Making a House a Home

PANCAKES!!!  Who doesn't love 'em???  I love all flavors and always think I can eat about 20 of them. Then I start eating and by the middle of number 2, I am pretty sure I'll never make it to 20.  Does anyone else do that, too?

My favorite memory of pancakes will always, always be my dad making them for our family each Sunday morning as we were growing up.  Yep, we were THAT family- the family that always smelled like syrup in the middle of the sermon.  But what a scrumptious way to start a Sunday morning!! 

While I DO love eating pancakes, I DO NOT enjoy cooking them for just one meal.  I much prefer tripling or quadrupling a pancake recipe and freezing all the extras!!  It SURELY makes for easier mornings when all you have to do is put one or two on a plate and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes and then drown them in maple syrup (and butter if you like!!).  Oh yum!!!

In the top picture above, you can see I was in the middle of making up a bunch of pancakes.  I have my assembly line all set up- batter, griddle, cookie sheet to cool finished pancakes on AND to freeze them on.

And that's it!!  This saves us so much time in the mornings!!  Happy homemaking, y'all!!!

This time of year, Easter time, lots of grocery stores have had hams on sale and lots of people enjoy ham on their Easter table.  That's wonderful and all, but any one else have the issue of always having leftover ham?  You can only eat so many ham sandwiches before tiring of it- am I right?  You can go to the search bar here on my blog and search "ham" and find lots of recipes I've shared here using ham, but this one... this one is MY FAVE!!!!  

The recipe is super simple and one you've had a million times, just with ham added. Macaroni and Cheese with chopped up pieces of ham.  SO SO good!!  I remember my mom doing that a few times for us growing up and I LOVED IT (thanks, Mom!!!!).  This is how Mr. U and the girls now prefer their mac and cheese- with ham.  

So here's how I make ours. Oh, and the sauce is based on another recipe I shared before using cauliflower.  This recipe would SOOOOO work with cauliflower, too!!!!

Mac and Cheese with Ham

-1 pound of pasta (choose the shape of pasta your family loves)

I just may be the last person on the planet to get this great bit of news, but in case I am not, I wanted to share it with y'all.  It's WONDERFUL!!!  I just learned you can cook plain old ground beef in bulk in the slow cooker!!!  IT WORKS!!!!!

I was reading about it on Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and thought "NO WAY does that really work.  NO WAY!!!"  So I had to try it out and see.

In the photo above, you can see where I plopped the 2 pounds of ground beef in the slow cooker (sprayed it first with cooking spray).  I sprinkled salt, pepper, dried onions, and garlic powder on top.  That's it.  Dumped the meat in, seasoned it, then I put the lid on. I cooked it on high for 2 1/2 hours and when I opened up the slow cooker, this is what I saw...

It was cooked and looked like one weird shaped hamburger patty.  LOL  So I got out my potato masher and broke up all the meat.  

IT WORKED!!!  It broke apart easily AND it was cooked through AND tasted really good with the seasonings!!!!!  See?  It just looks like cooked ground beef!!  YAY!!  So now I'm going to put it in freezer bags in one pound measurements and save for future meals!!  Taco soup?  Tacos?  Sloppy Joes?  A casserole?  Spaghetti sauce?  Pizza?  Tons more recipes this can be used for.  

HOORAY for a great idea!!!!

I LOVE cookies.  I love making them AND eating them.  These Snickerdoodles from Smitten Kitchen NEVER EVER disappoint. They come out perfect every time and always make me and everyone else that eats them very very  happy.

The BEST Snickerdoodle Cookies

Mr. U and I have been married for 19 years.  And over the course of these wonderful 19 years, I've probably made at least 12 different pizza dough recipes.  I have been searching for THE recipe- you know, the one that makes you want to make homemade more than you want to call up Domino's or Little Caesar's. 

Y'all... I FINALLY FOUND IT!!!!

I said last year I'd share the recipe after we made it several times and we were all positive it was "the one".  Well,  IT IS!!!!  So I'm finally sharing it,  It's so good and really easy- so easy that my 11 year old is now the official pizza crust maker.  

So STOP TALKING and get to the recipe, right??

"The One"... Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

1 T olive oil

2 1/2 cups bread flour

Combine water, sugar, and yeast and gently stir.  Let it sit for a few minutes.  When the yeast "blooms" (see video below to see what blooming looks like) stir in oil and salt and gradually add in flour.  Knead until combined and smooth- 5-10 minutes.  Place in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes).  Punch down dough and roll into pizza.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. (But remember all ovens are different so pay attention that it doesn't burn!!)

This can also be made ahead and frozen!!!  Knead the dough and instead of letting it rise, place it in a zip loc freezer bag and close it tightly.  When you are going to use it, take out of the freezer and out of the bag and place in a lightly oiled bowl.  Let it thaw and then rise- anywhere between 4-6 hours based on how cool or warm your kitchen is.  When risen, roll out and bake as directed above. 

We've also made this in the morning when we knew we were going to be gone all day!!  When you put it in the lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.  When you get home and ready to cook dinner, take it out and see how it's doubled!!  It's all ready to be rolled out into a pizza shape for dinner and baked like the recipe says!!  

Y'all,  it's SO SO SO good to finally have "the one" after all these years of my attempts!!

This is how pretty it looks after being turned out of the bundt pan. See how sweetly they are already kind of sectioned off?  Like it's just asking to be cut into smaller and larger pieces?  Yes, I prefer the larger pieces, but I bet you already knew that. :)

How's the weather where y'all are?  It's been such a crazy winter here in Atlanta.  A snow before Christmas and then another snow two weeks ago.  NOT typical for our state at all!!!  

These cold days call for something warm and tasty to fill our families' bellies.  Eons ago, I shared a lentil soup recipe we really enjoy and it cooks up in the crock pot.  SIMPLE!!!  Today, I'm sharing yet another lentil soup recipe and this time it features hot Italian sausage- so SO good!!!

Sausage Lentil Soup

1 pound hot Italian sausage

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 large onion, chopped

1 small zucchini, diced

8 cups chicken stock

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes

4 garlic cloves, finely diced

1 tsp salt

2 cups dry lentils

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 T parsley

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