Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I originally found this recipe here and me and the kids love them! I get a lot of great recipes from her site. She makes them with whole wheat flour and I've just always used regular white flour.

I use her suggestion and freeze extras, then my kids can have pancakes on days that I'm too lazy to make them. :)

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 beaten eggs
2 cups milk, buttermilk or sour milk*
4 tablespoons melted butter (you can also use oil or coconut oil, but we prefer butter)
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Combine the eggs, milk and melted butter in a separate bowl.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add egg mixture and chocolate chips. Stir until just moistened.

Cook on a greased pancake griddle. Serve immediately or cool and freeze.

To freeze: Lay cooked and cooled pancakes on a baking sheet and stick in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour (until frozen). Remove from pan and place in airtight freezer bags or containers.
To thaw: Take desired number of pancakes out of freezer bags and heat one to two at a time in the microwave for one to two minutes. Or, place on a baking sheet and cook in a 350-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until heated through. Serve immediately.
Makes around 10 regular-sized pancakes. I usually double or quadruple the recipe when I make it for the freezer.

Seven Layer Salad

I love this recipe because it's a salad that you can just serve and eat.  No dressing needed!

Jordan loves it because it has bacon.

http://therehomesteaders.blogspot.com/

Perfect Pizza Crust

Rachael and I made this pizza crust when I visited her in Indiana.  I loved that you don't have to let it rise for hours on end.  It was simple and really yummy!

http://therehomesteaders.blogspot.com/

O'Henry Bars (Scotcheroos)

1 c. Sugar

1 c. Light Corn Syrup

1 1/2 c. Peanut Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

6 c. Rice Crispies

In a saucepan on medium high heat, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil.  Take off the heat, add peanut butter and stir until smooth.  Add in vanilla then pour on rice crispies in a large bowl.  Press in greased 9x13 cake pan and let cool.

For topping:

Melt 1/2 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 package of butterscotch chip.  Stir until smooth and pour over the top and let it cool.

*For thinner bars use a 11x17 cookie sheet and use a whole bag of each chocolate and butterscotch for the topping.  Sometimes I will 1.5 the recipe in a cookie sheet for a large group.

Spaghetti Pie

This is not a family recipe, I'll get to those later.  I made this Spaghetti Pie last Saturday for us, and to take to a lady in the Branch who just had a baby.  (It snowed, church was cancelled and it is currently sitting in my freezer).  It was really good, made enough for two nights with my family of 7.  I did not add the diced tomatoes :).

Breadsticks

These are the breadsticks that Mom made for us a lot growing up.  I love them because they don't require a 2 hour rise like a lot of breads. They come from the Taylorsville 30th Ward cookbook from 1991.  I think only Mom and I have this cookbook, so I thought it would be helpful to post here.  These are so fast to make, that they're an easy side dish to lots of meals!  I just made them yesterday for a visiting teaching lunch!

1 1/2 cups water (warm)
1 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
approx. 3-5 cups flour (until not sticky)
1 stick butter or margarine, melted

Mix above ingredients except butter and raise about 10 minutes (I put it in a clean, greased bowl covered with saran wrap to let rise in a warm place).  Roll out, sprinkle with flour, and place in cookie sheet with 2/3 of melted butter in bottom.  Cut dough in half and then in pieces along sides.  Let rise until double in size, 10 minutes or so.  Put rest of melted butter on top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

The first weekend Dave and I were in Wisconsin, we were sick and our bishop's wife brought us this yummy soup.  It makes a LOT, and you'll need a huge pot.  My biggest pot wasn't big enough and I was carefully stirring so as to not make THAT big of a mess.  I didn't bother cutting it in half when I made this this week, so instead I'm putting some in the freezer for later.

You can make homemade noodles for this, or, if you're like me, I just bought the homestyle egg noodles.  I would use only half a bag if you want it soupy, or a full bag if you want it more like a stew. When I made it I used the whole bag and the first night there was enough broth for us, but for leftovers there is essentially none.

This isn't difficult, just takes some time with all the veggie chopping, simmering and noodle cooking, FYI.

5 small chicken breasts (I used 3 Sam's sized, frozen ones)

12 cups water

12 bouillon cubes

1 large onion, chopped

8 stalks celery, chopped

3 cups sliced carrots

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

1 can cream of chicken soup

4 cups milk (I did a combo of milk and cream, since I had cream to use up in my fridge)

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper  (I think you'll need more salt and pepper afterwards)

1 tsp parsley

3/4 to 1 bag (16 oz) noodles 

Combine chicken, water, bouillon cubes, onion, celery and carrots.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove chicken and chop, then return to mixture.  Add noodles and boil until al dente.  In a saucepan melt butter, and add flour to make a roux.  Add a little water to roux then slowly add roux into chicken and vegetables, stirring constantly (mine wasn't thick like a paste, so I didn't have to thin it down; I just added it to the soup).  Add cream of chicken soup and milk.  After thickened add seasonings.