I had a craving for pancakes yesterday and decided that even if I woke up craving oatmeal (which I did! I love to eat things in bowls more than plates) that I’d make them anyways.
It took a few tries, but I finally got some hot cakes on my plate!
Attempt #1
Orange you glad I looked into the box before pouring?? This Quaker oatmeal mix doesn’t have a bag inside and it appears that spiders made webs inside! AHHHH!
Perhaps this flashlight will help you see the horrors
Attempt #2
I inspected my other trusty pancake mix more closely and discovered that it was long inspired. It probably would have been fine to eat, but I just pictured stale pancakes and don’t think I’ll ever want to take the risk of making a whole batch and not having them be 100% delicious. I actually think I remember the last time I made these them not tasting very good. Perhaps that is why.
Attempt #3
Good old fashioned made-from-scratch: whole wheat flour + baking powder (and milk, salt, a pinch of sugar and egg white)
Into the mixing bowl:
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- Scant 2/3 cup milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- ~1 tbsp Stevia in the Raw (I’d leave this out next time -they were too sweet!!)
- 1 egg white
The batter was a bit on the thick side – which I like for flipping – but you might want to add the full 2/3 cup milk to help it mix a bit better.
The batch made 1 large and 3 small cakes (I always pour the first one large by accident, but I actually like pancakes to be small!) I had the large and 2 small but didn’t quite finish the large because he was larger than I thought under there and a bit burnt on the bottom
With syrup, coconut and a tbsp of Maranatha! Totally forgot to be creative with the ingredients. The pancakes were awesome though, and I’m going to stick with this recipe again!
Today’s Decaf Pumpkin Spice (I REPLENISHED THE DECAF STOCK!!) and Caf Grog was consumed in this Bodum glass I ordered from my Open Sky store with a coupon!
Floating coffee. It was like a breakfast cocktail 
I have always wanted these glasses. They can be used for hot or cold and are dishwasher and microwave safe (always love that!)
Today:
>Sculpt
>Lunch
>Cameraman
>Blog, blog, blog
{ 82 comments… read them below or add one }
It is a good thing that you pitched your expired pancake mix. There is a weird spore thing that can grow in your mixes (cake, etc.) that can cause some serious allergic problems and health problems if consumed, all the way up to death. It is rare, but possible, so always pitch the expired mixes!
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/pancake.asp
Yikes!
I love pancakes but never have time to make them… Usually I do a oats and ww flour combo – they seem more hearty to me that way! Plus a smidge of butter…
Also, I think stevia is sweeter than regular sugar by volume?… that may be why your p-cakes turned out too sweet.
gorgeous pancakes! you never fail to create a beautifully plated (or bowled) meal. those glasses are so cool! love the idea of a floating coffee cocktail. it’s 5 o’clock somewhere
Oh my gosh how gross! The spider in the box that is. The pancakes looked like they turned out delicious anyway!
I love those Bodum glasses! I have a couple of the mugs and I love how light they are! I’m glad you thought to peek into the box before you poured the mix! Spider web pancakes probably aren’t the best way to start the day!
Have you considered the possibility that those “webs” are the work of pantry moths rather than spiders? MIght be useful to make sure that all of your other grains and grain products are tightly sealed: once pantry moths are in anything, they eventually get into everything!
(Fortunately, they can’t get through glass jars!)
Best wishes.
-DPG
So glad you looked in the box before using the pancake mix – yuck! I agree with DPG – they are probably moths rather than spiders but still – yuck! Cool glasses!
Ahhh spider webs!! Haha! Not too appetizing… But funny!
That whole spider thing would really freak me out!! I once found bugs in my flour…it was so gross!!
Yeah, pantry moths love any grainy thing. Glass containers that DPG recommended are great. I reuse pasta sauce jars or the large mason jars for this purpose!
I hope it was “just” a spider!
Spiders make the strangest homes!
Oh my gosh, I hate spiders! You should check out TJ pumpkn pancake mix, soooo good!
*check out the raw revolution giveaway on monicaonthego.com*
I really want to try the Kodiak mix that Jenna uses, but your homemade recipe sounds good too! I love adding chocolate chips and bananas to my pancakes
I can never wander away from oatmeal for too long for breakfast then I always end up craving it during the middle of the day.
Very cool looking coffee! Love the glasses!
I would have been freaked out by the spiderweb and thrown it in the neighbors dumpster, haha
Seriously awesome coffee cup. I love glassware! And your panckes are so pretty
Yum!
If I’m not storing baking ingredients of grains in mason jars or reused sauce and salsa (any glass, really) jars in the pantry, I’m storing them in the freezer. Helps with the spider issues and freshness! My freezer is full of jars with bob’s red mill stuff with the labels taped on
Those ‘glasses’ are the best! Picked up a couple over the summer and also got 2 wine glasses to take to outdoor concerts over the summer. My mom would not approve of wine (or a great beer) out of an ordinary plastic cup now, tsk tsk.
LOL, that’s where my BRM grains are too – lined up in jars on the freezer door.
Oh wow am I ever craving pancakes now… off to go make some!
I would have freaked if I saw that in my pancake box! Love your pics Kath – even when there is a spiderweb involved, you’ve got me cravin’ pancakes!
EEEK on the bugs – no fun!
Love the Bodum glasses – those are too cool.
I made pancakes on Saturday, using the Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancake Mix. The mix was ‘regifted” from a sister-in-law who didn’ think they were spiced enough for her tastes, but I thought they were wonderfully autumn-inspired.
I love how you’re into various spreads…I have only really ever delved into peanut and almond butter and Nutella (such a guilty pleasure!).
omg spiders are my main fear in life!!!
OMG, a whole TBSP of pure stevia or Truvia? I hope not pure stevia! That would be SO sweet!
Pancakes sound REALLY good. Now I want, too! hehe
Jenn
Wow you were bound & determined to make you some ‘cakes! A great reminder to us all to check & double check our pantry goods. I sometimes forget dry goods go bad too! I looooooove how the coffee looks in those glasses. So fancy
It appears as though your coffee is smiling at us!
Love those glasses!
I’ve been saying for nearly 2 months I was gonna make the pumpkin trader joes pancake mix. That’s my goal this weekend!
That is too funny about the spider webs (SOOO glad you didn’t eat them though!) I love those glasses too, saw them for the first time on OpenSky yesterday and did a little nudge nudge to the hubby for Christmas!
I love your new glass/mug!! It’s so cute!
I’ve never made pancakes all the way from scratch but that recpie looks nice and simple! I think I’m going to have some pancakes this weekend so perhaps I’ll give that a try :O)
yiiiikkkkkke to the spidy!!!
Love the glass
Pancakes look great! Too bad there was a spider web in there , I love that Oatmeal Mix from Quaker! So delicious!!!! Have a great day!
This is my first visit to your fun BLOG…it’s also rather ironic since I went to make a hearty breakfast for my stinky 17 year old thinking adding pancakes would give him extra memory power for exams…as I shook the mix from the plastic bag (which had been sealed) I noticed some specs…hmmm ?, I thought…maybe a dark bit of mix – not to worry…added the water (nothing homemade about my mix!)…as I whisked the mix there were scads of little brown specs! Yikes! Luckily for a starving boy, a new box, Circa 2009 was in the pantry…all was not lost, and I can only hope that the pancakes helped him, perhaps pass his exam with flying colors….Bye, bye, buggies!
Your hotcakes looked yummy! Loved the syrup sidedish…
Cheers, M
Poor Mr. Spider just wanted pancakes
I like mine small too. It goes to the whole if it looks like there are more on the plate you fill up faster mentality. I can eat 4 small ones for the same as 2 large ones and I feel better.
Yum yum yum! I just got back last night from Costa Rica and the owner of our B&B made the most amazing banana pancakes every morning. I’d go back just for that!
I see a chubby moon in your coffee today!! I have those glasses but the taller version…they have been packed in a box for almost 2yrs when I had my shower. We have had no room to keep them out…can’t wait for more space at the new place!! Just over a week away
mmmm paaancakes….nom nom
Scary spiders in your oatmeal! Pancakes sound so good and comforting. Maybe I’ll do that for lunch
ICK! Now I’m going to go home and inspect all of my boxes that aren’t sealed!
You’ve just inspired me to go through the contents of my fridge. Who knows what may be lurking in there. Shudder!
contents of my pantry, I mean!
Ahh!! I seriously cannot think of anything more horrifying than spiders in my pancakes!! Good thing you checked out the opening first…ugh shudder!!!!
HAHAH! OH my GOSH! I would FREAK out if I saw that! You and wildlife Kath! You guys just love to mingle
PS – Those pancakes look amazing so it was worth the 3 tries!
So I know you said you were gonna stick to the recipe….but on an adventurous day you should try using oat flour to make your pancake batter. I just grind up oats in my Magic Bullet. The batter blooms since oats expand and then you can have the best of both worlds!
That’s essentially what the Quaker mix was. I have done that before and it is awesome!
The pancakes look great!! Seriously so good you looked inside that quaker box! I’ve actually never made pancakes from a box before – hard to believe?!
yum! those pancakes look like they came out perfect!
happy national maple syrup day kath
way to celebrate!
I didn’t know!!
Ew to the spider webs! Makes me even more glad that I always do pancakes from scratch (aside from the recent Batter Blaster pancakes-in-a-can experiment).
Oh my goodness girl, that spider web would have freaked me out. Oh and my husband hates spiders too so that just would have been a nightmare. Glad you ended up with delicious pancakes though. You saved the day!
Your pancakes look yummy. Next time I make pancakes I’m going to put some pb or ab on them!
LOVE that cup!
I have a thing for bowls, too. I was thinking just that the other day, I never really realized how I much prefer them to plated food. Something comforting about it, I think.
I can’t say I have ever made pancakes from scratch. I’ve always been shy of it not working. I shall give it a try. I’m really liking those glasses.
The things we go through for pancakes! Love the new glass!
I prefer making pancakes from scratch; I can control the portion size and the ingredients, plus, pancakes are super-easy to make from scratch. Like you, I’m an oatmeal person in the morning, but pancakes once in a while are a-ok!
I have those clear coffee cups, we received two when we bought our french press.
Word of warning: When I washed them in the dishwasher one got pressed between two other dishes and when I moved the dishes the glass exploded on the spot. Guess it was the pressure?? There were glass shards all over my kitchen!
YIKES!! Maybe I shouldn’t put them in?
I never have time to make pancakes, but now that my finals are done and I’m out of school for the semester, I think I’m going to have to give it a shot. Thankfully, I just use whole wheat flour and oats. No mix, so no spideys!!! ewwwwww
Spiders in the mix – eeewWWWW! The made from scratch pancakes look delish – I may have to whip those up this weekend.
Oh lawdy, that is a huge fear of mine, finding those webs! I always check my shoes before I put them on for fear there’s going to be a nest in there.
I really love that mug.
And now I want pancakes!
Love the cup!
Kath,
Our Fort Collins, CO Great Harvest’s (two of them) have pancake mix which is very good. Does Matt’s?
Happy Holidays!
Jolene
Yes, it’s very good, but I think making from scratch is just as easy!
Yep, you have pantry moths – aka Indian Meal Moths…. Check your other grain items:
” Indian meal moths can take from 25-135 days for moths egg-egg development cycle to occur.
One moth can lay 100-400 eggs over 1-18 day period. Almost any thing in your pantry that is not in a “tin can” is suspect.
The larvae is what does the damage-feeding on these different food items, forming an extensive web type of substance over the food items that they infest.
Abundant webbing in infested materials is characteristic Of infestations by the Indian meal moth. Its larvae are often found far from infested foods because they usually crawl away from their foods to construct silken cocoons in which to pupate. The Clothes moth is a little different in that they have no distinctive markings, and the wing span is only 1/4th”.
LOVE that coffee cup
never seen one like that before! done the same thing with expired goods before in my house . Good idea not going through thew hole process and risk having them come out stale and cardboard-y 
omg ewwww!!! I’ll definitely be on the lookout for spider webs in my Quaker oatmeal box now! That’s el nasty! Glad you finally got some delicious pancakes on your plate
Scary about the mothhhhhssssssssss!!! Going to check
I am for sure making these this weekend! Love the image of the “floating coffee”. Beautiful! Thanks for this lovely post.
OMG this is making me gag. I’m SUPER scared to check my pantry now!! I dont even want to think about all the bugs/eggs I may have eaten!!
i’ve gotta use up my quaker oatmeal mix too – i hope there’s no spiders growing homes in mine!!!
Yikes, that does look like the work of a pantry moth! If that’s what they are you can get rid of them by throwing out any open grains (including spices! and loose tea! gah!) as well as anything infested, putting anything that escaped the infestation into sealed jars, vacuuming out the cupboards (especially the nooks and crannies), and wiping everything down with a vinegar & water solution. Takes a full day of work, but it’s manageable. Good luck!
i don’t trust pancake mixes, so i always make mine from scratch like you did! they always taste so much better, and you actually know what you’re eating
♥ lindsey
I love those Bodum glasses! I had a set a few years ago, and sadly they have all been broken
The biggest offender was dropping ice cubes into them, so be careful!
Ok that would freak me out to see a spider in my pancake mix box! My FAVORITE goto pancake recipe is using old fashion oats ground up into flour plus eggs, cottage cheese, vanilla and coconut extract plus cinnamon and maple flakes – MMMMMM!
Yours turned out great ~ 3 x’s a charm
Unless your pancake mix is one that requires milk/eggs to be added to it (not just water) you REALLY can’t use them after the expiry date. The dried egg/milk products in them can go rancid and make you very, very sick.
I make pancakes so rarely I just make them from scratch.
Love that glass!!!
Oooo, I should have guessed that about the Indian moths, I have an infestation of them right now. I put all my cereals and grains in plastic bags or other containers, but I still open the cupboard and get a few of them crawling out. This started in the summer, and it is so hard to get rid of them because like another poster said, they lay their eggs anywhere. I just broke down and bought some traps on Amazon (there are non-toxic varieities) they supposedly work pretty good, so I hope it traps whichever stray ones contiue to hatch. It’s so odd, like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, to open your cupboard and have a couple moths fly out.
So gross, but I had a nice science lesson with my boys as we looked at the larvae and the webs.
Mine came with a batch of rice from Chinese grocer, I think. That is why it is recommended that you put your grains, etc., in containers, because sometimes they come from the manufacturer, and if they hatch, it is contained, as well as they can’t get in. (I think they ate through the plastic in some adjoining bags, they were in other bags of unopened rice and beans and into some Kraft mac and cheese crackers.)
You should probably wipe out that whole cupboard and everythign in it, too, to try and get rid of eggs. I read they can be a real problem in the south, although I live in the North.
agh, I hate when critters take over my food! It’s always the oats and the flour…
however- looks like your second attempt at pancakes turned out even better!