Our home in New Mexico sat at the top of a ridge, giving us an unobstructed view to watch things rise over the horizon: the sun in the morning, the moon in the evening, and the school bus in the afternoon. Max went to afternoon kindergarten and the bus would come right after lunch, which allowed us the luxury of a relaxed morning at home. Breakfast was an event, not just something on our checklist. No hurry-up bowls of cereal, or quick scrambled eggs on toast to eat in the car (as we often do these days) but it was a time for lovingly prepared, home-cooked breakfasts which were as much about the experience as they were the calories. Back then, nearly 100% of the time the answer to “What would you like for breakfast?” was “Pancakes.” Most often Joe, who was all of 18 months old, shouted this out. I always acted like this was new information, something special, and would set about preparing the batter. When the pancakes were ready we would sometimes take breakfast out to our front porch to “watch the world go by.” The three little kids would sit at their tiny little table on the deck, and I’d pull up the fourth teeny-tiny chair and join them.

Eventually, the excitement over mixing up pancake batter every morning grew tiresome. It was then that I decided to make up my own pancake mix.  My mother-in-law had given me the idea—it was something she had done when her three kids were little. It’s been many years since I got out my recipe, but this summer, now that Joe is 11-1/2 and capable of cooking, I made the pancake mix so he can enjoy fresh pancakes himself every morning, sitting on the front porch, watching the world go by.

Whole Wheat Pancake Mix

Blend together the following, using your hands to break up any clumps of brown sugar, so that everything is mixed together evenly:

• 6 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c.  dried buttermilk
• 8 Tbs. brown sugar
• 8 tsp. baking powder
• 4 tsp. baking soda
• 4 tsp. salt

To make the batter, blend together the following (makes 6 pancakes):

• 1 c. mix
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbs. oil
• 3/4 c. water

Store the mix in an air-tight container, with the mixing instructions taped to the lid.