foodie friday : pancakes for Myles

I have tried to have a tradition of Saturday Pancakes whenever Kyle has a weekend off, but then we found out that Myles is allergic to eggs, and it got a little more complicated.  Once Myles was old enough to eat them, I started trying to find some toddler friendly pancakes ideas.  Since bananas are often an egg substitute in some recipes, I googled some eggless banana pancake ideas, and then put my own spin on them.

I didn't want them to be void of flavor since toddler + syrup seemed like a bad idea... and plain old banana seemed just a little dull.  So I made the batter, and then heated up and stirred in... some creamy peanut butter.  Cook them up silver-dollar sized and you have a wonderfully flavorful, minimal-mess, toddler friendly pancake.  No syrup needed.

eggless peanut butter and banana pancakes

inspired by this recipe

1 C All Purpose flour

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

dash of cinnamon

3/4 up to 1 C of milk depending how dense you like your pancakes.

1/2 of a very ripe banana mashed well

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp vinegar

~2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter warmed in the microwave (optional)

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Mash up your banana in a separate bowl; add the vanilla and vinegar.  Toss in your dry ingredients.  Add the milk slowly;  the original recipe called for 2/3C of milk but the pancakes were just ridiculously dense (as in the batter didn't smooth out into nice flat circles when I put it in the pan...it just glopped down and I had to kinda smash it flat); not the nice fluffy ones I like.  I would start out with 3/4 of a cup and see how that seems compared to normal batter you use, then thin it down if necessary.  I then warm the peanut butter in the microwave for about 20 seconds so it is easier to stir in to your batter.

Go ahead and fix a bunch of little pancakes.  You can let them cool off and throw the extras in a freezer bag.  I like to warm 2 or 3 up in the microwave for Myles straight from the freezer for a quick breakfast with some fresh fruit.  Breakfast is just so difficult with an egg allergy, Myles is refusing anymore oatmeal for a while and I don't feel guilty letting him have these... like the sugary cereal bars he may have been known to break fast with.  They aren't messy at all since I don't give him syrup and he LOVES them.

They really are pretty tasty with syrup too :).  Not just for toddlers.

winter staycation 2015

Back in November when I went back to Kentucky for Thanksgiving, everyone kept asking me when we would be coming back.  I wasn't sure how to answer because I knew we weren't planning any big vacations this year but we hadn't really talked about when we would make the drive.  My mom recommended us staying down here for this vacation since we would need to drive through the mountains to get to Kentucky and its just too iffy this time of year due to the weather; April is much less likely to have a freak snowstorm keep us from getting back.  I was starting to second guess our staying down here since it was in the 60s for most of last month.

And then we had an ice storm last week here in the Upstate, and our families have had a non-melting foot of snow.  And then Kyle got a stomach virus.  Smart thinking mom.

My mentors down here have continuously encouraged me to make a list of what I want to accomplish during this week of bliss.  So far it has only been a mental list... and I can already see that I really do need to write it down. Marked out items have been completed!!!

paint the kitchen.  explore the area.  go to IKEA.  switch television providers.  organize/rearrange kitchen cabinets.  go to the zoo as a family.  get time alone.  bake some cookies.  eat Henry's BBQ.  eat somewhere new.  get Kyle's car serviced.  get my car serviced.  go to the dentist.  get haircuts.  hang the newly framed painting.  repaint the chalkboard coffee table.  soak up family time.  

foodie friday : chicken and rice

I used to try to make up my own recipe of chicken and rice.  It was a bit dangerous.  Once it was pretty great. Another time the rice was underdone.  Another time I had too much seasoning.  Kyle was never much of a fan but I kept trying...because I was.

So when BHG popped up another recipe on my Facebook feed a couple of weeks ago, I jumped.  It sounded good, and I've never cooked with wine before.  Scandalous I know.  You can see the recipe here.

I had some trouble, because it called for "long grain and wild rice blend", but I couldn't find that anywhere that didn't have seasoning already mixed in.  Until I remembered that Uncle Ben's has a seasoning packet separately.  And it was the same measurement as in the recipe, so I decided that was what they meant without naming names... minus the packet.  Save yourself some grief and just use whatever long grain rice you already have in hand.  I was worried I would be missing out on some texture if I didn't have the wild rice..but I never even noticed it, so... use whatever you have in your pantry...except maybe minute rice... I think that might be mushy.  

The verdict... I liked it, but would DEFINITELY use cream of mushroom soup instead of the chicken and rice soup.  It needed the extra creaminess.  Kyle had they typical shoulder shrug response to stuff he is eating because thats what I cooked.

And Myles, well Myles took about two bites and refused it every time I tried to give it to him after.  He loves chicken.  He loves rice.  I don't have a clue about this issue except that this week he also has decided he hates sandwiches.  Toddler life.

I will definitely try this again, because I really did like it and it was pretty easy.  I do recommend it, with the change I mentioned above.  I really think that would give it exactly what I was hoping for in the beginning.  Please let me know if you try any of the recipes I share!  I want to hear from you!