The Very Waffle Pancake Dinner

This week over at Simcha's, we talk about food from the past week.  Unfortunately, with cross country and field hockey and my daughter's new job at Dairy Queen and Back to School Night, dinner has been something of a catch as catch can experience.

Monday...we had...what did we have?   I know my oldest two opted to buy subway before I managed to make dinner.  It was supposed to be pork tenderloin but the pork tenderloin hadn't defrosted and could have been used to club a t-rex to death.  So I think I remember thinking about chickening out and going for fast food for everyone, but instead made the younger ones eggs and toast and gave them pineapple.  No complaints.

Tuesday..pork tenderloin still not tender sitting in the refrigerator, determined to remain a brick. We had...spaghetti with meatballs and red sauce and salad.

Wednesday we had...pork tenderloin and beans and rice and tortillas, and carrots.  Kids complained we ran out of tortillas.

Thursday: I know we had chicken drumsticks and broccoli, left over corn bread, watermelon and white rice. Some of the kids opted for leftover pork tenderloin, mixing it with bbq sauce and having pulled pork.

Friday: I'm voting pancakes and bacon or hot dogs and french fries.  I don't have any great recipes or stories.  I just know, I need to make a menu plan for next week because cooking during the school year is so much harder than cooking during the summer.

Yep.  Pancakes.  

I make mine from scratch using the Southern Living cookbook recipe. The recipe is so beloved, the back of the book has fallen off, half the pages are missing, but it is comforting to use that page, beveled by years of making these things for dinner and any other time we decided, the best cure for whatever it is involves maple syrup.  It's also posted over at My Recipes, but there's something comforting about a cook book so used, it becomes a relic of its prior self.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar 

1 large egg

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil 

Preparation

Stir together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Stir together egg, buttermilk, and oil; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot, lightly greased griddle. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked; turn and cook other side. Serve with butter and warm maple syrup.  Plus, whenever my kids see me making these things or any other food which involves maple syrup, someone will pull up this video or sing the song...

followed by the attempt to play the Teen Titan's Waffle's game. 

(Where you only say Waffles until someone surrenders).

Hint: I've won this one. 

Quick Takes Friday

1.  What I've Been Up To

I updated my resume and publication log this year, I only have three articles to speak of and so it looks like I dropped off the planet by comparison with 2008,2009 and 2010.  Time to get back in the habit of submitting pieces (and ahem Sherry, writing them).  Hate that the well feels so dry.

2.  Halloween

This year, I have a Tigger (the baby), a dinosaur (Paul), Rainbow Dash, a fairy princess, a werewolf, a movie star, a tween who is at the moment, undecided, a cat and two older kids who want very much to dress up but haven't determined what they want to be.  

3.  Cheese Pumpkins

I got questions in my comments about what are cheese pumpkins.  They're very pale orange pumpkins, a creamy tan/orange in color.  They make awesome pies and cookies.   Here's my pumpkin pie recipe.  My family loves these so much, they say things like, "You only made six?" 

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (Splenda works great as an alternative!)
4 egg yolks
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups pureed cooked pumpkin (not canned)
1/2 cup heavy cream (Whole milk or evaporated works well as a substitute)
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 egg whites
2  Nine inch pie shells (uncooked).

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg yolks, spices, salt, pumpkin and milk/cream and extract. 

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until firm but not dry.  Fold in 1/2 of the egg whites into the batter to mix and lighten whole mixture, then fold in the rest.  Pour into pie shells.   Bake on a cookie sheet at 350degrees for 45-50 minutes.  (I recommend a pie ring for the crust to keep it from burning).

Variants, fold in one cup of mini chocolate chips, yumminess.   Have cold milk and whipped cream at the waiting when it comes out of the oven and stand back. 

4.  What I'm Reading: The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorthy Day.  Remember I told you I was becoming a reader/reviewer?  This is my first opportunity. It arrived yesterday, so it's going to take me a few days to plunge through this and I'll post my thoughts once I finish, but I thought I'd at least mention the book.  I don't know much about this woman (admittedly I should but I don't), but this I'm quite sure will remedy that section of ignorance from my brain.  

5. What's on Tap? 

This weekend, we have tickets to a show at our daughter's high school.  I've never seen this musical so it should be fun. 

6. Been introducing older kids to 1) silent films on the Classic Movie channel --we have two big fans, (one's even doing a report on Charlie Chaplin), and 2) classic Halloween stories.  One kid has discovered she loves Agatha Christie, and another likes the Frankenstein films.  A third is reading Dracula.   Nothing like a good scare for October 31st.  

7.  Favorite Candies:  You knew it was coming.  I mean this blog has Chocolate in the title.  My favorite Halloween candies are Twix (the original), and Almond Joy.  Though admittedly, I have no problem being the clean up detail on all the snickers that go unloved in my children's candy bags.  I will make that sacrifice.  The things we mothers must do. 

7 Quick Takes Friday

  1.  Catholicism, the series 

If you haven't watched the PBS special hosted by Fr. Robert Baron, I will tell you, it is a treat not to be missed, a true pleasure.   I've been a longtime fan of his Word on Fire but this is like a two hour feast for the ears, eyes and heart once a week. 

2. All the Signs to Stop

Yesterday, I'd prepared to do a marathon of stuff for the Fall Festival, but my 8 month old decided otherwise.  She decided the only place she would sleep, was in my arms.  So everything else got tabled and today, I've got loads to do, but it was a nice moment to go back to in my mind as a refresher before starting in on the day's demands.  A good friend said, "Listen to your daughter."  and my daughter was saying, "Stop." The stuff still got done, and I got in good snuggle time.

3. Speak Your Heart's Desire

Back in the summer, on a lark I entered a contest for a print. The options were Blessed Mother Theresa or Pope John Paul the Great.  I wanted the one of Blessed Mother Theresa. I won the portrait of Pope John Paul.  When the print arrived, it was beautiful, and I was blown away by the expression and beauty conveyed in his face.  I also got a note from the artist apologizing for the lateness of delivery along with an additional print, the one one of Blessed Mother Theresa. Both are lovely works of art. But it's funny to me that what I hoped, came.  I've always maintained that we should speak our heart's desire and then allow ourselves to be surprised by the number of times our beloved God answers us with lavish abandon. It seems daring to say such things, but I know it to be true.

4.  What I'm Praying For

Well, you can't say something like I did there without admitting that I have a laundry list of things that I ask about, and yet as I type this, I realize, I have not asked about.  So I'm asking, for my son to pass his driver's test, for my children to do well in school, for the economy to brighten up and the wrathful nature of our political discourse to become less about who's winning, and more about what's right. I'm praying for things to get easier for family and friends, and for good health for those who miss it.  I'll ask God to help me find my charger for the phone, get rid of the clutter in my home, and help us find a way to get 8 hours or more of sleep a night and get healthier.  I have a long list. But I know that God has all of eternity, so what seems long to me is small to Him, and that it does not hurt our relationship for me to admit, I need to ask more and be willing to ask more. 

5.  What I'm Reading

I'm still enjoying Bird by Bird, mostly because I'm allowing myself to enjoy each chapter rather than run through it at a sprint.  I can't recommend it enough for anyone who wants to write or teach writing.

6. This Week's Don Quixote Type Adventure 

The University of Notre Dame  President, Fr. Jenkins, spoke up against the plan by the HHS to demand that all organizations and individuals who provide insurance, pay for contraceptives and sterilization and the RU-486ing babies pill or some variant, without exception, without acknowledging that this policy does not allow people of faith to adhere to their faith in their businesses, in their purchases, with their money.  Bravo Fr. Jenkins!  Today was the last day for public comment.  I sent a letter. 

7.  One More Day

This weekend is the Fall Festival. We're almost there.  I'm hoping for good weather, for a good turn out and for smooth sailing.  I promise I'll be napping all next week.