Colourful Pancakes

The local school districts were closed once again due to icy conditions, so Engineer and I got to play with Snoopy and Little Hurricane all day!  :)  The boys and I had a great day, and the disaster that is my home is a testament to that!  In the midst of the goofiness, we decided to make colorful pancakes for lunch

I grabbed the supplies we needed — pancake mix, almond milk, eggs, baking soda, vegetable oil, sugar, mini chocolate chips, a mixing bowl, a whisk, plastic condiment bottles, and food coloring.  I was sad to realize we didn’t have any vanilla in the house, as I love vanilla in my pancakes, but I soldiered on.

Of course, the boys arrived as soon as they heard me puttering in the kitchen.  After hands were thoroughly washed, I had them help me make the pancake batter.  Engineer and Snoopy did most of the work, but Little Hurricane had fun helping when he could.  Engineer really got into squishing the egg yolks as he mixed the batter!

Once the batter was ready to go, we chose the colors for our pancakes.  After much debate between the older boys, we finally settled on green, blue, and red.  I added some food coloring to portions of the batter, then transferred the batter to the condiment bottles.  In case you’re wondering, it’s better to add food coloring to the batter before transferring it to the bottles.  Just a lesson I learned today!  If the boys hadn’t been helping, I wouldn’t have used the condiment bottles — I would have just used separate bowls.

The condiment bottles came in handy when Engineer and Snoopy were helping me cook the pancakes.  For Engineer’s first batch, he went with a base of plain batter, adding blue dots and swirls on top.  Snoopy just wanted a green pancake to start with, and the bottles helped him squirt just enough out onto the frying pan.  The boys had been briefed on oven safety prior to this, many times, so I felt secure in letting them help with the cooking.

From this point on, I was in charge of cooking up the pancakes.  Once the first batch was done, the boys were focused on eating rather than cooking!  Snoopy told me the colorful pancakes tasted better than regular pancakes.  Engineer’s mouth was too full for a coherent response, so he just nodded his head in agreement!  All of the boys ate 4 pancakes before finally declaring they were full!  Thank goodness for that, as I was able to grab the last few for my own lunch!

After lunch, Engineer said he’d had “fun being spoiled with the pancakes”!  I thought that was pretty darn cute, but I know I’m a little biased.  :)  Snoopy chimed in, asking if we could have the fun pancakes the next time there’s no school.  So I’d say today’s lunch was definitely a success!

This post was originally published on Fun-A-Day

Cheese Straws

My son claims that he does not like cheese.  He absolutely refuses to eat it.  Give him a cheese sandwich and he will purse his lips, and turn away shaking his head as he recoils in horror.  He will go as far as to leave the table hungry.

But with the “faultless” logic and reasoning of a 7 year old he adores cheese straws.  Left to his own devices (which for the record I can say he is not) he would eat the whole batch!

Kate x

For this cheese straw recipe you will need:

250g plain / all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
165g butter
150g medium (or strong) cheddar cheese (grated)
120ml water

Makes approximately 30 cheese straws

• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6 and line two large baking trays with parchment.
• Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and paprika into a mixing bowl.
• Add the butter and rub together until the mixture has the texture of breadcrumbs. This can be done by hand, but I use my Kitchen Aid.
• Stir in the grated cheese.
• Add the water and mix to form a sticky dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into pencil thin straws (approximately 5 inches in length).
• Place on the prepared baking sheets and cook in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes until golden brown.  (Cooking time may need to be reduced or increased slightly depending on how thin you roll your cheese straws).
• Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

This post was originally published on Kate at Home