Making do in the kitchen.....

If you had a chance to read my Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Pancakes entry, you know all about my love/hate relationship with Martha. I love her recipes, but Martha? Meh…not so much. She was really just a bit irritating to me before, but then I heard her rant about Rachel Ray and it just validated my feeling for her. Haughty much? Not to mention she is a felon….

Of course, I don’t let my feelings get in the way when it comes to food, so today I pulled out Martha’s pancake recipe and was set to make those fluffy , beautiful things….then I realized that I had no buttermilk. But, you know, that was OK. According to my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, I could simply add some lemon juice to milk and it would be a good substitute. This was going to work out.

Then I pulled out the eggs I had my husband pick up for me. They were jumbo eggs. Jumbo eggs? What do you use jumbo eggs for? Granted, they were beautiful. But they were quite large.

Hmmm…the batter was a little thin. So I threw a bit more flour in. Now it was lumpy and thin. I could feel Martha’s disapproval, but I forged ahead.

I heated the griddle and poured my cakes. They were very ugly.

I couldn’t stop now, though; I had a big bowl of batter to use. Martha was tsking in my ear as I unceremoniously plopped the finished cakes on a McDonald’s plastic plate (circa 1985).

Both my mother-in-law and my husband pulled a few off of the offending plate and scarfed them down. Huh…they were edible. Actually, they were pretty good. So I rolled a few up and topped them with some leftover cranberry sauce (from a can) and some syrup (Hungry Jack) and envisioned Martha turning in her grave. Oh yeah, she is still alive. Oops.

Here’s to you, Martha. Life gave me lemons and I made buttermilk.