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2/20/09

Family Traditions / Tradiciones Familiares


One of the things that I remember growing up is that my family always ate meals together. My mom always cooked breakfast at the same time and lunch and dinner, and we sat at the table together. I remember we always had a good, nutritious breakfast before school. Sunday's breakfast was the best for me. We attended an early mass and my dad always made pancakes for breakfast after church. That was a yummy tradition.

Rich and I have very different schedules - we can not always eat at the same time but we always have Sunday's breakfast together. Every day Rich gets up before me and by the time I'm up he has already eaten breakfast (which is okay with me because I rather sleep five more minutes). But no matter how hungry my dear husband is on Sunday, he always waits for me so we can eat breakfast together.

I have such warm memories of my father's pancakes that I've decided to make Sunday pancakes my own family tradition. My dad always prepared his pancakes the same way but I try to use different recipes and I like to flavor my pancakes with things like vanilla, walnuts, orange or lemon zest. Last Sunday I prepared an adaptation of a recipe taken from a family cook book titled Weeks to Weeks (Rich's mother's family). The original recipe came from Bertha Weeks; here is my version.

Whole-wheat-orange pancakes

1 egg
1 c. milk or half and half
1/2 c. self-rising flour
1/2 c. wholewheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
salt
1t. sugar
1 T. vegetable oil
the zest of 1 orange

In larger bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In a separate bowl whisk egg then add milk, oil, and orange zest. Combine the sifted ingredients and the liquid ingredients with a few quick strokes just to barely moisten the dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Cook pancakes in a hot, well greased griddle.












Tradiciones Familiares 

Una de las cosas que recuerdo de mi niñez es que en mi familia siempre comíamos todos juntos. Mi mamá siempre preparaba el desayuno a la misma hora y el almuerzo y la cena y nos sentamos a la mesa juntos. Recuerdo que siempre tuvimos un desayuno rico y nutritivo antes de la escuela. El desayuno del domingo era el mejor para mí. Asistíamos a la iglesia muy temprano y después de misa, mi papá siempre preparaba pancakes para el desayuno. Esta era una deliciosa tradición
Rich y yo tenemos horarios muy diferentes - no siempre podemos comer al mismo tiempo pero los domingos siempre desayunamos juntos. Todos los días Rich se levanta antes que yo y para cuando yo me levanto el ya termino de desayunar (lo cual no me molesta porque yo prefiero dormir cinco minutos más). Pero no importa cuán hambriento mi querido marido este el domingo, siempre espera por mí para que podamos comer el desayuno juntos. 

Tengo muy buenos recuerdos de los pancakes de mi padre que he decidido hacer de los pancakes domingueros mi propia tradición familiar. Mi papá siempre preparaba sus pancakes de la misma manera pero yo trato de utilizar diferentes recetas y me gusta agregarles sabores tales como la vainilla, nueces, raspadura de naranja o de limón. El domingo pasado preparé una adaptación a una receta tomada de un libro familia titulado Weeks to Weeks (la familia de la mamá de Rich). La receta original vino de Bertha Weeks, aquí está mi versión: 

Pancakes de Trigo y Naranja

1 huevo 
1 taza de leche o media crema
1/2 taza de harina blanca
1/2 taza de harina de trigo integral
1 cucharadita de bicarbonato de soda
1/2 cucharadita de polvo para hornear 
sal
1 cucharadita de azúcar
cucharada de aceite vegetal
raspadura de 1 naranja

En un recipiente grande cernir la harina, el bicarbonato de soda, polvo para hornear, la sal y el azúcar. En otro recipiente batir el huevo, a continuación agregue la leche, aceite y raspadura de naranja. Combine los ingredientes cernidos con los líquidos revolviendo rápidamente hasta que los ingredientes secos apenas se humedezcan. No mezcle de más. Cocinar los  pancakes en un comal caliente y bien engrasado.





8 comments:

WXYZ said...

¡¡¡Excelente redacción!!!
Detestar escribir… (?)
La retórica de este escrito demuestra lo contrario; la naturalidad de la narración; la descripción del uso del tiempo; el envolvernos en la trama al grado de desear saber preparar ese platillo… “¡Oh, agradable sorpresa!, He aquí la receta”.

Carmen said...

Hace tanto que no como pancakes y estos se ven tan ricos. Me sacaste el hambre, me acorde de los pancakes con huevo de mi Papa.

Prieta said...

WXYZ - Thank you very much for your kind comments, they mean a lot to me (specially coming from the great writer that you are).

Carmen - Esa era la idea. Adoptar la tradición y hacerle honor a mi padre todos los domingos.

Kim said...

Hi Martha
As you know, in our family Grampa always made the world's healthiest pancakes by opening up Gramma's containers of oatmeal, cornmeal, wheat germ, bran flakes - anything with fiber like tree bark. Sometimes he even put peanut butter in the pancakes.

I'm guessing that if Grampa were making your pancakes they would have a lot more flax seed and bran flakes. :)

However, these look delicious and I would love to see that cookbook.

Prieta said...

Kim - Yeah, I love grampa's pancakes!

I don't know how we got this book but I'm glad we have it. It was made for the Weeks Family Reunion in 1993. It is pretty nice.

Anonymous said...

Grandpa's pancakes and oatmeal was super duper healthy! I have fond memories of those pancakes. I love that you adapt recipes. That's real cooking for you! I think we need to have a cooking party in Michigan this summer! Anybody up for it? Love, Kara
P.S. I love pancakes. I make whole wheat pancakes with fresh wheat from Michigan with blueberries or bananas or raspberries in them. I also make a mix of whole wheat, cornmeal, buckwheat for pancakes. I get fresh ground buckwheat from my farmer. I also make rice griddle cakes that are yummy also. Pancakes are a special memory to this family.

Prieta said...

Hi Kara,
Thank you for visiting my blog.
I am up for that cooking party. Wow! your pancake mixes sound very good. I am always in the look for new pancake recipes for my Sunday pancake breakfast. Do you mind sharing yours?

Anonymous said...

I'll be happy to share all my recipes. I'll e-mail them this week when I get home or put them on your blog site. Love, Kara