Homemade Baking Mix Pancakes

The other night the kids begged me to make pancakes for dinner. But, after the ridicule that I received from my friend about serving bagels for dinner, I thought better of it and promised to make them for breakfast the next morning instead. I remembered that I had some Homemade Baking Mix in the freezer and decided to use that instead of my usual pancake recipe. I laid out the recipe, the skillet, and a mixing bowl to be ready for the morning and I served them for breakfast as promised.

This recipe can also be used to make waffles, but honestly it’s not my favorite. However, still an improvement over store bought frozen waffles. I served the pancakes with our favorite homemade Cinnamon Syrup. The kids were pleased and they ate the leftovers as an after school snack.

Baking Mix Pancakes

2 cups homemade baking mix

1 cup milk

2 eggs

Add milk and egg to mix. Stir until well blended.  Drop batter onto hot buttered griddle and cook until bubbles on top pop (about 3-4 minutes). Flip and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Serve hot with butter and syrup. Yield 10-12 medium sized pancakes.

For fruit pancakes add ½ cup fruit of choice.

Mandarin Almond Chicken Salad

Photo Credit: Perdue

Remember all of that meat I told you that I cooked when my refrigerator went out on Christmas day? Well, I am still working to eat all of that up. Please know that I am not complaining though. I was very glad to have that cooked meat in my freezer last weekend when a friend unexpectedly stopped by close to dinner time. Because I had some cooked chicken on hand, I was able to put together this Mandarin Almond Chicken Salad for a quick dinner in just a few minutes. It really is nice to be able to invite someone to stay for a meal at the spur of the moment, and I’m glad that I was able to do so.

If this recipe looks good to you, you may also enjoy my favorite side salad recipe, Mandarin Almond Salad.  And, if you haven’t grown your own window sill green onions before, these two recipes will give you reason to get started!

Mandarin Almond Chicken Salad

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained

1 stalk celery, chopped

¼ cup sliced almonds

2 green onions, sliced

3-4 Tbsp. mayonnaise

Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and salt to taste. Serve over lettuce, in a tortilla, or on sandwich bread. Yield: 4 servings.

Frugal Tip: Don’t pour the juice from canned fruit down the drain. My girls both love to drink the mandarin orange juice, and other canned fruit juices can be saved to make oatmeal instead of using milk or water.

Bagels and Cupcakes

This week I was teased by a friend for serving bagels and hot cocoa to my kids for dinner. Sigh. It was one of those days. We've all had them, when we are running around trying to get everything done, trying to keep everyone happy, but have completely forgotten about dinner. Well, Monday was one of those days for me. I have two standby foods that I serve when that happens: toasted bagels with cream cheese or scrambled eggs with cheddar. Not exactly well balanced meals to be sure, but still food on the table in minutes without serving takeout.

But, it doesn't stop there. This morning I served cupcakes for breakfast. We had a birthday this week and those leftover cupcakes with OJ made everyone happy. If you are rolling your eyes right now thinking "who does this girl think she is writing a healthy food blog," then take a look at my very first blog post from October 18, 2011 and know that this behavior was predicted!

What do you serve when you have failed to plan for dinner?

Holiday Style Baked French Toast

As you know, part of my New Year’s Frugal Kitchen Goal is to reduce food waste. I’m feeling really good about our progress. Today at lunch, we ate up four different leftovers. It feels good to be filling our bellies instead of our trash can!

Last week, I tried something new to use up some leftover holiday egg nog. Instead of using milk in my Baked French Toast recipe, I substituted the egg nog. We loved it! Actually, we all preferred it over the usual recipe.  

Holiday Style Baked French Toast

5 cups bread cubes

4 eggs

1 ½ cups of egg nog (or milk)

1 tbsp. cinnamon sugar mixture (optional)

Spread bread cubes into a greased 9X9 pan. In a bowl, whisk together eggs and egg nog. Pour over bread cubes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes.  Serve with syrup.

This recipe can be made the night before, refrigerated overnight, and baked in the morning. Or, it can be frozen, thawed overnight, and baked in the morning.

Frugal Tip: Keep a container in your freezer for odd pieces of leftover bread, rolls, and crusts. Cube the bread before you freeze it and when you have enough, make Baked French Toast.

Sweet Potato Cake

Photo Credit

Yesterday, I told you about the large batch of sweet potatoes that I cooked up in my slow cooker last week. Immediately after dinner I mashed the remaining sweet potatoes and made this sweet potato cake for our breakfast the next morning. It is super moist and ever so simple to make. And, I have two more containers full of pre-measured, mashed sweet potatoes in my freezer to make more cake in the future.

Sweet Potato Cake

¾ cup melted butter

1 ½ cups raw sugar (or white sugar)

3 eggs

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

Stir together melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, and sweet potatoes. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir until combined. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350˚ for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I visited an aunt and uncle in Delaware. While we were there, my aunt gave me some sweet potatoes that she was afraid might go to waste at her house. And as I have told you before, I adore sweet potatoes. So, I was glad to take them home with me.

Obviously this recipe is meant to serve a crowd and is perfect for the holidays. But, even though I had no crowd to serve last week, I made them up any way knowing that I could freeze the leftovers for later. So we had them for dinner and I mashed up the rest to use in Sweet Potato Muffins and Sweet Potato Cake. I’ll tell you more about the cake tomorrow.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

6 medium sized sweet potatoes

1 ½ cups unsweetened apple sauce

2/3 cup raw sugar (or brown sugar)

3 Tbsp. melted butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

Peel and cube sweet potatoes and place in a slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or until tender.

Fascinating Find - Maple Biscuits

Photo Credit: Back of the Box Recipes

We are all bread lovers at my house. Rolls, biscuits, crusty bread, sandwich bread, beer bread, etc. We love it all. So, when I saw this recipe for Maple Biscuits, I knew right away that I needed to try it. Well, they were a hit with my kids!! They are slightly sweet, moist, and flavorful. We enjoyed them so much that I made them a second time within a week. And I am certain that I will make these again and again.

I found the recipe at Back of the Box Recipes, a website that catalogs name brand recipes. The first time I made them, I followed the recipe. But, the second time I made them, I substituted white whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour and raw sugar for the brown sugar. I also dropped them on the pan with a large cookie scoop instead of rolling and cutting them. This was much quicker. Either way, they were simply delicious!

Be sure to check out Back of the Box Recipes for recipe ideas of all kinds, coupons, and helpful kitchen tips.

Recipe Link: Maple Biscuits

Web Link: Back of the Box Recipes

Leftover Ham and Cheese Pie

Photo Credit: TLC

As planned, I served ham for Christmas dinner.  And, I had hoped to eat the leftover ham in sandwiches and such later that week. However, my refrigerator/freezer went out on Christmas day. Sigh. I had to scramble to borrow coolers and ice to keep the food from spoiling. So, the day after Christmas I was forced to cook a turkey and a roast, plus five pounds of other meat because I knew that it could not be refrozen until it was cooked.  Therefore, instead of eating up the leftover ham, we ate the turkey and the roast and put the ham into the freezer once it was fixed.

Although it was a lot of work to cook all of that meat at one time, I now have lots and lots of cooked meat in my freezer that makes dinner quick and simple. We love this Ham and Cheese Pie and it is a perfect recipe to use up leftover ham. And, of course I used my Homemade Baking Mix that I told you about yesterday.

Ham and Cheese Pie

2 cups cubed ham

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

4 eggs

2 cups milk

1 cup baking mix

Layer ham and cheese in the bottom of a large pie pan or 9X9 pan. In a bowl, stir together eggs, milk, and baking mix. Pour evenly over the ham and cheese. Bake at 400˚ for 35-40 minutes, or until golden.

Recipe Note: I halved this recipe in order to minimize leftovers. We ate every bite and it was the perfect amount for one adult and three kids. Frugal Kitchen Goal success!

Homemade Baking Mix

Photo Credit: Betty Crocker

Last week, I told you that I was recommitting to maintaining a frugal kitchen. For my first week of January, I was successful at creating a meal plan and sticking to it. And, somehow, I was able to make sure that all leftovers were eaten instead of tossed. Plus, I even used four aging bananas to make Chocolate Banana Bread for our breakfast this morning. I am feeling truly victorious!

Homemade convenience mixes are another way that can help to save money in the kitchen, so this past week I made up a batch of Baking Mix. This mix can be used just like boxed Bisquick and is perfect for quickly throwing together pancakes, biscuits, or muffins. However, I made up this Baking Mix specifically for my Ham and Cheese Pie recipe, which I will tell you more about tomorrow.

Homemade Baking Mix

5 cups flour (white, wheat, or white whole wheat)

¼ cup baking powder

2 Tbsp. sugar (white or raw)

1 tsp. salt

1 cup butter, softened (or shortening)

Add first 4 ingredients to large bowl. Slice butter and add to bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into dry ingredients until it looks like coarse crumbs.

Store baking mix in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. Or, store in the freezer for up to one month. Baking mix can be used directly from the freezer without thawing it first.

This baking mix can be used in place of commercial baking mixes.

New Year's Frugal Kitchen Goal

Photo Credit: Milk Your Money

In the past I have kept a close eye on my grocery spending. However, over the past six months, it has not been a priority for me to stay within budget, to eat up leftovers, or to take advantage of weekly sales to stock my pantry. As a result, I am constantly running to the store to pick up ingredients, throwing away rotting leftovers, and spending way too much money. But, all that stops now!

So, my big goal is to lower my grocery costs. I have easily been able to keep my grocery spending in control in the past, so I know that I can do it again. And, below are some of the ways I plan to accomplish my frugal kitchen goal.

Create a Weekly Meal Plan – I have found that this is the most effective way to lower my grocery bill because it forces me to think ahead and make use of ingredients that I have already purchased at sale prices.

Prepare Homemade Convenience Foods – I am gradually returning to making homemade bread, snacks, and other convenience foods that significantly lower my grocery bill.

Reduce Food Waste – I am learning to be more thoughtful about the quantities of food I am preparing each day. This has been an adjustment as my family size has changed. And, I want to make it a priority to utilize leftovers so they don't go to waste.

Stock the Pantry – I want to once again be mindful to take advantage of weekly sales to stock my pantry and freezer with low cost staples.

Are you interested in partnering with me to reduce your grocery bill? Or, do you have a great frugal kitchen tip that has been helpful to reduce spending at your house? If so, share your thoughts in the comments below.