I can’t remember the last time I had a donut. It’s been a while but a week in the Outer Banks wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Duck Donuts . Create your own Donut with choice of icing, glaze, powdered sugar or bare topped with your favorite sprinkle or fruit. The Maple Bacon Donut and the “Beach” (vanilla icing with cinnamon) are a must when visiting!
Today is National Blueberry Pancake Day! Cooking activities are an excellent way to keep kids busy on cold, rainy or snowy days like today. Whip up some blueberry pancake (a few recipes below) with your child and eat them for lunch, snack, dinner, dessert or save them for breakfast tomorrow.
Blueberry Pancake Fun!
A few recipes:
1. Keep it Simple Blueberry Pancakes: Perfect for when you are in a rush or need a simple activity for young children. For 5 pancakes: Use 1 cup Aunt Jemima’s Original Complete Mix, 3/4 cup water, 1/4- 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix together in a bowl or we mixed in a measuring cup to make pouring the batter on the pan easier. While pancakes are cooking, place blueberries in batter. Use as many or as little as your child would like. My older daughter added chocolate chips for an extra sweet treat!
2. Driscoll’s Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes
Image from Driscoll’s
3. Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes: Add blueberries to this Whole Wheat Pancake recipe from Skinnytaste
Image from Skinnytaste
4. Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes by Your Cup of Cake
Image from Your Cup Of Cake
The mornings can be chaotic. My daughter has to be at school at 8:45 and most days the girls aren’t up until 8 which makes getting them dressed and fed rushed. I usually have to make something quick. My girls love pancakes but with the rushed mornings it’s impossible for me to get all the ingredients together for homemade ones. I always have a box of Aunt Jemima Original Complete on hand so all I have to add is water. It’s easy to whip together and my girls love getting creative with what they add to it. One day it’s all the fresh berries we have, the next day it’s chocolate chips, bananas and sprinkles. Sometimes I even blend up zucchini or spinach to add with a fruit. We have tried mixing in their favorite fruit/ veggie pouches too. The other day my daughter thought it would be fun to make “Naked Pancakes”. She got a kick out of the name and couldn’t stop laughing every time she said it. I didn’t know what she was talking about. I thought she wanted a plain pancake until she said “no mom, a smoothie pancake”. My girls LOVE the Naked Juice Smoothies. They tried a sample once and were hooked. Instead of adding water to the pancake mix, I added the Berry Naked juice. It was a little thick so I added a little water to make it the consistency I wanted. I served the pancakes with blueberries and a little side of strawberry fig syrup for dipping.
To Make Naked Pancakes you need:
1 cup Aunt Jemima Original Complete Mix
3/4 cup your favorite Naked Juice Smoothie
Mix and add a few sprinkles for fun while they are cooking.
Hope you enjoy them as much as my girls did!
Instead of signing the girls up for camp this summer, we packed up the car and headed to Virginia for a few weeks to visit family. The girls have spent almost every day at the pool and when they aren’t there, they have played with their cousins. They were having such a great time we decided to extend our stay through the Fourth of July.
We have attended so many family BBQ’s lately and we have one next weekend so decided on something different than burgers and dogs. Here are some simple, yet festive meals we will have to celebrate Independence Day:
Breakfast: See my post Memorial Day/ July 4th Sailboat breakfast.
Lunch: We plan on packing a lunch and heading to the pool for their Fourth of July celebration. Star Sandwiches: Make your favorite sandwich and use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut it out of the bread. On the side: Cherry tomatoes and Blueberries to keep with the Red, White and Blue theme. We will also be making a trip to the ice cream truck when he makes a visit. 🙂
Dinner: While my mom was at Costco she came across festive Four Cheese Ravioli by Nuovo. Add a little butter or olive oil and fresh garlic, then serve with your favorite veggies on the side. You can even use a small bowl or cup of tomato sauce on the side and the kids can dip their ravioli. The girls are SUPER excited to try them tomorrow.
Drinks: To get the girls to drink more water during this heat wave, I have frozen blackberries, raspberries and blueberries to put in their water. They love it and when they start thawing they add a slight hint of flavor to their water. They call it “special water”. The frozen fruit gives a festive look and Mommies can add it to a glass of wine or prosecco while watching fireworks!
Dessert: Flag Graham Crackers the kids can make. In a separate cup add cool whip. Cut strawberries into thin lines and place on plate with blueberries and raspberries for decorating. Give each child a graham cracker. Use a spoon to spread the cool whip and then decorate. We did a practice round today. I had to help my younger daughter, but my older daughter had a great time making it and eating it. My older daughter did her own interpretation of the flag.
Ready to decorate!
Ready to eat!
Happy Eating and Drinking This 4th of July!
{Warning: Spoiler for Daddy}
I keep skipping over the super bowl and keep thinking about cooking activities the girls and I can do for Valentine’s Day. In the past I have never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day but since having kids I find myself enjoying it more and more.
We were running late to take Maddie to school. I had to get Pela dressed quickly and didn’t have a chance to feed her breakfast. I bought Cherrybrook Kitchen Pancake mix a while ago and wanted to make them for the girls. Since Pela and I had some time while Maddie was at school, I thought it would be fun to cook breakfast together as a trial for our Valentine’s Day breakfast for Daddy. Although Pela is still a little young, she had a great time preparing. She needed a lot of assistance and direction, often sneaking bites of the ingredients. Regardless of the mess and some missing ingredients, which I easily replaced, she made a great pancake mix and will be a perfect activity for the girls to do together on Valentine’s Day morning for Daddy.
Cherrybrook Kitchen has a variety of allergy friendly mixes, cookies, and icing. Their products are peanut, egg, tree nut, and dairy* free. They also have wheat and gluten-free mixes. Maddie has a lot of friends with various allergies. I plan on using Cherrybrook Kitchen to make raspberry and chocolate chip cupcakes for her Valentine’s Day party. You can find their products in the baking section at Whole Foods or check their website for a store near you. Try Cherrybrook Kitchen, the pancakes were delicious. We can’t wait to try their other products.
Allergy-Friendly Raspberry Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe
What you need:
Made with Love
Directions:
If the heart in the center doesn't turn out as planned use a cookie cutter for a heart pancake.
Ready to eat! On pancake #2
Tastefully Childish 