I just finished organizing Lala's recipes into categories: drinks salads dinners desserts There's more to it than that but for the sake of simplicity, this is where I've left it.  There are more than 300 hand-written recipes, and at least as many newspaper and magazine clippings featuring timeless classics, food that only a nuclear family post WWII would prepare and serve, and everything in between.   Today I felt like making something using simple ingredients, and did not want to run to the grocery store to pick up something random and not already in the pantry or fridge.  This three ingredient recipe for Shortbread couldn't have been more perfect for the day. Given that I'm down to my last two sticks of butter, I decided to halve this recipe.  If we had company on the horizon, or were attending a function where I was asked to bring a dessert, I would be certain to make a full recipe, or even double it. In the video above, the bu

Our family has a recipe for buttermilk pancakes that has been handed down through the generations.  It's tried and true, old-fashioned (although it never goes out of style), and are hands-down the best pancakes ever.  Growing up, I would never order pancakes when we went out for breakfast.  At friends homes, the pancakes their parents made paled in comparison with what my Grandma Lala, and later my Dad could make. When my husband and I were dating, I took him home with me to the suburbs of Chicago to meet my family.  We were students at the University of Iowa.  Since this was a few hours drive from our campus life, we stayed overnight.  In the morning my Dad, true to form, made his World Famous Pancakes.  I knew this guy (his name is Andy, but this post isn't about him, it's about the recipe) liked me, but I think those pancakes sealed the deal. Yes, I promise to one day share the World (as in Southcombe, Bundy, Lipschutz, and/or Lynch kitchen) Famous Pancakes reci