bit more black pepper next time.

I am going to give you some options for this pie because I used an ingredient that not too many people may have lying around in their pantry: dehydrated potato slices.  I also used canned salmon, but fresh in both instances would be easy and delicious.  I used more potatoes than salmon because it was cheaper as a filler, but depending on your budget and the amount of people you are feeding, you can change the ratios.

Salmon Pie: 

2 7 ounce cans salmon (I used Costco's Kirkland brand, it is the most "real" looking salmon I have found)

3 cups rehydrated potato slices OR 2 large potatoes, boiled and chopped OR 2 cans sliced potatoes, drained

1 can cream of celery soup

1 tsp dill weed

1 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

Mix the ingredients in a bowl and pour into an unbaked pie crust.  Top with another crust, seal and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Cheddar Black Pepper Pie Dough (adapted from Coconut and Lime)

2 cups flour

1/2 cup lard (or butter or shortening)

1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

5-8 Tbsp cold water

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients, except water, in a a bowl with pastry blender or in a food processor.  Slowly add water to form ball.  Divide in two and roll out to form two crusts.  Place one in pie plate, reserving second for top crust.

Homemaker Monday

Mouth Watering Monday

Mangia Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Okay, your turn.  I cannot wait to see what great foods you have been baking and cooking in your kitchens this week!

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Saturday Stories: Putting Up Pictures

This week, I spent a little bit of a day putting up pictures around our new house.  This is one of my favorites.  It's my husband when he was two.  He was on a neighbor's toy tractor when his dad came out and snapped this picture.  We have it blown up to 11X13 size and framed.  No matter where we live, I manage to put it up somewhere where everyday I can see it and smile.

It's funny how filling walls with art and photographs is like icing on a cake.  You can be all moved in, but until you put nails in the wall and hang up frames, you don't feel like it's home.  Tweet

Fresh Peach Pie

The first dessert I made in our new Florida home was a fresh peach pie made with Georgia peaches.  This is one of my family's favorite pies and I was surprised to find that I had not posted this recipe before.  Of course, being me, I made it later in the day than I'd hoped and so it wasn't quite cool when I cut into it.  Have you ever cut into a warm pie?  The filling tends to slide right off the crust onto the plate.  That is why you only get to see it whole and can barely make out any peaches at all.  Lucky for me, the family inhaled the pie without any complaints.

I am still playing around with the lighting in my new surroundings.  I have a slightly skewed East-West exposure.  By mid afternoon, the light is just about right on my dining room table, but the lighting in my kitchen is ghastly.  One fluorescent light on a cathedral ceiling that doesn't even hit all of my counter space...is less than what I had hoped for.  Thank goodness this recipe works, no matter how good your lighting may be!

Fresh Peach Pie

1 baked pie shell

5 peaches, peeled

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp almond flavoring (I have also used coconut or vanilla extracts, too)

2 Tbsp butter

whipped cream, as desired

Slice 3 of the peaches into bottom of pie.  Slice the other 2 peaches into a saucepan and combine them with the sugar, cornstarch and water.  Stir as you bring it to a boil and the mixture is glossy and thick.  Remove from heat and add the flavoring and butter.  Pour on top of the sliced peaches and refrigerated at least 2 hours or until cooled all the way through.  Serve with whipped cream.

Foodie Friday
Friday Potluck
I'm Lovin' It Friday
Sweet Tooth Friday
Food on Fridays
Fat Camp Friday
 Sweet Treats Thursday

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S'mores Cupcakes and a Cookbook Review (Sweet Chic)

Just as I was getting ready to leave Arizona, I was contacted about receiving and reviewing a copy of Sweet Chic by Rachel Schifter Thebault.  Considering that I had already packed SIX boxes of cookbooks, how could I say no to one more?? I am really glad that I said yes, too.  The author, owner of Tribeca Treats in New York City, employed a very creative way to organize her book.    Each chapter ties a piece of clothing to food.  For example, the scooped cookies are the white t-shirts, the chocolate cake is the little black dress and the vanilla icings are the ballet flats.  

 I chose to make the S'mores Cupcakes.  They were mini sized devil's food cupcakes topped with a marshmallow butter cream frosting and sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs.  The cake was moist, the frosting was amazing.  My family was more than happy to be the taste testers.  

I had a hard time frosting them because all of my pastry bags were still packed.  I used an inferior no name brand of zip close sandwich bags which kept splitting out the side as I squeezed it.  I went through two or three bags, layering them on top of each other as I attempted to make cute swirls on top of the cakes.  In the end, I gave up and just used a knife to spread the rest.  I didn't take pictures of those, but they were eaten just as quickly.

S'mores Cupcakes (from Sweet Chic)

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease 3 12 count mini muffin pans.  Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.  Add the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Scoop into the 36 mini muffin cups and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for12-15 minutes or until done.  Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Marshmallow Icing: 

2 sticks butter, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup Marshmallow Fluff

Beat butter and sugar until incorporated.  Add the Marshmallow Fluff and mix on medium high until smooth.  Pipe it onto cooled cupcakes (watch out...it melts in the heat, so refrigerate afterwards!)

Crush two or three big graham crackers and sprinkle over the iced cupcakes.

(other than the cookbook, I received no remuneration for this review)

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No Recipe for Your Recipe, My Kitchen

 I am a bit more harried this week than usual.  I have managed to start cooking and baking again, but I haven't had any time to make any new recipes from other blogs.  My cookbooks are still in boxes because I ran out of bookshelf space.  I keep looking at my kitchen and thinking that stuff is missing...my garage is still filled with quite a few boxes and my freezer still isn't plugged in.  I am hoping that any future moves are strictly local! 

The linky is all set up for you, so feel free to join in.  I will be back next week with something new. 


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The Move is Over, Now to Unpack!

(High country of Arizona)

What an adventure it is to move across the country with five children and a cat!    We started our journey on Friday the 8th.  We had two car top carriers strapped onto our Suburban.  Malcolm, the cat, was in his cat carrier, the kids all had bags of snacks and I had about 50 DVDs for them to watch.   

 

(After Phoenix, the dessert became pretty flat and boring)

We made great time.  With enough food in our cooler, we didn't have to stop for anything by gas and potty-breaks.  We had five states to travel through.  As each one passed, someone would say something like, "One down, four to go."  None of my kids had ever been East of Arizona, so it was very exciting for them.

(New Mexico and West Texas were not too different than Arizona)

We counted trains.  We noticed how the rivers grew as we traveled east.   We spent the first night in El Paso.  It was good for my older kids to be able to see across to Mexico, to see the amazing contrast from one side of the river to the other. 

We spent Saturday and Sunday nights in Houston.  My brother lives there and showed us some sites.  The alligators were thrilling.   The humidity was not.  Ugh.  

We had to visit the Gulf coast, too.  The water was so warm and wonderful.  The sand in my car for the next few days....well, we have to take the good and the bad, right?!   We got a little stuck in the sand leaving the beach, but my brother and the boys pushed the car enough to get us back to the street.

This photo is just to prove that I have actually bought my kids pop.  At $.49 for 32 ounces, we couldn't pass up the treat.  It made for a lot of happiness and quite a few extra bathroom stops.  We had just gotten out of the swamps of Louisiana and were excited to be in another state.   I stopped taking pictures at this point.  We got to experience some pretty horrible thunderstorms just after Mobile, AL.  The kids thought they were great.  I white knuckled it for a while.  Our last night on the road was spent in a horrible Comfort Inn in Chipley, FL.  If you are ever headed that way, it's worth the extra half hour drive to Mariana.  

We are now in our new home just south of Jacksonville, FL.  I have spent the last few days unpacking and bemoaning the fact that I have too many kitchen gadgets and sets of dishes.  I will be hitting the second hand stores soon looking for bookcases and maybe even a hutch.  The kids are pretty sick of hot dogs and  grilled cheese.  I bought some peaches to make a pie tomorrow because I just want to bake again.   I have to go on a search mission to find the right cookbook...and maybe a pie plate, too :-)  I will post the recipe soon.  I am anxious to see how photos turn out in new light.

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Pumpkin Apple Muffins

These muffins make a great breakfast, snack or dessert.  The streusel on top keeps them feeling like a dessert.  The fruit and whole wheat flour keeps them feeling slightly less indulgent than a piece of cake.  My husband has taught all of my sons to put butter on all muffins except the huge Costco kind.  So, I am pretty well resigned to the fact that no matter how sweet or savory any muffin I make, the boys will be grabbing a knife to cut them and slather on the butter.  

Pumpkin Apple Muffins:

2 1/2 cups flour (white or wheat)

1 cup sugar

1 Tbls pumpkin spice

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup oil or 1 stick butter, melted

2 cups peeled, finely chopped apples

In a large bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients and set aside. In another bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. Stir in apples. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups and sprinkle struesel topping over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Streusel Topping:

2 Tbls flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbls butter
Cut butter into other ingredients with a pastry blender or a fork.

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread: Your Recipe, My Kitchen

When my husband travels by car, he likes to take banana bread.  I slice the entire loaf and butter each slice, then place the whole thing in a ziplock bag.  He snacks on it as he goes across the country.  As we packed up our entire household into a truck this week, I decided to vary the routine by adding some peanut butter to his bread. After all, one of his favorite sandwiches is peanut butter, banana and honey.  Why wouldn't he like a peanut butter banana bread? There was one on Big City, Little Kitchen that I really wanted to try.

He liked it, all right, but to tell the truth, he would rather have plain old, regular banana bread.  He is like that.  He doesn't like sauce on his meats, he doesn't care if his spaghetti sauce comes from a long simmered pot or an envelope mix,  he would choose to eat American cheese or Velveeta over Swiss or Jack.  His is a long suffering life, being married to a food blogger.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread (adapted from Big City, Little Kitchen)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

3 bananas, mashed

1/3 cup plain yogurt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, oil and peanut butter.  Add eggs and yogurt.  Combine dry ingredients and add.  Stir in bananas last.  Pour into a well greased loaf pan.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour 10 minutes or until tests done with a toothpick.  Let cool 5 minutes in pan and then turn over onto a wire rack to cool.

I am in the middle of "THE MOVE"...should be in Houston on Sunday and leaving for points East on Monday morning.  I won't be around much to visit your blogs, but please link up what you have been cooking!

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Saturday Stories: Real History

My dad is a history buff ~ big time ~ and he has inadvertently turned me into one, too. I don't know if it had anything to do with his being in the military, but when I was a little girl, we were constantly on the go visiting battlefields. I remember not being as enthusiastic about the car trips then as I would be today. When we moved to Rome, NY, the excitement of having a Revolutionary War fort in our town was almost too much. The fact that we were there during the 1976 Bicentennial was just icing on the cake. We took day trips to Fort Ticonderoga, over to see where General Von Steuben lived, other trips to Sturbridge Village...it went on and on.

The most memorable trip we ever took, though, happened when I was in 2nd grade. My parents pulled me out of school near the end of October (I remember this specifically because we spent Halloween in Alabama) and took me on a tour of the South. We hit every major Civil War battlefield we could. It was a combination trip: my folks wanted to visit old military friends who were stationed down there, teach me a little bit of history and take me to Disney world.

I don't remember all of the places we went. Only a few stand out in my mind. We traveled along the Natchez Trail for a while. I remember a specific place we stopped where grave robbers had ruined an old graveyard. There were red ants everywhere. I felt disgust that people would do such a thing. I remember a battlefield near a creek and an overwhelming feeling of reverence at the lives lost. I remember Gettysburg and sheer enormity of the event.

I also remember the strangeness of visiting a section of the country that I'd never seen before (I repeated that same feeling later in my life when I moved to the southwest). Visiting in Georgia, we were told not to leave the yard because there were alligators in the water beyond the fence. I remember the moss hanging in the trees. I remember the stately plantation homes we saw in Louisiana. To a certain extent, I felt like a foreigner in another country.

Before we moved away from the East, my folks took me on other trips to visit Washington DC and the homes of former presidents. I remember Monticello, the Hermitage and Mt Vernon. I remember seeing Grant's tomb and the Smithsonian.

I love that my parents thought it was important for me to know my country. Living in the West for the last 20+ years, where the vastness of our country is obvious in the space between cities, my kids got a different kind of education. There we talked about pioneers, land formations, ranches and miles between things. When we drove through Oregon or Idaho, we pointed out the Lewis and Clark trail or the old Oregon trail. We talked about how hard it was for the first settlers who came west. When we drove through California, we talked about the amazing amounts of food that state produces. When we drove through Arizona, Utah or Washington we talk about the majesty of God's creations. My boys love mountains and deserts and canyons and lakes and evergreens.

Now that circumstances have allowed us to move back East, I'd like to show my kids how the other half of the country looks, feels and even smells; starting with the Southeast-est place possible.  We will be in Jacksonville by the middle of next week!  I am trying to figure out how I can take advantage of the anniversary of the Civil War over the next few years to revisit some of those battle sites again. Tweet

Chocolate Mint Cookies: Your Recipe, My Kitchen

The best laid plans sometimes just don't work out.  I had one last bag of Hershey mint kisses in my fridge that I simply had to use before I moved.  I found a wonderful recipe for a chocolate cookie with mint chips on Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body in that sounded amazing.  Then I realized that my cocoa was packed.  Time for Plan B.

I ended up with a more traditional chocolate chip cookie batter.  I added peppermint extract straight into the dough and then threw in chocolate chips with the kisses.  I didn't take the time to chop the kisses so some of the cookies had a red and white layer in the center.  They were stellar cookies...definitely a make again recipe.

Chocolate Mint Cookies (Loosely based on Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body): 

2 sticks butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 bag Hershey mint kisses (chop if desired)

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and both sugars.  Add eggs and flavorings, mixing well.  Dump in flour, soda and salt and then mix.  Stir in the kisses and chips.  Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until brown around the edges.  Let cool for 1-3 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Your Turn!   I added an extra day to link up in case you are too busy on the 4th!

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Saturday Stories: Goulash Girl

My father comes from good hearty German stock. Mom married into his family and had an entirely new cuisine to learn to make: spaetzle, pork with sauer kraut and goulash for starters. When I was a tot, Mom made goulash often. One day, she placed a plate of it on my tray for lunch. She busied herself in the kitchen while I ate, not paying really close attention to me. After a bit, she looked over at me and saw that all the goulash was gone. She was so proud that I had eaten all by myself, that she took a picture of me:

The funny thing was, though, when she went to change my diaper a few minutes later, she discovered that I hadn't eaten it at all. I had spent all of that time stuffing it into my diaper and plastic pants.

Although I obviously don't remember this incident myself, I remember with fondness the fun of having mom tell the story.  My little brothers in turn loved having Mom tell them about their big sister that seemed more like an aunt than a sister because of the big age difference.  My kids even like to hear about it.  That is one of the best things about family stories.  They don't seem to get old with the telling.

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Instead of Food

This week, I painted bedrooms, shampooed carpets and packed like a mad woman.  Here is the end result.

All of our worldly belongings stuffed into a 26 foot Penske truck.  Oy!  I am so tired that I cannot even think about cooking.  I am so glad that my four sons were gone and that my little girl loves macaroni and cheese from a box!!  

The Good Guy took off on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Florida today (Friday).  He is crazy when it comes to driving.  I keep telling him not to expect to make time like that when the Suburban is filled with children or a wife.  He is flying back here next week to drive with us.  

In the meantime, posting will be hit or miss.  Luckily, I have two weeks' worth of Your Recipe, My Kitchen and Saturday Stories scheduled in advance.  I will try to get one or two other things ready, but I am sure you will want to see pictures of our move (??), so there will be a few of those random posts thrown in, too.

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