The Lily Flour

All I want after a long day of sitting in a finance class and doodling is a nice hot bubble bath, a foot rub, and a good book. Considering, however, that my tub is not quite bubble-worthy, I don’t have an on-site foot masseuse (or, better yet, masseur), and I have an overdue balance on my library account, I had to settle with dinner. Problem? An empty fridge. Solution? Pancakes. Better solution? Chocolate chip pancakes.

I’m a perfectionist. I like to have an even distribution of chocolate chips in my pancakes. Sometimes though, things just don’t work out. Sometimes you have to let go and let the chips fall where they may. Ba-da ching.

Example 1:

Not so great Melissa, not so great. This is what happens when you get lazy and let the bag do the work. I blame it on the engineers.

Example 2:

Much better.

Better Than a Foot Rub Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat a greased griddle. Add the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl. Sift well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon juice, orange juice, vanilla, and milk. Add to the flour mixture and stir in the melted butter. I like to add the chocolate chips onto the batter once on the griddle to prevent everything from sinking to the bottom of the bowl. Cook until golden brown on each side. Beware of runaway chips.

I like to eat mine like a cake. A pancake cake, which I actually have a recipe for, but that’s for another night. Also, this makes a lot of pancakes. Enough for breakfast, dinner, and dessert, because, well, those are the best times for pancakes.

I have a confession to make:

I am almost an exact copy of my mother.

Scary? Yes, but I think I’ve grown-up about it. We frequently finish each others’ sentences. And she has this odd (freaky, really) ability to read my mind, especially when I have a silly grin on my face, which makes it difficult to keep a secret when I’m around her. I’m O.K. with that, though (most of the time). It gives me someone to tell secrets to.

I'm going to get yelled at for putting a picture of her on here...

We do have our differences.  For example, eyebrows. Mine are from Dad. Also, she doesn’t like to cook…

What? I know, I know. But she doesn’t refuse to cook.  She just doesn’t enjoy it. She does, however, enjoy the simple things in life. Like her chicken salad, which she whips up occasionally. She loves this stuff, and so do I. It’s simple to make and can provide a quick lunch or dinner. I eat it by itself, but it also makes a great sandwich.

Mama’s Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 apple, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 cups chicken (white or dark meat), chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons milk
Salt and pepper, to taste

Chop the apple and celery into similarly sized chunks. Pull and chop chicken (I used a in-a-bag Rotisserie, which cuts prep time drastically). Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. I like this recipe, because you can add all sorts of goodies to it: walnuts, crasins, carrots, whatever you’re craving. Except maybe chocolate cake. That would be kinda weird…