Breakfast with the ponies: Semi-Instant Pancakes

Every summer we go to the Del Mar race track to watch the horses.  They usually have an entire kids' area set up with magicians and face painting and pony rides.  It's great.  And the boys love watching the horses run.

But this year I found out about a special thing the race track does - they host a breakfast!  There aren't any races, but they open the trackside restaurant during morning exercises.  These are the horses that aren't racing that day, but some of the jockeys are.

The neat thing about this breakfast is that you get to be right up close to the horses and really get to see them strut their stuff.

The kids loved it.  In addition to watching the horses run really fast, there was an MC who gave us all sorts of facts about the horses and jockeys out on the track, as well as horses in general.  The boys wanted to know how old the horses were, and she told them all about the various ages.

But the best part of the whole thing was that it was totally cool and overcast.   The races don't start until the afternoon, and the afternoons in July and August are pretty hot.   Especially this year.   And there is very little shade at the race track.  

So we didn't actually make it to the races this year, but we still got our taste of watching the horses run.  And it's an experience I would definitely repeat.

My only negative comment was the breakfast itself.  It's clear the track isn't open for breakfast, and since the breakfast only happens on weekend mornings, they don't really go all out with the menu.  There are muffins and an egg dish.  But really, you're not there for the food.   Not like our house.  Weekend mornings are a time for great breakfasts.  Not on Saturdays when we're running out to swimming, or soccer, or art, but lately Sundays have been very low key around here, and we've taken advantage.

Last year I started making Alton Brown's pancake mix.  It came as a compromise.  Thatboy grew up on Bisquick and before he met me he didn't realize you could make pancakes without it.  On the other hand, I grew up with pancakes made from scratch.  So if I wanted Thatboy to make breakfast on the days I get to sleep in, then I needed to buy Bisquick, or make my own.

I made a little change to the original recipe - I added powdered buttermilk to the mix, which means we don't have to keep the liquid stuff on hand.  Because of this, I keep the mix in the freezer.

 Once the pancakes are made, we have a topping bar where the kids can put whatever they like on top (within reason.  Last weekend I nixed the notion of powdered sugar AND whipped cream).  

Semi-Instant Pancakes (by Alton Brown)

 10 oz semi-instant pancake mix (I use Alton Brown's with powdered buttermilk added, but shhhhh Bisquick would also work)

2 eggs, separated

2 cup buttermilk (or 2 cups water if you've added the powdered buttermilk to your pancake mix)

4 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1. Set a skillet over medium heat.  Place the pancake mix into a large mixing bowl.

2. Whisk the egg whites and buttermilk or water in a separate bowl.

3. Whisk the egg yolks and the melted butter.

4. Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk quickly, leaving lumps.

6. When the skillet is hot, grease with cooking spray or butter.  Ladle 1 ounce of the batter into the pan.

7. Cook for 3 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes.

8.  Top with butter, syrup, fruit, sugar, whatever your heart desires!