Homemade Pancake Mix

As you may know, Ben and I are college students without a lot of extra time or money. Because of these two circumstances, I have decided from early on in our marriage that we needed to eat homemade breakfasts as often as possible. Because of that decision, every Sunday (normally) I make a big batch of some sort of breakfast food that we can reheat and eat all week long. You can see all of my breakfast recipes by clicking here.

While you can get some pancake mixes for fairly cheap, they can still get to be pretty expensive. I also have a hard time paying for something that is basically flour and that is something I can make for much cheaper at home. Enter in the most delicious homemade pancake/waffle mix you have ever had in your whole life!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups flour
• 2 cups powdered milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tbl. baking powder
• 1 1/2 Tbl. baking soda
• 2 tsp. salt

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together in a #10 can. 

How easy is that? This makes enough for 4-5 batches of pancakes/waffles. 

Pancakes:

• Ingredients:
• 2 cups mix
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbl. oil
• Directions:
• Whisk ingredients together and let stand for 1-2 minutes to thicken.
• Pour onto a greased hot griddle and cook on each side until little bubbles form and the pancake is golden brown. 

I like to make these pancakes in a large Pyrex liquid measuring cup because it makes pouring so much easier!

Waffles:

• Ingredients:
• 2 1/2 cups mix
• 2 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups oil
• Directions:
• Whisk ingredients together and let stand for 1-2 minutes to thicken.
• Pour onto a greased hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. 

Some More Tips:

• I use #10 cans or ice cream buckets for storing my larger mixes. Make sure you LABEL!
• I always write the original recipe (for the large mix that fills the can) on the can or print it off and tape it on. 
• I also always write (or type and tape) the directions for use on the can as well. 

**Somehow I can't find the original source of this recipe! If it is yours let me know so I can link back to your site.**

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

This is such the perfect summer treat: chocolate cookies without having to use your oven! These cookies were a frequent favorite in my family growing up.  And I love making them in the summer time in order to keep my house cool but still get a yummy, chocolatey treat :)

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c melted margarine
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbl. cocoa
• 2 c flour

Instructions:

1. Plug in and preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine all of the ingredients, except the flour, and mix well.  
3. Slowly add in flour and mix until there are no lumps. 
4. Drop about 2 Tbl. of the batter onto one square of the waffle iron 
   
   
   
5. Close the top and bake for about 1 minute.
   
   
   
6. Carefully pull off the cookies from the waffle iron and place on a cooling rack to cool.  I usually use a small pair of tongs or a fork to pull my cookies off.  
   
   
   
7. After your cookies have cooled frost with the following recipe.

Ingredients (Frosting):

• 1/2 c butter or margarine
• 1/2 c cocoa
• 6 Tbl. milk
• 3 3/4 c powdered sugar

Instructions (Frosting):

1. Mix butter, cocoa and milk in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly
2. After it is boiling, take it off the stove and slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time until desired thickness is reached.

Super Simple Guacamole

I never used to like guacamole.  That is until last Christmas.  Ben and I were staying at his parents' house over break and we wanted to go on a detox diet.  I found one that I thought I could do (in case you didn't know, I can be quite the picky eater) that mostly involved eating fruits, veggies and drinking 10 cups of water per day.  It was perfect to do at Ben's house because his family is on the GAPS diet so they eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

Anyways...on the last night of our diet we were allowed to have one small homemade hamburger.  Ben put guacamole on his and said I should try it.  I did and loved it.  At the time I thought it was just because I was starving and I thought anything besides clementines tasted amazing but it turns out I really do like guacamole (and hamburgers, but that's another story for another day).

With it being summertime, I thought I'd share a recipe I got from Ben's mom (thanks Bonnie!) that I tweeked a little bit.  It turned out so yummy!

Guacamole Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 medium tomato
• 2 medium avocados
• 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/2 onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic

Directions:

1. Dice your tomato, avocados and onion and mince your garlic cloves
2. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mash to desired consistency (I used a potato masher). Or you can put all of the ingredients into a food processor and process until desired consistency.

How easy is that? Also, I had read online that if you keep the pits of the avocados in the guacamole, it prevented it from turning brown.  I tried it and it totally worked! It did still brown but it was at least 5 days before it did so; waaaay longer than if you leave it without the pits.  

Sausage Cheese Balls

These are one of our favorite foods of all time.  I had these at my graduation party and at my wedding reception.  They are such a yummy snack and are super easy to make and store.  They are the perfect breakfast, snack, appetizer or whatever you want them to be.

Sausage Cheese Balls (Adapted from Betty Crocker)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Bisquick Mix (I used a homemade Bisquick Mix and it works great)
• 1 lb. pork sausage (feel free to use whatever kind of sausage you want)
• 2-4 cups of shredded cheese (I usually use about 2 cups of Colby Jack cheese)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup milk (you may need more depending on the consistency of your mixture)
• Parsley 
• Garlic Powder
• Any other spices you may want

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; spray a rimmed cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. Stir together all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl using a spoon.  You may end up needing to use your hands.  All of the ingredients should be well incorporated and wet.  If your dough is too crumbly, add a little bit more milk; if it is too sticky, add a little bit more Bisquick until desired consistency. 
3. Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop up mixture and place onto greased cookie sheet in 1"-2" balls.  
4. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

The great thing about these is that you can prepare them ahead of time and freeze either the cooked or uncooked balls.  Here are some tips for storing/reheating them:

• You can freeze the uncooked balls for 1 month.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
• You can keep the uncooked balls for 24 hours in the fridge.  Bake as directed.
• You can freeze the cooked balls for 1 month.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.
• You can keep cooked balls in the fridge for about a week.  We usually microwave about 5 at a time for 30-45 seconds to reheat them.  Or you can reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes.  
  
  
  

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

On Thursday and Friday I attended an educational leadership conference for work here in Provo.  It was an amazing two days where I learned a lot more about becoming a great teacher from amazing speakers.  It's things like this that are definitely remind me that I am on the right career path :)

Because of this conference I was gone for the better part of the day on Thursday and Friday meaning that I had little time to do my normal things like cleaning the house and cooking dinner.  In steps my wonderful husband :) Thursday when I came home, our living room was completely spotless, totally organized and vacuumed! Friday I came home and Ben had prepared one of our favorite, quick, go-to meals (and one of my greatest Pinterest discoveries): Crock Pot Baked Potatoes.

I originally found the idea here.

Ingredients:

• however many potatoes you want/will fit in your crock pot
• whatever sort of toppings you want

Directions:

1. Scrub and dry your potatoes
2. Wrap in aluminum foil
3. Place in Crock Pot
4. Turn Crock Pot on low and cook for 7-8 hours* or on high for 3-4 hours**
5. Once they are done, pull them out and put all the yummy toppings on them that you want

*We normally cook between 2 and 4 potatoes (depending on the size) and since we are at school for so long some days we usually end up keeping these in the Crock Pot on low for close to 12 hours and we have never had any problems with them

**When we have cooked them on high, they do cook faster but be warned that the skins will get really, really tough in some places (usually the side they are sitting on when they are being cooked)

Also note that the more potatoes you have in your Crock Pot generally means that you will need to cook your potatoes for longer in order for them all to get soft.

Don't these just look delicious?!

Our favorite toppings are butter, onions, cheese, sour cream and green and/or red peppers.

YUM!

Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Cake

Since Ben and I are both students, we need things to eat that are fast and simple.  When we were first married that meant eating cereal or toast every day for breakfast before we went to school.  After a few weeks of this (and an amazingly large amount of cereal had been consumed) I decided that I wanted to make breakfasts for us to eat during the week.  I was determined to make a breakfast on Sunday that could be stored and re-heated during the week for our breakfasts.

We both love cinnamon rolls but they are ridiculously time consuming and I haven't quite mustered up the energy to attempt to make some for us to eat, so when I saw this recipe for Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Cake I just had to try it!

It is super simple and it was great to pop a piece in the microwave for 15 seconds in the morning and have a yummy, warm, cinnamon roll for breakfast.

Ingredients: 

• Cake
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine (melted)
• Cinnamon Swirl
• 1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbl. flour
• 1 Tbl. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla together in a medium sized bowl.
3. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup melted butter.
4. Pour into a 9x13 pan that has been greased
5. Make the cinnamon swirl by mixing the softened butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together.
6. Evenly pour over the top of your cake batter in the pan.
7. Take a knife and slowly swirl the cinnamon mixture into the batter.  Don't swirl too much or it will all sink to the bottom (not that I know that from experience or anything...)
8. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

The original recipe called for a glaze to be poured over the top (you can find the glaze recipe in the link above) but Ben and I found that it made the cake too soggy and didn't really add that much extra flavor to the cake.  

Homemade Pretzels and Cheese Sauce

For those of you who do not know, Ben loves pretzels.  When we were at his parents' house over Christmas, we were playing a game and Ben had to list 3 things that he loved.  He said 1) me; 2) pretzels; and 3) cheese.  This shows you how much he loves them.

One Sunday a few weeks after we were married, I asked Ben what sounded good for dinner.  His suggestion was pretzels.  After I told him I had had a recipe for that he was ecstatic.  It has become at tradition of sorts for me to make pretzels at least once a month, usually on Sunday since that is when I have the most time.

Pretzel Bites :)

Below is the recipe that I use to make pretzels/pretzel bites as well as a yummy cheese sauce to go with them.

Homemade Pretzels/Pretzel Bites
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (it should be around the maximum heat you can dip your fingers in and not burn them)
• 1 T. sugar
• 2 t salt
• 2 1/4 t yeast (1 pkg. yeast)
• 4-4 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

1. Mix warm water, sugar, salt and yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes or until the mixture gets all bubbly.
2. In a large bowl add flour 1 cup at a time to the yeast mixture and mix using a dough hook either on your standing mixer or a hand mixer.  Keep adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky. You may need to use your hands at some point to mix the flour in. 
3. After dough is mixed, spray some plastic wrap with cooking spray and lay over the top of the bowl.  Set in a warm place and let rise for about an hour.  The dough should have doubled in size/be at the top of the bowl. 
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5. After the dough has risen to the appropriate size, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
6. While the water starts boiling prepare your pretzels in 1 of 2 methods.
• Traditional Pretzel Method:
1. Cut dough into about 8 equal sized pieces.
2. Roll out each piece into a long rope between 18 and 24 inches long.
3. Make a "U" with the pretzel dough rope.
4. Bring the two ends towards each other and twist them around each other 2-3 times.
5. Put the ends on the lower part of the pretzel and push so they will stay together.
• Pretzel Bite Method:
1. Cut dough into about 8 equal sized pieces.
2. Roll our each piece into a long rope about 18 inches long.
3. Using kitchen shearers or a knife cut the rope into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces.
7. When water is boiling place 2-3 pretzels or 8-10 bites in the pot. Boil until they float to the top.  (About 30 seconds for pretzels or 10-15 seconds for the bites).
8. Remove with a slotted spoon from water and place on paper towels to drain.  
9. Once drained, place on cookie sheets.
10. Top with melted butter or beaten egg and salt.  Bake for 12-14 minutes. 

When I'm making traditional pretzels I usually like to make them with different flavors.  Some of our favorites are:

• Parmesan Garlic: Sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan cheese
• Cheesy Jalepeño: Top with jalepeños and shredded cheese (when we don't have japalenños we like to add diced green chilies)
• Cinnamon Sugar: Sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

Now for the cheese sauce :)

Pretzel Cheese Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 T butter or margarine
• 1 T flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 clove of garlic or 1-2 T of garlic powder
• 1 cup cheese (we usually use Colby Jack)

Directions:

1. Melt butter and whisk in flour until smooth.
2. Whisk in milk making sure the mixture stays smooth.
3. Add garlic.
4. Switch stirring to a spoon and continue to stir for about 15 minutes until sauce has thickened.
5. Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring until melted and incorporated. 

For a little bit spicier cheese sauce (which we both love!) we like to add in a finely diced jalapeño or some green chilies.  Add these in with the garlic. 

Pretzel source here.

Cheese Sauce source here. 

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

Not a ton to report this week.  School and work were extremely busy for both of us.  For fun we went to dinner with my dad who was in town and my grandma; our friends Sydney and Jon came over on Friday night for games and treats and last night we went to the temple.

Because nothing super amazing/exciting happened (and because I have been awful about taking pictures lately), Ben said I should post about something I made for dinner this week.

I've been toying around with the idea of starting a food blog so I guess I'll see if I like doing that here first :)

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers:
Ingredients:

• 4-6 bell peppers (I used 4 red ones, but they were HUGE!)
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 2 cloves of garlic (I usually use minced garlic from a giant container we got at Sam's)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained a little bit (I used a can that also had green chiles in it)
• shredded cheese
• Valentina sauce

Instructions:

• Cook the rice in whatever method you prefer. (I love using my rice cooker)
• As the rice is cooking, wash and dry the peppers then cut the tops off of the peppers and scoop out the core, seeds and other yucky parts.  Save the tops for later.
• Dice the onion and sauté in heated oil with garlic until transparent.
• While the onions are cooking, go back to the pepper tops and cut out the green stem.  Chop the pepper tops into pieces.
• After onions are almost transparent, add the chopped pepper tops and continue to cook for a few minutes.
• Add in the can of tomatoes.  Mix until heated through.
• Once your rice is done, add some Valentina sauce to the rice until it reaches your desired level of spiciness.  (If you are using tomatoes with green chilies you may want to not add as much though, those chilies can be quite strong!)
• Mix the rice and veggies together.  After the mixture has cooled a bit, add a couple handfuls of shredded cheese.

• Stuff your peppers with spoonfuls of the rice and veggie mixture.  Make sure to really stuff them! Top with some shredded cheese if desired.
• Pull out your crock pot and add between 1/2 and 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom.  Then, nestle in your peppers next to each other.  I liked to lean a few up against the outside wall of the crock and then lean the others next to those.  
• Cook on low for 4-6 hours. 

You can definitely alter and play with the stuffing of these peppers.  I based this recipe off of this recipe I found online and I got the idea for cooking them in the crock pot from this website.