Homemade Pancake Mix

I discovered this probably 4 years ago and it is amazing in its simplicity.  I usually buy the boxed pancake mix but really I have the stuff for pancakes on hand, I just never knew how to make it.  Nigella to the rescue again!

Pancake Mix --Nigella Lawson
4 cups flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Mix together and store in an airtight container.

I have to keep them separate so that I can remember what I've already put in.  You can see I've added some cinnamon here.  We go through a lot of cinnamon in this house.

Sweet Pea always at the ready to help stir.  She loves to wear an apron.

All set for breakfast.

So to actually make the mix you'll need:

1 cup mix
1 egg
1 cup water
1 tablespoon melted butter

Mix it all together and cook the pancakes.

These pancakes are a little different than what we "Statesiders" think of.  They are bit runnier, thinner but still really lovely, Nigella is British after all, so it stands to reason it would be a bit different.

Pillow cases

Last month we decided to let Sweet Pea have a pillow in her bed when she moved into a toddler bed. I had the perfect pillow that my sister had made to match a quilt but since the main color was white I thought it needed a case.

What you'll need to do is measure your pillow and then add a 4 inches to the length and 2 to the width. After you've got it measured and cut; fold over and press the the top part about a 1/4 inch. Take the fabric for the cuff and fold it in half. Pin the raw edge of the cuff on the inside of the longer part and sew it around. Then pin the right sides and sew it together. Turn it right side out and your are done.

The second pillowcase I pinned the cuff to the longer part right sides together but the bottom of the cuff is at the longer side so that the cuff will flip over when it is sewn on. Then pin the sides (right sides together) and sew together. Turn right side out. Then fold and press the top part and do a top stitch.
Now that she has had a pillow there is no going back. She always asks for it now.

Easy kid lunch

I'm always looking for quick and easy lunches to make for Sweet Pea and me when we are home. Our largest meal of the day is dinner so I try to keep lunch light. I've made this before and it went over well with her so here it is again.

Pasta with Ham and Peas by Nigella Lawson
7 oz pasta
2/3 cup frozen peas
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup diced ham
2 tablespoons crated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta and after 5 minutes put the peas in the water to boil. Drain and set aside. Put the cream, cheese and ham into the pan and warm through. Add the pasta and peas to the pan, stir together.

I love this lady, I want to be her when I grow up. Also this is a really lovely cookbook!

I made it a bit bigger so we could have lunch tomorrow too. Chopping up the ham, measuring the other stuff, looks good.
I used carrot and peas because I'm always trying to get more veggies in where I can! I love how it looks with the camera steamed up a bit.
I added some pepper and paprika when I was heating the cheese and cream, as I find it need a little bit more of a punch.

The finished product with a bit of cheese on top.
Sweet Pea at almost her whole dish, which is amazing in itself and was not taking small bites at all. In fact when I thought she was done and tried to take the bowl she freaked out on me a little.

Crockpot dinners

I really hate coming home from work and having to rush around to make dinner while the little one hangs off me legs asking for stuff, whining, and wanting my attention.  Not that I blame her, it just makes things a little crazy.  The crockpot comes to the rescue in these cases.  And of course in the winter it is like a bonus because usually they are comfort foods cooking away.

Today we had another snow day, I left and attempted to go to work, but the roads were not so very clear and the little one and I turned around and took the day off.  Since I had the roast ready I planned to make today I made it anyway.  I just chopped an onion, the beef was liberally seasoned with salt and pepper then some oregano.  Next came the carrots, potato and celery, a bit of garlic salt and a small can of beef broth. 





 
I think I'll maybe make some rolls or be lazy and give them bread to go with it.

Skirt!

I made what I intended to be a skirt for Valentine's day but it will fit Sweet Pea in about 3 years. Oops. Still, it was pretty easy and it turned out so cute. It only takes 2 fat quarters, 1in elastic and optional ric rac.

Here is the link for the tutorial. And here is the version I made. I also learned to how to make pleats on the fly and it was easier than I would have ever thought. I did make a few mistakes but I really feel like I'm learning a lot via trail and error.

The Confessional: Part One

I do not like sugar cookies, or at least I didn't until I found a great recipe.  I always thought they were bland, boring, dry and hard.  But Alton Brown changed my mind.  Here the the recipe I now use and I think the biggest difference lies in the fact that you roll it out on powdered sugar and cut it thick for soft, delicious cookies!

Here is is resembling pie crust, it is a bit crumbly.  When I is done cooling I like to warm it back up a smidge so it rolls out easier.

The icing is a whole 'nother story.  I like this recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots (love that blog) because it is simple and the icing gets set up on the top but is still soft on the under part.

I'm still working on learning to decorate better but my daughter and I both love sprinkles so they cover any sins.

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The only thing better

Than a great book is a great series!  My newest favorite one is by Deanna Raybourn, the Lady Julia Novels in particular.  They are history murder mysteries with a splash of romance thrown in, set in Victorian England.  I like that the main character Julia progresses from a bit of a mouse to a strong woman.  She is rather likable even though at times she can be rather selfish and annoying.  She frequently get frustrated about stuff, particularly when it comes to Nicholas Brisbane (the inquiry agent/love interest) and I can so relate.  Anyway I don't want to give away too much but I really enjoyed it!


In order:
Silent in the Grave
Silent in the Sanctuary
Silent in the Moor
Dark Road to Darjeeling

Biscuits

Dinner the other night was bean soup (yum) and since I needed something to go with it. Since I didn't have any in the fridge (ha, don't judge ;)) I checked out Food Network's website as I've had luck there before.

So here is the recipe by Alton Brown. I think the next cookbook I get will be by him, I've liked the recipes I've tried of his.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minute

My helper mixing it up
This is how it looks after you work the butter and shortening into the flour mixture.

Add the milk (I didn't have buttermilk so I used 1 tablespoon white vinegar into a liquid measuring cup and filled the rest to 1 cup with milk, let it sit 5 minutes without stirring)

Then drop out onto the floured surface and kneed a little

Cut out biscuits.

Fresh!We ate our with butter and honey and it was delicious. Particularly with the soup!

Hand warmers for those snowy cold days

On Monday and Tuesday I have to take Sweet Pea to daycare so that I can get a guaranteed two days out of the house to work. :) Since the weather is quite cold I thought it would be nice to have pocket hand warmers on those cold mornings. I also made a bigger one that I could put at the foot of the bed.

Things you'll need:
Some scraps of fabric. I used some leftover flannel in about a 6x6in
Rice-get the cheap stuff or use leftover

So pin your fabric, right sides together.

Then sew two sides and most of the third don't forget to back stitch. Then turn it right side out. Then fill with rice. I used a funnel and put it over a bowl, it is going to be a bit messy.
Then just sew it closed tucking in the raw edges.And there you go!
Just pop it in the microwave oven for a minute (for little hands) or two for those who can handle the heat. I think next time I made some I would add some dried lavender or rosemary. The rice does have a scent but it isn't bad, it would just be so lovely with some lavender in my opinion.

Quick Valentine's Day Project

I'm thinking a pin for me and a hair clip for Sweet Pea. I just cut out the hearts free hand and then layered them and did a straight stitch down the center.

For the backing of your choice (pin, hair clip) just glue on with tacky, hot glue, or whatever you have on hand.

Appliquéd shirts

Got a shirt that that is just plain, boring or stained? Well, if you have a child I'm sure you do. This particular shirt is for Valentines' Day.

First I ironed the fabric onto interfacing, then traced the cookie cutter.Cut out the shape then pin onto the shirt.Using a zig zag stitch go around the shape. When you come to corners put the pin down and lift up the foot so that the shape stays in place.And then you are done!
I find cookie cutters are great to get basic shapes, but I also free hand lots of stuff and get images from online. Since it is for personal use only I'm not worried about copyright infringement.

Here are a few I've done on other shirts. I think they are pretty fun to do.
This one had a stain, the image came from Martha Stewart's websiteOwl is a cookie cutter the branch freehand.
Freehand
Cookie cutter with extra embroidery.

Valentine cone

I'm so not as fancy as Martha Stewart, but I sure love the ideas her people come up with. Don't roll your eyes just yet. I only have one baby, who may or may not be my only and I want to be able to spoil her once in a while.

So follow the tutorial at MS, or like me just grab some poster board at your local dime store and just roll it up.

Then fill it with all kids of goodies. I tried to get a variety of little items to cram in. Sweet Pea really liked the slinky that her cousin got for Christmas so I picked one up for her. I did get quite a few more things but they wouldn't all fit, so I just had to pick and choose.


Here she is holding onto it, so that I could get a decent background. Well, you get the general idea.

Snow day!

Except I already had the day off. I went out to shovel the sidewalk so that my mail lady could get to the door at the very least. Unfotunatly, The Mr. is off to a conference (which I had to cancel going to, bummer!) so that means I'm doing snow removal. I did not get the driveway done and it is looking like it is going to need a truck to plow it. It is also drifting so I could not get the back door open and when I went for the shovel in the garage I had to hand dig my way in. In parts it is up to mid thigh on me, so getting 3-4 feet tall.


The worst part was we ran out of milk on Monday night so I had to go to the store with all the crazy people on Tuesday afternoon. I've never seen a milk cooler so empty.
Enjoying the view.