Pancake Squares

Oh my goodness! I think I've really ventured out into the territory of laziest mom of the year, with this one. But it worked!

I love the idea of pancakes for dinner on a busy evening. But what about when you don't even have the time to flip pancakes on the griddle. I had a meeting to get ready for and go to on Thursday evening. I thought about leaving the batter and griddle, hot and letting everyone make their own, as they came in the house. However, the last person to come home, sometimes doesn't even walk through that door until 8 or 8:30. I didn't want to leave pancake batter out on the counter for 2 hours, and the griddle going the whole time. So, while I got ready, the pancakes cooked themselves, and they didn't need flipping. How's that for efficiency? They tasted great, everyone had their share, and I was able to make dinner with less hands-on time.

• jelly roll sheet pan, with raised edges
• oven at 375 degrees F
• 2 tablespoons oil and butter combined, for best flavor, for ease you can just use 2 T oil
• pancake batter that uses about 2 cups of flour, total, enough to make pancakes for 5 adults

Have your batter ready to go. Once the baking sheet and oven are hot, you want to pour/spread it all in the pan, quickly. If you are baking pancakes for more than 5 or 6 people, you'll want to use 2 jelly roll pans, to ensure the cakes are not too thick.

Begin to preheat the oven to 375, with the pan and butter/oil in the oven. When oven is hot enough, the pan will be, too.

Take the jelly roll pan out of the oven, once hot, and use a metal spatula to spread the oil and butter over all of the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter into the pan, spread as needed. (It doesn't need to come all the way to the edge of the pan, but close to it.)

Return to hot oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until baked all the way through. Cut into squares and serve.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Early January

Tuesday's Quick and Easy Dinner

I'm taking shortcuts, where I can and enlisting help from family, each week. I'm busy with other pursuits for the time being. Besides, it was time for a break from intensive meal preparations, ongoing since 1987.

Friday

• lentil, vegetable and ham soup
• pumpkin muffins with cream cheese

Saturday
My husband cooked dinner for us tonight. He doesn't cook very often, but has agreed to help out once per week, for the time being. He did a good job, too.

• rice and lentils
• carrot and celery sticks, with Bleu Cheese dressing as dip
• cranberry, pecan and oatmeal cookies that I baked earlier

Sunday

• chicken, black beans and vegetables, over
• brown rice
• steamed broccoli
• cookies

Pumpkin, Ham and Sage Cream Sauce for Pasta

Monday
I usually make this dish with sausage. Ham was what I had, so ham it was. And it was still yummy. This is an excellent pasta sauce for an alternative to traditional tomato or cheese-based sauces.

• pumpkin, ham and sage cream sauce, over
• whole wheat penne pasta
• tangerines
• cookies

Tuesday

• chicken fried rice with veggies (chicken leftover from the legs on Sunday, rice leftover from Sunday's dinner, too -- relatively quick to prepare)
• grilled canned pineapple slices
• cookies

Wednesday

Last Friday, I made double the amount needed for dinner that night. I froze half for use tonight, Wednesday. I'll be doing this every week, for my current menu plan (next 8 weeks). Wednesday is one of 3 easy nights per week for me, now. Okay, who am I kidding, they're all easy nights, these days!!

• leftover lentil and vegetable soup
• leftover pumpkin muffins and cream cheese
• rhubarb-blackberry sauce (from end of summer, and in freezer)

Thursday

I have a meeting tonight, so it shall be a quick and easy meal -- breakfast for dinner.

• turkey bacon (bought on markdown 2 weeks ago and kept in freezer)
• pancakes
• stewed prunes (prunes from the freezer, last summer's harvest)

So far, I've only made a couple of adjustments to the meal plan that I made at the beginning of the year. I substituted canned pineapple for the blackberry-rhubarb sauce, on Tuesday, as the sauce wasn't thawed completely, yet, and I thought grilled pineapple would go well with the Asian inspired dish. And I served steamed broccoli on Sunday, in place of canned green beans. Something fresh is nice in a winter of canned vegetables.

Cooking is going well. I get enough of a break from preparing dinners on several nights per week, that when I do have to cook the full deal in the afternoon, it's not such a burden. And none of the changes that I've made are costing us anything extra.

How was your week? Anything special on your menu this past week? Who else does breakfast for dinner on a regular basis? What do you serve besides pancakes or waffles, when you make breakfast for an evening meal?

Have a wonderful weekend, all!