Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Hope you have a great day and have fun doing something a little extra special to show love to others!

  To celebrate the day so far, we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast:

I used the recipe for Perfect Pancakes but to make them more "heart healthy," I stirred a handful of Quick oats into the batter! The heart shape was just trial and error (there were quite a few free-form blobs that didn't make the cut for the picture...)

Also, we had some raspberry hot chocolate:

Just mix together warm milk and Hershey's syrup (for the raspberry, I added some raspberry flavoring I had on hand but you could also swirl in some seedless raspberry jam instead) and top with whipped cream and some festive red and pink sprinkles.

Maybe I'll also cut sandwiches with a heart shaped cookie cutter for lunch for my little Valentines and I think making some heart shaped sugar cookies are in the future for today too (for people like me who are behind the eight ball, freeze half of your sugar cookie dough and break it out in a few weeks for some St. Patrick's Day clovers or some sweet spring themed cookies)!  

How are you planning on observing the day? 

Also, a very Happy Birthday to my little sister, Joan!  What a fun day to have a birthday!  Hope your day is great!

Love,
Lauren

Perfect Pancakes

Growing up, I never cared much for pancakes.  I think that might have had something to do with the fact that the only kind of pancakes I ever had came from a box of Bisquick.  No offense to my mom (or anyone else who prefers boxed pancake mixes), but I think these homemade pancakes taste way better than ones from a box (and are nearly just as easy to throw together as any coming from a "Mr. Hungry Jack" or "Aunt Jemima").  They're light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness from the vanilla.  And should I mention again how easy they are (I bet you have all the ingredients just sitting in your pantry right now!)???  In fact, this recipe is even simple enough for a weekday.  Or, you can do like we do (because we rarely have our act together on days we need to be out of the house early) and make a double batch on the weekend and then microwave the leftovers right out of the fridge (or freezer). You will rarely see a four year old as happy as when he can have pancakes just about any morning he wants!).  

Perfect Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

butter for greasing the griddle

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl (or on a piece of waxed paper--it saves dishes and you can pull up the sides to "funnel" into the wet ingredients later).  In another bowl, combine milk, eggs, oil and vanilla.  Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir with a wire whisk just enough to combine thoroughly.  Heat a griddle over medium high heat.  When hot, quickly run a stick of butter over the surface to grease the griddle (just enough butter to coat the surface). Pour approximately 1/4 cup-fulls of batter onto griddle.  Allow to cook for about 2 minutes or until edges become dry and bubbles are formed on top of pancake.  Flip and allow to brown on the other side.  Serve hot with warm maple syrup.