National Pancake Day

My Chris grew up on these German pancakes and now he is practicing making them for his daughter by making them for me. They take a little practice but the practice will definitely pay off because they are super yummy!

German Pancakes

6 large eggs

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

Butter

Powdered sugar

Jelly

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Beat eggs with electric mixer; add flour and milk alternately, small amounts at a time. Add salt and sugar; beat until blended. Pour enough batter in hot cast iron skillet to cover bottom generously; brown in oven.

Turn over into another hot iron skillet; place in oven.

Bake until puffy, crispy and brown; batter will rise up on sides of skillet, making shell. Spread butter on shell; sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spread with jelly. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings

Did You Know ... ?

I love helpful little hints and ideas when it comes to the kitchen. I must add in a clause here though - I have not personally tried all of these kitchen tips and hints. Hopefully they are good ones and do work for you though. Happy Monday!

1. For cleaning smelly hands after chopping onions or garlic, just rub them on a stainless steel spoon. The steel is supposed to absorb the odor.

2. If you happen to over-salt a pot of soup, just drop in a peeled potato. The potato will absorb the excess salt.

3. Never put citrus fruits or tomatoes in the fridge. The low temperatures degrade the aroma and flavor.

4. Don't store your bananas in a bunch or in a fruit bowl with other fruits. Separate your bananas and place each in a different location. Bananas release gases which cause fruits (including other bananas) to ripen quickly. Separating them will keep them fresh longer.

5. To clean crevices and corners in vases and pitchers, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets. The bubbles will do the scrubbing.

6. After boiling pasta or potatoes, cool the water and use it to water your house plants. The water contains nutrients that your plants will love.

7. If your loaf of bread is starting to go stale, just put a piece of fresh celery in the bag and close it back up. For some reason, this restores a fresh taste and texture to the bread.

8. When making a soup, sauce, or casserole that ends up too fatty or greasy, drop in an ice cube. The ice will attract the fat, which you can then scoop out.

9. Freeze tomato paste in the can. Open both ends and punch out the paste. Wrap the frozen past in foil and freeze, then slice off what you need as you need it.

10. A jar lid or a couple of marbles in the bottom half of a double-boiler will rattle when the water gets low and warn you to add more before the pan scorches or burns.

Love ... and Chocolate!

It's Valentine's Day, don't worry about starting your day off healthy. It's a day of love ... and chocolate!

Chocolate Waffles

1 ¹/₂ cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

¹/ ₂ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¹/ ₂ teaspoon baking soda

3 whole eggs, beaten

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature

**See recipe below for a buttermilk substitute.**

³/ ₄ cup chocolate chips

Vegetable spray (for waffle iron)

**For each cup of buttermilk, you can use 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice plus enough milk to measure 1 cup. Stir, then let stand for 5 minutes. You can also use 1 cup of plain yogurt or 1 ³/ ₄ teaspoons cream of tartar plus 1 cup milk.**

Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl beat together the eggs and melted butter and vanilla, and then add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir in the chocolate chips just until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the center of the iron. Close the iron top and cook until the waffle is crispy on both sides and is easily removed from iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.

Good topped with fresh fruit and a little whipped topping for breakfast or enjoy with ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert (or maybe breakfast).

Might As Well Make Use Of It

It may not be "Valentines-y" but since some of you (like me) are getting hammered and I repeat, hammered, with snow, I thought I would share this recipe for Snow Ice Cream.

2 quarts snow

1 cup sugar (or less depending on how sweet you want it - I thought 1 cup was a little much)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon milk (or until it reaches the consistency you desire)

Mix all together and enjoy.

Ps: Once again, avoid the yellow snow.

I do not have a personal picture. We use sugar in the raw which makes the ice cream turn out brown (and gritty) and we all know brown snow ice cream is just not appetizing. :)

Valentine Bingo

This would be a fun game to play either at breakfast or dinner as a family on Valentine's Day.

Valentine Bingo

Supplies:

*Bingo Cards

*Bingo words, cut into squares

*Red hots or a small candy, such as M&M's, for markers

Here are 3 different Bingo cards but feel free to make your own. Idea: add in children's names, special nicknames or phrases special to your family to the Bingo words. The last picture is the bingo words used on the cards below. Simply cut out and put in a Valentine's bag.

Just right click on the picture and choose save picture as to save to your desktop. Print from there.