Chocolate Chip Pancakes

 Pancakes are a Saturday morning special in our house. I am not a morning person, so weekday breakfasts are granola, other cereal, hot cereal, toast,or something made the night before (biscuits, scones, muffins). On the weekends, I am still not a morning person, but Rod is home to cook. Some of us prefer plain pancakes like Rod and Owen. Morgan and I like blueberry best, but everyone else including most guests like chocolate chip.

 The way we do it is to make plain pancakes and then add the goodies on the grill. For chocolate chips the key is poking down the chocolate chips, that way they don't just melt all over the pan when we flip them.  If you really want to torment your kids you tell them how you lick your finger each time you poke a chocolate chip and and DON'T wash your hands each time. That's always fun!

 My kids are a little spoiled. They are so used to homemade that they can't stand pancakes from a mix. My stepsister gave me a recipe for pancakes at my bridal shower and that is still the recipe we use with some minor modifications and major portion increasing. This is one recipe I still keep in single serve format and just increase as needed. We usually make a 4 batch, but if my nephews are over we need  5X the original recipe. If Rod and the big boys are gone on a scouting trip Devon, the little kids and I only need a 2 batch.

1 cup flour (heap the cup a little, in a 4 batch we use about 1/4 cup extra flour)
1T sugar
2t. baking powder
1 egg ( normal store sized eggs, we have a mixed flock of chickens including bantys so sometimes use more eggs when making multiples. Most recipes are written for a 1/4 cup egg )
1 cup milk (scant unless you live somewhere much dryer than us or like thin pancakes)
2T oil

 The last time Owen was in the hospital they were re-working their menu. Due to Owen's unique eating needs the nurses had given his an open status on his menus. That meant that we were supposed to be able to order him anything the cafeteria served. When we tried to order for him the kitchen kept saying that he wasn't allowed to have pancakes though. For some reason French toast is considered "healthy" for toddlers but pancakes aren't. Owen loves pancakes, but won't eat French toast. We had to have both the nurse and the dietician call the kitchen to finally get his pancakes. Then when they were delivered, he took one bite and refused to eat them because they weren't homemade. So, be warned, if you make this recipe, your kids may never want to go back to a mix!