Pancakes.

I had a couple days off from work…loved waking up without an alarm this morning!

Kids wanted pancakes, but I didn’t have any store-bought mix left.  So I was forced to come up with my own recipe.  Luckily, it turned out super delicious, fluffy, and light…the kids LOVED it!

Nik: “You should share the recipe with all your friends on facebook and call it “Mother’s pancake recipe”! Just like the Pioneer Woman, mom! I love her recipes…”

So here it is!

Mother’s Pancake Recipe

Ingredients
1 C self rising flour
1/2 C wheat flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1/4 C flaxseed meal
3T turbinado sugar (use regular sugar if that’s all you have)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2T melted butter
2 large eggs
1.5 C buttermilk
approx 1C whole milk (depending on how thick/thin you like the batter)
chocolate chips (optional)
chopped pecans (optional)

Directions
Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.
Whisk in eggs and buttermilk.
Add melted butter and continue to whisk gently.
Add enough milk to get the consistency of batter you like.
Mix in choc chips or pecans at this time (optional)
Heat griddle at medium heat (test with drops of water- they should dance on the heated surface)
Make pancakes as normal…don’t flip until you see several air bubbles pop through to the surface.
Butter and top with 100% maple syrup.

I always make extra and freeze, so the kids can eat them for breakfast on busy weekday mornings…

To freeze
Let the pancakes cool on a plate in the fridge
When cool, place several in a ziplock bag and freeze.
To reheat, place a couple on a plate, sprinkle a few drops of water on each pancake (so they don’t dry out and get hard), heat on high in the microwave for approx. 1 minute.

Existence.

While soaking his poor little finger in warm water, Nik looks up at me with that lost, about-to-cry look: “I feel like I didn’t exist for the last two weeks.”
Me: “What do you mean?”
Nik: “Like I wasn’t here.”
Me: “In your body?”
Nik: “Yeah. I feel like I just came back.”

Visit to the doctor.

Took Nik to the doctor today for an infected ingrown nail on his finger. The doctor was so fascinated by him, he spent about an hour talking to him. Really. Anjali kept whispering to me when could we leave, please?! Among the topics of conversation: how one becomes a ninja, the singular and plural forms of ninja, what Nik want to be when he grows up (a game inventor), designing a building taller than any other in the world, jet pack dancing (don’t ask), old people and their rates of healing (doctor’s reason, poor circulation; Nik’s reason, they don’t drink enough water), comparing old people to deteriorating houses, building tree houses with parts of deteriorating houses, Nik’s matter-of-fact acceptance of aging (“that’s just the life cycle of people”)…

At the end, the nurse came in to see what was keeping the doctor so long. He gave Nik an affectionate hug as we left.