Allison: Pancakes and Batter

Hello again!  How was everyone's holiday?  We spent ours in Utah at my husband's extended family reunion.  It was fun to see everyone and have some time away in a cooler climate (100 degrees in Utah was still cooler than AZ).  The 12 hour car ride with an active ten-month-old, and impatient two-year-old was interesting, but we survived!  At least we know what to expect when we do it all again next month for MY family reunion... in Utah.  :)

Here's the dilemma I face at least 3 mornings a week.  I go to make breakfast for my picky two-year-old, and she requests pancakes.  Hmm... most people have Bisquick in the pantry.  For some reason, I never do.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I can never find it at the store.  Lazy... do we need to discuss this personality trait of mine again??  Back to the story.  I never have it, and my daughter LOVES pancakes.  She likes about 3 breakfast foods, and 2 of them involve a sugary liquid topping.  I've made pancake mix from scratch, but it always takes longer then I'd like to spend mixing/concocting, while my brain is still waking up.

So the other morning, I decided to make pancakes.  I used the recipe that Shauna had posted here.  These pancakes are so good!  Perfectly fluffy and moist.  After making about 6 pancakes, I realized I had a ton of batter left, a two-year-old that had lost interest in her breakfast, and no desire to make any more.  At about this point, I remembered a pin on Pinterest.  So I grabbed a Winton frosting bag (found at any store with a cake/cookie decorating section.  I've also bought them at Wal Mart), and these handy-dandy bag clips (Ikea- love them!), filled it up, and stuck it in the freezer.  That was about a week ago.

Horrible picture, but a GREAT idea!

So last night, I thought that maybe I'd try making pancakes the next morning.  So I took the bag out, placed it in the fridge, and asked my good husband if he'd take it out when he got up with the kids.  To make a short story unnecessarily longer; it worked!  That one frosting bag made about 5 medium pancakes and one happy little girl.  And the best part: throwing away the bag after it was empty, with way less dishes to wash.  I plan to always have some batter in the freezer from now on.

Back to how amazing these pancakes are... They're so good!  My only irritation with the recipe, is that it calls for buttermilk, which I never have in my fridge.  But after I found this recipe for buttermilk substitute, I may never buy it again.  Here it is:

Add 1 T. lemon juice or vinegar to a 1 cup measuring cup.  Fill to cup line with milk.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Done.

This recipe calls for two cups of buttermilk, so I just added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (out of vinegar) to a 2 cup measuring cup, and filled the rest with milk.  I'm sure buttermilk tastes better, but this worked great for me.

My patriotic cuties.

I have lots of projects to share, so I'll be back again soon.  Hope everyone has a great week!


Allison