pancakes: no box mix allowed

We've conquered the first week of our month-long No Eating Out Challenge!



but not without a few cravings...

My daughter and I particularly fancy the pancakes from Mem's Country Cupboard, a local diner that serves breakfast and lunch. So this morning when I asked her if she'd like pancakes for breakfast, her answer was a very enthusiastic, "Yes!" (She must have been missing Mem's too.) Since we had breakfast there the first time, I've been researching pancake recipes, trying to figure out exactly what they do to make their flapjacks so yummy. I settled on a recipe to try and this morning we made these pancakes from smittenkitchen.com.

Oh, can I tell you, our bellies were happy this morning. I will never make pancakes from a box mix again. After tasting these, it would be a crime. Seriously, they were incredible. Absolutely incredible. The recipe was simple to put together too so there's no reason your family shouldn't enjoy these pancakes this weekend too. My husband isn't a pancake enthusiast, but he came back with an empty plate saying, "Those were REALLY good." (He works from home so he gets goodies delivered to his office courtesy of our toddler whenever we're in the mood to make a mess in the kitchen.) And, I know, I know, I keep telling him he needs to be more descriptive about his food critique, otherwise the blog will be BORING, but right now, I can tell you that most of the time he describes food as "fine," so to say that these pancakes were "REALLY good" well, that's something.

Two recipe notes: I didn't have blueberries so I made them without. I'm sure they'd be great with berries too. And I wouldn't use a buttermilk substitute for this one. I think the buttermilk adds flavor that you'd otherwise be missing.

And finally, what I'm learning from our challenge: you really can make restaurant quality food even better at home. All you need are the right recipes...