Whole Wheat Pancake Mix

These are absolutely great pancakes that nobody even guessed were whole wheat. 
I like to make mine with a nice layer of oil in the pan so the edges crisp up. 
I used these as gifts this year with a quart of maple syrup, fruit, brown eggs, and thick-slicked bacon. 

Whole Wheat Pancake Mix 

6 cups white whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt

Mix all ingredients together in gallon storage bag.



Whole Wheat Pancakes - Serves 6


1 cup pancake mix
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk (if you do not have buttermilk you can make it by adding 1 tablespoon vinegar
or lemon juice to milk to make 1 cup of milk. )
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


1. Beat the 1 cup mix, egg, buttermilk and oil in a large bowl or large measuring cup until just combined.  Do not overmix.
2. Heat a nice layer of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  You want the batter to sizzle when you put it in, but not brown too quickly.  This makes the pancakes have those nice, crisp edges.
3. Pour about 2 tablespoon of the pancake mixture onto the frying pan, making 3 or 4 at a time.  Cook till the tops start looking dry.
4. Flip the pancakes.  Cook till nicely browned.
5. Serve with butter and syrup.

Mixture can also be used in a waffle iron following manufacturers directions.

*

Brown Cows

Oh, the simple pleasures!  The perfect blend of vanilla ice cream and pop (either Coke or root beer.)  It could even make a person write in incomplete sentences.  Just keep the bottle handy to keep refilling the pop until every last bit of the ice cream is gone.  Mug Root Beer suggest adding 1 tsp. of milk to them.  I think I'll try that next time.

Over a quarter of a century ago when I was first married, my mother-in-law served us a meal of sauerkraut and dumplings.  As a young woman I thought I hated cabbage and, even more so, sauerkraut.  I was scared to try it, but I was more concerned about insulting my new mother-in- law, so I tried it.  It was love at first bite.  Hard little dumpling cooked in pork broth and sauerkraut, all served on a nice helping of mashed potatoes.  All these years, I have been trying to replicate her delicious dumplings with little success.  Finally, last night it happened!  I got the dumplings right!  Now I have children as picky as I was when I was first married; so I cooked the ribs separately; then I just used the pan drippings in the pot for the dumplings; and heated the sauerkraut in a bowl in the microwave so my husband, the baby, and I could add it to our meal without upsetting the children.  If you do that, I would suggest taking some of the juice from the 'kraut and putting it on your mashed potatoes.  It's best if you just boil some kind of pork (ribs or shoulder) and just add the 'kraut and dumplings to it, but you do what you have to do to get the family to eat it.  If you use a fatty cut like the shoulder in it, you could cook it the day before, put it in the fridge overnight, then take some of the fat off before you reheat it.

Grandma Winters' German Dumplings

4 cups  flour (I use a good portion white whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 tsp. salt 
2 eggs
3/4-1c water 

Mix flour and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Make a well in the middle.  Beat in with a fork, then start adding water until you have one thick dough.  Drop by baby spoonfuls into boiling, salted broth.  If you dip your spoon in the broth (about 3 or 4 qts, you don't want them too crowded) with each dumpling, they slide off easier.  Boil uncovered for about 5 mins.  Add 1 can or jar of sauerkraut.  Bring back to a boil.  Serve over mashed potatoes.  Once again, this makes enough for a big family. 1

I made up this recipe last summer when I had fresh broccoli and mangoes from the garden.   I love, love, love the creaminess of the different cheeses, especially the cream cheese.  The bacon, if you can afford it, sets off this dish.
My garden did alright this year, even with the drought.  These are some pictures from July 2012.

Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Dish

1 tbsp. butter
3 chicken breasts or a couple of cups of cooked chicken
1 onion (diced)
1 clove of garlic (diced)
1 mango (green pepper for non-Hoosiers)
1-16 oz box of pasta (I used penne this time)
1 bag of broccoli or the equivalent of fresh broccoli
2-8 oz packages cream cheese
2 cups of shredded cheese (any type you have on hand)
1 lb., or how ever much you can save once people smell it cooking,bacon, fried
crisp and crumbled

Cook pasta in boiling water for about 5 mins. then add broccoli for the last few
minutes of cooking. If your broccoli is as tough as the stuff I had in the bag,
you'll want to add it in the beginning of cooking. While that's cooking, cook
the chicken breast, onion, and garlic in a skillet until chicken is done. Drain
pasta.  Add cheeses to the skillet till melted. In a large bowl, mix the pasta
and chicken. Sprinkle with bacon. This serves a family and might even make
enough for lunch the next day.

Peanut butter filled white chocolate candy

Tonight, the girls and I made these candies. We used the free Jell-O jigglers
mold we got when we bought Jell-O.

White chocolate, melted over a double boiler is easiest
1 cup marshmellow cream
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 graham crackers
1 tbls. maple syrup

Fill the molds with white chocolate, leaving the center hollow. We used a clean
paint brush to get the white chocolate to cover all the way up the sides. Chill
in the freezer while you whip the remaining ingredients together with an
electric mixer. After the white chocolate is set, about 5 mins., fill the molds
partially with the peanut butter mixture, leaving enough room to top with
additional white chocolate to seal. Then seal them off with the white
chocolate. I'll try to get +Isaac Winters  to post pics.