Apple Pancakes and Childhood

Today is Tuesday. In my world it is one of my busiest days. I teach at four homeschool co-op programs throughout the week and Tuesday is CHET day. We have classes from 9am to 4:30 and I am teaching all of that time except for a 30 minutes lunch break. I then have to come home and make dinner and be sure that Kami gets off to cheer practice. Normally I am pretty smart and I take something out of the freezer a day or two before so it is thawed and ready on Tuesday morning, so I can just toss it into the crockpot. It might be a beef or pork roast, a chicken dish or some kind of soup or stew. I was not so smart this week. It was that and the fact that I was out of town Saturday and Sunday celebrating with my siblings. My older sisters, twins, turned 50 on Sunday. I am sure that is some kind of mistake because they are 4 years older than I am and I KNOW I am not just 4 years away from fifty... but I digress. Dinner... that is what I was talking about.

I realized too late that I had not remembered to thaw the requisite roast and therefore the crock remained under the cupboard and dinner was a mystery - for everyone. When in doubt, make breakfast, right? So, bacon is quickly thawed in a sink full of warm water (thanks, Ali) and a box of Bisquick (shoot me, I didn't do them from scratch this time) made quick work of supper. But I am not such a slouch. I grabbed the bag of chocolate chips and created chocolate chip pancakes from half of the batter and then in the other half, I made some very yummy apple pancakes. No recipe, just what sounded good to me, and I have a bunch of apples on my kitchen table, so it was an easy decision. Try them!

Apple Pancakes

2 cups Bisquick (or whatever pancake mix)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 small apple, peeled and grated with the box grater
1/2 t. cinnamon
dash nutmeg

Mix all the ingredients together and cook on a greased griddle. Serve with butter and real maple syrup (and bacon).

As a child I remember Saturday morning breakfasts. Sometimes we had "sugar cereal," which was a real treat. We only got it on the weekends. In those days the boxes had some sort of toy inside. My mom would remove all the toys and on the days when we would have cereal, or when she had an abundance of the toys (I can't remember which), she would distribute the toys. Lani swears my mom would intentionally give her the bad ones. In retrospect, they were probably all pretty bad. Sometimes she would make doughnuts...chocolate, plain, and molasses. They would fry in lard on the kitchen stove. I wish someone had written down her recipe. This weekend Lani brought her Le Creuset enormous dutch oven (totally jealous and REALLY NEEEEEEEED one of those, btw) and a bucket of lard and fried up some doughnuts for HER birthday (and Lori's). The smell in Mark's kitchen brought back some amazing memories. I felt like my mom or even my grandmother must have been in the kitchen - the smell was haunting. Another breakfast memory is of the waffles and my mother's waffle iron. I lucked out and found one exactly like it several years ago, thanks to my friend Lacey. It makes me happy every time I use it. Breakfast holds many happy memories. I hope it does for you too.

Until next time, stay full and loved, my friends
ps. Yes, Grandmother, I licked my plate. I know you are smiling from Heaven.