Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Breakfast food....yummo! Breakfast is such a comfort food for me, I don't know what it is...perhaps it takes me back to when I was young, sitting in my grandma's kitchen with other visiting cousins while she made us delicious pancakes for breakfast. And all the while we were arguing over who got the "normal" pancakes and who was stuck with the buckwheat ones :)

Ingredients...

...1 1/2 c. flour

...3 1/2 t. baking powder

...1 t. salt

...1 T. white sugar

...1 1/4 c. milk (I always end up using closer to 1 1/2 c. as the batter comes out really thick with only 1 1/4...)

...1 egg

...3 T. butter, melted

Directions...

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter. Mix until smooth. Cook on a lightly oiled griddle or pan over medium heat. Use approximately 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook until brown on both sides.

To see more comfort food recipes check out the Recipe Swap going on over at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Chicken Broccoli Divan

This was....well...it could use some tweaking. But with the tweaks, this has the potential to be a keeper in my book!

Ingredients...

...Broccoli (the recipe called for 1 lb. I used 1 bag of Steamers plus one head of fresh.
...1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat
...1 (10.85) oz can Cream of Broccoli Soup (I didn't have any, so I used Cream of Chicken)
...1/3 c. Milk
...1/2 c. Shredded Cheese
...1 T. butter, melted
...2 T. bread crumbs

Directions...

Preheat oven to 350*. Boil Broccoli (skip this step if using steamers like I did. Just steam according to package directions). Place Broccoli in bottom of casserole dish. Layer shredded chicken on top. In a seperate bowl, whisk together milk and soup, pour over chicken. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. In a small bowl combine butter and crumbs. Sprinkle over top of cheese. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven, or until cheese is bubbly and lightly brown.

My Thoughts...

This was missing something. Spices. When I reheated this for lunch the next day, I mixed in a bit of garlic powder and it really added that missing "something". I think next time I'll add garlic powder and some chopped onion. I also felt that it was missing some sort of a "carb" or "starch" I think next time I will layer some cooked noodles or rice on the bottom before the broccoli. I think that will make this a little more "meal like". I also think that next time I will be stirring the broccoli and chicken into the soup mixture. It just felt too seperated and layered with nothing combined. Otherwise, this is definetely a keeper recipe...it was delish!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Mmmmm! This was so good! We have homemade pizza night and I was eager to try this! It was good, and hubs liked it too!

I swear I took a picture of the ingredients, but it disappeared off my camera *shrugs*

Ingredients...

...Pizza Crust (I used a Jiffy Mix)

...Cooked, Shredded Chicken (I used about a half of a chicken breast)

...BBQ Sauce

...Shredded Cheese

Prepare crust according to directions. Spread BBQ sauce evenly on crust. Add shredded chicken. Top with cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

I served this with fresh pineapple and homemade garlic bread, which was just some buttered hamburger buns and sprinkled with garlic powder and cheese. I just threw it into the oven for the last five minutes of the pizza time.

DELISH! I give this 5 stars!!

To see more great recipes using 5 ingredients or less, check out Five Ingredient Fridays over at Paige's Place!

Homemade Hot Pockets

We love hot pockets! But we don't love the price! I began thinking a month or so ago about how I could homemake them, and stumbled upon a recipe just a few days later (which, by the way, was basically the same as I was planning them out in my head....)

(sorry, I didn't get a picture of the ingredients...I didn't even think of it until after I got them all mixed up, so, below you will see a picture of the filling...)

Ingredients

Pizza Crust (I used a Jiffy mix...)
Pizza Sauce (one jar, but you won't use all of it)
Cheese (however much you want)
Fillings of your liking (veggies, pepperoni, sausuage, whatever you want! We used pepperoni and sausage...)

Directions

Make crust according to directions. Do not bake yet. Roll out and cut with biscuit cutter (I just tore mine in half as I only wanted to make two bigger ones for our supper). Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, place the meats/veggies and cheese. Pour in just enough sauce until it's kind of "pasty"...you don't want it too runny or it will be messy!

Place a scoop of the mixture on each cut out circle. Place another circle on top and pinch the edges together.

Bake at 425* for about 10 minutes (keep an eye on it as ovens all cook differently!)

The finished product! This was DELISH! Hubs told me he gave it a 10 on a scale of 1-10 and he asked me to please make it again (and thats only a request I get on my REALLY good meals!). I thought that these were by far better than store boughten Hot Pockets!

Crockpot Mexican Breakfast Casserole

This was good...but you need to follow the recipe...I made the mistake of not doing so, and regretted it! The ingredients...

~ Tortillas (the recipe calls for corn, I used wheat and it tasted fine)
~ 8 eggs
~ 2 cups fat free milk (I forgot to put it in the picture...but I used powdered milk, like I do in all my cooking...)
~ 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
~ 1 (7-ounce) can green chiles, drained (which is what I eliminated, and regretted it!)
~ 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced (I used yellow as it was all I had on hand)
~ 1 tiny onion, diced (I used half of a large onion)
~ 1 cup corn (canned, frozen, fresh...its up to you and what you have on hand!)
~ 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional...and I did skip this one and didn't miss it)
~ 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I used table salt)
~ 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

What to Do...

Grease the inside of your crockpot. Put a layer of tortillas on the bottom (I had to tear some to make them fit evenly). In a mixing bowl, combine all of the other ingredients and whisk together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into the crockpot, on top of the first layer of tortillas. Add another layer of tortillas, and top with another 1/3 mixture. Top with third and last layer of tortillas. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for 4-5. It will be done when the eggs are fully cooked and the edges have begun to brown.

This is what it looked like all ready to eat! I had to add some taco sauce to it because without the chiles the taste was quite bland. But once I added the taco sauce it was delish! I would definetely recommend this recipe....and will for sure be trying it again! This is a great way to start off my goal of having hot breakfasts on hand each day, as it warms up quite well!