Rainbows and Pancakes

Seems like a funny title for a post, huh? Let me explain....

It has been SO hot here in our area of NC. I'm talking high 90's and extreme humidity. When it does rain, it's intermittent and then only for a few minutes. During one of our short stints outside so that the kids could release some of their pent up energy, we could see it raining in the distance. What started out as very dark gray skies, turned quickly into rain and then just a few minutes later we saw this....

Mother Nature's art work sure is pretty sometimes, isn't it?

Now on to the pancakes....

I admit it, I hate to sweat and who in their right mind wants to go grocery shopping when it's like this? Not me.

(Feeling sorry for me yet?  Didn't think so. Moving on....)

It's days like this that I fall back on the tried and true "breakfast for dinner" plan. Since it was going to be just the kids and me eating dinner, I decided that it was a good time to make pancakes.

Should be easy since it only takes the basic staples to make pancakes, right? Nope, out of milk. What?!? Yep, no milk in the frig and no powdered milk as a back up.

I started thinking... can you make pancakes with water instead of milk? I remember a favorite recipe that I had long ago that called for bubbly water. I wish that I hadn't lost it. It was a great recipe. But can you use regular tap water? I sat down in front of my favorite box and started searching to find out. I found that you can indeed make pancakes with water.

Here's what I came up with....

Fluffy Pancakes

2 C. flour
2 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
2 TBSP oil
2 TBSP vanilla
1 3/4 C water - more if thinner batter is desired

Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk in egg, oil and vanilla, just until combined. Mix in 1 3/4 cups of water and stir until combined. If a thinner batter is desired, stir in one extra tablespoon of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Pour 1/3 c. batter onto a hot griddle or lightly greased frying pan. Cook until bubbles have formed and covered the top of the pancake. Carefully flip and brown other side.

Keep warm in a 200* oven until the whole batch of pancakes have been cooked.

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We enjoyed our pancakes and then headed back outside just long enough to enjoy the sunset.

For a minute everything was perfect....not too hot....perfect. The sky was so beautiful.

Then the bugs started biting......  Ok, back into the A.C. for me!

Cinnamon Streusel Zucchini Muffins

Trying to find a way to get your kids (or husband) to eat more veggies? These muffins are an excellent way to sneak in some zucchini without anyone ever knowing about it.

Trust me, I did it. {smirk}

Starting with a box mix, this recipe takes literally 5 minutes to whip up.

Cinnamon Streusel Zucchini Muffins

1 box of Duncan Heinz Cinnamon Streusel Muffin Mix
+ ingredients listed on the box to make the muffins
1 C. peeled, finely shredded zucchini
3/4 C. raisins
cinnamon

Preheat oven as noted on muffin mix. Grease or use paper liners in muffin pans. This recipe made 22 muffins. 

Open the muffin mix. Add the dry muffin mix to a bowl; laying the streusel mix to the side for later use.

Stir the extra ingredients listed on the box into the dry muffin mix. Mix as directed.

Stir in zucchini and raisins.

Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over all muffins. Lightly sprinkle cinnamon on top of the streusel topping.

My muffins baked for 17 minutes. Keep an eye on them and do not over bake.

Serve immediately. Store extra muffins in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Very tasty for breakfast or dessert!

Chocolate Covered Raisin & Oatmeal Cookies - July '10 Cookie Carnival

July's Cookie Carnival brings us an oatmeal raisin cookie from Pillsbury as the kids baking recipe for the month.

Now, I have to admit that when I chose this recipe for the carnival, I already knew that it wasn't going to be the "best" oatmeal raisin cookie because IOO (in our opinions), we already posses the world's best -- Aud' Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - a delicious soft chewy oatmeal raisin cookie from my MIL.

Since I like playing around and changing the ingredients with other oatmeal cookie recipes, I decided to give the Pillsbury recipe a try. I'm certainly not disappointed by this recipe. I used chocolate covered raisins in place of the raisins and nuts. Can you say MMMMM!!!! The recipe is versatile enough that you could easily switch out the raisins or nuts for other dried fruits, butterscotch or peanut butter chips, macadamia nuts, yogurt covered fruit or nuts....the list goes on and on.

I underbaked the cookies by a minute or so and baked them until the cookies were just starting to brown - the cookies stayed chewy that way. The melted chocolate mixed very with the oatmeal and raisins.

I can't wait to see the round up to see what every does to add their own twist on this recipe!

Chocolate Covered Raisin & Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup sugar - I used 1/2 C.
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins - I subbed 1 C. choc. covered raisins 
for raisins and nuts

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in oats, raisins and nuts.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto sprayed cookie sheets. I used my 1 1/2 in. cookie scoop for these cookies and then slightly flattened each scoop of cookies on the tray before baking. 

Bake at 375°F. for 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. I reduced my oven to 350* and baked the cookies for 9-10 minutes. Store in a sealed container. 

Very good with a cup of hot tea!

Even though I couldn't talk my kids into baking with me this time around, they enjoyed eating the cookies. My son raved about them.

If you love cookies like we do, why not join in on the fun!

Join the Cookie Carnival today! 

A New Award!

Sending out many thanks to Angel in the Kitchen for my new blog award!

 Isn't it pretty!?!  I love it!

Check out her blog, too. It's full of yummy recipes. {There's some peanut butter cup cookies and peanut butter bars on there that I'm drooling over!}

June Cookie Carnival Roud Up

The round up is finally here!  
If you like what you see, please take a minute to post here to let me know!

There were two cookies recipes this month:

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies - from Cooking Light

and a Kids Bake cookie recipe S'Mores Sandwich Cookie Bars - from Hershey

Take a look at this awesome turnout!

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Michelle@SomethingNewisCooking baked both cookies.
She said...
S'mores - "Being campers, I had to make this for Jimmy and myself. Good choice!"

Thumbprints - "It was my first time using almond paste. I must say I really like the way it flavors the cookies."

Rebecca@beurrista said "The Thumbprints are a fantastic cookie, any which way you look at them."

Cristine@CookingwithCristine baked both cookies.
She said....
S'Mores - "I am excited about this because it gives me the opportunity to post a LONG overdue 'Cooking with Anya.'" "We loved these bars and they didn't last long in the house. Anya had a blast putting them together."  {Be sure to check out her blog to see what Anya had to say!}

Cristine filled her thumbprint cookies with bittersweet chocolate!

Tiffany@TheBake-OffFlunkie baked the S'mores bars and said ""Mmmmmmm....bring on the milk!"

April@Abby Sweets said "These are amazingly good!"

Tessa@TheCookin'Chemist used red, white and blue marshmallow stars to give her s'mores such a cute festive look.

Katrina@BakingandBoys! said "“Delicious Hot S’chmoes Bar Cookies”, these are certainly perfect for any upcoming July picnics, family reunions, or Independence Day celebrations."  Taylor and Sam helped with the baking. {Be sure to check out her blog to see pics of her sons....and her beautiful new home!}

Carol@NoReasonNeeded recommends taking a staycation and making s'mores!

Donna, (a friend of mine who I met through FamilyCorner.com), loves to bake but she's not a blogging baker. She's joining the Cookie Carnival for the first time this month! Welcome, Donna! - Donna said "Hi, I am Donna from central California!  I love camping so I  made the s'mores cookies and they were so yummy!  I love the creamy marshmallow and melted chocolate centers! Thanks for the great recipe!

And my cookies.........

Tami said....
S'mores - {baking with Alexis!} My daughter and I had a lot of fun baking these cookies together. Alexis did such a great job measuring and mixing the cookie bars. {click on the link for pics of my little helper!}

Thumbprints - I haven't posted about the thumbprints yet because I'm working them in with a cookbook giveaway that's coming this week! Be sure to stop back and check it out!

And this just in......!!!

Rebecca@beurrista said that she decided to make s'mores bars after seeing all of the wonderful pictures and reading about them in this round up! {check out her blog to see her special little visitor. He's such a cutie!}

Thanks, Ladies, for another great month! 


What are YOU waiting for? 

Join in on the fun of the Cookie Carnival!


I hope to see everyone at July's Cookie Carnival Round Up!

Happy Baking!
Tami