Breakfast (and Leftovers) For Dinner

I love eating breakfast for dinner. It's probably one of my favorite things to eat for dinner. So when Xander suggested having pancakes tomorrow night, I responded with, "How about tonight?!" So thanks to my son, we all had pancakes with bacon, sausage, and some seriously delicious hash browns.

Last week, we were given the gift of fresh vegetables from Andy's parents' garden, as well as a new herb garden. We've already made basil pesto, with basil fresh from the overgrown herbs, and Andy made an inspired pesto pasta frittata this morning with the leftovers. It was awesome. Anyway, we used some of the vegetables in the hash browns this evening, and the result was a really scrumptious hash brown concoction. The fresh veggies liven up the frozen hash browns, and gives them a whole flavor makeover. Plus, cooking everything in the leftover bacon fat doesn't hurt either!

But what I really want to talk about is the pancakes. Oh, the pancakes. I love pancakes to begin with, and I am hardly discriminatory. However, these pancakes were truly something special. I don't know what it was about them. Maybe it was the fact that it has been quite a while since I've made pancakes from scratch. Bisquick pancakes are great, don't get me wrong, but there's no real substitute for pancakes from scratch. They're just so much lighter, and moister, and more flavorful. I found the recipe for them on Recipezaar, my favorite recipe website. There are 217 reviews on this particular recipe, and almost all of them give these pancakes five stars out of a possible five. They are seriously, seriously delicious. Seriously. Here is the recipe, with my slight modifications.

Pete's Scratch Pancakes
adapted from Recipezaar
makes about 16-20 pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups milk (I used 2%)
2 eggs, beaten in a separate bowl before adding to other ingredients
1/4 cup butter, cooled slightly (I used Smart Balance 50/50 Blend)

Directions
Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the butter and milk, then whisk in the beaten eggs.
Slowly whisk in the flour, making sure not to overmix.
Let batter sit for at least 10 minutes before forming pancakes.
Drop 1/4 cup-sized batter circles onto a greased griddle, flip once bubbles start to form, then cook another 2-3 minutes on the other side, checking to make sure they do not become overly brown.
Serve with your toppings of choice, and enjoy!