Breakfast for Dinner

We had pancakes, blueberries, orange slices and turkey bacon for dinner tonight.  (We seem to have a lot of bacon lying about lately...)  I haven't had breakfast for dinner in ages and it reminded me of the years when I was a child and we'd come home from a vacation or weekend away.  There'd be nothing in the fridge except butter and eggs.  We always had lots of eggs --  and possibly a bottle of milk in the box on the back steps, delivered that morning.  My mother would get out the huge silver mixing bowl and crack 12 eggs, splash in some milk, a little salt.  Then she'd throw butter in a hot pan along with the eggs.  Hungry and tired, nothing tasted better after travelling.  Unless there was bread, and then I'd make a sandwich by rolling my eggs up in very buttered toast.  Yum.

Maddy had a sleep over last Friday night, and Emma had a friend dropped off early in the morning, so I made pancakes.  I'd been to Williams Sonoma recently and seen a waffle/pancake mix with oatmeal in it, and thought, I can do that.  Into my usual pancake mix, I dumped some steel-cut oatmeal, another 1/2 cup of warmed milk and another beaten egg.  It turned out great, and the girls didn't notice, or at least didn't comment negatively, on the oatmeal addition.  I forgot, however, that girls of their age (pre-adolescent) eat like birds, so I had a lot left over. The concoction was pretty stiff -- but the addition of more milk loosened it up, and the pancakes were just as fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside as they were Saturday morning. 

Oatmeal Pancakes (makes enough for 4, double for more servings)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup steel cut oatmeal pulsed through a food processor a few times

2 tsp granulated sugar (or more if you like 'em sweeter)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup of milk (or, yummier: 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup milk)lightly warmed.  Add more milk if batter seems too thick

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs lightly beaten

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat your skillet or griddle

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl with a whisk.  Stir in the cup of warm milk, then the eggs, then the butter.  Fold it all together, but don't over do it.

Swish some butter over your griddle, then pour out 1/4 cups of batter.  Flip when bubbles form, about 2-3 minutes.  In another minute the pancakes will brown on the bottom.  I always feel the need to eat the first one off the griddle, just to be sure all the seasoning is right.  (Sometimes I add more sugar or a touch of salt)

Keep pancakes warm beneath a clean kitchen towel until you're ready to serve.  (See Pam Anderson's book, The Perfect Recipe, -- she tested a bunch of methods for keeping pancakes warm and found keeping them wrapped in a clean kitchen towel kept them from getting rubbery)