What's For Breakfast? Part 2

As previously stated, I LOVE pancakes. When I was a kid, Mom would make thin pancakes four at a time in her electric skillet. She didn't have any of this non-stick nonsense on hers. She'd put a very little bit of oil in the skillet and drag her spatula over the bottom until there was just a little smear of oil. Then she'd pour four nice little circles of batter, wait for them to bubble and flip them over for perfectly brown pancakes every time.


Dad always ate his in piles of four. I ate mine in two. Put a little piece of butter, (oops, margarine in our house), between the pancakes so it melted, spread it around and pour hot syrup on top and YUM!

Mom believed hot food should be eaten hot, so we ate pancakes right off the skillet, and she made her own syrup so it was either fresh or heated up again. It was a big culture shock to go to someone else's house and eat big, thick, "cold" pancakes with syrup right from the refrigerator. I just couldn't do it sometimes.

The sad thing is that Jim does NOT like hot syrup, he likes syrup that pools on top of the pancake. I just like to eat them HOT. Lorene is on Jim's side and Lynette is on mine, so I have both on the table. Nathan won't eat a pancake to save his life,... unless there are chocolate chips in it every half inch. And he has eaten one once with Nutella.

And when we are talking about oatmeal at someone else's house..... I won't go there. It is all I can do to eat mine, and I know how to make good oatmeal.

Lynette would have me make pancakes every day, but even half a batch makes too many to throw away. So, she has to put up with warmed over ones part of the time. I sneak a little oatmeal into my pancakes, too, for some more nutrition and fiber.

Zane enjoys eating a plain pancake now and again, but Lorene has him practicing with a fork, so we tried it with pancakes.

I love the expressions on this little boy's face! He's really enjoying himself.

Got one, all by myself!

How to make edible oatmeal:

When salted water is boiling, pour in old-fashioned oatmeal quickly. Do NOT stir. Turn off the heat and when the boiling calms down, put a lid on it and don't touch it until time to serve. Do NOT stir. If you put it in a serving bowl, do NOT stir! I serve it right from the pan most of the time since stirring it makes it gooey and that is what I don't like. If you like raisins, put them in with the oats. Or do like I do, since Jim doesn't want raisins, I wait until the boiling calms down and very carefully put them on one side, so I get raisins and he doesn't.

Quick Maple Syrup:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp burnt sugar flavoring

1 tsp maple flavoring.

Boil sugar and water and add flavorings.

The Best Maple Syrup:

3 cups brown sugar

3 cups white sugar

3 cups water

1 cup corn syrup

Bring to a boil, take off the heat and add:

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp maple flavoring.

Can be sealed in jars to keep or give as gifts.