Pancake Sunday Hiatus

We decided to take a break from Pancake Sunday today, as we were all actually up and moving in time to make it to church (at the chapel on base), but only if we ate a quick breakfast.

So I think we will move pancakes to a little later this week, and maybe for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is the BEST (well, second only to pancakes for breakfast on Sunday morning).

We wound up having a very go-go-go kind of day. Church was a big success, with Island Boy rather enjoying his time in the nursery, playing with the other kids and watching Veggie Tales. And coloring (!!), which is one of his very favorite things to do anywhere, any time. Island Girl hung out with us, as she is still a month too young for the nursery.

After church, we stopped by the base dive shop to get a complete set of snorkeling gear for me. I did manage to put an "Island Mom" touch to it and get a light pink snorkel mask. We also got a new mask and snorkel for Island Dad, as his went missing somewhere between our time in DC and our move here. In the very near future, I will be getting SCUBA certified, so definitely look for a post on that when it happens. Adventures and (I hope) great stories are sure to follow! Island Dad is already certified, he's just waiting on me.

We then drove on down to the beach at the Naval Base where there is some pretty decent snorkeling. Island Dad and I took turns watching the kids while the other one went out. It's so great to just be in the quiet water with no sounds other than your own breathing and the clicking of the fish cleaning off/eating from the reef.

The Island Kids had a fantastic time at the beach, as well. We managed a few pictures at the beginning of the trip (before snorkeling, hence the Island Parents are dry in the pictures).

5 Months

Island Girl is 5 months old as of yesterday!

According to our scale, she is up to 15 lbs. 12 oz. She is about 16.25 inches long by my measurement, and her head is about 17 in. in circumference.

The biggest difference I can see in this month's picture is how much hair she has now! It's gotten long enough on top that I can kind of get a clip into it.

She's learning so many new things now, too. She of course can roll over both directions. She really is trying so hard to crawl. And she's a gigantic fan of her jumperoo! She goes nuts in it :-D

Pancake Sunday

Today, we tried the long-awaited cinnamon bun pancakes!

I have to say, having perused the site a bit, I think that I will be going back to The Tasty Kitchen for more recipes in the future. Go ahead and do a search for pancakes. Look at all the results. Yum!!!!

This morning, I had a bit of help from Island Girl. She was the first one up (then me), so she sat in her bouncy seat for most of the time I was cooking. Towards the end of pancake prep, I hollered for Island Dad to get Island Boy, who was stirring. The sudden yell scared Island Girl, and she spent the remaining cooking time on my hip (safely away from the griddle, no worries). She even helped me pour the very last of the batter, grabbing the handle to the bowl when I tipped it. My little chef in training!

So, here's the recipe!

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes


Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 Tbsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 whole eggs, beaten
1 c. milk
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. vanilla

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Whisk until very well-blended. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, syrup, butter, and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, and whisk until well-blended.

Pour by the 1/4-cupful onto a preheated griddle, and cook on first side until edges appear dry. Flip, and cook for another minute or two.

First, my own substitutions:
I used whole wheat flour, as that is simply what I keep on hand. While most of the time, it doesn't make a huge flavor difference, I definitely think these would have been better with the bleached, all-purpose flour. I promise this is one of the only times you'll hear me advocating using the refined stuff over the whole-wheat stuff!
I used maple syrup instead of corn syrup. If anything, it added to the flavor, but to my taste, there was no real difference.
I also used the seeds from one vanilla bean in place of the vanilla. Here, you could taste a BIG (positive) difference! Vanilla bean just adds a much fresher, more natural flavor than does vanilla extract.

When you're pouring the pancakes onto the griddle, be warned that this is an airier, fluffier batter than I've worked with in previous posts. The batter, for me, didn't "pour" so much as have to be kind of dropped onto the skillet. This can somewhat affect the circular shape, but I guarantee that will be more than made up for in flavor.

We did not find a need to add further maple syrup to these, thanks to the sugar and syrup already in the pancakes. According to The Pioneer Woman, this is heavenly, and she even takes it a step further, making a basic icing to go over top!

These pancakes may be my favorites so far. The light, airy texture was a great complement to the intense and sweet flavor.

Bon Apetit!

Shaken

I will preface this post by saying that we still are very excited to be living on the Island, and are excited to see what adventures we will continue to have here.

That said...

Our house was broken into on Monday. Whoever it was came in through the kitchen window, which we're assuming we left unlocked, took my laptop and our portable DVD player, and left, presumably out the front door. In broad daylight. While Island Dad was at work and while the Island Kids and I were at the gym and meeting Island Dad for lunch.

We arrived back at the house, and I immediately noticed that the laptop was not where I was pretty sure I'd left it that morning. I searched the other places I usually keep it, and then called Island Dad. I searched some more obscure places (even the outside trash can, just in case) while on the phone with him, before finally giving in and calling the police. The officer they sent over was as helpful as possible, but basically said what I assumed he would: He filed a report, but it was unlikely that we'd see the laptop again (I didn't even notice the missing DVD player until the next morning).

Island Dad's boss let him come home early on Monday, which was good. Not so much in that I needed help dealing with the police, etc., but more in that as soon as the police officer left, I kind of went into "shut down" mode, and I'm not sure that I could have handled the Island Kids by myself that day.

There are several things we are thankful for throughout this: First and foremost, we are all safe and unharmed. Second, they didn't take the TV (amazingly), which was in the same room, or the regular DVD player, or the Wii. It was just those two things. Third, there was no forced entry, and the house wasn't ransacked, so that Island Boy (especially him) is fairly unaware of what happened, and he still feels secure in our house.

I wish I could say the same for Island Dad and myself. We are having a security system installed tomorrow. For the time being, we have wood blocks blocking all the windows (which isn't totally fool proof, but it's something), a wood block stopping the door whenever we are home, and will be installing a dead bolt on the door. We even considered a dog, although ultimately decided against it.

Even with all of this, I jump at any noise that is even slightly weird right now. Island Dad called me this morning to have me move my van out to the driveway (signifying that someone was home), as when he was leaving for work, he spotted someone walking near the house, probably on the way to a nearby work site, but he wanted to be safe. That phone call left me feeling very unsettled. Not that I particularly enjoyed getting up in the middle of the night, or walking through the dark house to start with, but I hate it even more now (I do it because it's still preferable to, say, not feeding the screaming baby).

The thought of someone being in the house without our permission and when we weren't here creeps me out to no end. Now, after we've been out and are heading back home, it's always running through my head "Oh, no....what am I going to find this time? Will there be more things missing? The house ransacked? Someone IN the house?"

None of this feels pleasant. I hope that the security system helps Island Dad and I both to feel normal again. Soon.

Pancake Sunday

As of today, I am starting a four-and-a-half-month attempt to knock off some remaining baby weight from both Island Girl and also Island Boy (I was still 5 lbs. above my goal from him when I got pregnant again). In honor of this, I opted to go with a slightly healthier pancake this week!

The base recipe came from the kitchen classic, The Joy of Cooking - 75th Anniversary Edition (Rombauer, Becker, & Becker, 2006). I made some modifications based on what was available in my pantry.

Four Grain Flapjacks

Whisk together in a large bowl:

1 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/3 c. cornmeal

1/4 c. old-fashioned or quick-cooking rolled oats

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1/8 tsp. ground or grated nutmeg (optional)

In another bowl, combine:

1 3/4 c. milk

1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1/4 cup honey

3 eggs

Quickly mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Cook as normal. Again, I like to do my pancakes on my electric griddle. To cook, I pour the batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the skillet, and cook until the edges begin to look dry. Flip, and cook for another minute or two.

My modifications to this recipe: I skipped the all-purpose flour and used 1 3/4 cup of the whole-wheat flour.

Instead of melted butter, I substituted 1/4 c. applesauce (though you can substitute an equal amount of any pureed fruit). Instead of honey, I substituted 1/4 c. maple syrup.

I also added blueberries during the cooking stage, dropping them onto the uncooked side before flipping. You could also mix them straight into the batter.

Island Boy again quickly devoured two of these. Island Dad was happy that they tasted good, but was even happier that they were relatively healthy!

For my own part, I generally like multi-grain breads and foods. I especially like them when cornmeal is involved. The texture and hint of flavor that it adds is perfect - grainy, hearty and slightly sweet. These did not disappoint! The maple syrup in the batter, combined with the blueberries, made the pancakes just sweet enough that there was no need to add further maple (or any kind of) syrup on top of the pancakes. Meaning that I was able to reduce Island Boy's pancake-related sugar-intake drastically!