This pancake recipe has ruined me for pancakes.  I first had melt in your mouth buttermilk pancakes at The Original Pancake house in California, since then I had to find my own recipe for killer pancakes.  I went through about six recipes, when I found this one.  I adapted it from Martha Stewart, and I have been making them for about 3 years now at least once a week.
I love that you can freeze these pancakes too!!  If my kids or I sleep in on a school day I can just pull a bag of frozen pancakes out of the freezer, microwave them for 2 mins and they have a great hot breakfast.  I have left them in the freezer in a Ziploc freezer bag for about a month and they still come out great.  In fact today was a frozen pancake day at our house.

These pancakes could not be much easier to make, my girls help me make them. They love unwrapping the butter for me and melting it.  The only hint I have for you is to let the butter cool slightly before adding it into the eggs, you don't want to cook those eggs!  Also, you must use BUTTERMILK!!! You cannot do the milk and vinegar trick, believe me I have tried a few times and it doesn't work with this recipe.  Don't do it, trust me.

First, all of the dry ingredients. 2 Cups of flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 3 tbsp. sugar. I whisk those till they are nice and fluffy.  next, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3 large eggs, 4 tbsp melted butter, and 2 1/2 cups of buttermilk. Whisk till just combined.  check the consistency depending on your buttermilk thickness you might need to add just a touch more buttermilk if the batter is too thick.  You want to be able to pick up the spoon and let it drip off, I like to use a 1/3 measuring cup to scoop my pancakes they make the perfect size for us.  heat a griddle to 350 degrees f.  (You can add food coloring for fun holiday pancakes, also sprinkles!!)

The key to the perfect brown is to wait till the top of the pancake forms holes that don't fill, then flip them. if you don't have those holes it will be under cooked and hard to flip.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cranberrry Muffins

I wanted to make something a little different this morning so I came up with my funny concoction. I kept reading all of these recipes for orange or lemon cranberry muffins and then I stumbled on one with cream cheese and all I could think was put them together so I came up with these delicious muffins!

First, you will need to get softened butter and cream cheese.  I did these on spur of the  moment so I threw them into the microwave for 20 seconds. While they were doing their thing I turned on my oven to 350 degrees.

Next, put them in your mixer and add the eggs, vanilla, and sugar.  Whip it, Whip it reeeeealll good.
I like to put in the salt, baking powder, and flour in next.  Then zest your lemon in and add your dried cranberries.

I used a smaller lemon so it probably only had half a tsp. of lemon zest.

The batter comes out like this! It smells so good already...

Fill up your muffin cups! 3/4 full. In this picture I'm realizing how well loved my muffin pan looks. But I love ceramic muffin pans, like these.  Place in the muffin in the oven for about 15 minutes.

The BEST Belgian Waffles

These waffles are amazing! They are soft and crispy, and the perfect amount of sweet. I found this recipe on the Food Network it is by Emeril Lagasse. I have used it for three years and it is my go to. I have used it on 3 different waffle irons and it works on all three.  This by far is my favorite waffle iron.

Ok, this is a type of recipe that it works the best if you mix it a certain way.  Pull out 3 large bowls. In the first bowl throw together 2 cups of flours, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon with salt.
whisk it all together till it is fluffy. You want to spend a good minute getting this all together.

In the next two bowls you want to separate the egg yolks and the egg whites.









The bowl with the egg whites you want to whip them till they are stiff and peaked.

In the bowl with the egg yolks add 1tsp. vanilla, 2 cups of milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 4 tablespoons melted butter. Whisk all of those together.
Once all three bowls are ready you need to mix the egg yolk mixer together with the dry ingredients.

Mix it together with a whisk a little bit at a time until combined.

Lastly, add in the egg whites. Grab a large spoon and gently mix the whites.
You want it to look like this.

Now for the waffle iron.  This is my favorite waffle iron.  The best part of it is the ceramic, it is completely non stick.  I DON'T use spray WITH THIS iron. It is so nice, I don't get a oily film or soggy on the outside.

I put 1 cup of batter per waffle with this iron. I have it set at a medium crispy and they come out with these gorgeous waffles.