Though French Toast was fun for a "season" the real draw in my kitchen was (and still is) PANCAKES.  Pancakes are the ONE thing I can trust to get my brood up and around the kitchen table TOGETHER.  They may mutter something vaguely distinguishable as English when they ask for "coffee", or  look at each other through bloodshot eyes and grunt, acknowledging there is another body in the room.  But the key is we are all together around the table.  Pancakes get us there.

Here’s the recipe I’ve used for years, and just thought I’d share the pancake love with ya’ll:

These are from scratch :)  WHAT no Aunt Jemima?   Nah, I gave her the day off for this recipe.  This recipe is adapted from the recipe "Old Fashion Pancakes" on page 94 of "The New Laurel’s Kitchen".  Note, these are hearty whole wheat pancakes.  A few go a LONG way!

Ingredients:
1 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
2 3/4 c. 1% fat milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or 2 Tablespoons applesauce (this makes the pancakes moister.  The oil makes a yummier pancake, but the applesauce is a bit healthier and cuts the calories some).

1. In a LARGE bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients.
2. Beat the eggs lightly & combine with the milk, then add to the dry ingredients & stir briefly.  Stir in the oil (or applesauce).
3. Heat the griddle. It should be hot enough so that when you sprinkle water drops on the surface, they dance or bubble about.  I find that on an electric stove, a setting of about 6 makes the surface hot without making it too hot that the cakes burn on the outside and then are mushy on the inside (sort of a stuffed pancake thing - very gross tasting unless you are hungover from the night before, then you have no idea whether your eating your tongue or your pancake).
   1. You probably won’t need any grease on the griddle unless you, a loved one, or a friendly neighbor have used it to smelt iron ore or burnt the surface horribly in some heat fetish for cooking food to a blackend char ("say honey, how about some Cajun blackened pancakes today?").
   2. Pour the batter onto the now nicely hot griddle.  I put 2 Tablespoons down and they come out nice and big and deeelicious.
   3. How the heck do you know when to turn them?   Well, after the initial pouring down onto the hot griddle top, the edges of the now nicely cooking cake should be a dry brown and the top should be all bubbly like the surface of Venus.  That means the heat has cooked through the batter!   Turn quick with a large spatula.

I always heat up some real maple syrup (not that bizarre food fad from the food lab, Maple Like Syrup they have in the asiles of our local grocery stores!).   Real maple syrup is not cheap - BUT - when heated a little goes a long way.  Give it a shot, hey it’s only a couple of bucks you cheapskate!!

If you feel very adventurous, once you try this recipe for a while, play with your food :)   Add blueberries or other lovelies to the mix.  Note, the more stuff you add, careful to add enough milk to keep the batter pourable, or else it hardens like concrete!

Okay, so who could be the culprit. The day commuting woodchuck that has her daily apples from our apple trees? Hmmm, she might be able to get up on her hind legs. The coyotes? No, he’d be chasing the day commuting groundhog. It could only be deer (well, it could be elk, but we don’t have elk in these parts). Hmm, once my digital camera has been fixed I’ll have to see if I can get a pic of the perp, bud in mouth!