Oh, what a joy it would be to have a  planned hiatus. That would mean that I have things all together and events would unfold according to my plans. Alas, that is not the story of my life currently. But I’m working on it. So I have been absent from the blogging scene- not by choice, really. I truly do enjoy blogging- even though I have very few readers and maybe I’m not the best at it yet- so it’s nice to be back (even if it’s temporary).

It’s summer, which means it’s hot. It also means that I try to avoid using the oven, just like everyone else. However there are only so many ways to prepare salad and we get tired of all of them pretty quickly around the Humble Food Snob’s house. When I’m making my dinner menus in the summer I try for a good balance of cook- and no-cook meals. If I stand over a hot stove frying corn chips (SO much better than store bought!) or french fries to go with dinner one night I’ll make a salad or maybe chilled fruit soup the next. I also try to use my crockpot & my griddle as much as possible because they don’t heat the kitchen up as much as the stove top does. As I’ve mentioned before, I usually make breakfast for dinner once each week year-round so I’m always on the lookout for new breakfast recipes. I’ve come across recipes for sausage pancakes many times in the last 6 months but I got the idea years ago. So, really, I’m not copying anyone- they’re copying me ;.) This isn’t so much a recipe as an idea or method but it’s a good one that yields amazing results!

Use your favorite pancake batter recipe- like I said this is more about sharing an idea than an actual recipe. If you don’t have one I’ve included the recipe I usually use. Yes- it uses Bisquick. I know perfectly well how to make pancake batter from scratch and I’ve done it many times. But I especially like the way the batter comes out when I use Bisquick so that’s what I use. And I can get it from Sam’s in big boxes MUCH cheaper than I can buy the smaller boxes in the regular grocery store so I use it happily for some things. I also use spicy breakfast sausage for these. Regular will work but the spicy sausage gives a unique flavor and is a very pleasant contrast to the sweet syrup. The pancake itself will mellow out the heat so it’s not overpowering. You can use turkey or chicken sausage if you are opposed to pork products. We love pork in our house so I use the real thing. This is also a good way to stretch a pound of breakfast sausage. To feed all 7 of us sausage patties at a meal takes 2 rolls (pounds) but these pancakes take only one pound and all of us can enjoy sausage with our pancakes. And pancakes are one of the ultimate cheap foods so it’s a winner for the food budget!

It really is just this easy…

Just drop 1/4 C of your batter onto the griddle or pan and then sprinkle about 1 Tablespoon of the browned, crumbled sausage over the top. Wait for the edges of the pancake to firm up, flip, cook on the other side until done and serve. Ridiculously easy for something that tastes so good.  This is what you end up with…

A plate full of goodness for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. There really is syrup on these, believe it or not. I make my own pancake syrup because the “maple” syrup in the store is insanely expensive (when you look at the cost of making your own, anyway). I’ll include that recipe too. But the home made stuff is slightly thinner than the store-bought kind but- we think around here- that the taste is better.

Mmmmmm…. makes me want some just looking at the picture. And, since I made a big batch, I can have some! A pound of sausage, using 1/4 C of batter for each pancake will yield 20-22 pancakes; plenty for the freezer :.)

The Recipe:

My Pancake Batter

4 C Bisquick

2 ½ to 3 C Water

2 Eggs, beaten

1 T (yes, TABLESPOON) Vanilla

*Mix water into the Bisquick to desired consistency. I like my pancake batter a little on the runny side so I use closer to 3 cups.

*Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until there are no lumps left.

*Let the batter rest for at least 5 minutes.

*This much batter will make a batch of 20-22 sausage pancakes plus about 10 plain pancakes. It sounds like a lot but they freeze so beautifully and taste so much better than the frozen ones from the store you will be happy you made the full batch.

Pancake Syrup

¾ C Brown Sugar

¾ C White Sugar

1 C Water

1 C Corn Syrup

½ t Maple Flavor

¼ t Vanilla

Gently boil sugars, water, and corn syrup to dissolve the sugars, about 3 minutes.

*Off heat, add the flavors.

*Cool completely then pour into chosen container. I use an old, larger size store-bought maple syrup bottle. This quantity very nearly fills the bottle.