CHANNELING JUNE CLEAVER

On second thought, it's not really channeling. That implies a willing participation on my part. An invitation for her to live in my brain.

Au contraire, mes amis.

She invaded me. She is possessing me. She is digging up the memories that my lack of, and indifference to, domestic skills caused me great problems in my past life. The bee-yoch whispers in my ear that I better not let that happen again. So, here I am, after years of living alone, being accountable to only myself, and, after vowing never to do it again, worrying about things like planning meals, keeping the laundry done, cleaning (but not very well). After all, M&M works a whole lot more hours each week than I do, so I should those things, right?

See what I do to myself? These expectations are all self-imposed, self-inflicted. He has assured me many times that he doesn't expect those things. In fact, I get a puzzled look and the question "Why would I expect you to take care of me. I know how to take care of myself." He really is blessedly low maintenance, good-natured, and accommodating. So why don't I pay attention? Why do I sit at my desk wondering what I should fix for dinner? Why do I continue to worry about being the "good little woman"?

HA! Not that I'm any better at it now anyway. I'm thinking that, once I clear out some more STUFF, I might be making a periodic investment in Merry Maids. It's for my health. Really. Decreased stress levels mean a longer life. Right?

Gotta Use The Black Bananas

Last night I looked in my kitchen and saw a grocery bag I forgot to unpack.
Typical.
But finding a bunch of overripe bananas means only one thing . . .

I've posted about these before.

Today, I made one minor change and one delicious change.
Change #1 - I used 2 parts white whole wheat flour & and 1 part buckwheat flour
Change #2 - added chocolate chips with the toffee chips (ooooh)

Before some of you squawk at me, white whole wheat flour is 100% whole grain.
Don't let the word "white" fool you.
It's NOT white flour (which is evil).
It's ground from white wheat, which has less tannins in the bran than red wheat.
This produces a pale flour with a milder flavor.

When they came out of the oven, BS made piggy snort noises so I would bring him one.

Me: Scale of 1-10?
BS: So far it's a 10.

Keep in mind that last time I made these, he gave them "at least an 8, maybe a 9".
This time I got a 10.

*pause for happy chewing*

Me: 100% whole grain
BS (in his cheesiest commercial endorsement voice): They're good and good for you!
Me: You want another one?
BS: Yah, maybe 2. Breakfast of champions man.

So, yeah, chocolate makes everything better.



Wait, you really can't tell that 2 of those are a Christmas tree & a gingerbread boy.
I have some festive holiday shapes.
Yay!

I have to give them a flip and expose their dark underbellies so you can see.



Hmmm, now they look very brown.
Well, crap.
They still taste good.

Lessons learned: those non-stick pans brown more than stainless steel.

In Praise of the Pig

My friend from Texas, Buckykatt (not his real name), won't want to read this,
because I am going to extoll the virtues of pulled pork barbecue.

Don't get me wrong. To me, the quintessential piece of barbecue is brisket.
Beautiful, tender, smokey, cooked-all-day, melt-in-your-mouth beef brisket.

http://www.bonappetit.com/images/dishes/dish/dire_brisket_v.jpg

And no one can do brisket like a Texan.
I am especially fond of the brisket at T-Bone Tom's in Kemah TX, just south of Houston.
I have been there with my cousin a couple of times.
She ended up moving to another table so she wouldn't have to claim knowledge of or kinship with me.

"Excuse me, waitress? That woman over there who looks just like me is really annoying.
Could you please ask her to leave? Thank you so much."

I think I probably sounded just like Bill Murray in "What About Bob?"
You remember - the dinner scene.

But, this corner of the country is pig country, and here, we do pork barbecue.
And if you're gonna do the pig, pulled pork is the best.
Sorry Brother M, but pulled pork is far superior to chopped or minced.

A goodly portion of the family was gathering at my mother's for Labor Day eating,
and I wanted to do try pulled pork barbecue. Never made it before.
Always wanted to try, and they were game to be my guinea pigs.

I don't have a smoker, so slow smoking it all day was not an option.
And I don't know that I'd have the patience for that anyway, so I cheated.

It cooked low and slow in the oven. Here's how it played out:

ACT 1 - DRY RUB
Made up a dry rub & smeared it all over the nice Boston Butt roast I got at Harris Teeter on sale for half price.
Whoo-hoo! Or, as Paula Deen would say, after I applied the dry rub, I "rubbed my meat".

The dry rub consisted of brown sugar, onion powder, ground chipotle powder, garlic powder, black pepper, chili powder, sweet smoked paprika, , salt, mustard powder, cumin, thyme, and cinnamon in various quantities.
This is a rub that I made up after looking at a lot of them online.

It also calls for dried cilantro, but my mother is apparently missing the gene, so I left it out.
But that begs the question - why are none of her offspring missing said gene?
So, are we really her kids? Hmmm.

ACT 2 - MARINATE
Tightly wrap the pork in plastic & marinate in the fridge for about 7 hours. Here was my conundrum.
We were going to leave for my mothers at about 10 am, and I wanted the meat to cook for about 6 hours,
so, when I take off my shoes & socks to do the math, this means it needs to go in the oven at . . . . .
WHAT?! 4 am?!

Sigh, nothing is too big a sacrifice for the tummies of my fambily.
So I will lay myself on the altar of their appetites. And just to prove that I really did get up at 4 am:


When I unwrapped the pork, this is what it looked like.
I don't know what's up with that dry spot there at the lower edge.


I added some liquid - apple juice, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce & liquid smoke.
Put tin foil tightly over the top, put the lid on & put it in the oven at 300 degrees.
The alarm was set again for 6 am for the next act.

ACT 3 - BASTE
I hate waking up with the alarm.
It seems against nature to be yanked out of a delicious slumber by an evil noise from hell.
But allow myself to be yanked yet again I did to stumble to the kitchen. It's still pitch black out,
but the house is smellin' guuud.
Grab the potholders, take the big pot out of the oven, ladle the appley juices over the meat, and wrap it back in it's foil seal.

Now, this next part I blame on sleepiness.
I went to put the lid back on, and it looked so innocent sitting there in the predawn dimness of the poorly lit kitchen.
Didn't look like it was hot, ya know? And aren't reflexes a great thing?
I was able to let go pretty damn quick, but not before the seared flesh damage was done.
And you just run to the cold water faucet in the sink without really thinking about it.
Cold water feels soooo good on a burn, and your skin feels soooo on fire after you dry it off.
How was I supposed to get back to sleep with my hand on fire?

Now, I didn't go to college for nuthin'. I filled a big bowl with cold water, laid a towel on the edge,
and slept on the couch with my hand dangling in the water. You know what?
When I woke up at 8 (after not sleeping well anymore, thank you very much), my hand didn't hurt anymore.


ACT 4 - BASTE AGAIN
Actually, I didn't baste it, I turned it over so the other side could soak in the juices.
Put back in the oven - WITH POTHOLDERS!

ACT 5 - SNARF & GOBBLE
Showered, dressed, rousted BS out of bed, gathered everything & drove to my mother's beach condo for a Labor Day feast.
She made brownies & cut up some fresh fruit.
My brother, 2 nieces & nephew-in-law brought everything else.

The lid & foil came off & a couple of forks teased apart the falling-off-the-bone tender meat.
OH EM GEE!


Words cannot describe.
Look at this bowl of heavenly gastronomic delight.


But my brother, bless his misguided heart, wanted to chop & mince it.
I was able to save some from the evil knife of doom, but, alas, not all the pork survived his gleeful maniacal chopping.


And, brother dearest, if you ever take that big knife to my pulled pork again and chop it into oblivion, I'll have to hurt you.

I strained the cooking juices & removed most of the fat.
Then we mixed some of it with a bit of hot sauce and stirred it back into his minced pile.
LEAVE MY PULLED SHREDS ALONE!


It was a feast of crackers & my mother's famous-throughout-the-whole-family cheese ball, fresh fruit, barbecue,
cole slaw, baked beans, rolls, macaroni & cheese, and brownies.
I think I would want all this stuff at my last meal. Seriously. Either this or spaghetti & cheesecake. It's a toss-up.

ACT 6 - THE AFTERMATH

No words are necessary.


Lessons learned:

• Pots that just came out of the oven are hot.
• I WILL make this again, however, next time I want the cooking liquid to be less appley.
• Keep the knives away from my pulled pork.
• Don't forget the chipotle hot sauce (we had to use regular Texas Pete)
  

The tourist season is now officially over. I can go back to the beach!

Weekends Mean Breakfast!

And you know what that means. That means . . . . . .
you think I'm going to go on again ad nauseum about pancakes or muffins, don't you?

FOOLED YOU!

It was sweet potato hash with fried eggs & salsa.
You see, I have a bowl where I keep potatoes & onions & the like,
and this grew out of it overnight.
Overnight, I swear.



I think it needs to be used, eh?

(And looky RAD, I got some bokeh in that shot!)

So, it got sliced & put in the pan with some butter & olive oil.
Then I sprinkled some chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt & pepper over the mess & cooked it a bit,
not stirring too much since I wanted the bottom to get a little brown.



Then a chopped sweet onion & 2 cloves of minced garlic went in.




After it all cooked some more & I did a lousy job of trying to turn it over so it could get toasty,
I put it on a plate, sprinkled on some 2% sharp cheddar, sprinkled some more, maybe a little more,
and put in the oven to get melty while I made the eggs.



Now, speaking of minced garlic, I have minced garlic the old-fashioned way,
wielding my big ol' knife with expert skill.
Highly overrated, I tell ya, especially since my co-worker gave me a chopper.
Now my garlic goes from this . . .



. . . to this with just a few whacks.



What's not to love, right? And they stay in a pretty circle.
Simple pleasures.

The eggs went in a clean pan to cook - 2 for the boy & 1 for me.



Here's a nice tip I learned from my mama.
Sunny-side-up eggs can be a bit wiggly on the top, and slimy egg whites squick me out.
If you don't want the monkey business of trying to flip them (to cook the white part)
without busting the yolks, put a little water in the pan & cover it, still on the heat.



The steam will cook the top side and you will still have pretty, recognizable yolks in the middle.
The eggs went on top of the hash with a salsa garnish.



Ewww, you're thinking. What's that on the eggs?
Well, I placed a dab of salsa on each egg too, but they ended up looking too much like boobs,
so I scraped it off.
I'm trying to repress my inner 12 year old.
My mother is glad of that.

There were no leftovers.
BS was very pleased.
I liked it a lot too, but I think I would have preferred a slightly sweeter salsa,
like mango or peach, to offset the spicy potatoes.

The Good & The Ugly

I was thinking that the best way to start the morning would be to whip us up some frooty shakes. In goes the frozen fruit, in goes the yogurt, in goes some juice, and in goes . . . . what is this? There are 3 soft, over-ripened, no-longer-yellow, squishy things on my counter. Really, I would have been totally grossed out with one of those in my frooty frosty.

You know what that means, don't you? Even though mooshing them in the blender had the 'ick' factor, baking with soft squishy bananas is a good thing. BS asked for banana pancakes, but he ain't getting them. I am a cruel & inconsiderate mother, with no consideration whatsoever for his wants & needs. So I am making banana muffins instead. Maybe banana chocolate chip muffins? Oh my.

BS: Banana muffins!? Ooh, that's even better.
Me: Don't ever second-guess the wisdom of my superior intellect!
BS *rolls eyes*: WhatEVER!

I wanted to cut down on the gluten so the muffins would be more tender, so I used a combination of 100% white whole wheat flour (higher in gluten) and some brown rice & buckwheat flours (zero gluten). I've never used that combination before, so we'll see how they taste.

The Players:
3 squishy bananas
2 eggs
the last of the vanilla yogurt in the carton (~1/3 cup)
scant 1/3 cup white sugar (evil stuff, I know)
1/3 cup brown sugar
big ol' splash of vanilla
1/2 stick melted butter, cooled
couple Tbsp safflower oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup each brown rice flour & buckwheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (there is a total of 1 1/2 cups flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda (because of the yogurt)
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mush the bananas & beat in eggs, yogurt, sugars, melted butter & oil. Whisk well.
Combine the dry stuff & add to the wet.
Whisk (gently) until combined.
Stir in chocolate chips . . .

Wait, where the he!! are my chocolate chips? I coulda sworn I had some, right there on the top shelf of the cupboard next to the stove where they belong. Whaaaa? Where did they go?

Hmmm.
Drums fingers.
Really wanted the chocolate chips.
What else is up there?
Heath Bar bits?
Hmmm, that has possibilities.

. . . so, instead of chocolate chips, half the bag of toffee bits went in.

I really liked the results. The brown sugar added to the 'toffeeness' of the flavor. The combination of flours was fine - the buckwheat flour didn't overpower the flavor. The Heath Bar crumbles lent some crunchy bits, which is always good.

Very, very nice. Out of a perfect 10, BS gave them "at least an 8, maybe a 9".

Sorry, no money shot of a nice warm muffin, split open, with steam gently wafting over a pat of melting butter. They were so good, we were snarfing & gulping like piggies & I . . . sigh . . . forgot.

BUT, here's my gripe. Whoever designs muffin tins has got to be someone who hates muffins and wants the makers of muffins to either burn themselves getting them out of the oven or smash them grabbing the pan? Look at this and tell me how either of these mishaps won't happen:

Why don't they put handles on these suckers? Or a bigger edge that you can grab on to?

Then, there was that half bag of toffee bits looking at me. It would be wasteful and irresponsible of me not to use them, right? And its little toffee voice was whispering "I love chocolate" every time I passed by.

Oh, okay, toffee bits. Don't get your knickers in twist. You can get it on with the chocolate in the form of chocolate toffee mini-muffins.

The Players:
1 egg
1/4 - 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
about 1/3 stick butter melted with 1 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
not quite 2/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
about 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 bag toffee bits

These were outstandingly delicious. Moist, chocolate-y, toffee-y, buttery. What's not to love, right?

Now, just go on ahead and ignore that entire thing. Here's why:
1) That was too much baking powder for the amount of flour I used. I didn't follow my own rules. BAD KATHY!
2) The proportions were way off.
3) The planets were not aligned and my moon was in someone else's house.
4) I dunno.

When they came out of the oven - smelling heavenly I might add - they immediately imploded, most likely because of the excess of baking powder:

And what do you think of the money shot of a couple warm ones on my plate?

Hmmm, something seems a little . . . off.

They are ugly.

They stubbornly refused to leave their warm wells in one piece, so I got a pile o' moist, blissful chocolate pieces & crumbs. I know taste is important, but a muffin, by its very nature, should be, oh, I don't know, muffin shaped? So, don't make these if appearance is a critical factor for you.
Or ease of eating.
Or neatness.
Or anything else.

Muffin - FAIL!
But a mighty tasty fail.

Summertime in a Glass

I confess. I have an unnatural weakness for lemonade & limeade, so when summer rolls around, my fondness for sweet tea, the "house wine of the South" (movie reference Sista G), is seasonally replaced by the sweet-tart refreshment that only citrus can provide.

This sounds a little strange, I know, because I can get lemons & limes in the dead of winter at my local foodville. But I like it ice-cold, and usually the last thing I want to drink in the winter is ice-cold anything. My sweet tea I normally drink sans ice & only slightly chilled. Of course, all this goes out the window if a hot flash makes an unwelcome appearance. Then I want all the ice I can get, even if it is 20 degrees out.

I digress. You really don't want to hear about hot flashes, do you. That was a rhetorical question, you know.

Anyway, this was sitting on my counter staring at me for a few days.

So I decided it was time for it to live up to its fruity destiny - epitomizing summer with a watermelon seed-spitting contest. I crack it open in gleeful anticipation of making a mess of the front steps and . . . wait . . . where are the seeds?

Daggum it. It's a seedless watermelon. Now what do I do?

Oooh, I know.

First I scooped all the red, luscious sweetness (uh . . . no) into my blender. I had to do this in 4 batches - 2 for each half.

Blend away until it is all pureed.

And, I know what you're thinking. Yes, there were a few seeds in there, but not enough for any kind of decent spitting.

Then I poured it through a strainer to keep out the seed bits.

Press on the pulp to get as much juice out as possible, and you are left with this:

I totally would have eaten this if it hadn't been full of seed shards. BUT, in the bowl is liquid summer.

Wait. Something is missing.

Ah, I know what it is.

Just kidding. I couldn't drink the whole thing, and I wasn't feeding BS my backwash, so the straw is for show. I did put a bit into a small glass to taste though. Ahhhhhhhhh . . . . . . . . . .

I poured the juice into my ice cube trays and froze them,

until I had this -

A bag of summer refreshment. I also found some limeade (without the evil high fructose corn syrup) on sale at the store, so I decided I could bring myself to do something with it other than add tequila.

A couple of frosty mugs (that BS keeps in the freezer), some frozen strawberries and watermelon cubes, my trusty blender, and voila!

Holy cow! This was good. And the Christmas motif on the mugs only adds to the frostiness of it, right? But you know what? Later, I just put some watermelon cubes in a glass of limeade instead of ice cubes and I think I liked that even better. As they melted, the limeade sweetened up and now I want some more. As soon as possible. And so should you.

Now, I am definitely seeing some tequila possibilities for those cubes. Ya think?

Ripped Off Recipes

I follow a number of other blogs, and many of them are focused on cooking & baking. I live vicariously through them, as these ladies' skill in the kitchen far outshines mine. You will see them listed over to the right. Anyway, the other day, Donna made some fried rice, and ever since then, I have been jonesin' for some. I have a hankering, a yen, a craving. I have a fevah, and the only prescription, is more cowbell . . . oops . . . I mean, fried rice. I read through her post and thought about how I would tweak it depending on my preferences, although it is more about what I have in my fridge & freezer at the moment.

A few weeks ago, I found myself in possession of the carcass of a roasted chicken, so I threw in a bunch of additional stuff and made chicken stock. Fragrant, liquid gold. A container came out of the freezer and I turned up the heat. I am going to cook my rice in it for more flavor.

What? I forget to post about that? Oh gee. Sorry.

The stock is starting to melt down.

Is this not a thing of beauty?
Ohhh yeah, baby, I wish you had smell-o-vision.
(That was for you, Buckykatt.)



I have always wondered why the TV cooking people don't remove the hard, tough root end of the garlic clove before mincing it up. They do it for onions, after all. I don't want to end up gnawing on that nasty thing, so I whacked mine off.
(Ooh, that sounded dirty ;-)



My good friend at work gave me this chopper. CanIjusttellyou, I love this thing for chopping garlic.



Now, Rosie, I can't make it with white rice.
White rice hurts me in my heart.
And since I sanctimoniously look down my nose at anything but a whole grain,
I am using BROWN rice!
And since there was about 2 cups of broth, I dumped in a cup of rice & set the timer for 45 minutes.



And when it was done cooking in that beautiful chicken stock, holy cow!
That's some mighty tasty rice.



While the rice was cooking, I got everything else ready.
First, chopped an onion and let it caramelize in some peanut oil.

Pause while I wipe my eyes with a cold, wet paper towel.
Caramelized onions make me weep with joy.
Really. It wasn't the chopping.
I love caramelized onions.



Then I added celery & carrots & garlic & let that work a bit.
I also sprinkled in some ginger & sesame seeds & a touch of 5-spice powder & let it all cook just until deliciously fragrant.



Took all that stuff out & scrambled a couple eggs.



Added the vegetables back in, along with some sugar snap peas that I cut in half.



Lastly, the rice and some tamari sauce.



Be still my heart.
This was good.
It hit the spot.
BS loved it too.


The fever has cooled.

Lesson learned: The scrambled eggs ended up chopped too fine. I would have liked bigger chunks of egg in there. Egg chunks - sounds appetizing, doesn't it?

Another Boring Treatise - Pancakes Deconstructed

Whoo-hoo! One of my rare, but ever-so-fascinating cooking posts.

Except, not. Fascinating that is. But if you're having trouble sleeping, give it a read.

Remember last weekend when I offered to make BS a tasty weekend breakfast and he put the kabosh on it, so I made myself one instead? I am going to try again today. It feels like a pancake sort of day.

I know I have harped on the whole wheat flour & whole wheat pasta thing until you want to punch me, but when something is a large part of our diet, like sandwiches, spaghetti & PANCAKES, I want those items to be as good as possible, in every way possible, including taste.

When BS was little, he was a cold-cerealaholic. He loved the stuff, so I would get the best cereal I could and started buying organic milk. All for the same reasons. We eat enough crap as it is without adding insult to the injury. I am NOT a health-food nut. I just try to use common sense about CERTAIN things - and this is something that I can control, and it is easy and tastes good.

That said, pancakes for breakfast is one of our favorite things. Although there are scrambled eggs with Velveeta cheese, also an irresistible treat. Actually BS prefers waffles, but pancakes are easier, and being the kind of mother that I am - one that has no regard whatsoever for her offspring's wants & needs - I make pancakes.

I have said this before - pancakes are stupidly easy to make. As long as you keep your basic formula the same, the world is your griddle. The basic formula is equal parts dry stuff & liquid stuff, with some egg, fat, leavening, a little salt & maybe some other stuff thrown in to turn them into stacks of deliciousness.

That's it, really, but there are some things to keep in mind. First up . . .

THE WET TEAM: The traditional liquid to use in pancakes is milk or buttermilk, but fruit juices can also add great flavor. When I use anything non-dairy as the liquid, I will add some milk powder to the batter for some extra calcium (I need it. I'm gettin' old...er) & protein. You can also use yogurt or sour cream (you'll need to thin it a little).

Buttermilk, yogurt & sour cream are acidic, so if you use one or more of these, you will also need to add some baking soda to your dry stuff to offset the acidity - between 1/4 - 1/2 tsp per cup of buttermilk. Sometimes I have used buttermilk powder mixed with juice instead of water, and the result was gobbled up.

Also remember, if you use milk powder or buttermilk powder in your batter, don't count it as part of your dry ingredients. Even though it is a dry powder, it is really a liquid. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Egg: generally use the equivalent of 1 large egg per cup of liquid. Sometimes I cheat & use 2 just because I can, but the pancakes won't rise quite as high.

Fat: Use vegetable oil (Canola or safflower is best). But if you really want extra yumminess, use melted butter. I won't tell. About 1 tbsp per cup of liquid will be just fine.


THE DRY TEAM. You can use one type of grain or mix them up for interesting textures & tastes.

Flour: The thing that gives bread it's stretchiness & shape is gluten - a protein that is found in wheat, rye & barley. It allows the bread to maintain its structure when the gas bubbles from the leavening do their gassy thing. If gluten wasn't present, bread would be flat, sad & unappealing. However, this quality that makes bread so good would make for a tough pancake.

Since not many people make pancakes from rye or barley, we'll look at wheat. There are basically 2 types of wheat flour: hard (high gluten, high protein - aka bread flour) and soft (low gluten, low protein - aka cake flour). What you see in the grocery store as all-purpose flour is a combination of both, a happy medium, a 'let's please most of the people most of the time' kind of flour. But, alas, it is WHITE flour, and if you make your pancakes from this stuff & cover them with syrup, you may as well just go ahead & admit that you're eating dessert. 'Cause they're NOT "part of a nutritious breakfast" (and neither are Froot Loops).

Whole wheat flour comes both ways - regular whole wheat (high gluten, high protein) & whole wheat pastry flour (lower gluten, lower protein). You can combine them to replicate AP flour, but the pastry flour is especially suited to the light & fluffy destiny of pancakes, since we don't want invite too much gluten to our pancake party.

Other grains & flours can make for deliciousness in your pancakes too - buckwheat flour (which is also used to make Japanese soba noodles), brown rice flour, nut flours (ground up nuts), corn flour (look for whole corn flour), and oat flour (or rolled oats blitzed in your blender). You can use rolled oats 'as is' for oatmeal pancakes, but they work better if you soften them in your liquid first. Or even heat the liquid and let the oats steep in there until it has cooled off enough to add to the batter.

Leavenings: Baking powder is the gold standard, but don't use more than 1 tsp per cup of flour (along with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt). Look at some of the pancake recipes that boast of their fluffiness and you will usually see way more than the 1 tsp per cup of flour. Yeah, they will rise to puffy & fluffy heights & you will impress your friends, but more than 1 tsp will sacrifice most of the thiamin in your flour. Also, don't forget the bit of baking soda if you are using an acidic liquid.

THE 'OTHER STUFF' TEAM

Flavorings: I'll bet you couldn't guess which flavoring is my favorite. . . . . You can? Sigh, I am so predictable. Other than vanilla, I guess there are other flavorings you could use. Other extracts, essential oils, zests, herbs & spices. Go hog wild and experiment. I also add a little honey to make them a bit sweeter. That way, we don't use as much syrup. If you don't have any honey, you could use a little brown sugar.

Oh okay, you can use the evil white sugar too. Just don't tell me, because if you do, there will be an awkward silence.

Add-Ins: Pancakes are a blank canvas just begging for the addition of splashes of goodness. Mashed sweet potato, pumpkin, bananas (chunky or mashed), applesauce, these are just a few things you can add to your batter to get pancakes your family will beg for. And what better to give you a feeling of omnipotence than seeing your family beg you for something from the kitchen? Hmmmm? You might even be able to milk some favors out of it.

If you want to add this kind of stuff, remember that, in general, they will be in addition to your basic formula. Of course, if you are going to use something really runny, like applesauce, just decrease your liquid by a little bit to offset the extra water in the applesauce.

Chopped fruits, small fruits & nuts stirred into the batter just before baking or sprinkled on the batter while they are cooking will also earn you points.

Toppings: oddly enough, we don't use much syrup here, even though it is America's favorite pancake drizzle. When we do, my tree-hugging side turns up my nose at anything but real maple syrup, then my rational side slaps me across the face and says "it's all just sugar, idiot." It's just hard to find plain pancake syrup that isn't made with high-fructose corn syrup, that's all.

(And don't believe those commercials the corn board is putting out these days that claims HFCS is just like sugar. Yes, it's basic components are forms of sugar, but the way it has been processed changes it. And your body metabolizes it differently. There is plenty of research on both sides, so I will err on the side of caution and avoid it.)

Our favorite thing to put on pancakes is peach sauce - take a can of peaches in juice, dump it all in the blender, add a little honey & vanilla, and give it a whirr. Yummm. Works with frozen thawed strawberries too.

Ooh ooh, another good thing is to spread a thin schmear of peanut butter on each pancake & top with some cinnamon applesauce.

Holy cow, now I'm hungry.

Today, I had a hankering for pumpkin pancakes, but I couldn't find my can of pumpkin. I did find a can of sweet potatoes though. I don't know WHAT possessed me to buy them, but I hate waste, so they'll have to do as a stand-in.

Here are the players for today's batch (I'm making a lot so the leftovers can be used as Frisbees):

Hey, how did that get in there?! There's some monkey business afoot, I do believe.

Before I started making the batter, I put some pecans on to toast with a little butter, brown sugar & cinnamon.

In this bowl are 3 eggs, about 3 tbsp canola oil, 2 cups of vanilla yogurt, 1 cup of skim milk, a couple tablespoons brown sugar, some more vanilla, a dash of orange oil (orange goes well with sweet potatoes), and the can of drained sweet potatoes (which I mashed).

Here, I have 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup oat bran flour, some salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice (I was expecting to make these with pumpkin & I forgot to put it back). Stir the dry together . . .

. . . and whisk into the wet. I don't have to worry about the ominous admonition to "DON"T OVERMIX. BATTER WILL BE LUMPY." I don't think so. I am using pastry flour, which has less gluten, so I can whisk the lumps away. That makes me happy. Lumps disturb me. Now I have a big, beautiful bowl o' batter.

The first batch is never the prettiest . . .

. . . as you can see.

And dummy here used the ugly first batch for my blurry money shot. Sigh. Live & learn. What you don't see here are BS' hands reaching for the plate.

Stop it. Get back. I'm not done yet. I have to take a picture. No, I'm NOT crazy. Here, you pour the syrup while I take the picture.

Whooooossssshhhhhh. That was the sound of the plate being snatched up after I released the shutter button.

Me: Well, are they good?

BS: Mmfffppphh gwrrooooffhh

Me: Huh?

BS: (gulp) They're very good.


Lessons learned today?

• I needed more butter & less brown sugar for the pecans. Either that or take it off the heat sooner. It started to form caramel in the pan.
• The dash of orange oil was a about a half a dash too much. That stuff is potently strong. Use sparingly!
• Don't forget about pancakes on the griddle while you type blog posts. A few of them really did turn into Frisbees. They should be tender & light. They should NOT be so flat & stiff that they can stand up on their own. But I think my foxes might like them.