The meal that made me SuperMom (at least according to a four-year-old)

I normally try to make (and stick to!) a menu plan for the week.  But when Jim's away, I often fall off the "plan."  Some days are a bit too crazy for the actual chopping, mixing, or whatever.  And some days the meal just seems like a lot of effort for folks who think peanut butter and honey sandwiches are the best meal of all time.

I had one of those days last week.  Jim was at school late, prepping for the crisis simulation! final for one of his classes.  (The course instructors made sort of a big deal about how intense this 48 hour exercise would be, and so I always think of it in italics: crisis simulation!  Incidentally, Jim didn't think that the exercise quite lived up to the hype.  Of course, that might be because it was a final exam and not, you know, war, which is about the only thing that Jim really sees as a crisis.)  I'd been working on projects all day (a new bookshelf in the girls' room, sorting clothes -- fun stuff like that) and dinner snuck up on me.  I hadn't defrosted any meat, so my "planned" meal couldn't happen.  I was about to whip up my favorite fall-back meal (scrambled eggs) when inspiration struck.  Blogger Simply Modern Mom had been hosting an Over-Used Recipe Swap (a genius idea if I've ever heard one), in which she invited her readers to offer up the recipes they'd, well, over-used on their own families.  I'd stopped by earlier in the week and noticed a featured recipe for Swedish pancakes.  It seemed like the perfect solution -- ingredients in the pantry, quickly and easily made, a definite treat, and not a meal we'd make when Dad's home!

And, in fact, the Swedish pancakes were a hit.  After the girls helped me mix up the batter, I cooked a few pancakes, and then set them up at the table while I kept cooking.  The girls ate them almost as fast as I could cook them!  As I scurried from the kitchen to deliver each pancake (rolled up with a bit of strawberry preserves) hot off the pan, Kathleen would cheer, "You're SuperMom!"

It made my day.  (Well, that or when she said after supper, "Thanks for that new thing you made, Mom. It was de-wicious!")  And it got me to thinking that perhaps one of my friends might be facing down an unplanned dinner hour and might want to try Swedish pancakes, too.

On the other hand, if you've got your own SuperMom meal up your sleeve, I'd love it if you'd share that.  Post title aside, I need all the help I can get!