Pancake Wednesday

"Breakfast for Dinner" started as an every-once-in-awhile occurrence, reserved for those nights when we really dropped the ball on dinner, but over time, became more and more regular, as in once a week regular.  That was just out of pure laziness.  We have a waffle iron, so we make a huge batch of waffles, freeze the leftovers and then pop them in the toaster for a quick meal. And you can fry eggs in about the time it takes to toast the waffles. "Breakfast for Dinner" is one of the few meals I can put together with a screaming child hanging on to each leg. 

Our nanny had also discovered the ease of breakfast foods.  While my standards for the kids' lunches consisted of sandwiches, Liula often made elaborate dishes from scratch from whatever she found in my kitchen. (And for the most part, the kids ate it!)  But she was also super busy with the kids and Wednesdays ended up being the hardest day of the week for her.  Oliver had preschool until lunch time and she took Soren to story time and missed out on her lunch prep time.  I don't know if she was trying to find a use for the copious amount of pure maple syrup we always have on hand, but she found a recipe for pancakes in one of my cookbooks and discovered they were a hit with the kids.  Oliver soon started inquiring about what day of the week it was.  I think he's at that age where he's starting to grasp the concept of time, but we also suspect all he wanted to know was whether it was Wednesday or not.

After our nanny moved on, we could finally justify having breakfast for dinner once a week.  We were simply honoring her by continuing the practice of Pancake Wednesday.  There are some weeks when I feel really guilty that I'm not serving my kids dinner with at least one vegetable and a lot less sugar.  And then there are the weeks I actually relax about it and enjoy what has become a silly (and tasty) family tradition. 

Good Old-Fashioned Pancakes

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder 
•  ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 ¼ cups skim milk (a little more for thinner pancakes) 
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla 
•  3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately ¼ cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Yield: 8 pancakes

I modified this recipe slightly from one I found at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/.  I love thick, fluffy pancakes and this is the best recipe is a winner every time. We double the recipe and freeze any leftover pancakes.