Some days I do try to be a good wife and mother. Mostly mother.  I figure that I’ve pretty much covered the wife thing.  Certainly if you could ask my mother (GRHS).  Her motto was “tell him you can only promise to be good in one room of the house.  Pick that room and OWN it.  If you do well with that one room, that’s all he can expect”.   I chose the kitchen.  Mom did not.  It’s well established that the kitchen was not her place.  Enough said.

My husband went along with this grudgingly.  He didn’t really expect me to pick the kitchen.  But after all, I mean, 4 kids?  Not like I was ALWAYS in the kitchen. Still, he sometimes seems disappointed.  Oh well.

I’m also going to add here that it’s a lot harder to be a stellar wife and mother when you work outside the home.  I know, there are a lot of mom’s who are “stay at homes” who work 8 days a week, etc.  Don’t even go there-  I’ll just start whining again.  This week it’s 2 jobs, 52 hours work scheduled, 18 hours commuting time and 3 kids who miss their mom.  Okay, that’s me assuming.  Fact is mom misses them.  A lot.  So on Friday I’ll stop back at the Haymarket, stock up on fruits and veggies, maybe some fish.  But midweek I’m feeding them love and pancakes.  I know- white flour, sugar, butter.  Bite me.  Right on my tender fluffy pancakes.  Because sometimes we all just need a little comfort.

Here’s my recipe for comfort dinner, Love-pancake style:

First, I stock up on bacon ends at the butcher.  Those are the ends left over when they make those perfect slices.  Fry those up in big diced pieces.  The kids like them; you pick them up with a fork.  That yellow part- it’s fat.  No apology here.  Don’t do a face plant or anything- just enjoy it.

Next, my super-deluxe- homemade- from- scratch-easy- peasey pancakes.  Kind of a long name.  It almost takes longer to write it than to make them.  It’s a 3 step process:

First step: Melt 6Tbls (salted) butter in (2-4 cup) a glass measuring cup.

While this is happening, put your griddle or pan on to heat up.  If you usually add butter to the pan, do so.  If you usually use a cooking spray or vegetable oil- use butter instead.  Those things have no business being out of the pantry on pancake-love dinner night.  Now put these (3) things in a mixing bowl: 2 cups flour, a heaping 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder.  Give it a quick whisk.

Now take that butter out of the microwave and add 2 cups of milk and 2 eggs.  If you don’t have room, just add 1 cup of milk, mix and dump into flour mixture.  Now put another cup of milk into measuring cup, add 2 eggs, whisk briefly and add to the mixing bowl.  Stir just until mixed.  If it’s a little too thin, add flour.  If too thick, a little milk. Get the idea? Did I mention that PJ has been making LOVE-pancakes since he was 9 years old? You can do this.

Now cook on griddle or pan in the usual fashion.  Flip when bubbles form, before you’ve burned the bottom etc.  Now those are the best pancakes ever.  Even the dogs love them.  Yup- it’s true.  When momma’s making love-pancakes they stand by the stove and watch the whole thing, begging with their big brown doggie eyes until they get theirs.  With bacon.  You know what they don’t get?

What they don’t get is the homemade from scratch hot chocolate.  It’s the one on the Hershey’s cocoa can.  And I make it with milk from the dairy, but that’s another story.  And that’s not why.  Why?  Because, my dogs only love pancakes and bacon.  Not because I’m responsible.  I think we’ve established that.  If I could be a stay at home mom I might be responsible everyday.  But I’m not, and it’s Wednesday.  And I think it’s raining.  And I really wish we had marshmallows.