Pancake Series---and Kitchen Accidents

Pancake Series

During the summer it gets really hot here, Southern Alberta so I really don't want to heat up the kitchen with baking. One of my favorite breakfasts any time of the year is pancakes. Pancakes are a great hot breakfast even for hot summers because they don't heat up the kitchen too much.

I have experimented a great deal with a number of different pancake recipes and this is my most favorite basic recipe. For the next few posts I will make them different variations on this recipe that I have found very successful and tasty

Basic Pancake Recipe

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 large egg

3/4 c milk (you may add more depending on what type of consistence you're looking for---the thinner the batter the thinner the pancake)

2 Tablespoons cooking oil

1 c flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

Mix first 4 ingredients in a bowl or a liquid measuring cup (I usually use a liquid measuring cup to mix the batter together. When pouring the batter from this, it's a lot easier and less messy than trying to use a bowl and a spoon).

Add the next 2 ingredients to the mix--mix well.

Add the baking powder last. This ingredient is what makes the pancakes puffy. Don't over mix or you will have flat pancakes---but if you don't care, it's OK.

Heat griddle (I use a wok) over medium heat. (To test the griddle, sprinkle with a few drops of water. If bubbles jump around, the pan is ready to make pancakes).

Add a little oil/butter every time you make a new pancake (this will make the pancake crispy around the edges) For each pancake pour slightly less than 1/4 c batter onto the hot griddle. Cook pancake until bubbly on top, puffy and dry around the edges. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.

Kitchen Accidents:

Week of the 4th was a rough week for dishes in our house

We broke:

 1 drinking glass, 1 canning jar, and 1 bowl (one of my favorite ones too---with cow pattern on it)

When we first moved here (July 2010) we had 10 drinking glasses and now we have one--thank goodness we bought them at the dollar store and their easily replaced---even if they weren't, it's just a glass

It's been extremely hot here and so I had a really good idea---place a canning jar in the freezer over night to freeze so that the next day I would have nice cold water. I would add water to it the next day----I even made sure I wouldn't get any yucky stuff/taste/smell from the freezer in the bottle by closing it with a lid---oops, scientific experiment didn't turn out quite what I expected---apparently I had too much water in the jar---not enough room in the jar to get bigger so the jar broke---here it is frozen and broken