for mothers day i don't really subscribe to the gift-giving thing; sure, i've given my mom presents for the day in the past, but usually tradition in our family sticks to cooking breakfast and picking flowers.

this mothers day is the first one i've lived in my own place without roommates (not counting the fianz), so i had the opportunity to have my mom and her partner over for breakfast! i wanted to try something new, but didn't want to do anything too crazy--i toyed with the idea of omlettes, latkes, and baked tomatoes before settling on a pretty basic meal: scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon and pancakes. but not just any pancakes: lemon blueberry pancakes, made from scratch.

i know what you're thinking. how good can a pancake really be? isn't it easier to just buy bisquik? well, friend, perhaps. but this was really fun to do, and they really were emotional. here's how i did it:

dust off and crack open your copy of The Joy of Cooking, and find their recipe for basic pancakes. the ingredients are as follows:

ingredients

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1-1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 or 2 large eggs, slightly beaten

directions

combine the dry ingredients in a bowl (i actually do this in a large measuring cup, a rule my friend dillon taught me after years of making the best pancakes, ever). when it comes to adding the "wet" ingredients, here's how i did it: i grated the rind of one lemon, then juiced that lemon into a measuring cup. i added the milk to the lemon juice--i didn't want my pancake batter to be too watery! i think i probably ended up with more like one and a half cups of milk/juice, but my advice would be to start off with just one cup, total, and add more as you see fit. i also decided to go with two eggs. just 'cause.

i like to whisk my pancake batter together, but mix it however you like--just until everything is combined. lumps are ok! then--this is something new--cover it with plastic wrap (or whatever) and put it in the fridge. The Joy of Cooking recommends 3-6 hours or more; i only had about 3 hours, and i'm not sure what difference it made, but it was no extra effort, so, i'd go for it again. in the last twenty minutes or so of this cycle, you can get to work on your home fries! here's my recipe:

ingredients

about 2 tablespoons olive oil
about 2 tablespoons butter
1 large-ish yukon gold potato per couple eating them
a few stems of fresh thyme (use your judgement)
garlic powder
paprika
salt & pepper to taste
one yellow onion

directions

peel and quarter the potato(es). heat olive oil and butter on the stove in a good sized frying pan--i like to go with no-stick pans in general, and would recommend on here. add potatoes to the oil and butter mixture, along with however many thyme leaves you want to add--i usually add a lot. you can use dried thyme, also, but fresh is so much better! sprinkle over a healthy amount of garlic powder and paprika, and add a smidge of salt and pepper, cover, and fry on medium heat for about 10 minutes.

once these 10 minutes are up, take the top off, mix the potatoes around a little (try to get them completely covered in the oil in the pan!), chop up the onion and throw it in. cook uncovered for another 10 minutes. if the rest of your breakfast isn't ready when your home fries are, put them in an oven-proof pan and into the oven--i put them in with the bacon this weekend and then ended up turning the oven down to "warm" for the rest of the time it took breakfast to be ready.

with the pancakes, take the batter out of the fridge, mix it around again (add more milk if necessary), and heat the frying pan on the stove, until water dropped on it sizzles. depending on the quality of your frying pan, either spray pam on, coat with butter, or simply drop pancake mix into whatever size you want onto the pan. add as many blueberries to the side facing up as you'd like--i usually like to load them on. fry the first side until done, flip, fry the second side, and voila! these pancakes are delicious, don't have any crazy preservatives in them, are totally natural, and if i'm not mistaken, aren't as unhealthy as pancakes can tend to be.

enjoy!