German Pancake Muffins

German pancakes are a big favorite on the Hess side of our family. I'd never had them until I married in. Our kids are huge fans, and I've had to start quadrupling the recipe to satisfy the ravenous wolves. We love having this for dinner, especially on Sundays, or even for brunch on the weekends. Traditionally, we've eaten this in a 9x13 pan. But lately we've been making them in muffin tins, and they are awesome! For some reason it makes it so much more fun with the condiments when they are individual servings, you can  dress them up in all different flavors. 

I love the way they puff up in the oven!!

German Pancake Muffins:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
4 TBSP butter

Our Favorite Condiments:
maple syrup
powdered sugar
cinnamon and sugar
brown sugar
whipped cream
Nutella
jam
berries
bananas
honey
peaches

So first you want to preheat your oven to 450 degrees. It usually takes my oven about 10 minutes to get this hot, so I always preheat first, that way I can be mixing up the batter while it heats up. 

Now it's time to mix up your batter: flour, milk, eggs, lemon juice and salt. (If you don't have lemon juice, you can use 1/3 cup buttermilk and 2/3 cup milk. The tangy flavor of the lemon juice/buttermilk makes a big difference.) Mix until just combined. 

Next take the butter and chop it into 12 pieces. Put a piece of butter in each muffin cup. Stick it in the oven and let it melt in the bottom. Watch it, or it will burn if you leave it in too long.

Pull your muffin tin out of the oven and scoop 1/3 cup of batter into each muffin cup. Then put your muffin tin back into the oven and bake for 11-15 minutes (make sure you use a hot pad/oven mitt when you put the muffin tin back in- I've grabbed mine with bare hands on accident before -forgetting it was hot- OUCH!).

When they are done, they are big and puffy like this. They flatten way down as they cool. Aren't they pretty when they're puffy?!

Now they are looking a bit plain. It's time to dress them up.

Use your imagination. You can't go wrong with these guys. Last night we used strawberries and cream. And the kids went a little crazy with the sugar. It's a good thing we used baby food jars to hold the condiments, so there were limited quantities available.

I also think this would make a gorgeous breakfast for Valentines day!

What would you pick as your favorite topping?

Salsa Chicken

 You can't get much easier than this salsa chicken. It's great in the crockpot. I've also done it in the oven, and it would also work well in a pressure cooker.

Salsa Chicken:

6 Chicken breasts (I like to make plenty to last through the week or freeze)
1 1/2 cups salsa
salt and pepper
juice from 1 lime
handful of cilantro, chopped

 All you do is throw the chicken breasts in the pot. Shake a little salt and pepper over them. Pour on the salsa. Then put your crockpot on high for 3-4 hours. When it's done cooking, shred and add lime and cilantro. Super simple, but such great flavors! Mateos salsa is super delicious. The green Herdez salsa is my 2nd choice.

 This chicken can go on anything Mexican or Tex Mex. We put it in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, taco salad, quesadillas, tortilla soup, tostadas, street tacos....Can you tell we eat a lot of Mexican food? My husband spend 2 years on a church mission to Mexico, so it's a regular at our house. This same recipe would work great with a beef or pork roast as well. I would just do those for double the time on low to ensure the meat was nice and tender. It's super versatile. I hope you enjoy it!

Valentine's Sugar Cookies

There are many times things turn out better in my head, than when I actually do them. For example, when I was making sugar cookies yesterday (click here for recipe). It completely escaped my mind that they would puff up and grow in the oven. So when I  started with this:

And they came out looking like this:

I was pretty surprised. So I was able to salvage this batch. I put a lot of frosting on there- they aren't horrible:

But it was the other batch I did- oh heavens!!

Please forgive the terrible picture as well. I was so concerned about the dough growing completely together, I didn't even notice the cell phone shadow in my shot. Whoops!

I tried to add a bunch of frosting, to make them seem edible, and hopefully transform them in to something wonderful: (Ha ha ha ha ha!!)

Yikes.

At least my kids enjoyed them. They tasted great. And the cub scouts at pack meeting didn't turn their noses up to them. So, I guess sometimes I need to remember what feels like a fail to me, just because it doesn't encompass my perfect vision, can actually feel like a success to somebody else (the treat obsessed children). Especially if what you are doing is something creative or compassionate. 

And if at first you don't succeed, TRY, TRY again!!!

Pizza Bites

The first time I ever saw pizza bites, was back when I worked at the Great Harvest Bread Co in high school. That place was a very delicious place to work. But if you are considering employment there, I want to warn you, it can come with a wider waist line! I worked there with my sister and a couple of my best friends, we had such a blast. 

Make a batch of your favorite bread dough, or buy some in the frozen section at the store. For best results, make sure the dough is room temperature or just a bit warmer than room temperature.

Grease your muffin tins. Then put three small strips of dough into each muffin cup. 

Using a larger spoon (but not a serving spoon), put a scoop of your favorite marinara sauce into each dough filled muffin cup. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. You can also add whatever other pizza toppings you like. 

Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

We love this for busy Friday nights. I can make them ahead and then the kids can just grab a couple when we're running in all different directions. We also make this frequently for birthday parties.

Enjoy!!

Hot Cooked Cornmeal with Brown Sugar - one of my favorie alternatives to oatmeal

It has been freezing here in Texas this week! We are not used to such plunging temperatures. We have our water running all night to save our pipes, the kids are wearing two coats to school, I even bought some ice scrapers for our cars! Those of you living in normal climates are chuckling to yourselves right now, but we just aren't acclimated to this type of weather. Heat is what we are good at. With such a chilly wake up, this hot cereal is the perfect thing to warm you up for the day.

This dish is extremely simple, but one that I grew up on, and perfect for a cold morning. This you can toss in your rice cooker or make it on the stove. I prefer the stove option when I'm making a single serving, but if I'm making it for my whole family, it's super easy to throw in my rice cooker (or you could use your Instant Pot). 

Hot Cooked Cornmeal with Brown Sugar (single serving):

1 1/3 cup water

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup milk

2 tsp brown sugar

dash of salt

In a small sauce pan, whisk together water, cornmeal and salt. Bring to a boil. Whisk while boiling about 1-2 minutes, constantly as it thickens (unless you like big lumps- some people love the lumps!).

Take off heat and let it rest for about 5 minutes. 

Add milk and brown sugar. Seriously, it's nothing fancy, super simple, and one reason I love it.

If I do it in my rice cooker or Instant Pot, I add everything in there except the milk and brown sugar. Push the start button, then I go wake up my kids, get them dressed, lunches in backpacks, etc. and the cornmeal is ready to go. All we have to do is dish it up and throw some milk and brown sugar on top.
It's a great alternative to oatmeal, grits or cream of wheat.

Inspiring!

I watched the most inspiring devotional last night. Click here for the link. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Apple-Banana Oatmeal with Pecans

I lost a dear friend this week. The circumstances are as tragic as they come. Death after death after death in her family in a very short period of time, with a tiny girl left behind. It's shocking and heart breaking. I've been in a funk with such a heavy heart. I know I'll see my friend someday in the afterlife, but I'm just sad for the way she left, and the hard life ahead of her daughter. I'll miss her bright smile and contagious laughter.
I haven't felt very excited about eating much. But this oatmeal has been a comforting breakfast this week. Easy on the stomach, with homey flavors:

Apple-Banana Oatmeal with Pecans

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup oatmeal
1 banana
1 apple (chopped)
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp brown sugar
dash of cinnamon
dash of salt
dash of nutmeg
4 pecan halves (optional)

Put your oatmeal and water together in a microwave safe bowl. I stick mine in for 1:45, but it will depend on your microwave. As soon as it's done, I put the chopped apples in, while it's still piping hot. Then quickly place a plate on top of the bowl. I usually do this while I'm getting out the other ingredients. Let it sit there for a couple minutes (it's gives the apples a little bit of a cooked taste). Then add all the other ingredients. Most days I also pair it with some easy scrambled eggs. I usually cook the eggs while the oatmeal is resting with the apples.

It's a solid breakfast and keeps me going for several hours.
To all of you with a heavy heart:
Keep going, keep fueling your body with healthy wonderful things. Life is beautiful!