It's Saturday and things are heating up in the sports world! Football playoffs for conference championships in college football. The pros are beginning the last push toward the Superbowl. Basketball is rolling. Hockey is on! The US draws England in the World Cup. The outdoor season is in full swing. Woo Hoo! If you think I'm spending time this morning slaving over the stove, you don't know me well enough. I'm going to give you a gret way to roll the family out and not spend forever getting it done. Those of you that are familiar with the kitchen and the store shelves will be familiar with the Semi Homemade technique that Sandra Lee uses. She takes packaged, store bought mixes and adds to them to make them taste fresh and original. Right on Aunt Sandy! Today we're doing blue berry pancakes.
Mix up a batch of your favorite pancake mix. I use Krusteaz. It requires nothing but water and produces a good result. Bisquick and Pioneer are also old standbys in my kitchen. Your favorite will be fine. Just make sure it can stand the addition of water. You'll want to mix the batter a bit thick (use a little less liquid).
Use frozen blue berries. These are great because they have a little juice with them. That help tint the batter, which I think looks cool. If you thaw these in the microwave oven, watch the amount of juice. It will actually make a bit more than if you just let them thaw in the sink. (These stain like all get out, so be careful.)
Take a slotted spoon and put blue berries into the batter. Use as many as you like (within reason. There has to be more batter than berry!).
Tint the batter with the berry juice to the shade you like.
Add a ¼ of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the batter.
Add a tablespoon of sugar (optional)
Add some grated lemon peel (optional).
Mix this up and cook as usual. If you use the extra sugar, you will ge some more carmelization in the crusted areas on the edges of the pancakes. You may need to turn the heat down a bit.
I like to serve this with hot syrup. You can just heat up the standard or you can doctor it too. I take a bottle of syrup, ad a stick of butter, a cup of blueberry jam, cinnamon to taste and just a pinch of cayenne for interest.
This is quick, simple and delicious. On Saturday morning, cook quickly. Eat joyfully and thankfully. Get out there and do something!
Great Weekend and Pura Vida!
