What can be better than smell of fresh-brewed coffee in the morning? For most of us working women, the day hasn’t started unless we’ve had that wonderful cup of coffee. But it doesn’t stop there. I have to have a stack of three golden pancakes with light syrup and three strips of bacon fried to a crisp, on the side. This is a typical “get-away-from-the-diet” day for me. When you get so bored of bread and spread or just want to set the mood for a power-packed day, by all means, have a full breakfast.

    Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. How you start it is as important. Let’s start with pancakes and waffles or griddle cakes. Whatever name you wish to call these wonderfully light-flavored cakes – blintzes or crepes – there’s really nothing much to preparing them. The batter is easy to prepare and you just have to quickly mix the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients to avoid lumps. The most critical things to watch for is 1) consistency of your batter – medium to thick for pancakes and waffles, thin batter for crepes, 2) the surface of your griddle, 3) and how evenly your pan is heated. To make close to perfect rounds, drop the batter closest to the pan. The farther you pour from the pan, the more deformed your pancakes become. Before making your first pancake, first test the heat of the pan. A pan is hot enough when a drop of water “dances” in it when you let it fall on the pan. To make a beautifully browned pancake, skim the rim of the cake with a spatula just when bubbles form on its surface. Remember that cooking the other side of the pancake will take only half the time it cooked the first side. Waffles are easier to make in the sense that waffle-makers have an indicator to let you know it’s done.

    PANCAKES

2 cups flour 2 cups milk
2 tsps. Baking powder 2 pcs. eggs
½ tsp. Salt ¼ cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsps. Sugar (optional)
Measure and sift together in a large bowl, all the dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, mix together milk, eggyolks and oil.
Make a well in the middle of the large bowl and slowly incorporate milk mixture until smooth.
Beat eggwhites until stiff but not dry. Pour in batter carefully. Use wooden spoon or rubber scraper to blend.
Heat skillet or frying pan.
Pour in batter into skillet or pan. Use 1/3 cup batter for each pancake. This recipe will yield 8-10 6” pancakes.

    SOUR CREAM WAFFLES

1 cup cake flour 3 eggyolks
1 1/3 tsps. Baking powder 2 cups thick, cultured sour cream
1/8 tsp. Salt 3 egg whites
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Baking soda

Sift before measuring the cake flour.
Resift with the Baking powder, Salt, Sugar, and Baking soda.
Beat in a separate bowl, until light the egg yolks.
Add the sour cream.
Combine the liquid and dry ingredients with a few swift strokes.
Beat until stiff, but not dry, the egg whites.
Fold them into the batter.
Bake in a waffle iron. Makes about 4 waffles.

For those who still prefer to have bread in the morning, let’s give your ordinary loaf bread a twist and make a nice batch of French Toast.

    FRENCH TOAST

4 pcs. Eggs 8 slices white loaf bread
½ tsp. Salt 1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 cup Milk 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Vanilla

Beat the eggs slightly.
Add salt and milk.
Flavor with vanilla.
Dip the bread into the mixture.
Brown the bread on each side in a hot griddle sitting on a little butter.
Serve hot sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
For a caramelized finish, you may add the cinnamon sugar before you cook the toast on the pan. Further flavoring with your favorite jam or marmalade completes the meal.

Now that we’ve made our pancakes, waffle or french toast, how about an egg dish to go with it? Here’s a perfect omelet to go with your carbohydrates. Just remember that critical factors in making omelets are: 1) the temperature of the egg upon cooking – should not be cold as straight from the refrigerator, but at room temperature; 2) the pan and fat should be hot enough for the egg to almost instantly form a “pouch” for all its filling. Omelets may be open-faced like a pizza but the more common to us is a folded envelope appearance.

    SPANISH OMELET

¼ cup Oil 2 pcs. Green Pepper
2 cloves Garlic broiled and sliced thinly
½ cup Onions, sliced thinly ¼ cup Butter
8 pcs. Bacon Slices 8 pcs. Eggs
8 small Tomatoes, blanched Salt & Pepper to taste
skinned & sliced thinly

Heat oil and brown the garlic. Add onions, bacon, tomatoes and green bell pepper. Season to taste and cook until tender. Remove from the pan and set aside.
In the same skillet, heat the butter. Pour in half of the beaten eggs. Allow to set then tilt the pan from side to side to allow the liquid egg on top to flow along the sides.
When lightly set, slide on to a serving plate. Do not fold. Top with half of the very hot vegetable mixture.
Repeat on the other half of the egg mixture.

So what else is missing? Not enough meat yet? Why don’t we add some Sausage and Mushrooms on the side?

    SAUSAGE AND MUSHROOMS

4 pcs. Beef or Pork Sausages
1 cup Button Mushrooms, slivered
Tbsps. Garlic, crushed
¼ cup Butter
Salt & Pepper to taste
Parsley to garnish

Cut the sausages diagonally into bite sizes.
Brown the sausages slightly in the butter. Set aside.
In the same pan, saute the mushrooms in garlic until light brown.
Add back the sausages. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

So there you are, a full course breakfast together with your favorite fruit juice, coffee, and fruit in season. Remember, it pays to eat healthy, be wise and live long.