For the love of Buttermilk!

Ahh....Buttermilk, I don't know what I would do without you!!

Buttermilk is a staple in my house and it is used to make our weekend Buttermilk pancakes, many of my muffin recipes (click here) and also Biscuits.

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Tuesday was a hectic day because I have been trying to get my house "organized" (thanks to Ann Marie)....

Last week Jade was sick for 3 days, Saturday Tracy and I spent all day working in our food storage room and Sunday was church

and so it meant that when I went to work on Monday I had piles of laundry in the laundry room and piles of paper to go through piled all over the kitchen table. It was driving me crazy!! I told myself that I wouldn't do email or Blog until these 2 things were taken care of and that would be my reward. ************** I reflect often on a quote that was given to me by one of my favorite people in the world Joleen in one of the community classes she taught and it has stuck with me and I can truly attest that this is true:

"Family members get along with each other better and are happier when they leave the house in the morning and happier when they walk in the door each night when TWO things exist:

1. The house is in order

2. There is a plan for dinner"

Which leads me to my Tuesday....

Planning and making dinner takes time out of your afternoon and since I wanted to get these 2 projects done (so I could have my sanity back), it meant that when Tracy called me at 5:45 to tell me he was on his way home I asked him if he could figure out something for dinner.

S0 he stopped by Albertsons and grabbed an 8 piece chicken from the deli for $4.99 and then he called me and told me to make up some "instant potatoes", "country gravy" and a "can of corn" from our food storage and some "buttermilk biscuits" (as he wanted to have our own KFC dinner at our house). I have to admit it, even though I'm not a fan of "cheap food" it was delicious! We each ate a piece of chicken (and put the other piece in the fridge to have for lunch the next day) and we really felt like we were eating a meal at KFC! (Since we only ate 1/2 the chicken the chicken only cost $2.50 and the rest of the items were less than $1.00 versus spending $15.00 to $20.00 going to eat at KFC). The thing that made this the yummiest was the HOMEMADE Buttermilk Biscuits (which were ready in less than 20 minutes from start to finish and cost pennies to make). Thanks to husbands who make their wives burdens lighter by adding some "man meals" to dinner once in awhile.

(funny sidenote....Tracy said that while he was getting the chicken, Albertsons was having some extreme coupon special going on and women were running around piling lots of Pillsbury GRANDS biscuits, cookie mixes, Fruit Gushers, etc.... into their carts. He came home and told me how much he is grateful that I can take simple ingredients and cook almost anything from scratch).

I'm the LUCKY one to have a hubby who is so appreciative and thoughtful!

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By always having Buttermilk on hand, it means that if we don't have any bread, I can whip up a batch of Buttermilk biscuits in less than 20 minutes and they are the perfect compliment to any soup. They also make great "Egg Biscuits" for breakfast and are yummy with fruit smoothies. *****************

TIDBIT...if for some reason you don't have any buttermilk you can always add 1 Tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to each cup of milk and let it stand for 5 minutes to "Sour" and you will have buttermilk to add to your recipes.

Yummy, flaky Buttermilk Biscuits!!

Hot Buttermilk Biscuits (really easy and really good) 2 cups flour ½ teaspoon salt 3 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda 3 Tablespoons butter 2/3 cup buttermilk Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add buttermilk all at once. Stir lightly with fork. Knead gently on lightly floured board. Roll ½ inch thick. Cut with 3 inch round cutter. Place on baking dish with biscuits touching. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 or until lightly browned.

***************************** My hubby Tracy is our weekend breakfast Chef and he makes either of these pancake recipes for our weekend breakfasts! YUMMY!!

Light & Fluffy Buttermilk pancakes

Whisk together: 1 cup flour 2 tsp. sugar ¼ tsp salt ½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp baking soda Microwave the following for 30 seconds (twice until butter is melted) 1 cup buttermilk 2 Tbsp. butter Then whisk into the milk mixture: 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla After wet ingredients are whisked together add to dry ingredients until just barely mixed. Cook on 380 degree skillet using ¼ cup scoops. Cook 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side

Enjoy with REAL maple syrup and butter!

(also great topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries and vanilla yogurt)

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Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancakes (mix together) 1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour ¼ cup wheat germ 2 Tbsp. sugar 1-1/2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt (whisk together wet ingredients) 1-1/2 cups buttermilk ¼ cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla Add wet and dry ingredients together until just barely mixed. Let stand 10 minutes. Cook pancakes at 380 degrees on oiled skillet. Use ¼ cup scoops and cook 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side.

These are the yummiest topped with real butter and either a fruit syrup or home made jam.

Our Tradition on the weekends is we usually make light and fluffy pancakes on Saturday morning and Whole Wheat pancakes on Sunday morning. They are such a yummy treat that we look forward to all week because the rest of the week we have “steel cut oats” for breakfast each day.