Thankfully There Is More Than One Way To A Man’s Heart
August 18, 2005
I outdid myself for dinner tonight.
I began by picking blueberries off of the bushes in our backyard. I felt so pioneer-like out there in my yard gathering food with my own hands to eat. My ten year old has been telling everyone that we grow organic blueberries, which makes it sound way WAY more impressive than a few scraggly shrubs really deserve.
I enthusiastically told the children that we were going to have blueberry something or other for dinner tonight! Rob is away, so my meal preparations the past few days have consisted of things like cold cereal, and scrambled eggs. So in keeping with the breakfast theme I decide to make blueberry pancakes.
I got out the big bowl and my measuring cups and spoons, at least the ones I can still find that have not been stolen for digging out in the yard. I got out my recipe book where I have written my ever expanding pancake recipe that I have changed and doubled, and doubled yet again. I scooped eight cups of flour out of the bag and into the bowl.
There is probably a reason that the ingredients are in a certain order in the recipe, but I do it my own way anyway. I don’t follow directions well. Most likely I was male in a past life.
I head to the refrigerator. Hmmmm, the only milk I have is vanilla flavored soy. Vanilla is good, I like vanilla flavoring. I pick up the carton and realize there isn’t much left. Ah no worries, I can improvise. My 8 cups of milk becomes three cups of milk mixed with 5 cups of water. It’s like skim milk, right?
Onto the next ingredient, eggs. Look in the refrigerator. No eggs. I remember that I used them all up two nights ago making scrambled eggs. I am moderately worried, but still confident I can find an adequate substitute. I search through the cabinets. What is egg like? I spy a sad lone jar of applesauce in the back of the cabinet. Perfect.
Things go along swimmingly until I come to the baking powder. I remember that I used up the last of it a week ago. I look through the cabinets, but nothing seems to be an acceptable substitution. Should I just ignore that ingredient? What else can I do? I am at the point of no return. I pull out the box of corn starch and toss some of it in. It’s powdery, it’s white, and I have no real grasp of it’s purpose.
I start pouring the batter into the pans. They are rather dense. I flip them over and they make an audible thud in the pan. My spatula bends from their weight. Hmmmm, they also won’t cook in the center. But then I remember there is no eggs in them, so who cares if the center is a little runny.
I decide to rename this food, since it is more like a panpuck than a pancake. I call the children in to the kitchen and introduce the Healthy Pancake Alternative. It’s like having a pancake but without all the pesky fat, cholesterol, and taste!
“Mom, they look really weird and I can’t cut them with my fork. Can I have a steak knife?”
I learn that my children, who cry at the sight of homemade macaroni and cheese, who painstakingly pick the diced vegetables out of fried rice, and who believe ketchup is a vegetable, these same children will eat something that has the consistency of a super ball if it is swimming in enough syrup.
Looking on the bright side, we can resole our shoes with the leftovers.
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I improvise too but man that sounds rough. I guess syrup makes everything better.
August 18th, 2005 at 11:17 amHey, at least the blueberries were healthy, right? My kids will only eat pancakes if they contain chocolate chips, thereby making them a cookie, so why not just give them a cookie? It saves all that pesky cooking.
August 18th, 2005 at 12:39 pmNecessity IS the mother of invention!
August 18th, 2005 at 12:41 pmThat sounds WAY too familiar.
August 18th, 2005 at 2:28 pmOmygosh, that’s hyterical. Reminds me of the first time my mom ever tried to make mashed potatoes with a food processor, back when Cuisinarts were first introduced and all the rage. They turned out like rubber — we had a blast stretching them between spoons the entire length of the kitchen while my mom laughed so hard she cried.
August 18th, 2005 at 2:45 pmHa! Yes, ketchup, ranch dressing, and syrup. Oh, and barbecue sauce. My son will eat steamed broccoli drenched in some kind of sauce. My girls will eat ANYTHING dipped in ketchup or barbecue sauce. I used to try doing everything homemade, but mine cry at the sight of homemade macaroni and cheese and birthday cakes also. Sigh.
August 18th, 2005 at 3:39 pmOh man, I’d get so mad if my kids cried at the sight of a homemade birthday cake. That is too funny!
Those pancakes sound, ummmm, delish! I have been subsisting on tofu dogs and yogurt while Josh is out of town. Do you think that is a problem?
August 18th, 2005 at 3:44 pmLOL!
Next time, tell your son, “Who needs a steak knife, just pick it up and rip a piece off with your teeth.”
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August 18th, 2005 at 5:41 pmOh, this post reminded me so much of me, back when my kids were little. I once tried cooking liver because I’d heard it was so iron-rich and good for them. I had to camouflage it first, of course. My bright little four-year-old insisted that it didn’t smell at all like “finger steaks” so she got her five-year-old brother all riled up and off they went in search of the package it came in.
It blew my cover.
Love your stories!
August 18th, 2005 at 7:42 pm“Cute shoes! Where’d you get them?”
“Well, first you pick a bunch of blueberries…”
August 19th, 2005 at 1:24 amAwesome. I admire your willingness to possibly poison your family to invent something new.
Email me and I’ll tell you the story of Brent trying to give me salmonella while we were first dating…
August 19th, 2005 at 8:09 amMy family has long comment that any time we need to re-shingle the roof, I should just make my pie crust.
August 19th, 2005 at 10:49 amNow there is another alternative.
WHen we get the roofing crew together I’ll get that recipe.
I’m wondering …. any ill effects from the meal today?
“I pull out the box of corn starch and toss some of it in. It’s powdery, it’s white, and I have no real grasp of it’s purpose.”
lol! that whole scenario of starting only to find out you’re missing… umm.. everything sounds familiar. but that was too funny! it’s not quite as humorous when i do it.
August 19th, 2005 at 1:30 pmLOL! My three boys are the same way…smother it in enough syrup, honey or applesauce (dipping sauce of choice for chicken) and they’ll choke down just about anything! What a wonderful blog!
August 21st, 2005 at 12:51 pmblueberry pancakes are my favorite, but no one else in my family will eat them….weird huh?
your’s don’t sound that great.
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January 11th, 2006 at 8:07 am[...] I don’t have the best track record for this substituting ingredients, if you have been reading long enough to remember this post. [...]
September 26th, 2006 at 12:38 pmI’m on my second box of Kleenex over the pancake debacle! Reminds me of the time when I tried to make that red sauce that goes on meatloaf — I added everything red in the pantry and fridge, then had to get a bigger pot, then add flour because it was too thin, then made them mistake of pouring in a bottle of Tabasco because it was the only red thing left and now it needed thinning. OK, so I was only 23 and way too cute to be cooking anyway…..
November 4th, 2006 at 6:41 pm