Fluffy Pancakes
Who doesn't love pancakes for supper?
My boys love it and I find it much easier to make them for supper then in the morning before school. It is to hectic to get it all done in the amount of time it takes to cook them and get out the door.

Tonight I was thinking what can I make for supper and Pancakes jumped to my mind. I figured it was time to make a new recipe as the one I was making was a thin and I am always game to try something new.
So here is what I came up with and they are by far the best I have had. They almost taste like my Grandpas. He would always make pancakes for us grand kids when we had a sleep over. As I ate them I can just picture him making them over his wood cook stove, in his cast iron pan teaching me how to make them.

I am sure you will enjoy these as much as my family did tonight. My boys all had 3 and I had to cut them off so there was enough for everyone else haha.. Boys they warm my heart! Any who to the recipe!

Fluffy Pancake Recipe 

1 1/2 cup of milk
4 Tablespoons of white vinegar (you could do 3Tbs of white vinegar and 1 Tbs Lemons Juice)
2 Cups of Flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking powder
1 Teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoon melted butter
2 eggs

Mix the Milk and Vinegar in a small bowl and let stand for 5 min to make sour milk (or just buy buttermilk and omit the vinegar. I just never have that on hand and it is cheaper to make sour milk)

In a large bowl put all the rest of the ingredient in it (Don't Mix it yet)
Once you have let the milk and vinegar set for 5 min add it to the large bowl.
Mix with a whisk just until it is mixed through.
Let stand for 10 min.
Do Not Stir after the 10 min.
Carefully scoop out the batter into the pan.
Have your heat on Medium Low to medium heat. You don't want it to high or your pancakes will burn before they are ready to turn.
When the pancakes are ready to turn you will know by the Small bubbles forming on the top of the raw batter. It is important to wait until you see them and they are starting to burst. Then flip!! Your pancake will be all done on that side now to wait a little bit for the other side to cook and your ready to eat!
I hope you enjoy these as much as our family did.
This makes about 16 small pancakes.
You can easily cut this recipe in half we needed a batch to feed 5 people.
Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Macaroni and Cheese

Who doesn't like comfort food every once and awhile? My boys have been asking for Macaroni and Cheese so tonight is the night. I can't stand boxed Mac and cheese so it is always homemade here. I thought I would share their favorite way I make it. I hope you enjoy it as much as they do.

Recipe 

1- 8 ounce package of macaroni (I used tiny shells)
4 Tbs of butter
4 Tbs of flour
salt and pepper I just throw some in but its about 1/4 tsp of pepper and 1/2 tsp of salt.
1 cup of cream (don't have cream? No worries just use milk)
1 cup of milk
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp dry mustard
bread crumbs
corn flakes (odd right? But they add a great crunch! so just crumble them and add them to the top of the macaroni)
pepperoni for topping

So cook the macaroni to the directions on the box
in a medium pan melt butter, flour, salt, pepper until smooth and melted.
Add the cream and milk cook until thick on med heat stirring constantly.
Mix in the shredded  cheese stir until the cheese is melted. (this will not take long)
Toss the cooked macaroni in the sauce.
Place in a casserole dish.
sprinkle bread crumbs and place pepperoni on top.
Bake at 350 for 20 min.
Let stand 10 min serve and enjoy!

My first attempt at refinishing furniture.

This was my great grandmothers little stand.
It was all a light color wood that had once been stained and the stain was coming off.. So I sanded the rough spots, wiped it down, primed it and painted it.

Sanded down the edges to make it look more the style of the piece. The handles were the original wooden nobs and I just used the extra spay paint from my light fixtures and painted them to match. It is a perfect little stand to put my phone book and keep everything all organized without having something huge in my kitchen.

Plus I can keep this sentimental piece and still have a stylish piece in my newly painted kitchen.

I will be redoing more pieces this summer coming summer it was so much fun.

Kitchen Light fixtures
I decided we need to take down our ugly cream fans that couldn't get clean and the globes were missing. You know the type? haha
So when I went shopping the ones I kept being drawn to were SOOO expensive way out of my price range. So I decided to go to a local second hand store to see what they might have.
When I went it there was the sign that made me do a little dance and walk a little faster 50% OFF all light fixtures!!!
Don't you love those types of deals?
So I went back to see if anything was left. There wasn't any that matched which I didn't expect there to be but a woman can hope right? But these two were on the opposite sides of the store and they looked so similar that I just had to have them. I got the BOTH for a grand total of $30!

I promptly went to walmart and got a box of Jars, 2 cans of spray paint.
I hung the light fixtures from my swing set and sprayed them down..
Sprayed the lids of the jars,
got some LED candle style lights (they don't get hot!!)
My handy husband put them up for me and I LOVE how they look. Plus for less then $60 I have 2 new light fixtures. Can't beat that..
A little elbow grease and time you can create something wonderful!

Command Center

I have been looking on pinterest and seeing all the wonderful command centers everyone has made. This summer I repainted my kitchen and decided it was a perfect time to make my own.

So I started going to yard sales looking for frames (in the store they were expensive for the ones I wanted)
So I found some and spray painted a few and then put them up.. Now I just have to paint Menu on the 4 little white squares above the menu. And my mother made the family Birthday sign and I will add the birthdays under the month.. Makes life so easy to have it all there with chore charts, calendar, menu, chalk board and I have a little pocket calendar on my fridge in a basket to keep the upcoming events written down. Each month I write the days and the items from our little calendar on the large white erase one and we are all organized. Plus I really like seeing how fun my wall looks rather then a large empty space..
Start the new year off organized and I would love to hear how you have done your own command center.

Cloth Diapering......

I have three boys.... My first two are 8 and 9 years older then my youngest. When the two oldest were young I didn't hear that this simple way of cloth diapering was an option.
So when we had our 3rd that option was really starting to take off. So we decided to give it a try and I don't regret it one bit. It is so easy and we save so much money on diapers.
I do use disposables at night so that my boy will sleep through the night..
But during the day they are amazing almost no blowouts and he is so cute in them!
   
So it was laundry day and our dryer is on the fritz so they are getting line dried.

     Cheese ball! 

This is one of my kids favorite things to put on crackers. I always make it around Christmas time for something special.
I use to buy it and one day I found this recipe and I haven't bought one since.
It is so simple and cheaper then buying it in the store. Check out the recipe and why not try one this year?

Cheese ball recipe:

2 blocks of cream cheese
1 Package of Ranch mix
1 to 2 cups of grated Sharp cheese (or what ever you have in your house)

Take out the cream cheese out of the fridge to soften them.
Place the cream cheese then ranch in a bowl top it off with some yummy cheese.

Use a hand mixer and mix well.
Place in saran wrap and form a ball or just scoop it in a dish with a lid.. Refrigerate for an hour and then you can serve it. Your family and friends will rave about how this is the best cheese ball they have ever had!!
**Optional- after an hour in the fridge you can roll them in nuts and make it look and taste extra fancy**
*note that the picture above I had a Costco size cream cheese and I used 2/3 of it**
Happy cooking!