I had pancakes for breakfast this morning. For the first time in a few years. Growing up, we’d often have pancakes for breakfast, made with Krusteaz mix, a tradition I faithfully carried on up until a couple of years back when I discovered how much sodium pancake mix has. I decided to try and make changes to my diet reduce my blood pressure without medication; sadly, the pancakes had to go as two small pancakes had a whopping 530mg of sodium! Since then, I’ve been searching for a palatable low-sodium pancake mix, alas, without success.
Last week whilst perusing our home-made cookbook for upcoming meals, I found an egg-free pancake recipe our daughter Jenn had given us that we could use for our granddaughter. We never actually got around to trying it. Looking at it, I noticed it didn’t call for any salt. It turns out that baking powder DOES contain sodium, but not much, so – for the first time in my life, I made home-made pancakes … and they were good! I’m excited about adding pancakes back into my breakfast repertoire!
All of which brought up childhood memories of breakfast. One of my favorites was going to Mount Tabor Park in Portland, Oregon for Easter Breakfast. Back then they had the outdoor stone stoves, which have disappeared without photographic evidence. I was able to find a photo very similar to the ones at Mt. Tabor of one at Lassen. We’d build a fire, wait for the thick steel plate to heat up, then cook pancakes, bacon and eggs in the cast iron fry pan and griddle we would bring. We would also have big family breakfast gatherings at parks on the scenic highway through the Columbia Gorge.
So, the title of this post notwithstanding, I was a Cheerios guy, not a Wheaties person. My dad, hailing from Canada, loved a porridge mix called Sonny Boy, and would bring some home after every trip back. I remember his dad actually grinding and making his own porridge. As a young lad, I never developed a taste for those rough cereals. My brother’s wife Becky has a great memory of her grandfather getting up by 5:30am every morning, making homemade oatmeal, and homemade biscuits with honey butter.
What I DID like, and one thing we all looked forward to was breakfast at Elmer’s. Strawberry Waffles with tons of whipped cream, oh my gosh! Many years later, after my mom passed, our dad met a wonderful woman who became the glue for our family; they announced their engagement over breakfast at Elmer’s!
Since then, we have found some incredibly good recipes for breakfast, which I will share on the Menu Planning and Recipes page here on my blog. So, I’d LOVE to hear what your favorite breakfast memories or recipes are. Please share! In the meantime, Let’s Get Cooking!
I Am Gray 