Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Eating Bald Pan-a-cakes Atop Laundry Mountain

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

       --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I wanted to make the post-church Sunday breakfast.  I like my scrambled eggs better than my husbands (this is the only thing that I make that I like better; he is an amazing cook) and I really wanted to see if I could make donuts or some other pastry this happy morning.  Despite the lack of time I have for it, I really like to bake.  It feeds that A+ in organic chemistry lab part of me that likes to measure precisely and see things turn out how they are supposed to when you follow a recipe to the letter.
This book, however, haunts me...

I made them once and they turned out okay at best.  I spent all this money on a stupid pan, an unrealistic book, and lemon curd all which I have used once in 5 years.  The batter requires you to whip egg whites to stiff peaks prior to folding it into the sifted dry ingredients or something like that.  My world with three starving kids under six does not afford me opportunity to whip a multiple step batter into anything other than a frenzy.

I got an idea.

We are a pancake mix family on those weekends when we have the time and energy to make them.  These are just round stuffed pancakes, right?  I read the cooking instructions for the Ebelskivers substituting pancake mix batter for crazy fancy batter.*


And...IT TOTALLY WORKED! 
Messy stove-top with real time bald pana-cakes

They taste as good as they look

Goof balls enjoying pancake balls
I asked my son what we should call them.  I suggested a few options but they were ultimately vetoed in favor of  "Bald Pan-a-cakes". The extra "a" has been a part of our pancake name since SH1 was first learning to talk and requested pan-a-cakes.  He always did love a pan-a-cake.  And these were good, very very good. 

Not far away lurking behind a closed office door in my house was this... 
Clean laundry couch
FYI: that is a normal sized laundry basket to give an idea of scale
I know, I know HORRID!
I wanted to post the following to Facebook with the attached photo
"HELP!  Retail experienced clothes folder with a good working knowledge of how to match and hang little girl outfits, bundle socks, and where things get put away in my house needed stat!"  
I didn't do it.  Instead I put my small humans to bed, gulped down a glass of wine, turned on a 19 Kids and Counting marathon, and got to work.**  

There was a busy working mom,
Who hated to fold and put away laundry.  
When she had the energy to be creative she was good,
She was very very good,
But when she procrastinated every day menial tasks,
The results were horrid (and everyone wore wrinkled clothes for a month).
                                                                           --3 Small Humans


*For those suckers who made the same mistake and bought an Ebelskiver pan: 
  1. Prepare "Ultimate Recipe" pancake batter found on the back of a Bisquick box.  Ready some filler, I put a teaspoon of organic strawberry jam in each one (yes, yes I know mom of the year with my organic jam).
  2. Heat the Ebelskivers pan to medium heat and put a pat of butter in each well
  3. Slop 1 tbs of batter in the well when the butter is sizzling, 1 tsp of filling to center and top with additional 1 tbs of batter.  
  4. Cook for 3-4 min and then flip them over with wood skewers to cook for few more minutes  


**Watching shows about families with way more laundry issues than mine while folding 10 loads of laundry is a surprisingly awesome motivator

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