The most well-known way of celebrating Fat Tuesday in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio is with a Polish donut called paczki. I do have a post on how to follow the paczki tradition on a budget, but … there is another alternative:

Fat Tuesday in other traditions is known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. Instead of stuffing one’s mouth with donuts, you are stuffing one’s mouth with pancakes.

Kids enjoy eating pancakes, and homemade pancakes are a very cheap breakfast or dinner. Just get your favorite pancake mix or recipe, look through your pantry and refrigerator, and think about these ideas:

• Pour pancake batter in the griddle so it makes shapes. My mother did this a lot when my siblings and I were little. You can draw letters with a thin pour – or, use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to make shapes after the pancake is cookied.
• Add chopped fruit, ground nuts, spices or other flavors to the pancake batter. Over the years, I’ve used ingredients such as mashed banana, applesauce, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon or vanilla in my pancakes. If you want to use chocolate chips, make sure the griddle is non-stick.
• Experiment with different toppings. Maple-flavored syrup is a favorite, but what about strawberry ice cream topping, whippy cream, powdered sugar, applesauce, chocolate sauce or cherry pie filling?
• The popular side dishes are very flexible and therefore budget-friendly. You can serve pancakes with fresh or canned fruit, sausage, bacon or eggs.
• Get inspired by the McDonald’s griddle breakfast sandwiches: Smaller pancakes cooked with maple flavoring can become the “sandwich bread” for a sausage patty.

Do you find it difficult to cook pancakes evenly? The Pancake Lovers site has some cooking tips.