Tag Archives: breakfast

National Blueberry Pancake Day! 

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Last night, we talked about having blueberry pancakes. We opted for toast and scrambled eggs. 

This morning, I saw it was National Blueberry Pancake Day. And to think we almost celebrated a day early. 

We don't need no stinkin' syrup!

Sweet and delicious


Recipe:

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 Tablespoon butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Combine dry ingredients. Mix egg and milk. Once thoroughly mixed, add to dry ingredients. Add melted butter to mixture. Pour a 1/3 cup of batter to a hot skillet or griddle. Add some blueberries to  each pancake. If using frozen berries, make sure to pay the berries dry before using. 

OH NO!

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A catastrophe happened in our home this morning, and I only have myself to blame.

What was the horrific event you might ask?

We were out of peanut butter.

<gasp>

In my last post, I talked about Andrew’s regular breakfast: a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. But this morning, we needed to re-group and find another breakfast for our commute. Luckily, we had picked up some Honey Nut Cheerios over the weekend for a number of reasons.

1. Honey Nut Cheerios are delicious!

2. I had a coupon.

3. There was a Star Wars poster prize in the box!

Contingency plans

Plan B

Oh, and of course, I had to label the bag.

Label all the things 

Every morning for  breakfast I make Andrew a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. While I am at it, I make Michael a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I will wrap each one in a paper towel, and set the wrapped deliciousness in the appropriate spot: Andrew’s sandwich next to his drink and Michael’s on his lunchbox.

Apparently, this system did not hold up on Monday. Somehow, Andrew had Michael’s PBandJ and Michael had the PBandN.

Andrew was happily munching away on his sandwich in the backseat of the car, when he said, “Hey, does this have jelly in it?”

I looked back and he had eaten half of the sandwich, before realizing it was the wrong sandwich. Luckily, he isn’t an extremely picky eater or this situation could have turned our commute into a nightmare. Michael exchanged sandwiches with Andrew, who proceeded to eat all but a little crust of the peanut butter and Nutella sandwich.

A few lessons can be learned from this:

1. I must now label all the things!

Y chromosomes need a little guidance sometimes

I hope this was specific enough.

2. Andrew is probably getting ready for a growth spurt, which means all the new pants we just bought will be too short very soon.

3. Even though Andrew can be very particular about somethings, he really is a go-with-the-flow kind of kid, when he is well-rested!

4. Sometimes we can be so unaware of our surroundings that we will eat the PBandJ, even though we really expected a PBandN.

I think that the fourth point might be the most important. There are so many times when people just do something to be doing something. Andrew just took the sandwich that was in his spot, expecting it to be his sandwich, and ate half of it before actually processing what he was doing. At least that is what I want to think. Otherwise, my son is unaware of the difference in the flavors of Nutella and strawberry jam.

Please take the time to savor your day.

My Favorite Easter Tradition

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I don’t even remember how it started. I am sure I read it in a magazine or saw it on television (this was in the pre-Pinterest/Google era).

Every year before Easter, I receive a magic jelly bean from the Easter Bunny. On the Saturday before Easter, you plant the magic jelly bean. When the Easter Bunny stops by, the magic jelly bean grows into a lollipop. I have done this with my little brother (now almost 28), Zakary (almost 17), and now Andrew (age 5).

Last night while we were out running errands, the Easter Bunny gave Michael and I a red magic jelly bean to give to Andrew. *wink* When we returned home, Andrew was excited to “plant” his bean. We decided to put the jelly bean under a rock behind the van.

The Easter Bunny I decided that behind the van might not be the best place to have the lollipop grow. There are quite a few people that walk their dogs in the mornings, and not knowing how early Andrew would be up, the “Easter Bunny” decided at 4 AM to go outside, move the jelly bean (which should read, “I threw the jelly bean across the street”), and bring the Easter treats in the house from the van. I, I mean the Easter Bunny, “planted” Andrew’s lollipop in the potted plant on the table, and left this note:

Maybe notes shouldn't be written at 4am

Maybe notes shouldn’t be written at 4am

I have tried to scale back my over-buying of candy for the holidays. I bought just a few Reece’s eggs, a marshmallow Spongebob lollipop, and a stuffed sting ray for Andrew. The unit of focus this month at preschool is the ocean. Ray the Ray was the perfect addition to our family! I didn’t get a pic of Andrew and Ray, but this is the wonderful photo of the Spongebob lollipop.

Imaaaagggginnnnnaaatiion!

Interestingly enough, Spongebob tasted like coconut.

Can’t Hit It Out Of The Park Every Time

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Oh Pinterest…I love how you jump start my mind, get those creative juices flowing and leave me with 15 open tabs in my browser that completely overwhelm me.  Ok that last part isn’t something I love about Pinterest, but it never fails that when I am on the computer looking for something on Pinterest, I get sucked into this downward spiral of food and crafts and weddings… OH MY!

I have tried quite of few things that I have discovered on Pinterest.  I usually get drawn into a pin by a stunning photograph of something yummy, then think that I have to make this amazing thing for my family.  Most of the time, things have gone swimmingly and there have been no complaints.  Last night, however…

It all started with this pin:

You know you wanna lick the screen....

See what I mean about yummy photography!

Clicking on the photo in the pin, I get to the website ohbiteit.com.

I read through the ingredients…awesome I have all that stuff!

I read through the instructions…seems simple enough!

So off I go on another culinary adventure!  Popping open the can of biscuits they looked, well, …weird.  They seemed a bit puffier than usual, but I REALLY wanted to make these dumplings!

In a big pot, the syrup was boiling.  In I dropped the quarter biscuits.  I started to get very excited as they started to puff up.  I let them cook according to the directions, pushing them into the syrup then covering.  I mixed together the sugar and spices…ohhhh this is going to be good!

I took the dumplings out and sprinkled them with the sugar mixture, then put them in dishes to serve, finished them off with a spoon of delicious smelling thick syrup….

Yummy goodness

Looks so good!

I put the bowls on the table with a couple of pieces of sausage.  I waited with baited breath for the chorus of “mmmmmms” and “yuuuuumm”…but that didn’t happen.  I felt crushed.  I messed up something that was supposed to be AMAZING!

In all fairness to the quiet chorus, it wasn’t that great.  I used weird buttermilk biscuits instead of flaky layer biscuits.

The syrup was amazing though.  Thick and so maple-y…..mmmmmmm

I might not have hit that recipe out of the park this time, but that isn’t going to keep me from tweeking and trying again!

Oh…and Pinterest….I might have failed this time, but I’ll be back!

Experimenting with Breakfast

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My oldest son is not a breakfast person.  Don’t get me wrong he LOVES breakfast foods, just not in the morning.  He would rather sleep later into the day than get up early for breakfast.  Unless there is bacon involved…

One of his favorite breakfasts would have to be cinnamon rolls.  Usually I do the quick and easy thing and buy the refrigerated tube, pop it open and bake.  The other night I decided I wanted to make some kind of muffin with Tastefully Simple‘s Bountiful Beer Bread.  After a quick search, I decided to just “wing it” and try to create something cinnamon roll-ish.  Another appeal of the cinnamon roll would have to being able to say the word cinnamon, which happens to be a word that will almost instantly put a smile on my toddler’s face, and usually warrants a giggle also!  PLUS tigers hate cinnamon, so it will keep the tigers away.

One of the things I absolutely LOVE is the versatility of the Bountiful Beer Bread.  I have yet to actually prepare the bread according to the recipe on the box.

There is something that is fundamentally appealing to me about baking.  The science of the reactions needed to get the perfect rise.  The caramelization of the sugars to get that exceptional crunch.  I love the fact that I can add something fizzy to the mix and get the bread to rise.  I adore the fact that I can change up the fizzy ingredient, and get a fantastic new flavor!  The possibilities of this single product…virtually endless.  This is where experimentation in the kitchen fascinates me.  (AND this is where my family loves me to be… They will be my guinea pigs anytime I try a new recipe!)

Not a bad way to start the morning!

I decided to use cream soda as my fizzy ingredient for the cinnamon roll muffins.  Cream soda gives a sweet, but not overpowering, base for the bread.

I poured my Bountiful Beer Bread mix into a mixing bowl, then added a tablespoon of cinnamon and two tablespoons of firmly packed brown sugar.  I stirred those ingredients together while three tablespoons of butter melted in the microwave.

I added a cup and a half of cream soda to the dry ingredients, and mixed only enough to get the dry stuff wet.  Don’t over mix!

I then poured the batter into the wells of my greased muffin tin.  I poured the melted butter over the muffins, then sprinkled each with a bit of cinnamon/brown sugar mixture.  I baked them for about 15-20 minutes.

I used a suggestion I found online for the icing.  I melted a bit of vanilla frosting (from a can) and poured it over the warm muffins.

What I would do differently next time:

  • LOVED the brown sugar flavor, will add more sugar next time.
  • I didn’t like the melted vanilla frosting.  Next time, I will just use powdered sugar and milk.
  • I liked the muffin idea, BUT next time I want to make a loaf of cinnamon roll bread.  I will then slice the bread and drizzle with the icing.
  • One of the comments from the morning’s experiment was that the muffins weren’t fluffy.  That I didn’t have control over.  The Bountiful Beer Bread will make a more dense muffin, but I liked it!