Catching up on Reader’s Questions

I am cleaning out my inbox and trying to answer some reader questions that have been asked over the past year… yes, some of these questions are a year old, and I am sorry for that. Things are busy here and I am terrible at responding to emails.

From Pam: I haven’t frozen pancakes before.  How do you re-heat them?  I would’ve thought they would be too “rubbery”.  Any tips??

Pam, I have found that if I add more liquid to the mix when I make them they reheat better. These pancakes end up being a little thinner than normal, but they still taste good.  Also don’t over cook them when you reheat. Sometimes a pancake can be heated in the microwave in 20 seconds. You can also reheat in the toaster oven. It also helps to slightly under cook the pancakes, only as much as the outside color is light brown rather than dark brown.

From Melissa: Do you have a good recipe for biscuits using fresh ground flour?  Which grain do you use?  I use Kamut, Spelt, and Soft White Wheat for my bread and it is very light, but I have not had very good results with biscuits.

Melissa, for my biscuits I use either soft white or prairie gold. I usually have good results but every once in a while the biscuits flop for no reason. Here is my recipe:

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 stick butter
• 3/4 to 1 cup or so of kefir milk or buttermilk or regular milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a deep mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in the butter using a dough knife or forks until the butter is smaller than the size of a pea, but not as small as cornmeal. Add milk until you get a consistency similar to bread dough. Roll out about one inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Bake for about 15 minutes on a greased cookie sheet.

From Rebecca: I would greatly appreciate a referral to any blogs your aware of that focus on only children or boys in general.

Okay readers, help me out on this one. Do you know of any blogs that focus on only children or boys? If so, please leave a link the comment section.

From Rachel: Where do you live that you can buy clothing at thrift stores with prices like that?

I shop at the Village Thrift Store in Laurel, MD. You’ll recognize me from the picture on my header. 😉

From Lisa: Would filling a crockpot onSaturday nite and putting it on low right away on Sunday morning help eleviate your concern for your noon meal?

Lisa, yes it probably would. I just need to remember to plan to do it!

From Kelly: I am curious.  Do you get up super early on the weekend to write your posts?  My struggle would be that the weekend is when we have family time and whatnot and how would I need to arrange my Saturdays to block off blog writing time.

Kelly, this is a struggle for me as well. Right now I don’t get up super early unless Cora wants to get up super early. I usually sleep in on Saturdays, meaning 8 to 8:30. I try and write in the afternoon while our toddler is napping because we tend to be home during those hours anyway. Sometimes I will write Saturday night. I am currently writing this post at 5:59 on Saturday evening. We had a late lunch so no one is hungry for dinner yet…

From Julie: I would LOVE to know what you did to get away from credit cards.

Julie, I cut them up and threw them away. It worked really well because a few days later the trash men came and I never saw them again. Seriously, I have a few posts in my archives about our cash budget, but I am working on a new one as well. I hope to publish it in the next few weeks.

To Serenity’s husband who left the following snarky comment: I must admit, I have given Serenity a little bit of a hard time about her fascination with your site. But lately I have noticed how many tips and techniques she gets from visiting on a regular basis, and have found myself visiting from time to time. Now, thanks to that expert POP-TART tutorial, we can all rest assured that when Saturday morning comes, the kids and I will be well taken care of. Let no one disrespect the POP-TART ever again. Who knew it could be SO easy?

Serenity’s husband: I am glad I was finally able to expand my reach with this POP-TART tutorial. I know many men are turned off by the pink background and oodles of baby pictures on my site. I had been looking for something that could help me reach across the aisle and engage my three male readers. I considered having my husband write a guest post about hunting or fishing but I didn’t want to lose my female readers. Finally, I realized that the POP-TART would appeal to both male and female readers, since everyone loves POP-TARTS.  I am glad your Saturday mornings are now filled with the sweet smelling aroma of cinnamon and brown sugar cooking in the toaster.

That’s it for today. I’ll try to get to more questions next week!