BETTER THAN MY MOTHER'S WAFFLES AND FLAPJACKS

1-1/4 cups whole wheat pastry, white pastry, or unbleached flour
3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
About 1-1/2 cup buttermilk
2 or 3 eggs beaten
1 tbsp vanilla ( half and half vanilla blend does well)
1/4 cup melted butter or almond oil

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, and butter or almond oil until smooth. For waffles add 1 more egg and 1 more tbsp butter or oil. For light waffles, separate yolks and whites and beat whites, folding in whites as last act.

I saw this recipe on a package of Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal and tried it, using almond oil in place of butter, an additional egg or egg substitute equivalent, and vanilla.

My mother, a daughter of the frontier, began her culinary career helping her mother cook the noon meal (the principal meal for the day) for field hands during the harvest season. As she used to say, "Hearty and rib-sticking good."

This recipe is not only rib-sticking good, it is rib-sticking delicious. The oatmeal, which must be the ground type, adds fine flavor and texture. Although it grieves me to say this, these flapjacks and waffles are better than my mother’s, not by a whole lot, but enough to make the difference distinctive.

Serve with butter and maple syrup. Also, sugared crushed strawberries or boysenberry syrup make this into a confection and treat as well as a meal. Fried pork sausage patties are a fine accompaniment and compliment. The oatmeal helps alleviate the guilt. It all settles well in the stomach. Eat lots of veggies for lunch.

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D.