Homemade Pancakes made from scratch

I enjoy a batch of light fluffy pancakes.  Since I don't live close to a Cracker Barrel, or a Ihop,and our volunteer fire dept only makes theirs in Sept for 3 weekends. I had to figure out how to make them myself, without having to use the premixed box type. They have a stale taste compared to the fresh from scratch type.

First let me tell you that all flours are not the same. I prefer using White Lily Flour ,bleached, all purpose. It is made from the winter wheat crop which makes it very light and tender flour for baking. I use it for cake baking also, not all stores carry this flour. It can be found in most any place if you live in the south.

Second the pan you use needs to have a thick bottom, which lays flat on the stove top. It must be brought to temperature slowly, or the pan will warp.

Ingredients: 1 cup White Lily Flour or Swanson Cake Flour

. 3 teaspoons baking powder. 

1 tablespoon sugar

. 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

1 beaten egg. 

1 cup milk

. 2 tablespoons canola oil.

Place flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, in large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients till well blended. Add liquids, egg, milk, oil. mix with spoon till blended, leave a few little dry lumps in the batter.

Check pan for heat, by dropping a drop of water on it. It should dance across the pan. Add non-stick spray before adding batter. I use a ladle to spoon the batter into the hot pan, it makes the pancakes more uniform size. Let pancake collect bubbles like in the photo before turning over.

Enjoy with a pad of butter, and your favorite syrup.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

What do you do with over cooked  broccoli? Of course you make cream of broccoli soup. It's a way to save food that would be too gross to eat , or would wind up in the trash. Serve it hot with grill cheese fingers, and avocado slices, crispy bacon.

I prefer my broccoli cooked more on the crispy side. My husband Toby asked me to cook his broccoli more, and this was the results. Over cooked broccoli..

Ingredients.

 1 medium onion chopped,

 3 tablespoons butter,

 5 cloves fresh garlic chopped,

 3 tablespoons flour,

 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper,

 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, 

1/4 teaspoon salt, 

12 0z can evaporated milk,

 1 cup water, 2 cups milk,

 1/2 cup of shredded cheese Monterrey pepper jack,

 1 chopped avocado for garnish.

 

Place large pot on medium heat. Melt butter saute onions, and garlic till onions are translucent. Make a rue by adding flour, black pepper, salt, till slightly browned.

Then add evaporated milk, milk, water, thyme, boil till soup thickens, for about 30 minutes. Remove soup from heat add shredded cheese. Garnish with sliced avocados. Enjoy!

How to Freeze Blackberries

My first experience with fresh picked blackberries, was when I went to my mother-in-laws home in Oregon. The berries grow wild, they are plump sweet, and burst in to flavor when you bite them. At that time I was living in Arizona, I wanted so much to bring home fresh blackberries.

The first time I brought a cooler from home to try to bring home my blackberry treasure, I put the berries in a bag, on ice.placed them in the cooler. But half way home from Oregon , the berries turned to mush.

 Next I tried just taking them home in a open airy container, with the same results. I also tried freezing them just to wind up with blackberry soup. I came to the conclusion that blackberries are very perishable, and they don't travel well.




I now live in Virginia, and have wild blackberries all over the property. The local mountain  people have educated me on how to freeze blackberries properly. The fresh berries don't travel well, but I can make them into jams, cobblers, and pies. In or out of season.

Place blackberries on a baking sheet one layer. Place into freezer for 1 hour to freeze.

Now the berries have frozen separately, gather up scoop into freezer bag.

Label bag, put back in freezer. Now you can take out as much as you want. They won't freeze up in one big clump.

Raggedy Anne with Gingerbread Cookie

I found this adorable pattern which had both the Raggedy Anne Doll holding a gingerbread cookie, perfect for my kitchen. This pattern is by You are Speacial/Sam's Stitcherys.  Out of Starke, FL It came out good the instructions were easy to follow. I liked that it had ruff edges, which means less sewing. It also had some painting which I like to do. It took me about a day to put together.


Cut out pattern, sew each piece, turn inside out.

Turn inside out, I use a stick.

Here are the arms stuffed, top half sewn.

The body stuffed, all the way.

Here's where the fun begins, tack felt nose on. I also added orange chalk to give cheeks a rosie look. I stitched a mouth. that' s where the doll starts getting her personality.

I wrapped red yarn here 5 times around my hand, tied a piece of yarn to the top, then cut all the yarns, which gave me 12 strands, which I then sewed to the doll's head.

Add 2 large black buttons for eyes, add stitching for eyebrows and eyelashes.

Also tear pieces of the the material used for the dress, and tie into hair of doll.

The dress is real simple cut on the folds , no hemming, raw edges on sleeves and bottom.

The gingerbread cookies are cut out sewed, cut slit in back, fill with cotton fiber.

Chicken Cacciatore

This dish is one of the dinners which my dad requested quite often. When ever I make this dish it reminds me of dad. It's a tomato base dinner which  goes delicious over white rice. It is a quick dish for those who have limited amounts of time to get supper on the table for the family.

Ingredients: 

1 chicken cut up.

 2  tablespoons olive oil,

 5 tomatoes chopped, 

1 bell pepper yellow , 

red or green.

 1 medium onion chopped. 

6 cloves of garlic chopped, 

1/2 cup green olives, 

1/4 teaspoon salt,

1/4 teaspoon pepper, 

1 teaspoon Italian seasonings.

 2 cups rice, 

3 cups water.

 Place olive oil in pan, fry chicken on medium  hot heat for 20 minutes till browned. Remove from pan set to the side. Use same pan leaving the chicken drippings. Add onions, garlic, bell peppers, cook till soften. Then add tomatoes, italian seasonings, green olives, return chicken to the pan also. Add salt, and pepper. The sauce will start to thicken and melt into the vegatables, and meat. Should take another 10 minutes to cook. Check chicken for doneness before removing from heat.

I use my rice cooker to make the rice, 2 cups of rice to 3 cups of water, add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Press start button. You will have soft fluffy rice in 20 minutes. I like to serve this dish over rice.

Update on Baby Birds

Today is 10 Days later an  update to my baby bird story.  As we were leaving for our Tuesday night meeting we heard a tiny chirping coming from the corner of our porch. Looks like at least one of the baby bird survived.
He couldn't fly very well , and he was staying close to the porch. His little legs were still wobbly.
He was trying hard to be friendly, but I think he was too scared. I got a quick snap shot of him. Is that a cute baby bird or what?

Baby Birds

Several years ago my daughter-in-law Angela had given me a beautiful bird house which she had hand painted her self. I hung it out side by the entrance of the front porch.  Many a Chickadee's  had made this little bird house their roosting sanctuary in the spring.

This morning as I was packing to get ready for my trip to Chicago. 

My husband called me over to look at something . What I saw was this, 3 baby birds squirming on my front porch.floor. They had no feathers, they had big belly's and closed bulgy eyes. Apparently they had fallen out of their nest, or were pushed out.

I did want to rescue these little fellows. I had always heard never to touch a wild animal ,or the mother animal would reject them and let them die. We used a piece of firm card stock, slipped it under each bird one at the time placing them back into the bird house. Then we noticed that there were 2 more baby birds a little further away. Again we slipped the card stock under them also, and put them back into the bird house. We found one more laying on the dirt, it must have missed the porch  falling all the way to the ground, making it a total of 6 baby birds which we rescued.

I am puzzled does any one know why the birds were lying on my porch instead of being cozy in their bird house? Did all 6 birds accidentally fall out of the entrance hole? Did the mother bird toss them out? Was it a strong wind which shook them out? Does anyone out there know? Please I would like to be educated.

We did notice after we placed the baby birds back, the mother bird came back, chirping at us like she was thanking us. My theory is maybe a predatory bird tossed them out. All I know for sure is that the mother bird had no way to pick them up. I hope the baby birds survive, I won't know till I return from my trip. See part 2 to this story baby bird part 2