Breakfast without breaking the bank!

Snow Day!!!  Yep, it's a winter wonderland here again.  The kids are still fast asleep, and it's almost 9:30.  To be honest, I love snow days.  They give us a unexpected fun day to sleep in, be lazy and just veg.  I like to make the kids a yummy breakfast on days like this....something other than their usual fare of cereal or instant breakfast. 

This morning, I'm surprising them with pancakes.  Problem is, I'm fresh out of Bisquick.  And you know what, I'm tired of buying Bisquick.  It's expensive when you think about what's in it...it's just flour, sugar, salt and some baking powder.  So, being the frugal Mama that I am, I dug into the old recipe stash and came across not only a recipe for Homemade Old Fashioned Pancakes, but also found one for Golden Waffles.  No more buying pre-made mixes for me.  I have everything on hand for both recipes, so I'm excited at the prospect of saving more money at the grocery store!  Score!!! 

If you're having a snow day like we are, whip up a batch and enjoy the day.  Or do what we do and enjoy them for dinner some evening with a side of bacon or sausage.  Yum!!! 

Golden Waffles

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown

Homemade Old Fashioned Pancakes

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.

Keepin' it Simple

Happy Icy Monday...as I type, I'm looking out at what looks like a forest of glass trees.  Beautiful, yes...but I'm sick and tired of winter.  I hate winter, I despise it.  I'm ready for sunshine, flowers, mowing the grass, hearing birds sing.  To be honest, I'm in a funk today.   This weather is depressing.  To break the funk, I've pulled up the bootstraps and hit the kitchen.  Cooking always soothes my soul.  Hopefully what I've cooked up today will soothe some empty tummies when dinner time rolls around.

I've also been in de-clutter mode, trying to get out of this mid-winter funk.  If you're like me, you may have years worth of cooking magazines, etc.  I have over a decade's worth of old cooking mags.  They're taking up valuable real estate, and to be honest, I don't have time to sit down and leisurely browse through them for recipe inspiration.  To get rid of the stacks without feeling guilty, I've come up with a compromise.  I am going through them one at a time, tearing out recipes I would like to make, and putting them in a 3 ring binder.  To make it easy to find these recipes, I've divided the binder into sections like a recipe book...categories like appetizers, desserts, soups/salads, main courses, etc.  So far I've whittled the pile down by at least 2 years worth!  It feels good to know where these recipes are now, and it also feels great to get back some cabinet space. 

Today's recipes are exactly what I'm cooking up in my kitchen as we speak.  I recently came across the recipe for Best Beef Tips and I couldn't love the recipe more.  It's super easy, cheap and very hearty.  And as a bonus, everyone here LOVES it!  Serve them over some hot buttered egg noodles, and I think you'll agree that this dish rocks!  For dessert, I'm trying a new recipe, in fact, it's one that I tore out of the above mentioned pile of magazines.  I can't wait to try Orange Citrus Bars.  They sound delish...like a lemon bar, but made with orange juice.  What a great way to get your Vitamin C, right?   Have a great Monday, stay warm, and keep your chins up.  Spring is on the way, the Groundhog said so, right? 

Best Beef Tips

1-2 lbs stew meat
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup milk or dry red wine

Combine all ingredients in crock pot.  Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours, or until meat is tender.  Serve over hot buttered noodles or mashed potatoes. 

Orange Citrus Bars

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, divided
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 large eggs
1/3 c orange juice
1/2 t. baking powder
additional powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour and powdered sugar.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.  Press evenly into bottom of a 9X13 baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.  In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs and juice until well mixed.  Combine 1/4 c flour and baking powder, add to sugar mixture, stirring to combine.  Pour onto hot baked crust, and bake 25 minutes or until set.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.  Makes 2 dozen bars. 

A Chocolate Love Story

Let me preface this post by saying I adore chocolate...I love love love it....I dream about it, I would eat a snail if it were covered in chocolate.  I hide my chocolate from the kids.  Chocolate should be one of the major food groups, after all, it comes from a bean.  There are certain times (ladies, you know what I mean) where I simply MUST have chocolate or someone may die.  Yes, I really, really LOVE chocolate.  Every now and then, I hear someone say they don't really care for chocolate.  WHAT?!  Those people need to get to a Dr. stat...they need and M.R.I or some fancy test to figure out what is mis-wired in their brain.  Seriously...

With that being said, chocolate let me down this weekend.  Big time.  I was super, duper excited when I came across a recipe for Chocolate Pancakes.  The picture that accompanied the recipe made me drool...dark, delectable chocolate pancakes sprinkled ever so lightly with powdered sugar and topped with fresh red raspberries.  Who wouldn't want to try that?  I showed the rest of the family, and we were excited to try a special Valentine's breakfast treat.  I measured and mixed the pancakes from scratch, got out the powdered sugar in a shaker, set the finest china on the table and started to cook.  From the get-go, I had a bad feeling.  These silly pancakes were sticking to the pan, not wanting to turn over...they spread and didn't "puff" up as I expected.  I tasted the first one off the griddle, hoping my heart was misleading me.  Nope...severe letdown.  Curt didn't even finish his first pancake.  If you know Curt, you know he never throws out food.  His pancake hit the trash.  Epic FAIL!  So bummed.  So save your heart the tragedy and don't ever try to make chocolate pancakes.  Me being the frugal gal that I am, I tried to eat one with Jif, thinking it would totally redeem it and make it taste like a Reese's cup...NOPE :(  Besides sharing things I think are great, I thought I should share when I have a big failure too...gotta be honest and share that even I, the Domestic Diva, have kitchen failures too :)

To save face with the family and make sure they get the recommended Valentine's dose of chocolate, tonight we'll be feasting on a tried and true recipe Chocolate Pudding Cake.  I've had this recipe since B.C....before children.  It's the easiest thing ever, and never ever lets me down, unlike those stupid pancakes!  Try it warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.  It's classic comfort food, and something special to share with your Valentine.  Happy Heart Day my friends!!

Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into small chunks

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, sift together flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla; add to flour mixture. Stir batter until just combined. Spread batter evenly into an 8 cup shallow baking dish. Set aside.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1/3 cup cocoa powder, brown sugar, and boiling water. Pour liquid evenly over batter, do not mix. Distribute chocolate chunks into batter. Bake until a tooth pick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with crumbs adhering to it, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Baby, it's COLD outside!

Wowzers....it's flippin' cold outside!  I HATE this weather...I've been cold all day long.  In fact, I can't even feel my fingers as I type this.  Please excuse any typos you may find because of the frozen fingers ;)  When it's cold like this, I love to make soup.  Any soup will do, there's just something comforting and creative about getting out my old blue LeCreuset stockpot and whipping up a batch of yumminess.  I love making up a soup recipe as I go...throw in a little bit of this, a little bit of that...and before you know it that darn stockpot is full and I have to share a big ol' container with friends or family.  I know that breaks everyone's hearts when that happens ;)  

My partner in diva-ness Kendra and I were having coffee this morning, and as we were sipping and chatting, she was perusing one of my 6,000 Paula Deen cookbooks.  (OK, so maybe not 6,000...maybe 5,999).  That made me remember one of my fave recipes from Miss Paula, her Confederate Bean Soup.  It's out of this world good, and sooo yummy on a cold night like this.  I have made it so many times, Kendra giggled at the page in the cookbook...it's stained and worn.  The true sign of a great recipe that's been used a LOT!  Either that, or the sign of a super sloppy cook who can't keep her cookbooks clean ;)   If you make this soup, let me tell ya...it's not low-cal.  Don't even try to substitute milk for the half & half.  If you do, Miss Paula will show up on your doorstop and beat you with a stick of butter!  I'm serious y'all.....

The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook by Paula H. Deen

Confederate Bean Soup

Serves 3 or 4

1/2 pound Hillshire Farms smoked sausage, sliced in rounds-1/4 inch thick (ground sausage is a delicious substitute if you don't care for smoked sausage)
2 slices bacon, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups leftover baked bans, or one 16-ounce can Bush's Baked Beans
1 1/2 cups half-and-half

Saute sausage, bacon, garlic, onion, and pepper (if desired) in butter until bacon is cooked. Add beans and simmer for a few minutes over medium to low heat. Add half-and-half. Increase or decrease half-and-half for preferred thickness. Serve with piping-hot corn bread.

Guess who's back!!

Ahhh....the Diva is back from vacation!  Did you miss me?  Be honest...did you even know I was gone?!  After a much needed week in beautiful Cancun, Mexico, I'm back in the saddle again.  Getting back into the groove of cooking and cleaning has been hard this week.  I'm wondering why I didn't bring back our maid, Maria and all the wonderful cooks/waiters at our resort.  They sure do make you feel pampered!  Oh yeah, now I know why I didn't bring them back...that darn immigration thing...

If you've ever been to Mexico, you know how wonderful and cheap the vanilla is.  I usually bring home 3-4 large bottles for all my baking, and by the time the next trip rolls around, I need to restock.  This trip was no different, but I also brought back 3 of the largest, plump vanilla beans.  I pondered what to make with these precious beans, then came across a recipe the other day that I'm super excited to try.  It's a recipe for Vanilla Extract.  It couldn't be easier, and the recipe claims the flavor and intensity puts the best store bought extracts to shame.  I can't wait to see how it turns out and how it tastes. 

Like I said earlier, getting back into the groove of cooking and cleaning has been rough this week.  It's times like these when I lack inspiration and motivation that I turn to great, easy recipes like Hearty Beef Casserole.  This is so simple, so hearty and a real crowd pleaser.  I usually have everything on hand for it too, so it's great on those nights when you just don't know what to make.  You can even substitute the spaghetti sauce for any pasta sauce.  Tonight, I'm making it with Vodka Cream sauce...yum! Try it with a nice green salad on the side and I think you'll be happy that you did! 

Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup vodka (your choice...even the cheapest of vodkas will work, no need to use Grey Goose!)
1 vanilla bean
1 small glass jar with tight fitting lid (I'm using a small mason jar)

Split the bean lengthwise, loosening the inside of the bean with the tip of your knife.  Place in jar with vodka, seal and let sit on counter top for 2-3 months.  The longer it sits, the more intense the flavor. 

Hearty Beef Casserole

4 1/2 cups uncooked rotini pasta
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 14 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup (10.75 oz can)
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Cook pasta and set aside.  Brown ground beef, drain.  Stir in spaghetti sauce, set aside.  In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream and soup. Stir until blended.  Drain pasta.  Spoon half of the beef into a greased 9X13 baking dish.  Top with pasta, soup mixture, and remaining beef.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes and 350.