Pancakes or waffles?

This picture has nothing to do with the entry; I figured my son would like to see what his dad is doing today.

Cliff absolutely loves pancakes, and sometimes when we eat breakfast out, he’ll order them. He’s always disappointed, though; he says they just aren’t like the ones I make at home. Although we don’t need the starch and sugar, not to mention the butter we put on them, I try to fix pancakes for him at least once a month. Sadly, I no longer cook bacon, sausage and eggs to accompany them; I figure why pile on the cholesterol and calories and make a bad thing even worse?

Pancakes are cheap and easy to make. Sometimes I use a pancake mix or Bisquick; many times I make them from scratch. Cliff doesn’t care, he loves any pancake I fix for him.

The problem is, his pancakes often get preempted by waffles. I wouldn’t care if I ever had a pancake, but I have a fondness for waffles that rivals my love for pizza: the time comes when I simply MUST have waffles. Not those fat Belgian ones, either. I like mine thin, light and crispy. And don’t even talk to me about those frozen Eggo things.

The waffle recipe I love isn’t quick and easy like pancakes. I have to get the mixer out and dirty up three bowls and beat egg whites to the stiff-peak stage.

Then I agonize over the time spent waiting for the waffle iron to finish cooking the waffles! Cliff and I each take two sections of the four-section waffle that comes out; we polish those off long before the next one is done. There we sit, waiting patiently, like buzzards praying for the next tasty road-kill.

Now I’ve done it; I’ll be making waffles in the morning.

Here’s my recipe:

WAFFLES
(from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1 3/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups milk
½ cup cooking oil
2 egg whites

In mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl beat egg yolks slightly; beat in milk and oil. Add egg yolk mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir just till combined but still slightly lumpy.

In small bowl beat egg whites till stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Gently fold beaten egg whites into flour and egg yolk mixture, leaving a few fluffs of egg white. Do not over-mix.

Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cups batter onto grids of a preheated, lighly greased waffle baker. Close lid quickly; do not open during baking.

Note from me: DO NOT forget to spray the waffle iron with cooking spray, even if it’s non-stick. Otherwise you’ll be scraping pieces of waffle off the grids for an hour.

aging apples

In late October we went to our favorite orchard and bought two bushels of Fuji apples, our favorite variety. Cliff eats at least one apple a day, often more. I like them too, although with the state of my teeth these days it takes longer than it used to.

We stored them in as cool a place as possible, and they stayed in good condition until after Christmas. Then some of them started getting wrinkly skin. I don't mind eating wrinkly skin, and Cliff just peeled his apples and ate them that way.


We were down to the last layer of apples in the second box when we lost a couple of them to rot.


Since the daughter's family is coming for Superbowl tacos this evening, I decided to get rid of most of our remaining apples in a cobbler. I peeled apples while I watched CBS Sunday Morning.

I put the cobbler in the oven; then the dogs and I went for our walk (Cliff doesn't walk on Sundays... he likes a day off).


By the time we returned, it was time to get the finished product out and cooling. This is going to be really good with some vanilla ice cream.

I make those designs on pies and cobblers because that's how my mom did it. At some point in my childhood she explained to me that the larger design is a leaf, and the smaller is a twig. I don't think I would have ever figured that out on my own.

On another food note, this morning I had the world's most terrible waffles. And I made them myself.

Waffles are one of my favorite foods, and I have a recipe I absolutely love. So why I thought I should try these "overnight waffles", I don't know. The recipe calls for yeast as the leavening agent, and the batter is mixed up the night before and placed in the refrigerator. Sounded good, but no.

I wasted all those calories on two lousy waffles. And we only eat waffles a couple of times a year.

Now I have a huge mess in the kitchen; Cliff's out in the shop, and I don't think the dogs are going to volunteer to clean it up.

Bye bye.