Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The easiest pancake mix ever

My son loves pancakes and will happily eat them every day.  My daughter is one of those 'can't eat more than 3 bites of food before 10 am' kids.  While I don't mind making pancakes every day, the batter gets a little stale in the fridge after a couple of days.  So in comes this fabulous recipe for pancake mix:

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

I throw it all into a plastic storage container, shake it up and leave it on the shelf. To make pancakes:

1 cup of pancake mix
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk




I used buttermilk only because I happen to have some today.  You can use regular milk or buttermilk.  This recipe makes about 4 of these:


So feel free to double it if you need more.  Since I like to sneak healthy into my food I add a little ground flaxseed to my pancake mix.  The kids don't notice the difference and I like the taste of flaxseed.

Enjoy!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Our house - part 1

6 years ago my husband and I discovered the home we now own.  I say discovered because the small for sale sign led us down a gravel road, past several homes, and through a wall of trees that opened up to a gorgeous piece of property with a two-story home sitting on it.  We instantly fell in love with the property and knew we had to have it. 

We met a real estate agent the next day for our first peek at the interior.  I was armed with my camera but was so ... eh..... surprised by the decor that I didn't take any pictures.  These pics are from a follow-up visit.

The living room, when you first come in.


Now you're starting to see what I was talking about!

The dining room, across from the living room. 


No need to adjust your monitor - that's really burnt orange.

The stairs, wrapped in red shag.



The master bedroom, also done in red shag (how lucky can a girl get!)



This was the 62 year-old owner's bedroom. 

The great room/kitchen


If I wasn't married to a contractor, I don't think I could have imagined buying this house.  Luckily for us, most people seemed to feel the same way, and we bought it for a steal.  We've done an incredible amount of work on the house, gutting and replacing rooms one by one.  I'll be posting lots of pics of our progress, and, I'm sure, a few rants about what still needs to be done.  It's hard to appreciate how the house looks now though without a view of the before pics. 

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, there is currently no shag carpet in my house, despite my teenager's protests that you just can't buy shag carpet anymore.