‘Trailer for sale or rent, rooms to let, fifty cents….’
When I was in high school, I woke up every Sunday morning to Roger Miller’s voice singing King of the Road throughout the house on my dad’s stereo. He thought it was funny to wake my sister and me up for church that way. His thoughts were similar to the old proverb “If you’re going to hoot with the owls at night, you better be able to soar with the eagles in the morning.”
My dad could give breakfast lessons. He’s got it down to a science.
His specialty is made-to-order eggs. He can make them any style. He adds a little hot sauce before serving. The order in which you wake up is the order in which you are served!
For pancakes, he’s got several different batters he likes, but the secret step is adding melted butter to the batter before cooking them. No butter is needed with the syrup when you do that.
And, he is particular about his biscuits too. He likes them extra crispy and brown. He hollows out part of the filling to make them a skinny biscuit. He was ahead of his time.
He always warms the plates and syrup in the microwave. He knows exactly how many seconds per plate. Thank goodness he has my mother to assist with all of these steps.
The extras, well, he’s got that figured out too. He spends about 15 minutes (total) driving all over town, to the hospital cafeteria, hotel coffee shop, and donut shop picking up his favorites from of all of these spots (bacon, sausage, donut holes, biscuits…) that are cooked and ready to serve. It’s a spread—guaranteed to hold you over for a few hours!
Hungry Jess Pancakes
Makes 10 pancakes
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons melted butter
Vegetable oil
Crack eggs into the bowl of a mixer; beat well. Add buttermilk, and mix until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients. Add to the buttermilk mixture; beat well. Add the melted butter. Set aside.
Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium to medium-high. Evenly coat the bottom of the skillet with vegetable oil. (I like to brush the vegetable oil onto the skillet with a basting brush.)
With a 1/3 dry measuring cup, pour batter into the skillet, making 3 pancakes at a time until batter is gone.
Keep in a warm oven on a baking sheet until remaining are cooked. Serve with warm maple syrup.
Garnish with fresh berries.
Leslie Byars Register
Yields 10 pancakes
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Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- Vegetable oil
Instructions
- Crack eggs into the bowl of a mixer; beat well. Add buttermilk, and mix until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients. Add to the buttermilk mixture; beat well. Add the melted butter. Set aside.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium to medium-high. Evenly coat the bottom of the skillet with vegetable oil. (I like to brush the vegetable oil onto the skillet with a basting brush.)
- With a 1/3 dry measuring cup, pour batter into the skillet, making 3 pancakes at a time until batter is gone.
- Keep in a warm oven on a baking sheet until remaining are cooked. Serve with warm maple syrup.
- Garnish with fresh berries.
Judy Bishop’s Banana Bread
Makes 2 (8 ½ x 5-inch) loaves
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 ¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
4 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1 ½ cups walnuts, toasted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy.
In a separate bowl, combine flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to shortening mixture, and mix thoroughly. Add buttermilk and bananas. Continue mixing until combined. Stir in walnuts.
Bake for 50 minutes.
Learn from Leslie: The nuts land where they land in the baking process. If this bothers you, then pulse the walnuts in a food processor and then add to the batter. I personally like the random, toasted pieces of walnuts throughout the bread.
Quick Creamy Cheese Grits with Brown Sugar Bacon “Spoons”
Makes 5 cups
4 ½ cups water
1 cup grits
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
6 to 8 slices American cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown Sugar Bacon “Spoons”:
6 slices of bacon, cut in half
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Coarsley ground black pepper
Leslie Likes: Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray a cooling rack on both sides with cooking spray. Place rack onto baking sheet. Cut bacon slices in half, and position on rack. Sprinkle with brown sugar and black pepper.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes until bacon is done. Loosen from rack, and allow to cool completely. These can be made ahead.
Quick Creamy Cheese Grits:
Bring water and salt to a boil; add grits, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until thickened. Add butter, cheese, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook until thick and creamy. Remove from burner, and cover.
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