Homemade Bisquick for Those Sweet Sunday (or Stressful Saturday) Mornings

Saturdays are a little less than lazy around here. By the time we're all up, Bo has nursed, and P. has had some breakfast, it's time to start getting leotards on and to make sure there are two tap shoes and ballet shoes on the dance bag. Not to mention time to put P.'s long, long hair into a studio-ready ponytail or bun - if you have a girl in this age range, you can imagine just how THAT goes.


Sundays are a lot calmer - and usually involve lots of Netflix. (We love Bo On the Go!)

But you know what? I'm just as likely to make pancakes for breakfast on those stressful Saturdays as I am to do it on a sweet Sunday when we have absolutely nowhere we have to be. Somehow in all the have-to-get-to-dance chaos, fitting in some flapjacks doesn't seem all that hard. It could be the homemade Bisquick I keep on hand.

Look, I actually don't have anything against Bisquick. I was under the impression that it was full of preservatives or whatever, until I looked at the ingredients and found that most of the unpronounceable ingredients are, in fact, leavening agents. But I'm cheapskate and we buy flour in bulk so it's less expensive for me to whip up some homemade Bisquick using what's already on hand than to buy the real thing. Sorry, megafoodcorp!

Here's what you do:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 4 tbsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• .5 cups shortening

Step A: Whisk the dry ingredients or, hey, sift them if you have a fancy sifting device. Hint: You can leave out the sugar if'n you like. Step B: Cut in the shortening using a pastry cutter or a fork if you don't have a fancy pastry cutter like me. 

Next steps: Take two cups of your pancake mix, and stir in one cup of milk (in our case it's soy), two eggs, and a couple splashes of water to thin it out as much as you like. Don't overmix, you crazy monkey! Then fry it up in butter or oil or lard or whatever you happen to like, making the pancakes themselves whatever size you happen to like.

That's all there is to making homemade Bisquick! Keep some around and you can have perfect fluffy pancakes any time... even on busy Saturdays.