Oh, Heyyyy ... Pancakes.

Mmm, hm. The husband is out of town on some work duties, so I took it upon myself to make a lazy and unconventional dinner: breakfast. Oh, how I love me some pancakes.

The thing is, this is the only recipe I know legitimately by heart. I've made these suckers so many times, but it never gets old. In fact, I'm going to say that I make the best damn pancakes you've ever had. Yeah, I said it.

For optimal results, cover freshly cooked pancakes with foil. They will stay soft and pillow-y until served!

The original recipe came from a crazily battered copy of The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook that pre-dates my existence (1980, holla). My mom's copy is so well loved that it's stained and pretty yellowed, but man ... the pancakes. My mom lovingly wrote out this recipe for us kids so that we could make the batter early in the AM and not wake her up until it was time to cook them (the jig's up, Ma).

Anywho, here's the recipe ...

Old School Pancakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• milk
• 5 tsbp. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk eggs gently in a 2 cup measuring cup. Fill with milk up to the 2 cup mark. Add the vegetable oil.

Combine dry and wet ingredients. Add vanilla extract. Mix well until lumps disappear.

Preheat non-stick pan or skillet on medium with a little bit of oil. Pour small amount of batter on skillet. When bubbles form and pancake fluffs, flip over. Cook another minute or two, until brown.

St. Joseph Island, ON pure maple syrup

Serve with butter and loads of maple syrup. Don't you dare put margarine on these babies - Paula Deen will hunt you down.

 I can't say that this recipe is healthy in any way. You can (and I have) substituted the all-purpose flour with whole wheat and play around with the sugars and spices. But c'mon ... sometimes, it's best not to mess with a good thing.

Enjoy.

m.