Saturday Morning Menu: Skinny Pancakes

When I grew up we loved it when our mom made pancakes for breakfast.  It wasn't until I was older that I realized that what we called "pancakes" were actually what other people referred to as crepes or german pancakes.

Now that I have kids of my own, we refer to them as "skinny" pancakes.  And the kids love 'em.

(This recipe definitely needs to be doubled for our family to get one meal out of it)

Basic Crepes

3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 water
3 tbsp butter or margarine, melted (I don't usually use the full amount)
3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender (I usually use my hand mixer).  Pour into frying pan and cook on both sides.

We usually eat our pancakes with syrup, but we also enjoy them with vanilla yogurt and fresh berries.  Once you choose your topping, roll up the crepe and enjoy!

Saturday Morning Menu: Waffles & White Sauce

For 6 days of the week our breakfasts are random and rushed.  We never sit down at the table (especially since it's in a separate room from the kitchen) and Erik is often long gone at work.  Even Sunday is a rushed morning with church starting at 9 am - and often either Erik or I leaving quite a bit earlier for music practice.

But Saturday is different.  It's the only morning that we can sit down and eat a special family breakfast together.  Our menu rotates between "skinny" pancakes (crepes) or "fat" pancakes, french toast or - my personal favourite - waffles with white sauce.  Waffles are a bit more work, but Erik and I have become a well-oiled machine when it comes to waffle-making.

And you cannot have waffles without white sauce.  The white sauce (which is really just homemade vanilla pudding) is something I grew up with, but I know that not everyone is familiar with this delicious (and necessary) addition to homemade waffles!

I've tried a few different waffle sauce recipes over the years but I often found that they didn't thicken well and that I had to be standing by the stove stirring for-ever.  But I found a recipe a few years ago that works well in the microwave and it has been our go-to sauce recipe ever since.

So here is our recipe for waffles and white waffle sauce...  We usually double both recipes to make enough for Sunday brunch leftovers so I included the double recipe portion beside each ingredient (you can thank me for doing the math for you :)

Waffles:

1 2/3 cups sifted flour - (3 1/3 cups)        
4 tsp baking powder - (2 1/2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp salt - (1 tsp)
2 egg yolks, beaten - (4 eggs)
1 2/3 cups milk - (3 1/3 cups)
6 tbsp (or 1/4 cup) melted butter or margarine - (1/2 cup)
2 egg whites, beaten - (4 eggs)

Sift dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  In a separate large bowl, beat egg yolks (be sure to save the egg whites in another bowl!!), add milk and melted butter.  Add to sifted ingredients and beat until smooth.  In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff (this is a great job for one of the kids).  Fold stiff egg whites into the waffle batter.  Cook in waffle maker.

White Waffle Sauce: 

1 beaten egg - (2 eggs)
dash of salt - (a double dash :)
1/3 cup sugar - (2/3 cup)
3 tbsp flour - (1/4 cup)
1 cup milk - (2 cups)
1 tsp vanilla - (2 tsp)
1 tbsp butter or margarine - (2 tbsp)

In a microwave-safe bowl mix egg, salt, sugar and flour.  Gradually whisk in the milk and microwave for 30-60 seconds between each addition.  Continue microwaving in short increments and whisking in between until the sauce thickens.  Add vanilla and butter after cooking.

You can also cook up some fruit to complement the vanilla sauce.  Mmmm.  So yummy.

Now... the other Saturday tradition that I'm trying to implement is Saturday morning chores.  This tradition hasn't quite caught on with the same excitement by the younger generation in the house, but I have no immediate plans on giving up on that dream...