The most classic of recipes, resulting in the most delicious, fluffy pancakes. Makes 8 pancakes.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vinegar (white)
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons butter (melted)

Instructions:

1. Mix together the milk and white vinegar, then let sit for five minutes.
2. In another bowl, combine the flour with the sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. In the milk mixture, whisk in the large egg and butter. Then pour the dry (flour) mixture into the wet mixture and beat until smooth.
3. Heat a skillet over medium, and spray with cooking spray (butter flavored works best). Pour in about a quarter cup fulls at a time onto heated skillet, and cook until bubbles appear. Flip, and cook until golden brown on both sides.

Succulent, juicy pork chops baked in the oven to golden, crispy perfection. Serves 6.

Ingredients:

• 6 pork chops
• 1 teaspoon garlic (powder)
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups bread crumbs (Italian, Seasoned)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 10.75 ounces condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup white wine

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. Rinse and dry the pork, then season using garlic powder and seasoning salt. Set aside beaten eggs in a separate bowl. Cover pork lightly with the flour, then dip into the beaten eggs, and cover with bread crumbs.
3. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Fry the pork chops for five minutes on each side, or until the breading appears golden. Place them in a 9×13 baking dish, and cover with foil.
4. Bake for one hour. While baking, mix together the soup with the milk and white wine in a bowl. After the pork chops have baked for an hour, pour on the soup mixture. Replace foil, and bake for additional 30 minutes.

Anyone can easily become weary of cooking day after day, even when just for ourselves, and especially for a big family. It is hard to come up with creative ideas that taste good, and don’t take hours to prepare. There is also the matter of budget, and health to consider when coming with meal ideas. But there are plenty of healthy recipes out there to help you keep yourself healthy, and provide nutritional options for your family without breaking the bank.

There are a few key, simple and quick meals that you can use as a base, and spice up a few details to keep them unique. A salad for instance may seem like a boring idea, and more of a side rather than a meal, but this is far from true. For example, make a salad with mixed leafy greens, grill some chicken breasts for a low fat protein solution, cut them in slices and mix together with a low fat dressing. This is a great filler with lots of protein and essential nutrients from the veggies that you include. You can mix up the lettuce, greens, and veggies you use to keep it interesting. Healthy food doesn’t have to be boring or expensive!

Cake is a favorite of many, but there are also a variety of different kinds. Everything from chocolaty cakes, to sweet cakes, to tart cakes. If you are curious as to which types of cakes are the most popular, here are some ideas. This can help you when you’re looking to bring a cake, but not sure what will fit everyone’s tastes.

- Yellow cake with chocolate or vanilla frosting is a big favorite. Yellow cake has more flavor than white, but is still simple enough to not have a strong taste that might be easily disliked.

- Cheese cake is another big favorite, but maybe more specific and not everyone loves it like they would a normal flour cake like yellow cake.

- Carrot cake is also more specific, but a popular favorite among most people. It is often raved about being a favorite by many.

- Marble cake is a great way to have a little vanilla, and a little chocolate in case you’re not sure what people will like most. It is subtle in both flavors so it is easily enjoyed by many.

- Angel food cake is a simple sweet cake that few people can really hate. It’s subtle in it’s flavor.

Beef is one of the most popular meats. It is also very diverse, it can be used in a variety of meals, and be featured in several dishes. This means you’ll have a lot to choose from if you’re looking for a beef recipe. But here are some ideas for the best dishes that include beef.

- Chili is a favorite of almost everyone. It is an iconic beef recipe, and there are many different kinds, and ways to make it. You can find a chili recipe for dip, or for a main course.

- Burgers. This is the most popular beef meal and it goes without saying just how famous it is. You can also make a hamburger patty in many ways, using steak sauce, or other marinade in with the meat for extra flavor.

- Meatloaf is another common dinner. Recipes for meatloaf will also vary as you can incorporate lots of spices and sauces depending on your taste.

- Tacos. Another favorite among most, with spiced, ground beef that can take on any flavor you choose. Depending on what you cook with the meat, you can have spicy tacos, or plain tacos. There are also prepacked spices specifically for taco meat.

Whether you are cooking meals for your family every day, or just want some inspiration for last minute dinner parties, everyone could use a library of quick, simple and easy recipes that keep the preparation time down, and still retain the flavor and image of a gourmet meal. These recipes may seem like they are rare, but there are plenty of ideas that take less work, and have more flavor than most of the contents of your recipe book.

For example, creating a hearty meal for your family doesn’t have to be a day long event. There are plenty of recipes that create amazingly flavorful meals that everyone will love, without the dedication of hours of work. Creating a chicken dish with broccoli and rice can be cut down to just the minimal amount of time needed, with all of the results of slaving away the entire day prior. This is also a healthy meal with lots of protein for your family, and it’s something they will all love. Any meal with meat doesn’t have to be time consuming. Consider oven baking chicken (a low fat solution) while you steam vegetables and rice, this leaves you time to focus on the sides.

Keeping some originality in the kitchen is a difficult task. Unique, creative, and delicious dinner recipes are hard to come by, and even then you need several to keep from repetitive meals. But inspirational resources seem to be few and far between. Here are some ideas for spicing up your dinners, and adding some diversity to your recipe book.

- Magazines. There are plenty of food magazines out there, from gourmet, to simple family meals. You can subscribe and get new recipes every issue, with plenty of pictures (great for presentation ideas for dinner parties) preparation tips, and expert advice. This is a great way to keep interest in cooking as well, food magazines are a source for inspiration and motivation.

- Online. There are many websites with recipe ideas and professional tips on how to prepare and present your meals. Whether it is for a special occasion, or just dinner for your family.

- TV Shows. There are a variety of channels that are very popular with great ideas and inspiration for meals. The food network for example is a channel dedicated to all things food, it runs all day long with cook along type shows and tips and tricks from experts.

Chicken is by far the most diverse of all meats. Very few people dislike it, which makes it an easy, broad choice if you need to cater to many people at a dinner party, and are unaware of everyone’s tastes. When it comes to dinner ideas, there are many chicken recipes out there.

Baking chicken in the oven is a popular choice. This is a great way to let chicken marinate in a sauce or juices of your choice. This method is diverse in that you can use it with any recipe. This is also a great way to get the chicken crispy. You can dip chicken breasts in breadcrumbs and oven bake them to golden goodness.

Frying chicken in a skillet on the stove is also a great choice that can be used for any number of recipes. If you cut it into strips and grill it, it can easily absorb any sauce you choose to fry it in.

Deep frying chicken is also a popular option. You can dip chicken strips or whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts in egg, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs before deep frying, for home made chicken nuggets or crispy chicken patties.

The world of desserts is a vast one, and everyone has their own personal favorite. From brownies to cookies to cakes and pies, there is an endless selection of choices. However, there are a few popular desserts that are commonly a favorite. If you’re looking to host a party, or bring a dessert to one, you might be struggling with deciding on one. You love apple pie, but does everyone else? Here are a few ideas of what to choose, that will be a sure fire way to get the crowd talking.

1) Cheesecake. Whether it has a fruit topping, chocolate marble, or just simple cheesecake, this has been an age old favorite. Cheesecake recipes are often straight forward and simple, so it won’t be too time consuming either. The most popular types of cheesecakes are: plain, strawberry and cherry.

2) Chocolate chip cookies. Plain and simple. Everyone loves them, even those not too fond of chocolate. You can do less chips if you’re not sure someone likes chocolate, or do some without. Sugar cookies are also a good alternative, although a little plain.

3) Pound cake. This is a fairly plain dessert that many love, and few dislike. It’s easy to make and a nice addition to any dessert table.

Coming up with something new every night that everyone in your family will like is difficult. We try to cater to everyone’s specific tastes, and at the same time keep the meals fresh and new so we don’t get bored. This becomes increasingly more difficult when time is an issue. Most of us don’t have hours to prepare elaborate dishes, so quick dinner recipes are an asset to any kitchen.

Some tips to keep the flavor alive, but the meal prep time down, are as follows. First you should try to use fresh herbs as much as possible. You can often buy them in your grocery store, pre potted and pre grown, so just keep them in a sunny window sill, and convert any recipe that calls for dried herbs to use fresh ones. This takes little effort, and can really bring out the natural flavors in any meal, no matter how fast you need to prepare it. Herbs can make the difference between a simple, boring meal, and a flavorful, memorable meal with the same amount of time spent preparing.

You can also cut down on prep time by investing in decent utensils, such as kitchen knives. This is safer, and faster.