cookies.

International House of Pancakes® Pumpkin Pancakes

During the holiday season this particular pancake flavor sells like...well, you know. It's one of 16 varieties of pancakes served at this national casual diner chain. You can make your own version of these delicious flapjacks with a little canned pumpkin, some spices and traditional buttermilk pancake ingredients. Get out the mixer, fire up the stove, track down the syrup.

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons canned pumpkin
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with oil cooking spray.

2. Combine eggs, buttermilk, butter, pumpkin, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to blend ingredients.

3. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and blend with mixer until smooth.

4. Pour the batter in 1/4 cup portions into the hot pan. Should form 5-inch circles.

5. When the batter stops bubbling and edges begin to harden, flip the pancakes. They should be dark brown. This will take from 1 to 2 minutes.

6. Flip the pancakes and cook other side for the same amountof time, until dark brown.

Serves 3 to 4.

Jack In The Box® Oreo Cookie Shake

If you live in one of the 15 Western states served by Jack in the Box, you have no doubt cracked a gut from the hilarious TV ads produced by this popular hamburger chain. In the spots a suit-wearing "Jack" runs the company, even though he's got a bulbous antenna ball for a head with a giant smiley-face painted on it. He has a private jet, plays golf, even has kids with mini antenna-ball heads. Jack also has a featured shake flavor that, it turns out, is very easy to make at home with a blender, ice cream, milk and a handful of Oreo cookies. Sure the drive-thru is convenient and easy. But if you don't feel like getting out, now you can enjoy this clone at home from the first fast food chain in the country to use a drive-thru window way back when.

3 cups vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 cups milk
8 Oreo cookies

1. Combine the ice cream and milk in a blender and mix on low speed until smooth. Stir the shake with a spoon to mix, if necessary.

2. Break Oreo cookies while adding them to the blender. Mix on low speed for 5 to 10 seconds or until cookies are mostly pureed into the shake, but a few larger pieces remain. Stir with a spoon
if necessary to help combine cookies.

3. Pour shake into two 12-ounce glasses.

Serves 2.

Kellogg's® Cocoa Rice Krispies Treats®

It's the Rice Krispies Treat for all you chocolate lovers. By simply replacing regular Rice Krispies with Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies, then adding a bit of cocoa to the recipe, we can clone the exact flavor of the product you otherwise have to buy in boxes in the grocery store. This recipe makes
16 of the crunchy brown bars, or the equivalent of two boxes of the real thing.

3 tablespoons margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons cocoa
6 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal
Non-stick cooking spray

1. Combine margarine and salt in a large saucepan over low heat.

2. When margarine has melted, add marshmallows and vanilla and stir until marshmallows have melted. Add cocoa and stir well. Remove from heat.

3. Add Cocoa Krispies and stir until the cereal is well coated with the melted marshmallow mixture.

4. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with a light coating of non-stick cooking spray. Pour the mixture into the dish and, using wax paper or lightly greased hands, press down until it's flat in the dish. Cool. Slice into 16 bars.

Makes 16 bars.

McDonald's® Yogurt Parfait

This one's super easy to make, plus it's low fat and delicious. The yogurt in the original is very sweet and creamy, like Yoplait. So that's the brand that you should use, although any brand of
vanilla yogurt will work fine. If you use Yoplait, you'll need two 6-ounce containers of the stuff per serving. For the granola, just look for one that contains mostly oats. It should be crunchy
and sweet (such as "maple" flavor) and can also include puffed rice bits. You can even make these a day or two ahead of time. Keep them covered in the fridge, and hold off on the granola
topping until you serve 'em up or it'll get mighty soggy.

4 cups vanilla-flavored low-fat yogurt (or 8 6-ounce containers of Yoplait)
2 10-ounce boxes sliced strawberries with sugar added, thawed
1/3 cup frozen blueberries, thawed
1/2 cup crunchy, sweet granola

1. Pour 1/2 cup of yogurt into a parfait cup or tall glass.

2. Add 1/2 cup of strawberries into the glass on top of the yogurt.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of blueberries to the glass.

4. Pour 1/2 cup of yogurt over the fruit.

5. Sprinkle granola over the top and serve. Repeat for remaining 3 servings.

Makes 4 servings.

Mrs Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Categories: Cookies

Yield: 112 servings

2 c Butter
2 c Sugar
2 c Brown sugar
4 Eggs
2 ts Vanilla
4 c Flour
5 c Oatmeal flour*
1 ts Salt
2 ts Baking powder
2 ts Baking soda
24 oz Chocolate chips
3 c Chopped nuts
8 oz Hershey bar(grated)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream butter and sugars together, add flour, oatmeal powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Then add chips, chocolate and nuts. Bake on ungreased coolkie sheet, golf-ball sized dough, 2 inches apart,for 6 minutes. OATMEAL POWDER- Pre-measure 5 cups oatmeal. Put in blender or processor, and grind until powdered.

Makes 112 cookies.

Starbucks® Frappuccino®

Here's one that I get requests for all of the time, and that you won't yet find in any book. This is a
clone for Starbuck's "Lowfat Creamy Blend of Coffee & Milk" that you can now find in the all-too-puny 9 1/2-ounce bottles in most stores. Those little bottles will set you back at least a buck, but this Top Secret Recipes version costs a mere fraction of that. Plus, the recipe actually makes enough that you can get a pretty major caffeine buzz. Then, when you get down to
the "Tidbits" I'll tell you how to clone espresso with a standard drip machine and ground coffee.

1/2 cup fresh espresso
2 1/2 cups lowfat milk (2 percent)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon dry pectin*

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher or covered container. Stir or shake until sugar is dissolved. Chill and serve cold.

Tidbits*

To make the "Mocha" variety:
Add a pinch (1/16 teaspoon) of cocoa powder to the mixture before combining.

To fake espresso with a drip coffee maker and standard grind of coffee:
Use 1/3 cup ground coffee and 1 cup of water. Brew once then run coffee through machine again, same grounds. Makes about 1/2 cup fresh espresso to use in the above recipe. Run a pot of water through machine, without grounds, to clean.

*This is a natural thickener found in fruits that is used for canning. You can find it in the  supermarket near the canning supplies. It is used in this recipe to make the drink thicker and creamier, and can be found in the original recipe. It does not add to the flavor and can be excluded if you don't care so much about duplicating the texture of the real thing.

Makes 24 ounces.

So there are ten tasty recipes from cookies to pancakes, make your mother something delicious this Mother's Day. Show her how much you love and care for her by making her a delicious treat that she can drink or munch on. These recipes guarantee a happy stomach for not just your mother, but for your whole family, even friends. This Sunday, make sure your mom not only receives the love she deserves, but also the treats she deserves.
- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Mother's Day, recipes, food, drink, treats, deserts, snacks, simple, happy

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