Pancakes!! Pancakes!!! PANCAKES!!! and blueberries....

I wrote about the awesome pancakes I have been making and promised pictures. Well, here they are, and the recipe, too!!

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Well, I'm off to make cupcakes, cookies and more!!! Lots to do before I leave for work. :)

Best. Pancakes. Ever. And The Terrible Twos.

I'm all about trying to perfect my pancake recipe. My Grandmother used to use Bisquick, so I did, too. Until one morning I had none left and I was forced to make them from scratch! I'm pretty well stocked with everything I need to make just about anything, so I set out to find a recipe. I found this one on Allrecipes.com......

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

I tweaked it a little by doubling the recipe, adding 1/4 tsp of vanilla and half milk, half buttermilk. Yummmmmmmm!! They are sooo good! Last weekend I added blueberries to the mix, a bit more sugar and BAM! The perfect pancakes. I like using frozen fruits when they aren't in season around here. The kids had seconds and then they had leftovers for a snack. They were so good I barely had to put any syrup on them. I'll be making some this weekend again, so I'll post some pictures then. :)

Now...on to the "Terrible Twos". Can I just say that I'm terrified of Lola turning 3? I really am. She has been just awful. I actually caught her doing something bad. When she didn't think I was looking, I peeked in on her and Lex, saw her grab Lex by the hair and then slap him in the face. I rushed in and guess what she did? She started crying and holding her face saying Lex had hit HER! WHAAAAAAT?!?!?! I could NOT believe what I had just witnessed. I put her in time-out and told her "No!! No hitting! And NO pretending!" I'm fairly certain she understood what I was saying. I mean, HELL, the kid knows enough to lie about the situation, right?! I am in so much trouble. ((sigh)) Just look at her.......

You'd never know she was really a Demon trapped in an adorable, little 2 year old girl. She's going to make a fine teenager. I can just see the meetings now. HAH!

Patience Is NOT One Of My Virtues.....

I am known for being the one who rushes everyone around, hates waiting in lines and I'll read the ending of a book first before even starting it. Why? Because I am inpatient!! So you can imagine just how frustrating these last few weeks of waiting have been....the wait for my cherry tomatoes to first plant, bloom, sprout and ripen. The moment is almost here!!! I am proud to announce that we have cherry tomatoes! WOOT WOOT!! Here they are early last week......

I bought this plant just for this recipe. Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with Olives & Bowties. YUMMM!! I love Weelicious. She has some of the yummiest recipes. Although, I would like to know how she stays so damn skinny. I mean, really?! LOL!! Anyway. Here's the recipe in case you don't want to click on the links...

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes & Olives on Bowties (Serves 4)

1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tsp Fresh Thyme, chopped or 1/4 Dried Thyme

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/3 Cup Kalamata olives, pitted and halved

8 oz Farfalle (Bowtie) Pasta (about 1/2 a bag or box)

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Toss the first 5 ingredients together on a sheet tray to coat the tomatoes.

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until tomatoes are starting to burst.

4. While the tomatoes are baking, cook the pasta in salted water according to the package directions.

5. Combine the tomatoes, pasta, olives and cheese and toss to combine.

6. Serve.

Mmmmm........I cannot wait!! 

What's For Dinner?

I have no idea. I've run out of ideas. I've been looking everywhere for new things to cook and nothing seems appealing. :/ As a matter of fact, nothing seems worth the effort. I'm a pretty good cook. I can make anything, almost. Reading Carlie's post about making her own pasta got me thinking about the "old days". The days when I lived in Germany with my ex-fiance and his family. They were from Italy, but lived in Germany, so we spent every Summer in Naples, Italy. And let me tell you.......the food was out of control. We cooked all the time. Everything from scratch, 3 meals a day, healthy and the not so healthy. Every Summer we would pluck the tomatoes, make fresh sauce and then can some for the later days. So damn good. I learned a lot from Giovanna. I make my lasagna the way she made hers. She hated ricotta and so do I, so it works out great! Lasagna without ricotta, but with alfredo sauce is so much better. So thinking about her and the food she used to make has me nostalgic and a little jaded. Nothing I make seems good enough now. I want to make some of the foods she used to make, but remembering how to make them is tricky, because she eyed everything. No written recipes, and it was over 16 years ago. O_O There was a soup she used to make that was sooooo yummy! Split pea soup with noodles. YUM! But I can't remember how to make it. I remember her meatballs, pasta sauce, alfredo sauce, pasta, cakes, bread and salad dressing recipes, but that's it. I've looked online at different recipe websites and they're all the same.......boring. If anyone has any good websites I can look at with original recipes on it, let me know. I'm stumped. I plan on heading out to the bookstore later to see what they have. If I can't find anything, then I'm making this.......my baked ziti.