Apple Cider Pancakes/ Waffles

Oh man, you're gonna love these! You can do them as pancakes or you can pour the batter onto a waffle iron and make them waffles! It works, I tried it :)

They smell so good when they are cooking.

Apple Cider Pancakes

1cp flour
1/2cp old fashioned oats
2tsp baking powder
3TBS brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1cp apple cider
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg).
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until just combined.
Heat frying pan or griddle and melt some butter or no stick spray.
Pour 1/4cp (more or less) of batter on pan and fry until bubbles appear.
Flip and cook a minute more.

I had some left over cider frosting from a cake I made last week so I put a slab of that on top when serving- good stuff!

For the frosting, I followed the recipe here: http://www.ahintofhoney.com/2009/10/caramel-apple-layer-cake-with-apple.html
Of course, if you're just wanting some for the pancakes, reduce the recipe by A LOT!

The Pancake Experiment: Strawberry Shortcake Pancakes

Here's one you are sure to love!
I whipped these up over the weekend when I was going to make my famous blueberry pie pancakes but the boyfriend forgot to get blueberries!
 We had strawberries, though, so these strawberry shortcake pancakes were born :)

 First, gather all these ingredients and combine them in a large bowl :
1cp strawberries, cut up
1cp flour
4TBS rolled oats(the old fashioned kind)
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp baking powder
1Tbs sugar
2/3cp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1Tbs oil
Spray pan with no stick spray and allow pan to heat up before pouring batter onto it.

When you see bubbles form in the batter, it's time to flip them over. Cook a minute on this side then they are ready!

I like mine with whipped cream on top.

It's a perfect Mother's Day brunch recipe. I usually get dolled up for brunch. These beautiful vintage gloves would be perfect for such an occasion! They are for sale on my copious page and you can get free credits to spend through my link!! Check it out.

I will be in Providence this weekend {squeals} so there might be some pictures next week!

The Pancake Experiment: Blueberry Pie Pancakes!!

The Pancake Experiment continues with blueberry pie pancakes!
(This post could also be called "Ice cream for Breakfast")

Step 1: Wash off them berries!!
I don't want you getting sick from making something I posted- that would make me feel really bad..

Step 2: gather all these ingredients and combine them in a large bowl :
1cp blueberries
1cp flour
4TBS rolled oats(the old fashioned kind)
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp baking powder
1Tbs sugar
2/3cp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1Tbs oil

Step3: Spray pan with no stick spray and allow pan to heat up before pouring batter onto it.

When you see bubbles form in the batter, it's time to flip them over.

oh MY god, they look so good!

They actually exploded in blueberry-ness when I cut into them with my fork!

Ice Cream goes best with blueberry pie so..

Mike said these just might be his favorite of all the pancakes I've made him so far!



Here he is helping me with dinner.
So sweet. While I was making breakfast, he quietly got out the veggies we needed chopped up for dinner and cut them all up. I hardly had anything left to do when he got done!



I later successfully made biscuits, which is exciting because I (used to rolling out cookies and pie crusts) always roll them out too thin ...and then they don't rise and get poofy ...and we end up with cracker-like biscuits.

But this time I restrained myself AND LOOK!!

Beautiful, poofy biscuits!

The biscuits were so good & we were on a blueberry and ice cream kick so we made blueberry cobbler sundaes complete with cinnamon on top.

The Pancake experiment: orange chocolate chip pancakes

I used plain pancake mix and threw in some orange extract and chocolate chips to make these tasty pancakes.

Add the chocolate chips after you pour the batter onto the pan, wait for the bubbles, then flip...

Lovin' how golden brown this one came out!



Little Gaston is getting bigger. We think he is having a growth spurt- he's hungry all the time lately! He's still so cute and cuddly, though.

The Pancake Experiment: Chocolate Waffles

OHHHH These were so good! Almost like brownies for breakfast..

It's too bad I didn't have any cherries for the top. You could put all your favorite sundae toppings on it- chocolate sauce, nuts, etc!

They are so easy to make:
Ingredients:
1& 1/2 cp Bisquick
1/2 cp sugar
1/3 cp cocoa (sweet or unsweet depending on how sweet you want them)
3/4 cp water
2Tbs oil
2 eggs

Heat waffle iron. You may need to coat it with non stick spray.
Stir all ingredients together.
Pour about 1/3 cp onto center of waffle iron and close top- or follow instructions for your machine.
When they are done cooking, it's time to add all your favorite toppings and dig in!

I love the heart shaped waffle iron! hmm..Valentine's Day is coming...

The Pancake experiment: Chocolate Milk Pancakes

After the last batch of pancakes, Mike said suggestively,' I wonder...what about chocolate milk pancakes? hmmmm...?' HAHAHA, says I, then I started wondering myself..

He happened to have some pancake mix in the cupboard  and he ALWAYS has chocolate milk ingredients (it's his favorite).

So I just used chocolate milk where the box called for water.
The batter kind of tasted like cocoa krispies!

Who says you can't play with your food?
Raspberry buttons and eyes and chocolate syrup scarf.
There's nothing frosty about this snowman!

Happy fella!

So funny to see a grown man in a tie eating a snowman pancake!! Love it!

The Pancake experiment: Beer Pancakes

I've noticed that I seem to be on a pancake streak lately and so I will be posting my latest creations for you to replicate- if you are feeling so inclined..

Okay folks, here's a neat breakfast idea for those of us who are 21 and over...Beer pancakes!!

and One more little thing : RASPBERRIES!!!

Mike just happened to have some of these delicious reminders of summertime in the fridge.

So I thought to myself, ' hmm, beer+ raspberries= delicious combination so why not toss 'em in?'

I just pushed them into the batter after I poured into the pan.

What's that you say?
You want to know how to make this happen on your stove?
Okay!

First, round up these items:
1cp. flour
1/4cp sugar (or sugar substitute)
3/4tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1cp beer of your choice (he picked out Sam Adams)
1 TBS melted butter

Whisk the flour, sugar, and baking powder together then whisk in everything else!
Heat up your pancake pan/griddle. Spray with no-stick spray and pour out about 1/4cp of batter per pancake.

Now for the raspberries <squeal!> After you pour the batter onto the pan, stick the berries in the tops.

Wait until lots of bubbles appear before flipping the pancakes. This is very important for fluffy-ness. Don't worry, though, the 2nd side cooks way faster.

Beautiful, golden, fluffy pancakes..ahhh..

Dig in!

Banana Bread Pancakes?!?!

Yes, you heard me right BANANA BREAD Pancakes!! They are so good. I made them for my boyfriend this weekend and he loved them.

Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/06/whole-wheat-brown-sugar-banana-bread-pancakes/

We didn't bother with making the glaze, though. Butter melted over the top and homemade whipped cream did the trick for us. MmmmMMmmmm. Even just with the melted butter on top, they were amazing.

Super Easy No Bake Cake

I made the most amazing cake and I didn't even have to light the oven. You're gonna love this in the summer heat. All you need is a box of instant chocolate pudding (the bigger size box or two small sized boxes), milk, and graham crackers!

First, make the pudding according to the directions on the box and let it set in the fridge.
Meanwhile, lay out a single layer of graham crackers in a baking pan (I used 9x13 pan). When the pudding is ready, spread a layer of it on top of the crackers (approx. 1/8" thick). Put another layer of crackers and pudding. Keep layering until you run out of crackers and put the remaining pudding on top.

Stick the pan in the fridge for the night and tomorrow you'll have a moist, delicious treat! The pudding soaks into the crackers and makes them soft! It's really cool, try it!

As for movies, this week I saw Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser.  It was about a man trying to find a cure for his children's disorders before their time is up. This movie bored the pants off me. There is nothing more to say but: Thumbs down.

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes for Father's Day

What to do for the father who has it all and nowhere to put anything else? Make him the best  breakfast ever! I saw a recipe for something like this online and thought : I could do that! Ever distrustful of other people's pancake recipes, I had to make it my own, of course.  So I pulled out my trusty pancake recipe and experimented with making the filling and icing just right. And for once, I didn't burn the bacon!! YESSSSS!

So, here's how I did it:
First, I mixed up the pancake batter. If you have a tried and true pancake recipe, you can use that instead and just add the filling and icing!
Pancake Batter Ingredients:
1& 1/4 cp all purpose flour
2tsp Baking powder
1 egg
1&1/3cp milk
1tsp vanilla extract
Beat the egg well until bubbly. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and whisk until just mixed. Be careful not to overstir. As soon as everything is wet, stop.
Set bowl aside and prepare the filling:
1/4cp butter
3/4cp brown sugar
1TBS cinnamon
In a microwave safe bowl, microwave these ingredients until butter is melted. Stir everything together. Scoop filling into ziplock bag.
Set bag aside and prepare the icing:
2TBS butter
2oz.cream cheese
3/4cp powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
Melt butter and cream cheese in microwave then stir until well mixed. Add sugar and vanilla and stir until creamy.
Now it's time to get cookin'
Melt some butter on the pan/griddle you will be making pancakes on. Let the pan heat up a little before you pour the batter on. I used about a quarter of a cup of batter per pancake. Snip the corner of the ziplock bag and squeeze the filling mixture onto the pancake in a swirl pattern. Flip the pancake when the bubbles in the pancake batter start to pop. Cook a minute more on this side then transfer to an oven safe dish so you can keep it warm in the oven while you make the rest of them! I got 6 good sized pancakes out this. Here's what they should look like at this point:

mmmmm, oh! okay back to the instructions (ahem, where was I ?):
When all the pancakes are cooked (p.s. I suggest scraping off the pan before pouring on another batch. ), Put them on plates and scoop icing over them. The last step is to eat them, of course!

And a sweet little strawberry from the garden. So Cute :)

Here is the bacon that I did NOT burn. LOL. Just in case any of my friends/ family don't believe me...

What did you do or make for Father's Day this year?