Happy Valentine’s Day!
For lunch today, Cam has a few chocolate pancakes cut with heart-shaped cookie cutters, organic fruit leather (also cut into heart shapes), fruit snacks, cheddar cheese hearts, red pepper slices, a tomato heart, and a few grapes on heart picks.
I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day!
♥
It’s technically a new school year for us.
Just before the kids went on their two-week break for the holidays, Camryn was promoted to second grade.
Yesterday was the first day of school for her all over again.
New grade, new classroom, new teacher, new kids, new schedule, new everything.
That can be tough for a little one and this is the third time this year she’s had to do it!
She was supposed to be in her gifted class all day yesterday so I really hadn’t planned anything special for lunch.
After school I found out that gifted was cancelled so she actually ate lunch with her new class.
Whoopsie.
So today I tried to make lunch just a little more special that I usually do.
With pancakes.
Cam isn’t a fan of sandwiches anyway so I’m always trying to think of alternatives for her lunchbox.
I had a ton of teeny pancakes in my freezer so I defrosted them and then just used a small flower-shaped cutter to cut them down a bit so that she could dip them into her maple syrup, which is in her small star container.
Along with her pancakes, she also has a Babybel, strawberries, carrot coins, and sweet peppers.
I am happy to report that she had a great first day.
We had pancakes and sausage for dinner last night and I was sure to make a few teeny tiny pancakes for Cam to have for lunch today.
Why is breakfast so much better at lunch or dinner time?
I mean I never want a bowl of cereal for breakfast but I can always eat it for dinner or an afternoon snack.
What’s that about?
My kids go nuts when I tell them we’re having breakfast for dinner.
It’s like we’re breaking a rule but it’s o.k. because I’m the mom so I can totally do that.
In her ELB are those four left-over pancakes from dinner last night. I flavored them with cinnamon and a little vanilla. She also has some all natural breakfast sausage in her silicone pig (I couldn’t resist), a few slices of an organic apple, some maple syrup for dipping, and some organic raisins.
I always make pancakes from scratch because it’s so easy there’s really no reason not to. Here’s the recipe I always use. It’s never failed me.
Ingredients:
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk (I use almond)
1 beaten egg
1/2 Tbsp sugar (optional)
tiny pinch of salt (optional)
Directions:
Whisk dry ingredients together until combined. Add wet ingredients and whisk just until combined. A few lumps are o.k.
Heat griddle or pan to medium.
I like to keep a little bowl of melted butter next to my stove to brush the pan with between pancakes but you can also use non-stick spray if you need it.
Drop desired amount of batter onto your pan. I use an ice cream scoop but you can also use a squeeze bottle which makes it really easy. Don’t have a squeeze bottle? Wash out an empty ketchup bottle.
Cook on first side until bubbles appear on top. I usually take a little peek underneath before I flip to make sure things are nice and brown. Cook about 30 seconds to a minute more on the second side and then plate it up!
I usually get 6-8 regular sized pancakes out of this batter but you can easily double or triple it if you need more. As long as you have equal parts self-rising flour and milk, and an egg, you have pancakes.
You could also add to the batter:
2 Tbsp melted butter
nuts
chopped fruit
sprinkles
chocolate chips (or any other kind of chips really)
vanilla
pumpkin puree
nutmeg
cinnamon
preserves
melted chocolate
greens or protein powder
Today’s bento has teeny seedless cucumbers, grape tomatoes, cheese cubes & salami rolls in the bottom tier. I found the cucumbers yesterday at the produce market near my house. At 3 for $1 I couldn’t pass them up.
The top tier has pancake sandwiches filled with nutella & sliced bananas. My pancake recipe is below.
Cam’s Favorite P’cakes
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup Silk Fruit & Protein (we like peach/mango)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
Whisk everything together in a bowl until just combined. Batter should be slightly lumpy. Heat a pan or griddle to medium. Add desired amount of batter and cook until bubbles form on top & edges are dry. Flip & cook until golden brown.
I used half a tablespoon of batter to make these tiny pancakes. For regular sized pancakes, use about 1/4 cup of batter.
* You can also use the same amount of regular milk, unflavored soy milk, almond milk, whatever floats your boat will work.
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We Should Be Folding Laundry 