Pancakes make Mondays better

Monday is always the longest day of the week and what better way to end Monday then with buttermilk pancakes for dinner (plus, I had 2/3 of a carton of buttermilk expiring in 3 days that I didn’t want to waste). I’ve said this a million times to y’all, but it’s true; breakfast is my favorite meal, especially breakfast for dinner. I can’t help it! Seriously, blame my parents. We had breakfast for dinner quite often growing up. We even went through a stage in our house where we had pancakes at least once a week for what seemed like an eternity as a kid. When I got into high school I actually went more than 5 years without eating a single pancake because I was so sick of them! haha

Besides a few all-you-can-eat pancake meals over the course of college at Ihop, I can’t remember the last time I made or ate homemade pancakes. Since I don’t have a ‘favorite’ recipe for pancakes, I found a recipe on Food Network’s website and tweaked it to my tastes and what I had in my pantry. The original recipe was for Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes, which sound delicious, but I wasn’t in the mood for blueberries, so I nixed those little blue babies from the recipe. Also, I did not have any baking powder, nor did the closest supermarket – how a supermarket does not have baking powder, I do not know. Seriously, it’s a baking essential. Anyway, I didn’t have any cream of tartar either to make up for it, so I added just a little more baking soda to the recipe and it actually turned out fine. I also added a little vanilla to give my pancakes a little extra flavor. Seeing as I completely changed the leavening components of these pancakes and I believe I made them infinitely better tasting, I have decided that they should be renamed after me! Just kidding, well not really…

Julie’s Buttermilk Pancakes – serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup melted butter, plus some for frying
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl sift together the four, sugar, baking soda and salt, see note at bottom*

Beat the eggs with buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients into a lumpy batter, being careful not to over mix.  Heat some butter in a skillet over medium heat. Spoon 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve with your favorite pancake toppings! I used fresh strawberries with a pinch of sugar 🙂

*Note: I did not have a sifter (actually my sifter is in Texas with a million other cooking tools I own) so, I did not sift my dry ingredients. My pancakes still turned out fluffy and light.

Three pancakes with strawberries

My pancakes turned out a perfect golden brown color. They were more oval-shaped than round, but that’s what I get for trying to squeeze three good-size pancakes into a 10 inch frying pan! I felt a little guilty about eating three of them, but considering I don’t like syrup on my pancakes (I know, I’m weird) I figured I could afford to eat an extra one!

After making these, I thought that they would taste really good with some coarsely chopped walnuts and sliced bananas mixed into the batter.  Or I could just add some cinnamon to them! All I know is that I’ve got some left over batter in the fridge, so I will be experimenting later this week with some specialty pancakes. Once you find a good pancake batter recipe there are endless possibilities as to what you can add into your pancakes.

Try these out and don’t be afraid to make them your own.

Day 5: Cherry Blossom Art using a bottle

Today I definitely had a case of the Monday’s. I don’t know why, but the weekend goes by so quickly and Monday just drags on. I’m all for a 4 day work week and 3 day weekend…who’s with me?? In lieu of it being Monday and me not wanting to cook an extravagant meal except breakfast food (which I made turkey bacon and cheese breakfast tacos, which were amazing), I have decided to paint for today’s Pinterest Project!

Cherry Blossom Art from a Recycled Soda Bottle – At the end of March it will be exactly 100 years since the Japanese gave Washington D.C. over 3,000 Cherry Blossoms. If you have ever seen them, they are gorgeous. I’ve seen them in bloom in D.C. and when they were just starting to bloom when I was in Japan on a family trip back in 1997. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to go to down to D.C. this year for the Cherry Blossom Festival because I think they are gorgeous.

It’s actually quite easy to make this artwork. You need the following supplies:

• Black Acrylic or Tempera Paint
• Pink Acrylic or Tempera Paint
• Canvas or Poster board
• Empty plastic soda bottle (1L or 2L bottle)
• paintbrush
• 2 paper plates

Before I began, I painted my canvas white so that I had a base, but you do not have to do this. If you do this, make sure the white paint dries before continuing.  Squeeze a small amount of black paint onto the paper plate. Using your paint brush, paint a branch onto the canvas and don’t worry if the branches are not straight. The more curved they are, the more natural they look. After you have painted the branch, let it dry for a few minutes. Pour pink paint onto the second paper plate. Did the bottom of the plastic bottle in the paint and begin stamping buds onto the branch by pressing the bottle onto the canvas. Re-dip the bottle each time you repeat the stamp. Add as may blossoms as you want until your Cherry Blossom is finished.

My Cherry Blossom picture turned out ok. I used acrylic paint, which was a bit too thick, so I would recommend using Tempera paint instead as it will make the buds look less clumpy. Overall though, I like my painting. Once it’s dry I’ll have to figure out a place to put it!