IHOP Buttermilk Pancakes

I love copycat recipes! They are especially useful for where the army has stationed us, that is home to sparse variety of restaurants and crappy food from what we DO have. IHOP is one of those restaurants that we don't have and it's one of my favorites. My husband worked at an IHOP when we first met and I loved going there and eating while he finished up his shift. These pancakes are a little different from what I've previously posted...they are very fluffy!

(Printable Version)
What you need:

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg (slightly beaten)
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk*

Directions:

Place all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Cook on a heated skillet or griddle. You know the drill...flip when the top starts to bubble and remove when both sides are golden brown.

*If the batter is too thick, add 1/8 to 1/4 cup buttermilk.

Recipe from Copykat.com

Linked up at...

 

~Twisted Thursday - 9.29.2011~

Cheeseburger Ring

 I'm not sure if you all have seen this craze in full force yet, but it involves taking a meal and stuffing it inside crescent rolls arranged in a ring! It's awesome. My first stab at this cool new type of recipe was the Taco Ring from Pampered Chef. It was really neat. I have a few other ring recipes that I can't wait to try out!

(Printable Version)
What you need:

• 1/4 cup onions, diced
• 3/4 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tsp. mustard
• 4-6 slices cheddar cheese (I used American)
• 2 pkg. refrigerated crescent dinner rolls (I only got one! Boo...)
• Dill pickle slices
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*. Meanwhile cook ground beef and onions until browned; drain if needed.
Add ketchup, mustard and 2 to 3 slices of cheese that have been cut up; heat until cheese melts. Remove from heat.

Take crescent rolls from exploding cans of death (you know what I'm talking about!) and separate into triangles. Arrange the bases of the triangles into a circle (about 5 inch diameter). 

Scoop meat onto the wide part of the triangles. 

You may need to spread out the dough with your hands a little. Top with pickle slices.

Bring points over the filling and tuck into the center of the circle.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Cut remaining cheese into triangles and arrange on top of the ring. Arrange diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce in the center.

Recipe from Jam Hands

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Menu Plan Monday - #17

This is going to be a really long, exhausting week. I'm going to be weekly planning for the next few weeks because our world is about to get a little disconbobulated with the return of my husband. Since he hasn't had any good food in a while, I'm letting him pick what he wants to eat.

So here's what I have planned for this week:

Monday

 oatmeal, Burger King, Long Boy Burgers with mixed veggies

Tuesday

 Overnight Danish, sandwiches and chips, Pizzadillas

Wednesday

 Krispy Kreme copycat, chicken and fries, Honey Lemon Chicken for the Crockpot with 

Cake Mix Dinner Rolls and green beans.

Thursday

 French Toast with Berry Butter, leftovers, Taco Chicken Bowl

Friday

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal, mac'n'cheese, Ranch-Style Spaghetti with 

Olive Garden Breadsticks and broccoli.

Saturday

 English Muffins, leftovers, Oven Hot Dogs

Sunday

Cinnabon Clone, rice and yogurt, Tatortot Tacos

Extras

Domino's Cinnastix copycat, Girl Scout Shortbread Cookies, 

Berry Banana Smoothies, Mocha Frappe (Starbucks Copycat)

On Saturday, I am going to start making goodies for homecomings - cookies are on Saturday and cake balls are on Sunday. *PHEW* I think I can keep myself fairly busy this week!

Mom's Soft Raisin Cookies

I don't really like raisins. I'll eat them if they are in trail mix and occasionally, I like to eat them in cookies. I have had this recipes for 5 years and I kept meaning to try it. The cookies are very soft and the cinnamon complements the raisins perfectly.

~Twisted Thursday - 9.21.2011~

Fried Mozzarella Sandwiches

I may have said this before, but my kids are so cliche when it comes to food preference. They love macaroni and cheese, pizza, and grilled cheese sandwiches. So I am always looking for different ways to make these foods. Mostly to keep myself sane. I love all three of those foods too, but I'd get sick of them if I ate the same exact dish each and every time.

I am a lover of fried foods. I mean...really...when's the last time you tried something fried that you didn't like? If you have an answer for that...shhhh! I'm trying to make a point here :)

So I present this amazing, super yummy recipe - FRIED mozzarella (not American cheese!) sandwich!

Kitchen Giveaway!

It's here!!!! Today on Amber's birthday extravaganza is my giveaway of a crockpot and cookbook! :3 Go check it out!

My Three Bittles

Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce

I thought I would share one of my favorite new dishes on my birthday! :) Where did the time go? My birthday snuck up on me :P

I am a big fan of spaghetti and spaghetti-like dishes, if you haven't noticed already.

This one definitely did NOT disappoint. It was fast, easy and I love the meat sauce. I think my husband may like it too because he likes lots of meat in spaghetti sauce!

Pioneer Woman's Creamy Mashed Potatoes

I am in LOVE with Ree Drummond (Aka Pioneer Woman or P-Dub) and her blog and her show on Food Network. The second she showed her dish of mashed potatoes on the premiere...I knew I'd be making them within a week. Unfortunately, I've taken forever to post them.

You all have to try them out! They were super delicious and definitely creamy!
You can find the recipe on her site: HERE

Linked up at...

Almost White Castle Hamburgers

I've never been to White Castle.

I have, however, had the displeasure of stomaching enjoying Krystal's! My husband LOVES Krystal's. The only plus side to Upstate NY may be the fact that we don't have one of them here. The north does White Castle, right? We don't have one of those either.

But the one thing my husband does have...is an amazingly awesome wife. I have spent the deployment finding recipes for him and testing them out. I figured it couldn't hurt to make these homemade. Homemade is better after all. They were so good. Sarah's is open for business! :D

Scalloped Potatoes & Meatballs

I was so so so so so happy to have made this recipe. I was about to give up on my search for the right kind of scalloped potatoes. My mom makes the BEST scalloped potatoes and I never really knew what exactly went into it and my mom, who does a lot of from memory, eyeballing cooking, couldn't remember what exactly went into it and it's been years since she had made it. I found a lot of weird cream of something soup or cheesy versions, but I was looking for a milky, creamy version. I FOUND IT! This is pretty close to my mom's and made me a happy girl :)

Logan's Roadhouse Buttery Dinner Rolls

I can't remember the last time I saw a Logan's Roadhouse and I don't remember what their dinner rolls taste like...so this isn't going to be an accurate "Hey, this copycat is dead on!" intro, but rather a "Hey, this is a darn good recipe that you should try!" intro :)

Crispy Golden Pork

This was a staple meal for my family for about 2 years before I got recipe-obsessed. It's a relatively inexpensive, delicious recipe. I've neglected it for a long time and when I was looking for a pork recipe for this week, I knew I had to blog about it!

~Twisted Thursday - 9.8.2011~

Mac 'n Cheese for Two or Three

I was very excited to get an email from Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING about a new challenge she was hosting. Along with 70+ other bloggers, we will find a themed recipe each month from another blogger, make it, and all blog about it on the same day at the same time. We'll be hopping and voting on our favorite recipe and Tina will announce and feature the ultimate recipe for that month!

September is Macaroni & Cheese Month. So today everyone is posting some awesome macaroni and cheese recipes. Make sure to check the other bloggers' postings out too :)

My recipe comes from my new blogging buddy, Desi @ SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl. This is definitely one of the better macaroni and cheese recipes I've tried lately. Next time I'm going to try adding a dash of hot sauce - this time I didn't have it. I find that little dash goes a long way in homemade macaroni and cheese!

TGIFriday's Sizzling Chicken and Cheese

{Update 3/6/2012} I finally made this recipe with the mashed potatoes and we all gobbled it up! Nick {the hubs} was really excited to have this meal homemade!

My husband got this dish a couple times at TGIFriday's and I always begged for a few bites. Luckily, he's good at sharing, so I did get to try it. It's such a good dish. I didn't cook mine with mashed potatoes, but I will definitely try that next time. I'm sure it would only make it exponentially more awesome :)

Crockpot Pulled Pork

I love trying to BBQ Pulled Pork/Chicken recipes. This one has a spice rub that is to die for! It makes all the difference. Thanks, Jen, for this awesome recipe!

September 2011 Menu Plan

Last month I tried my first monthly menu plan and I loved it. I don't know how it worked out, but by buying all my nonperishables at the first shopping day of the month and just perishables and any needed items every week, I came out spending WAY less than I normally do grocery shopping. So I'm going to go ahead and stick with the monthly planning for now :)

Breakfast Recipes

Week 1:  Ice Cream Muffins , Golden Potato Cake with scrambled eggs, Blueberry Smoothie with bagels, Omelet Italiano, Cinnamon Swirl Bread that Actually Works, Pancakes with Syrup for Blueberry Pancakes
Week 2:  Blueberry Crumb Muffin, Breakfast Pizza, Praline Meltaway Biscuits, Chocolate Chip Scones, Bacon & Egg Toast Cups, Silver Dollar Pancakes
Week 3: Baked French Toast Sticks, Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread, Krispy Kreme Copycat, English Muffins, Cinnabon Clone, Overnight Danish
Week 4: Banana Pizzazz Pancakes, Best Blueberry Muffins, Cinnamon Toast (with eggs?), "Blank in a bowl" oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, French Toast with Berry Butter, Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Lunch Recipes

Garlic Toast Pizza (Week 1), Fried Mozzarella Sandwiches (Week 2)

Dinner Recipes

Week 1: Beefy Spanish Rice with refried beans, Tuna Macaroni Salad, Crispy Golden Pork with green beans and Logan's Roadhouse Rolls, Scalloped Potatoes with Meatballs, Quick Skillet Chicken & Macaroni Parmesan with broccoli and leftover rolls, Ham Steak with PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes and peas, Almost White Castle Hamburgers with Zesty Oven Baked Fries

Week 2: Chicken Divan with salad and/or bread, Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy and Baked Mashed Potatoes and carrots, Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce and Honey Yeast Dinner Rolls and broccoli, Freezer Burritos with rice, Norwegian Pancakes, Marlboro Man's 2nd Favorite Sandwich with zucchini, Nacho Skillet Casserole

Week 3: Beefed Up Mac'n'Cheese with Buttery Breadsticks, Muffin Pan Tacos with Spanish Rice, Cheesy Hashbrown Chicken, Homemade Pizza with Papa John's Pizza Sauce Copycat, Spaghetti with Copycat Prego Sauce, Crispy Onion Chicken

Week 4: Cheeseburger Ring, Honey Lemon Crockpot Chicken with Cake Mix Dinner Rolls, IHOP Buttermilk Pancakes, Long Boy Burgers, Pizzadillas, Taco Chicken Bowl, Ranch-Style Spaghetti

Extra Recipes

Week 1: Mom's Soft Raisin Cookies, Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino

Week 2: Nacho Bake  and/or Banana Pudding (For FRG meeting), Berry Banana Smoothie

Week 3: Sweet & Saltines, Berry Lemonade

Week 4: Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats, Domino's Cinnastix copycat

(The strike-throughs indicate recipe duds)

Have a good week everyone!