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Elliot's Great Idea - Tweaked Only a Little by Mom

A Man, a Plan, a Canal - Panama!

Hail and Merry Meet to my two Panamanian readers!  And an especial hello to any and all other readers out there in other parts of CyberWorld.

This evening, let us discuss breakfast.  I am a fan of breakfast for dinner...of breakfast for lunch...and I am especially fond of breakfast for breakfast.

We are in the midst of an experiment here at Chez Nelson.  For one day every week, each of the three kiddoroos are responsible for planning and executing the dinner meal.  It's a big step for me, really, because I run a pretty tight home kitchen.  Let's face it...I'm territorial.

But parenting is sometimes about letting go of our idiosyncrasies and neuroses so that our children don't end up the same, messed-up way.

And there's your parenting advice from me for the month.

Bean (the almost-nine-year-old) requires a little assistance...but the other two know their way enough around the kitchen to put together some form of sustenance for the rest of us.  And I've been drilling into their heads about the balanced meal plan...

Spencer (14): Mom, if I make tater tot casserole, and it's got green beans in it, why do I need to make another vegetable?

Me (14+24): Because.  It's a casserole.  It is one entity.  And, the green beans, canned and high in sodium by the way, do not cancel out the fat of the cream of mushroom soup.

Spencer: But there's also potatoes in it, Mom.

Me: In the form of tater tots.  Starch cylinders of the Devil, you know.  *deep breath*  But, it's your night for dinner, and you make it how you want.  That's the deal.

Spencer: mutters something indecipherable

Me: What?

Spencer: How about a salad then?

Me: Great idea! And for dessert, we'll have this strawberry chiffon pie I brought home from school!

So, the rotation is simple.  Elliot is in charge of Mondays, Kirby has Tuesdays, and Spencer takes Wednesdays.  Of course, as expected, Bean put on a bit of a whimper because as he said, "I don't know how to make anything."  Which of course is untrue, he can make things...but I suppose he figures that he's lived his whole nearly nine years without "making anything", so why would he start now?  I ignore the whine and shortly afterwards he decides to go with pancakes, strawberries, and carrot sticks (balanced!).  Never mind that it doesn't scream sophistication...

Then, because I can't let well enough alone, I have this brilliant idea to fry up sausage links, slice them in half or thirds and lay them in the raw pancake batter as the first side cooks.  It would be cool as heck and we get our protein at the same time - we all win!

Elliot wasn't going for it.  He didn't like the idea.  So...I'm ashamed to admit it (a little), I commandeered the pancake-making.  Just for the first two rounds of pancake-sausage flipping, because once he saw how cool it was, he wanted in on the action.  As I knew he probably would.

Brent had only one job here...to BROWN the sausage links...not BLACK them!

And if you aren't flipping pancakes without your shirt on, then you are clearly doing it wrong.

Yeah, welcome to the Circle of Awesomeness.

Here's the thing.  I may have added a bit of fat in going with the sausage, but adding a little extra vanilla to the pancake batter gave it the perfect sweetness to contrast beautifully with the savory pork link....and in that, I did not need to use ANY maple syrup.  That's a pretty big deal.

Of course, this brinner here (breakfast plus dinner = brinner, get it?) sparked quite the dinnertime conversation.  What else could we put into pancakes?  Brent suggested hash brown potatoes, or a fried egg, or maybe some greens.  Maybe even a strawberry chiffon pie?  You're only limited by your imagination...and well, I guess whatever you can fit within the confines of a 5-inch diameter circle of thin batter.

Breakfast for dinner, folks.  Think about it.  Try it tonight.  Let me know what you come up with.

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