Melt in Your Mouth Pancakes

We had strawberry shortcake for dinner last night. Yes, that kind of breaks our no dessert during lent (except Sundays), but the Hubs has had some kind of stomach bug this past weekend and couldn't eat anything and when he finally requested something, I thought we could cheat. After all, we're supposed to render our hearts and not just our garments, right???? :)

So I had to make my own Bisquick b/c I never have any around the house and my shortcakes need bisquick. Here's the recipe for your own biscuit mix here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Biscuit-Baking-Mix/Detail.aspx (I scaled it down to 4 servings).

I had just enough Bisquick leftover to make Melt in Your Mouth pancakes from the Betty Crocker website. OMGoodness . . . so amazing AND the best pancakes I've ever made . . . I have personally tried a dozen different recipes. These are to die for. Well, not literally, but they are pretty FABULOUS.

Ingredients:

2 cups Original Bisquick® mix (or your own)

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs 

• Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat or electric griddle to 375°F; grease with cooking spray, vegetable oil or shortening. (Surface is ready when a few drops of water sprinkled on it dance and disappear.)
• Stir all ingredients until blended. Pour by slightly less than 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle.
• Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden. To keep warm, place in single layer on cookie sheet. Cover with aluminum foil, and place in 200°F oven up to 10 minutes.

It makes about 16 pancakes. Enough for several days of breakfasts at our house. You could even add blueberries or chocolate chips. I added a bit of vanilla too. Delicious!

Beef Barley Soup

I bought some barley the other day at the store with hopes of making our lives a little bit healthier. :) It's only 10 a.m. and the soup is simmering on the stove. I can't believe I'm already ready for dinner. This is surely not always the case! Here's the recipe:

 

1 pound lean ground beef

1 onion, minced
4 carrots, chopped
3 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 cup barley
3 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
5 cups water
4 beef bouillon cubes (you can use canned broth too)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
ground black pepper, to taste

Brown the ground beef and drain (I rinse w/ hot water too to get rid of even more fat). Add all the other ingredients and simmer on low for two hours. Easy peazy!!! I'm thinking of making some cornbread to go with this or English muffin bread. Here in the Midwest, it's still winter, so soup's on!