Puffy Pancake

I have got to tell you that one of the most exciting recipes we make for breakfast is the "puffy pancake." Yes, I said exciting, because the kids love the way this looks when it comes out of the oven. This recipe is a regular in my house and very simple as my two boys will make it once a week. It usually will feed 3-4 people assuming that you have two growing boys like I do. I hope that you will take a minute to try it this weekend.

Puffy Pancake

3 tablespoons butter

4 Eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Then add the flour, sugar and salt and beat well with a wisk. Yes, you are trying to eliminate the lumps. So beat it until it is smooth.

Once the oven has reached temperature put the 13" x 9" glass pan in the oven with the butter in the pan. I like to use butter right out of the refrigerator so that it take a little longer to melt. One of the things we are trying to do here is to get the pan very hot while we melt the butter. Keep and eye on the butter in the pan, once it melts and starts to turn a little brown the pan is ready. At this point slide the pan out of the oven and add the pancake mixture. Return the pan immediately to the oven. Now cook the pancake for about 12-14 minutes. You will see the pancake "PUFF" up along the sides and possible in the middle well over the edge of the pan ... do not worry this is what the kids want to see.

Remove the pancake form the oven and sprinkle with the confectioners sugar. You can serve it plain or with some maple syrup.

Enjoy this one ...

Ciao, Mark

Oprah Show ...

You can see pictures of my family and some of our friends on the Oprah Show!

OK, I have not said anything in here about this ... but last week my family and our friend were on the Oprah Show. Can you believe it? Neither can I. We were on the show to talk about the adoption of our oldest son, who is from Liberia, West Africa. The story has gotten alot of legs ... with articles in Readers Digest, USA Today, O Magazine and many others. Being on Oprah was a great experience. We got to share our story and how we were asked by GOD to do what we did. When the show was on TV (Jan 29, 2007) they left all the information about GOD in the show! My e-mail has been flooded with people from all over the country wanting to tell us what a great thing we did ... but I have to tell you that ... we are normal and we only did what we were asked. The reality is, that we were not capable, we did not have the moeny and we did not have the room for an adoption ... but with GOD all things are possible ... and now we are a family of five ... or maybe more like 85 ...

I hope you saw the show ... if you did not ... well I may just have an extra copy ...

Thank you for reading,

Mark

Great Cook Book for Kids!!!

My son got the Emeril LaGasse Cook Book, There's a Chef in My Soup, for Christmas this year. It is a cookbook for kids. I was a little suspect about getting a cookebook for kids for him ... not because I do not want him to cook. More because I wanted to make sure that what Dominic was going to be cooking would be edible for the rest of us. This is a MAJOR concern for many of the cookbooks out for kids. Well to my suprise this is a GREAT COOKBOOK!

Dominic has made several of the recipes from this book so far. All ... and I mean ALL of the recipes we have made were great to eat. Dominic enjoyed making them much more than even I had anticipated. So if you are looking for a great cookbook to buy for one of your kids ... I highly recomend this one. If you want to sample on o0f his recipes ... just follow the link below to see his recipe for Emeril's Favorite French Toast Recipe. It is a great breakfast and again, the kids love making it and "treating" Mom & Dad.

http://www.famousfoods.com/emsfavfrento.html

Have a great day ... and enjoy time with your family in the kitchen,

Mark