Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

We really like cinnamon rolls and often enjoy pancakes too so when I heard of cinnamon roll pancakes I knew it was something I had to try.

They turned out to be absolutely delicious!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

1-1/3 cup flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp melted butter

1 egg

¾ tsp. salt

1¼ cup milk

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Melt a little bit of butter or lightly coat a skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet until it's just hot enough to make a droplet of water hiss and sputter when you drop it in the skillet. I use a ¼ cup measure to pour the batter into the pan and then add the cinnamon swirl.

Cinnamon Swirl

½ cup melted butter

¾ cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix well. It works best if you make this before you make the pancake batter so that it has time to thicken. You will need to stir it every minute or so to make that the butter doesn't separate. Once you are ready to start frying the pancakes spoon this mixture into a Ziploc bag and then cut off a wee little corner. Right after you put your pancake batter into the skillet squeeze some of the cinnamon mixture on top in a swirling motion.

Proceed with the usual method of making pancakes. You will want to wipe the skillet between each batch since it gets syrupy and you don't want your pancakes to taste like burnt sugar.

Once you have fried your pancakes make a glaze to use on top instead of maple or pancake syrup.

Glaze

4 Tbsp softened butter

2 oz cream cheese

¾ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla

milk

Mix the first four ingredients well and then add a tsp of milk at a time until it reaches your desired consistency. Drizzle over your pancake and enjoy!

Finally Snow, Yay!

I'm not someone who can spend hours talking about the weather and spending time reading all the latest weather blogs but I could sympathize with this meteorologist and actually enjoyed listening to his predictions and I'm actually hoping he got to enjoy snow this weekend too.

The scenery on our drive to church was lovely. The roads in our area are narrow and very winding. We met several vehicles that were the unfortunate victim of hungry ditches which made us very thankful for our good 4-wheel drive vehicle.

This morning it's unseasonably warm again and the snow is melting fast but at least we got to enjoy a taste of winter over the weekend.

Cooking Adventures

Our children love working in the kitchen. Sailor has a few things he enjoys making and Rosebud enjoys finding recipes and making them while Sunbeam helps along. Most of the time everything turns out great but the adventures of having young cooks in the kitchen wouldn't be complete without the occasional funny bloopers.

After a recent cooking disaster where they opted to not use a recipe and instead invent a new dish I had to think of some of the times when things I was making didn't turn out the way I wanted them to.

One of the first was a birthday cake I had made for Mom that turned out to be a disaster. There were many more instances of cooking failures. Like the time the flour paste was added to cold chicken broth to make gravy and when it didn't thicken more paste was made and added again and again. By the time the broth became hot enough to boil the paste suddenly decided to do it's job and there was nothing left except a big glob of disgusting dough instead of a nice gravy.

There was the awful Thanksgiving dinner I prepared for LV before we were married and then later I wanted to try out a new lemon pie recipe to serve on our date. It had a special meringue crust and the filling was looking delightfully silky. I was feeling pleased as I tasted the filling and it was delicious.

On Sunday evening when the usual time rolled around that we had a snack I went to the pantry and got the pie. I set it on the table and handed a knife to LV. When he cut it I was dismayed to find that it hadn't set at all. As a matter of fact it had become a lot thinner and now resembled a disgusting watery pudding. LV asked for a spoon and bravely helped himself to a bowl full and calmly ate it as if it was exactly the way it should have been.

Thankfully I have learned from my mistakes and cooking disasters hardly ever happen. And when ever the children serve something that didn't turn out right I have to smile as I eat it knowing that this is a part of the adventures of having young eager cooks in the kitchen. And I want to savor every moment of it!

Post-it Thoughts

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. It's that most wonderful time of the year...tax season! Do you complete your own returns or farm that job out to the professionals?

We get a CPA to take care of getting everything done properly. It's hard enough for me to simply have to sign my name on the completed forms.

2. Which do you think has changed you more-love or pain?

I will have to go with love on this one. There has been pain in our life but love got us through those times.

3. Tangerine Tango has been named color of the year for 2012. Your thoughts? Would I find this color anywhere in your house? How about in your closet? If not, will you be adding this color to your life in some way in 2012? If you're not sure what tangerine tango looks like click here.

I don't think the color could be found anywhere in my house and I am not planning to add it this year. Shades of orange are my least favorite color and thankfully I'm quite comfortable not following trends and fashions so I don't feel obligated to learn to like it.

4. Are you a collector? What do you collect and does it get admired, used, and/or dusted regularly?

I collect cookbooks and yes, I use them regularly. I really enjoy trying out new recipes and so far the rest of the family have been eager taste testers.

5. February is National Heart Month...besides a green salad what is one tasty heart healthy dish you like to prepare?

Most recently we have been enjoying fish baked to perfection and then drizzled with a lemon juice and olive oil mixture and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

6. When was the last time you had car trouble?

I think it was back in October. And I have no idea what the problem was. Mechanic vocabulary has a way of going right over my head while I stand there with a glazed helpless expression in my eyes something very similar I'm sure to what LV feels when I browse the fabric section in Wal-Mart.

7. Have you been more demanding on yourself lately or less? Is that a good trend?
Starting today I'm planning to be less demanding on myself.  The past few weeks I was trying to get too much done and not being very successful at it which left me feeling frustrated and a little discouraged.  I was trying to write for book three and little Buddy kept interrupting me every 250 words or so.

After talking to LV about everything last night he helped me put things into perspective a little better and I'm feeling renewed again. I have no doubts that I'll make my deadline but for the next few weeks I won't be dangling a daily word goal over my head that I wasn't able to reach any way.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Rosebud and I finally made the first batch of Christmas candy yesterday. Since I wasn't able to make it for Christmas we are getting to enjoy it five weeks late. As a matter of fact I think we enjoy it more than we would have on Christmas.