EASY BREAKFAST FIXINS
NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION
When I left my husband and moved into this house, the only thing I didn't go right out and buy enough of was kitchen paraphernalia. Don't get me wrong, we are doing just fine in the plate department. And although a few glasses have been shattered this week in accidental plummets from the counter tops, we're okay there, too. Silverware was iffy until I hit the local thrift shop. My main problem seems to be pots and pans.
So I'm standing at the stove cooking scrambled eggs in my one, single, big, teflon frying pan when my oldest son, the bacon lover, enters the kitchen and nags, in his sweetest voice, for me to please cook him his POUND OF BACON. Normally, I do this in the frying pan before I cook the eggs, but not today. I do have a couple of my grandmother's cast iron skillets, but they are bright orange now from soaking in the sink a little too long, I guess.
I bang around in the cabinets, looking for some way to cook this bacon. Cookie sheet? Check. Roasting pan? Check. Waffle iron? Check. EasyBake Oven? Check. Microwave bacon rack? AWOL. Five inch frying pan? Check. Foreman Grill? Hmmmm.
I whip out my handy dandy Foreman Grill and the grease catcher. Now there's an idea. Talk about easy. It easily cooks the bacon from both sides. You only have to flip it two or three times! Now I will never cook bacon any other way!
OK, now we're moving on into the afternoon. I am in the kitchen making my usual three types of lunches for picky eaters, when my daughter comes into the kitchen demanding something sweet. A brief review of the inventory I took earlier reveals an EasyBake Oven and a waffle iron. Hmmm. The EasyBake Oven is all fine and good, but it takes up a great deal of space and time in my hurried little world.
The waffle iron wins. We whip out the Bisquick and the other ingredients listed on the side under "Waffles." We throw it all into a bowl, and Suzy homemaker gets to stir the bowl and lick the spoon, which sends me on my own little trip down memory lane into the kitchen with my own mother thirty-something years ago.
Turns out you can throw any kind of pancake mix into the waffle iron! We use a waffle iron named "Waffle Stix," which is a pretty handy little thing. You just plug it in and close the handle, and it tells you it is warm with a little green light. Then you open it, pour in the batter, close the handle, and the same green light tells you the waffles are done. Oh, don't forget to spray it with cooking spray. Trust me.
Anyways, you can add berries, chocolate chips, marshmallows and/or whatever else tickles your fancy, to the batter. Top with whipped cream, butter, and syrup. Serve with fruit!
