Three Equals Twelve (3=12)

NOLA Boy is a mathematician, so my title here caused a bit of a stir.  I’m sure with the addition of enough little squigglies in my equation, he could make three into twelve, but I did it the easy way.

Here are my tools . . .

The “twelve” are above on the cooling rack, and the “three” consist of a cup of flour, a cup of milk, and an egg.

The incidental ingredients were 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of avocado oil.

These few ingredients make up a surprisingly large amount of pancake batter.  I let it sit for about half an hour, which gives a decent amount of time for the flour to fully hydrate from the liquid ingredients.  This makes a really nice, thick batter that will do your bidding without complaint.

Other “extras” were a homemade hamburger bun, two extra eggs, half a chopped nectarine, and a handful of blueberries.  The fruit was leftover from our cooked cereal breakfast this morning.

So to start the marathon, I just heated up the four new mini appliances that I got from Dash and started making things with the batter as inspiration came flooding over me.

Left to right above, we have:

5 waffles, 2 muffins, 2 filled pancakes, a small Moroccan “pizza”, a poached egg, and last, but certainly not least . . . A good old fashioned Toad in a Hole.

The Toad in a Hole was the first to disappear into my gullet.  This was built on the top half of a homemade hamburger bun with the center having been removed for use on top of one of the muffins.  Happily the yolk was still runny.

The egg cooked on the bottom where it contacted the heat directly, and from the top heat source, yet the yolk remained at the perfect consistency.  The rim of bread held the egg in check.

A couple of hours later, I made short work of the plain muffin with the chopped fruit.

Time passed – and another test was in order, so the Moroccan “pizza” was “evaluated” and deemed quite delicious.  I had used the regular toaster to crisp up the bottom half of the hamburger bun mentioned above, but got a bit rambunctious on the amount of “char”.

A couple of tablespoons of the Moroccan Shakshuka had been spread onto the toasted bun, and a generous sprinkle of shredded Colby/Cheddar cheese went on top of the spread.  A quick few minutes back in the original appliance to melt the cheese provided the handheld “pizza”, which disappeared all too quickly.

The remaining muffin is a scoop of the pancake batter, topped with the chopped nectarine, and then the “hole” that I cut out from the hamburger roll over the top.

The filled pancakes were interesting.  I made a square one in the appliance that is meant to make egg bites.  I just left out the egg forms, put a scoop of the pancake batter into the bottom of the appliance, added a layer of blueberries, and poured another layer over the top.

This took a long time to bake, but looks really tasty.  The other filled pancake is the round one.  It has a small scoop of leftover whole-grain cooked cereal from breakfast.

That leaves the poached egg, which still has the runny yolk, but I’m not clear if I will be able to heat that back up without solidifying the yolk.  Any suggestions?

So . . . three main ingredients provided this veritable feast.  The addition of some fruits and veggies here and there, maybe a cream of something sauce to go over a waffle or two, a bit of peanut or cashew butter on the waffle(s), and some beverages, and it would seem that there is enough food here for one person for a whole day, including snacks.

As for cost, quick calculation in my head tells me that the pancake batter, the fruit used, and the extra two eggs would come in at just about a dollar at today’s prices in Southeast Arizona.  Seems incredibly reasonable for that much food to use as a base for several meals.

NOLA Boy is awake now, and is helping out by fixing himself a cup of coffee, and taking on one of the waffles with butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon.  He is eyeing the blueberry jam as well for a possible repeat “evaluation”.

Pardon me while I ransack the waffle container!  ;->  The blueberry jam is calling me.