Well, I’m no Rachael Ray, but I love to cook.  And bake.  And be inventive with food. And be artistic with food.  Living with five rather picky eaters (well…I guess Ellie isn’t picky…yet ) has squelched all of this a bit; having peace at the supper table has trumped being adventurous with food for this season of life.

However, last evening we had this delectable treat for dessert, and it was a winner…

Oh my.  Who knew how easy it was to actually make shortcakes?  It’s so easy!   You must try…

1/3 cup of shortening
2 cups flour
2 T sugar
3 t baking powder
1 t salt
3/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 450.  Cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl until mixture looks like fine crumbs.  Stir in milk until just blended.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface.  Gently smooth into a ball.  Knead 20 – 25 times.  Roll 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with knife into 6 wedges.  Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Split shortcakes horizontally in half while hot.  Spread butter on split sides. Fill with strawberries; replace tops.  Top with strawberries and sweetened whipped cream.

(The baking and enjoying of these shortcakes was bittersweet, though, I must say.  I used my last bit of Canadian baking powder in them. Would any of my Canadian readers like to send a care package?)

Right now, though, I’m kind of in recovery mode.  I, too, kind of took a spring break and ignored housework, laundry and such while the boys were home.  In fact this morning I finally got around to folding almost a dozen loads of laundry that had been lying heaped in a pile since the day before spring break even started!  Yikes.  Now… to put them all where they belong…

Anyway, we had my “fabulous flapjacks” for breakfast on this lovely St. Patrick’s Day morning (with green mashed potatoes, corned beef and cabbage on the menu for supper tonight!)  I suppose the name would imply that I’ve concocted this recipe all on my own, but I guess it’d be a bit of a stretch to say that.  I just combined and reinvented a couple of my favorite pancake recipes…and came up with a new favorite!  These flapjacks are so light and fluffy and yummy and filling.  (Are your kids like mine?  Are they hungry an hour after a meal?) When consumed, these will keep my kids away from the kitchen for a good two hours.  Guaranteed.

Janet’s Fabulous Flapjacks
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tsp aluminum free baking powder*
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the eggs until light and fluffy.  (You can use an electric mixer to do this if you like.  I just use a wire whisk and lots of elbow grease. )  Then throw all the other ingrediants in, and mix just until they’re all combined.  Cook on a nice hot griddle (like 400 F), a couple of minutes on each side.

This makes quite a few pancakes, but my brood has no problem polishing them off all at once.  If you have leftovers, they’re great kept in the fridge, and toasted for an easy breakfast or afternoon snack. 

*Could one of my Canadian readers answer me this?  Is there aluminum in Canadian baking powder?  I never had this problem till we moved here:  if I use normal baking powder, I can actually taste aluminum in my baking – it’s nasty.  I never remember that happening in Canada.

Does this weather make anyone else want to bake?  Or more importantly, eat baked goods?  It must be my instincts kicking in, telling my body it needs to fatten-up, to survive!  Yesterday, I had a serious hankering for something baked, but, sadly, I was out of eggs, (don’t you hate running out of eggs?) and there was no way I was doing a grocery-run yesterday.  Then I remembered this super-easy, one-dish, eggless recipe I had!  It totally hit the spot.  I love that you mix up the ingredients right in the baking dish…

1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar, if desired

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt with fork in ungreased square pan  (8×8x2 inches).  Stir in remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and powdered sugar.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over batter. 

Bake 35 – 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

So easy!  It makes a nice little after dinner treat.  I like it warm right out of the oven, when the chocolate chips are all melty, but somehow, it seems to taste even better the next day.  Yum!

Mummy, the boys, and the Griffin girls had a lot of fun this morning baking a cake with the Easy-Bake Oven. Gabrielle (on the right) and Hanukah (on the left) live across the hall from us. Some days they go back and forth between each other’s apartments so much that it seems like we are living in an episode of Friends.