German Pancakes from Lindsay Kaelberer and Angie Hyde

6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter
Turn oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in 9X13 pan. Whip in blender eggs, flour, milk, vanilla, salt. Pour mixture into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cut into squares and serve quickly. May sprinkle with powdered sugar or jam, jelly, honey, or syrup.

Lindsay's note: Anna likes to put lemon juice and brown sugar on it. Whatever. (We say that a lot about Anna...)

Melba's note: These are good! I made them for a Relief Society Birthday brunch and they were a huge hit! In fact, Dawn (RS fearless leader and woman extraordinaire) asked for the recipe so this one's for her!

Waffle Dessert Bar

Last night the Young Women in our ward had their Young Women in Excellence program. In case you don't know what that is, it's a night where they recognize the young women for different achievements. The girls and their leaders did an amazing job and turned it into the "Emma" awards. They spray painted Mrs. Butterworth bottles with gold paint to give as the awards, and they all dressed up in formal gowns with their hair in updos. The cultural hall at the church was aglitter with stars--including a "star walk" with each girl's name and handprint in a star. It was awesome! Tara Reed, the Young Woman president called me and asked me to help beforehand with the updos. I hemmed and hawed because I REALLY don't know how to do hair other than slapping my own in a pony tail. So she told me that since the awards were Mrs. Butterworth's syrup bottles, they wanted waffles for a treat afterwards. Now she was speaking my language. I told her to say no more; I would take it from there.
I recruited Melissa and Bekah (who hauled me to the gym on Monday a.m. at 5:30 and it's now Thurs p.m. at 10:30 and my biceps still hurt) to help me. Katie was at the ward for something else, but also helped us out in the kitchen. We had a blast talking and laughing together as Bekah and I made the waffles and Melissa and Katie cooked up the syrups. We laid the waffles (plain and chocolate) out on the table with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, "yummy" or buttermilk syrup, regular maple syrup (Mrs. Butterworth's of course), and whip cream. We also served milk and water. Judging by the amount of food left over, and the amount of requests I got for the recipes, I'd say the waffle bar was a success. Thanks to Melissa, Bekah, and Katie, who are awesome cooks and SO much fun! So... That's the story, following are the recipes.

Basic Waffles
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir together milk, oil, and eggs. Gradually add milk mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir until just blended. Pour batter onto waffle baker.


Chocolate Dessert Waffles
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt (1/16 teaspoon)
2/3 cup milk
In a small mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until well blended. Add egg and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.
Spray grids with cooking spray. Pour batter onto waffle baker.
Remove and serve topped with vanilla ice cream.

Melba's note: These two recipes came with the instruction manual for my waffle iron and they're fabulous! There are also two more great recipes - weekend waffles and whole grain waffles. If you ask me nicely, I'll give them to you.

Yummy Syrup by Suzette Done
1 c butter
2 c sugar
½ c karo syrup
1 c buttermilk
Boil and then take off heat
Add 2 t vanilla and 2 t baking soda
When you add the baking soda, the syrup will almost double in bulk so use a bigger pot than you would think to use. (We learned this the hard way, unfortunately...)
If you boil this for too long, it turns into caramel.

Melba's note: This was a staple at girl's camp this summer. It's really called Buttermilk syrup but Suzette calls it Yummy syrup so her teenagers will eat it. We used it as syrup or as caramel topping for sundaes.

Lindsay's Chocolate Sauce
Melt 1 square butter
Add 1 cup chocolate chips
Watch and stir to melt.
Add 1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
Add 2 cups powdered sugar
Stir and bring to boil
Boil 8 minutes
Remove from heat
Add 1 Tbsp vanilla

Melba's note: Lindsay (my sister) calls this "Uncle Bill's Chocolate Sauce" but since I can't remember who Uncle Bill is, I renamed it. Sorry Uncle Bill, thanks for a great recipe!

Basic Sweet Crepes from "Joy of Cooking" via Carolyn Markham

1/2 c flour
1/2 c milk
1/4 c water - lukewarm
2 large eggs
2 T unsalted butter
1 1/2 T sugar
pinch of salt
Let stand 30 minutes (or Carolyn uses a blender). For savory crepes, omit sugar and use 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Melba's Note: Last Sunday, Carolyn (who is 4 months pregnant and has 4 small kids at home) got up at 6 a.m. to plan her Sunday School lesson and fix two different kinds of pancakes for her kids and houseguests. (see previous recipe). After church, she made us these crepes for lunch. (See why I call her Superwoman?) We ate them with ham and cheese for lunch, then with nutella for dessert. They were yummy!!!

Homemade Whole Grain Pancake Mix from Carolyn Markham

Yield: 10 cups dry mix, 1c = 10 pancakes
3 1/2 c oats
4 c white whole wheat flour
1 c bleached all purpose flour
3T sugar
3T baking powder
1T salt
1T baking soda
3/4 c vegetable oil

Mix: Grind oats in food processor till chopped. (I skipped this step for "chunkier" pancakes.) Mix dry ingredients. Add oil slowly. You can freeze this mix at this point.
Pancakes: 1 cup mix. (Okay, that's what the recipe says. Carolyn and I added 1 1/2 cups cuz the batter was a little runny). 1 c buttermilk, 1 T orange juice, 1 egg. Let stand 15 min.
Nutrition: 2 pancakes = 139 calories, 6 g fat, 16 carbs, 2 g fiber.

Melba's Note: I know, I know, I already posted a whole grain pancake recipe. But pancakes are my favorite food right now and my sister-in-law, Carolyn, made these for breakfast last weekend while we were in Houston. They are yummy!
While we were staying with her, I decided that Carolyn is a French chef. She makes very very yummy food, but then doesn't eat a lot of it. That's how she stays so little. Sammie commented that she and I both love to show off our skills with the culinary arts. In other words, we both love to cook and eat good food!
I also decided that Carolyn is superwoman. There's pretty much nothing she doesn't do!

Crispy Potato Quiche from Lori Boyer (the mother of all children)

1 24 oz. pkg. frozen shredded hash browns thawed

1/2 c butter, melted

1 c pepper jack cheese (shredded)

1 c swiss cheese (shredded)

1 1/2 c. cooked ham (diced)

3/4 c half and half

6 eggs

3/4 tsp seasoned salt

Press thawed hash browns between paper towels to remove moisture. Fit hash browns into a 10 inch pie plate that has been greased with some of the melted butter, forming a solid crust. Brush crust with melted butter, making certain to brush top edges. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 min. Remove from oven. Sprinkle cheeses and ham evenly over bottom crust. beat half and half and eggs with seasoned salt, pour over cheeses and ham. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Mom made this for her high school friends and they loved it. (Or at least they said they did.)

Melba's Note: Mom is famous for her breakfasts. Not because they ever happened, more because they didn't. Well, actually, she tried many times to make abelskievers (sp?) but, let's just say, they're known around our house now as "damn abelskievers." It's a real feat for Mom to have made a quiche recipe because she's always been allergic to eggs. She says she's getting over that now, and likes this.

To Mom's credit, she doesn't fix breakfast because she's not really a morning person. But she's ALWAYS up for a late night sugar fest. Love you Mom!!

Oatmeal Pancakes

These are from The South Beach Diet Cookbook

1 1/4 cups rolled oats
2 cups fat-free milk
1 egg
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar (substitute, if you want to be truly South Beach)
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, combine the oats and milk and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the egg, flour, wheat germ, baking powder, sugar, oil, and salt, mixing until evenly blended and only small lumps remain. Let the batter stand for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Makes 12 pancakes
Nutrition Information per pancake: 90 calories, 2 g fat, 1/2 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 20 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium

These are my new favorite comfort food. Sammie's out of town tonight and I have a terrible horrible no good very bad cough that's going around PA so I cooked some of these up for dinner. The batter keeps well in the fridge. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm