Because it’s got to be done.
There must be breakfast.
Cereal alone doesn’t cut it.
Do you wonder why your kids are crabby? Are there meltdowns at your house as you start math? Do you have a child who gets headaches? Do you feel shaky sometimes?
I have outlined how to get breakfast organized once and for all in my Save a Step at Breakfast document over there on the sidebar. Please check it out! I hold your hand through the whole process of finally figuring breakfast out, and that means your whole day (and that of your child’s teachers) will be a lot nicer!
That leaves me room here for pictures of how to make your own Pancake Mix, which will save you many a step!
By the way, my friend Sue wrote a poem for all of you, since Save A Step cooking is her idea that I totally stole (well, I stole the name and most of our conversations). Someday she will have a hysterical blog in which she recounts to you the doings of her family of 10 children. Meantime, this is what she offers you:
Make ahead,
Do the prep,
Double up.
Save a Step.
That’s why this post starts with a picture of stale bread.
Before you start your pancake mix, process your bread crumbs, because you will be using the processor and who cares if there are a few crumbs in your mix?
This is what I mean by breadcrumbs; no need to get too fussy:
Label and freeze:
Now, onto pancake mix making:
I wanted to show you how I set up my flour station, because I have a very tight workspace and a large container for flour:
See, I don’t even usually take the bin out of the cabinet. I leave that scoop in there and scoop out what I want! All my baking needs are in that cupboard up on the right, above that bowl. No steps to baking powder, spices, sugar, etc. They are all right at hand.
Get your ingredients in the bowl:
Process each stick of butter separately:
Dig up any big lumps, cut them, and process again until your mix looks like this:
It will take three goes:
Transfer to a bowl what you have already done. Then mix all back together in the big bowl, just to integrate your batches:
This is the container I store it in:
I went right ahead and wrote on the lid, so someone else could handle the baking if they wanted to, like, bring me pancakes in bed or something :)
And the whole thing tucks in nicely here in the fridge:
Get it organized beforehand and you will find that breakfast is no problem! You will find recipes for the Pancake Mix, the Breakfast Casserole from yesterday, and my own delicious Granola over there on the sidebar under Happy Home: Food.
If I can do it, morning person as I am NOT, so can you!
Are you sure? I'm not so sure. Do I have to be dressed first? I have my doubts, for the first time. There's not being a morning person and then there's do-not-expect-me-to-be-civil-or-logical-until-after-9:00-ME! Do I have to get up at the (butt)crack of dawn (as my youngest sister puts it)? Do I have to put myself to bed at 9:00 at night?You know which area of your experienced depths I'd like to plumb? Time Management! How can a scatterbrained, perfectionist with absolutely no sense of time manage to keep her house running smoothly and provide home-cooked, healthy, frugal meals all the time? I vote for Time Management as your next series!And I promise I will try the pancakes. In the actual morning. And I am so all over your granola recipe!
Thank you! I do pretty well for dinner, but breakfast is not my strong point. I'll be trying your recipes and ideas.
Thank you for the inspiration and wisdom – I love that ellenskitchen site. I have made mixes before but got away from it for a bit. (I don't eat much wheat these days.) I did make up a small batch today and have made an impossible pie with odds and ends.With health issues I am all for making homemaking easier if possible. Thanks again.
As a scatterbrained perfectionist with absolutely no sense of time myself, I also vote for Time Management as your next series! These recipes look really exciting and I can't wait to give them a try. I admit I usually leave my children to fend for themselves at breakfast. It has been great for my oldest son's cooking skills actually–he doesn't settle for cold cereal–but I have no idea why I have thought of fixing breakfast for my family as optional. I certainly don't have that attitude toward other meals. Wouldn't they be shocked to come into the kitchen all bleary-eyed and find an actual meal prepared for them! Maybe I'll work myself up to it and see how it goes.
Great post! I go in spurts with hot breakfasts during the week. Sometimes we have a great hot breakfast every day, other times it's cereal or oatmeal in the microwave all week.I think tonight I'm going to mix up my baked oatmeal recipe and have it the fridge ready to pop in the oven when my alarm goes off.
My three year old wanted to know why I was laughing at the computer. Why, I have that exact same mixer sitting on my counter! I upgraded over a year ago and love it.I'm loving the breakfast series. Breakfast is always accompanied by someone crying. They got the wrong fork. We cut the food wrong. The milk is in the wrong glass. However, I find things go more smoothly if I cheerfully announcing we're having bagels for breakfast and the little ones decide what goes on top of the bagel. But, they still haven't grasped that changing one's order slows the process down. Good thing there's two of us in the kitchen in the morning.I'd love to read about snacks. I can't necessarily leave a bowl of apples on the counter for my age group since I'd probably find a lot of half-eaten apples. I just feel like I'm constantly behind the 8-ball on the snacks. Baking while making dinner has helped a bit.
Not wanting to sound completely dense, I hesitated to post this question, but hey we can all learn together – how much cream and buttermilk do you use with the baking mix to make scones? Is the ratio purely up to me and the goal is the right consistency? THANKS!
Hey Christy, thanks for your question. I always assume that since there are a million recipes out there, the last thing anyone wants from me is more recipes. So I wind myself up to provide something, like the mix, and then go on to assume that you don't want any more information!Also, after making something once according to a recipe like scones, I sort of go on by feel…so I don't know how much buttermilk and cream I add to my baking mix (*embarrassed emotocon*)I will attempt to find out from myself.In the meantime, I will tell you that you want to add enough liquid to scones and biscuits to make a dough, not a batter. You want the mix to clump together in a moist but not sticky way. The bits of butter will provide the tenderness. But I will do better than this soon, I promise! Lucky family, you will get scones soon!
Your answer for the cream and buttermilk sounds just exactly like how much water to add to concrete mix (what I did yesterday): enough but not TOO much! On a recommendation, I arrived here to try your granola recipe. I look forward to making it.
Hi Joseph!I see that I did NOT get back to anyone on this question of how much cream to add to the mix for scones, nor do I know what to say about it. You are right…enough but not too much! ;)Let me know what you think about the granola!