Hootinany!

I must not be the only one that has a "default meal". You know...the days that you either have no ingredients, no time, or no desire to cook? Those are the days we use our default meal - Hootinany. Well, that's what my family calls it anyway. Mark's family calls it Dutch Babies, and some people call it German Pancakes. Whatever you call it - it's super easy, uses 5 always-on-hand ingredients...and it's yummy!

So, I'll show you mine if you show me yours! My "default meal" recipe that is! So, here's my Hootinany recipe - and if you want to leave a super easy recipe on the comment link to this post, then we'll all have one more recipe to choose from on one of "those" days!

Hootinany

6 Eggs
1 c. Milk
1 C. Flour
1/2 t. Salt
5 T. Butter

Turn oven to 425 degrees, put butter in pan (9x13, cast iron skillet, whatever) & place in oven to melt.

Meanwhile, whip other ingredients in bowl or blender until butter is sizzling (and if you want to be "fancy" then feel free to add a bit of vanilla extract, cinnamon, or whatever sounds good to the batter).

Pour mixture quickly into hot butter, and bake for about 20 minutes.

Voila! That's it! Seriously easy, huh? And kids love it too - when I was little, I used to sit in front of the oven window and watch as the batter rose up into golden hills and valleys. Every batch is different, and you can play around with the ratios of the ingredients or pan types/sizes to get it just how you like it. Here's a link that gives some guidelines if you're a bit type A like me and need a recipe to start from when you adjust things: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1718,149183-244206,00.html

Now, there are a gazillion ways to serve this scrumptious meal. The point of a "default meal" is to be able to use whatever you have on hand, but here are just a few of the many ideas you can try:

• Top it with melted butter, a spritz of fresh lemon & dusting of powdered sugar (or just the sugar alone)
• Add fresh fruit (with or without whipping cream)
• Use your favorite syrup (I'll include a recipe for one)
• Or my current favorite...fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, whatever) with sour cream (try it, it's delicious!)

Now, there are some wonderful fresh-fruit syrups out there (Mark made a mouth-watering peach one recently), but in keeping with the "default meal" theme I'll include a syrup recipe made from ingredients that most everyone has on hand:

Orange Syrup

Combine 1/2 c. butter, 1 c. sugar & 1/2 c. frozen orange juice concentrate. Bring to a boil; stir occasionally. That's it!

So, I hope that some of you enjoy this easy meal idea and I would looove to hear of some easy, minimal-ingredient meal ideas from anyone else! Or, if you have a yummy new way to serve this meal, then please - do share.