Perfect Pancakes

1 1/3 C flour
2 T sugar
3 tsp baking powder
3 T oil
1 egg
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 C milk

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Lightly grease a skillet for the first pancakes only. Cook them until they are puffy and bubbly, turning to brown the other side. Serve hot.

Banana Quick Bread

*This is for you, Marcia. I told you a few months ago that I had an easy and good recipe for banana bread. It has never failed me-but I forgot to get it to you. So, here it is.

1 C sugar
1/2 C margarine
2 eggs
Nuts (optional)
2 C flour
1 tsp soda
3 large bananas (mashed)

Cream sugar and margarine; add eggs, then bananas, flour, and soda; add nuts. Bake at 350* for 1 hour in loaf pan greased on bottom only.

Buffalo Style Chicken Pizza

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buffalo-Style-Chicken-Pizza/Detail.aspx

We had this pizza for lunch. It was pretty good. However neither Matt nor I likes blue cheese so I used ranch dressing instead. For the crust I used the recipe that Rick posted: Pizza from scratch. That too is very delicious. It was a very simple and filling meal that I had to share.

Beef Taco Skillet

Matt found this recipe in a magazine yesterday. It was part of an ad for Campbell's soups.

1 lb ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Campbell's Tomato Soup
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup water
6 flour tortillas (6 "), cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Cook beef in 10 " skillet until well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.

Stir in soup, salsa, water, tortillas. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 min. Stir. Top with cheese. Makes 4 servings.

-We haven't had it yet but hopefully will try it tomorrow. It just looked really good. :-)

Pumpkin Dip

4 c confectioners' sugar
2 (8 oz) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 (30 oz) can pumpkin pie filling mix
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 (16 oz) carton Cool Whip

In a large bowl, combine sugar, cream cheese and Cool Whip until well blended. Beat in remaining ingredients. If consistency is too thin, add more powdered sugar to thicken. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Serve with ginger snaps or as a dip with fresh fruit. For a nicedecorative Fall centerpiece, hollow out a small pumpkin and serve dip in it.

Apple Bread

I got this recipe off of http://www.allrecipes.com. I made it at Thanksgiving last year and it was pretty good.

Apple Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I replace most of this with applesauce)

2 cups sugar (I do half brown sugar and half white sugar)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups apples-peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

1 cup broken walnuts

In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Add walnuts and mix. Divided mixture between two greased 8-in. x 4-in. bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bread test done. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan.

Pizza Bread

1 Tbs. dry yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup melted buter, margarine, shortening
1 egg, slightly beaten
3-1/2 to 4-1/2 cups flour
toppings/filling:
these can vary, i use a cup or two of cheese and however much meat that you want. It's all good.

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the other ingredients in order given, mixing well after each addition. Add enough flour to make a soft dough that can be shaped with tour hands. At this point i kinda treat it like cinnamin rolls. Roll it out flat throw some cheese on and add pepperoni. you can add whatever cheeses, meats, whatever that you want, heck, you don't even have to let rise. Rolll it up put it on  a greased pan.
 Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. brush with butter if desired.
*note this is pretty much the same as the no knead yeast rolls recipe, just how you treat the dough is different, cooking is something you can find great joy in, you aren't compleatly governed by rules and you get to eat it when your done.