I really love today’s Works For Me Wednesday, because it’s “The What Do I Fix?” edition – or as Shannon calls it – WFMWTWDIF.

Basically, you share your eek-it’s-5:15-what-should-I-make-for-dinner recipe? And with an impending newborn on the way without an awesome New Parents class to furnish a month’s worth of meals (sniff sniff), I want all the easy, quick recipes I can get.

So without further adieu, here’s my contribution, which ironically we happened to have for dinner tonight (it was already planned on the menu! I promise!).

Corn and Potato Chowder

• 1 1/2 c chopped green bell pepper
• 1 c green onions, divided (I often make it without this, though)
• 2 c frozen corn kernels
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 tsp. seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay
• 3/4 tsp. thyme
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper
• 1 pound baking potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 c milk
• 1/4 c fresh parsley (I usually just use a couple teaspoons of the dried stuff)
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever equivalent you must use because you live overseas)

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper and 3/4 c green onions, and sauté about 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Increase heat to high; add corn, water, seafood seasoning, thyme, red pepper, and potatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat, and stir in milk, parsley, and salt. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle cheese on top.

Voila! There you have my contribution to the cause. Oh yes, the recipe is from an old Cooking Light magazine of mine – gotta love that.

So I was sitting outside drinking tea after a yummy dinner, watching the Carnival cruise ships and cargo barges roll by, enjoying time with my little family in the early fall breeze. In my head I was pondering what to blog about, since my posting has been a bit… sporadic lately. And then I thought, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted any recipes, so why not share what we had for dinner just a few minutes ago?

So here you go, here is our Friday night dinner. Actually, it’s been our dinner for the past three Fridays (minus the dessert), and it’s so easy, I’m thinking it may become our official Friday Ritual to welcome in the weekend. It’s also very easy to double the batches and freeze more for later, making it even easier.

Easy Pizza Dough – taken from Tammy’s Recipes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup water (110-115 degrees, preferably)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted or very softened
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon yeast

Instructions:

1. Mix water, butter, and sugar in mixing bowl. Add part of the flour and stir. Add the rest of the flour and the yeast, and stir into a dough. Knead for 6-8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Set dough in bowl and grease the top. Cover with a towel and set in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes.*

2. After dough has risen the first time, punch down and knead until air bubbles are removed.

3. Liberally butter a 16-inch round pizza pan, and press dough onto pan. Carefully lift one-half of the crust and fold over (to expose half of the pizza pan). Sprinkle 1/2 Tablespoon cornmeal over pan. Lay crust back in place and repeat on other half, so that there is cornmeal sprinkled between entire layer of crust and pan.  [my note: We don't have cornmeal here, so I skip this step. It tastes just fine without it.]

4. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt over top of crust and then spread with 1 cup pizza sauce. Sprinkle on cheese and any optional toppings desired.

5. Place pizza in oven and turn heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes; rotate crust and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until top is browned. (Be sure to watch so it doesn’t burn; every oven is different!) **

6. When pizza is browned, turn off heat and open oven door. Leave pizza in oven until ready to serve. Then remove from oven, cut, and serve. If there is leftover pizza, we often put the pieces directly on a cooling rack to cool, which prevents condensation forming between the crust and pan.

*If you’re short on time, you can skip this rise and just press your freshly-kneaded dough onto the pan and continue with the recipe.

**Alternate baking directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake pizza for 15 minutes on the bottom rack, or until browned. (Baking on the top or middle racks could result in an under-cooked crust.)  [my note: This is true, as I forgot to put it on the bottom rack tonight, and the crust wasn't quite done.]

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Easy Pizza Sauce – taken from All Recipes
Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon ground oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, Mix together tomato sauce and tomato paste until smooth. Stir in oregano, garlic and paprika.

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No wait, there’s more! Here’s the dessert I made for tonight. It was the first time I tried it, and it was so super easy, I have a feeling I’ll be making this again soon.

Fruit Cobbler – taken from a cookbook I have here, written by foreigners living in this country
Ingredients:

• 1 package any frozen fruit, or 2 cups sliced fresh fruit (I used peaches, since they’re in season here)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour (if you don’t have self-rising, add 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• 1 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Place sliced fruit in a medium-sized Pyrex dish, and pour melted butter over the fruit.

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and milk; stir just until combined. Pour over the fruit.

3. Bake at 350 F/180 C for about 45 minutes. Serve with ice cream (optional).

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I’m off to refill my tea and start a movie with my hubby… hope your Friday evening is as relaxing as mine was!

You know that Friends episode where Monica searches for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe because she wants to be The Mom with the best chocolate chip cookies on the block? I can totally relate, because my cookies have always been sub-par. My brownies are killer, as is my coconut cake, but my cookies – not so much. They’ve just never turned out right.

However. You’ll be pleased to know that I’m becoming The Mom with the best pancakes around. It’s become our Saturday morning ritual, and I rotate about six different varieties – from buttermilk (where you can, of course, add fruit or nuts or whatever) to sweet potato to apple oatmeal to banana whole wheat to gingerbread. Mmmmm. We don’t have pancake syrup, of course (one of those little things you don’t think of bringing overseas with you), but we make do just fine with butter, peanut butter, jelly, powdered sugar, or any other variety of healthy topping.

I bring this up because we’re having pancakes this morning even though it’s a Wednesday. And the reason is because I’m leaving town today and won’t be back until Sunday morning. I’m flying to a nearby city for a conference about educating children overseas, and I’m going alone. Well, there will be a number of people there that I know, but this will be the first time I’ve left Kabob and Chickpea together for this long. Kabob will be fine, but these days Chickpea is at her mommy-clingiest, so pray for her, when you think of it. It will be good for her, but we’ll miss each other like crazy.

So this said, I probably won’t be blogging the rest of the week, unless I’m hit with a case of the boredoms and I seek out an internet cafe. But seeing as I haven’t been bored in about two years, I don’t think that will happen.

And I’m also feeling generous, so I thought I’d share one of my prized possessions – my recipe for gingerbread pancakes from Magnolia Cafe. Yep, it’s directly from them. The only way they’d be better is if they came from Kerbey Lane.

Magnolia Cafe’s Gingerbread Pancakes

4 eggs
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c buttermilk
1/2 c & 3 tbsp water
1/4 c coffee
2.5c white flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp nutmeg
6 tbsp melted butter

Cream together the first 2 ingredients. Add the next 3 ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift together all but the last ingredient. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix well, and add butter and stir until combined. May need to add water if the batter is too thick. Recipe can easily be halved or doubled.