If Only More People Would Live by These Words

Anyone can find the dirt in someone.

Be the one who finds the gold.

Homemade All-Purpose Baking Mix

With a newborn, very little sleep, three other kids to take care of, and dishes/laundry piling up, I didn't have the time or money for a box of Bisquick, so I looked up recipes online for homemade all-purpose baking mixes. I found a few that I combined together and tweaked to create my own. The mixture I came up with was light and tasty, and the kids LOVED the pancakes and biscuits I made with it. Here is the basic mix along with the directions for making simple pancakes, waffles, biscuits and dumplings.

Basic All-Purpose Baking Mix
(can be used in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose baking mix)

6 cups all-purpose flour (use wheat flour if desired)
3 Tablespoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
3/4 cup coconut oil, butter, or shortening
(for a buttermilk baking mix, add 9 Tablespoons dry buttermilk powder to the basic mix)

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut coconut oil, butter or shortening into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender until it resembles cornmeal. Store in heavy duty ziplock plastic bag or airtight container. I store my mix in the fridge to keep the oil from going rancid.

Pancakes:
2 cups all-purpose baking mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Mix and ladle onto hot greased griddle. Flip when tops are bubbly. Cook until golden brown.

Biscuits:
2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose baking mix
2/3 cup milk
Mix and knead a little on lightly floured surface. Roll out and cut into biscuits. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes until golden.

Waffles:
2 cups all-purpose baking mix
1 & 1/3 cups milk
1 egg
2 Tablespoons oil
Mix until blended. Pour onto hot greased waffle iron. Cook for 4-5 minutes until steaming stops.

Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose baking mix
2/3 cup milk
Mix just until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls into boiling water/liquid. Cover and cook for 10 minutes without lifting the lid.

BEAST CHARMING by Jenniffer Wardell

 

Beast Charming tells the story of Beauty, who works as a temp at an agency run by a high-tempered dragon. To avoid running into her conniving and desperately-craving-for-nobility father—conveniently named Noble—she takes on a peculiar job that will force her to converse with a violent beast named, well, Beast. The rest of the story develops into a hysterical tale of a classic fairy tale romance gone modernly awry.

Find BEAST CHARMING, available March 17, 2015, here:
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Jenniffer Wardell is the arts, entertainment, and lifestyle reporter for the Davis Clipper. She is also the author of Fairy Godmothers, Inc. and has won several awards from the Utah Press Association and the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Find Jenniffer Wardell here:
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