Introducing:
Vanilla Cocoa Pancakes!
So, I'm expanding my horizons a bit here, and adding a new segment of sorts to my blog. This particular segment will be known as "Reasons to Have Kids". This segment will show up on occasion, and I will try to provide compelling reasons to the doubters among us that humans should reproduce. (Though really, I don't believe kids are for everyone, so please, try to read this with a light heart and a chuckle.) Please note ahead of time that these reasons are in no particular order.
This blog will be the first excerpt from my new segment; Reason number #1 to have kids- food experimentation. Now, don't be fooled. You don't necessarily have to test your favorite food creations on your own children, but very likely, someone at sometime will do that for you.
My first food experimentation was not actually on children of my own, rather on my Aunt Judy's child. My earliest memory of testing food was on my cousin Nathan. Nate and I spent a lot of time together when we were younger, and so on occasion, I had to treat him like my little brother. (I still very much think of him fondly as my little brother, too, despite the fact he obtained a "for real" sister.) My mother probably tells this story better than I do, but for the sake of the blog, I will attempt to recreate this brilliant moment in our lives.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl (Min-me) and a little boy (Nate- him) who were very, very hungry. Min and Nate decided not to wake the wonderful (Aunt) Linda (aka Mom), so Min decided to learn to cook. Luckily, at such a young age, Min's reading skills were well developed, though her ability to follow directions correctly was not. After throughly reading the directions on the Mac & Cheese box, Min put all the macaroni noodles into a pan with the appropriate amount of water, placed the pan onto the stove top, and brought the water to a boil within the next 7 minutes. At that time, Min drained the water, added butter, milk and cheese powder as directed. The finished creation looked a lot like the picture depicted on the box.
Despite Min's best efforts, Nate still woke up Aunt Linda. Apparently, he was crunching this delicacy Min had created very loudly, and so Aunt Linda stirred. Upon further investigation, it appears as though macaroni is supposed to be added to the water on the stove top when it starts to boil, and then be left in for 7 minutes, as opposed to being on the stove for 7 minutes, and then eaten at the moment they begin to boil.
Due to Nate's heroics in food experimentation, Min's children will never live in a world with broken teeth which are the result of crunchy macaroni and cheese, and they all lived happily ever after. (Side note: Nate also learned to cook, likely because of this adventure, and is now serving time as an excellent husband who cooks for his wife.)
These days, Nathan lives too far away to force him to taste test the few scary creations that I manage to concoct while playing in my kitchen in the rare event I can't talk my loving husband into cooking for me. Luckily, I have children of my own to do that for me now. Most recently, I had an actual food experimentation that was deemed successful! After our wonderful day in the sprinklers, my children were starving. So hungry, in fact, that they would not have the patience to wait the 13 minutes it takes to cook our cardboard pizza, and they tire of the mac & cheese and beans that I usually serve to them. (Go figure!) So, I was under the wire, but I was up for the challenge. I decided on pancakes. We have a brilliant pancake mix that requires that I only add water, mix, spill onto the big griddle, and flip. Can't go wrong there...
But, I made the mistake of offering Jake cherry chips in his pancakes, which I thought we had an abundance of... and in fact, we did not. So, again, I was forced to improvise. I found an old hot cocoa packet which had been left over from the summer previous... and got considering the possibilities....
After a tiny bit of thought on my part, I decided to empty the packet of cocoa into the pancake mix, and continued on with the original mix, drop and flip plan.
The result made both of my children quite happy. The pancakes turned a nice golden brown, which is how they will ideally look under normal circumstances, and they had a hint of cocoa in each bit. That taste of chocolate mixed wonderfully with the syrup, and after the boys ate up 2 of them each as quickly as they could, I knew I was brave enough to taste them for myself.
So, the invention of Vanilla Cocoa Pancakes was introduced to the world. Rejoice!
And we owe this marvelous invention to Reason #1 to Have Kids- Food Experimentation.
