Birthday, pancakes, sprinkles... oh my

Cake Batter Pancakes

from howsweeteats.com

makes about 12 pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups milk

assorted sprinkles

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed. I suggest a small taste test as well to see if the pancakes are flavored enough.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat (I use an electric grilled and turn it to 250 degrees). Fold desired amount of sprinkles into batter. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with vanilla glaze.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

assorted sprinkles

Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms. You may need to add a little more sugar or water/milk to reach desired consistency. Mix into glaze and drizzle on pancakes.

*Just a side note, after trying these I prefer them without the glaze. The glaze was just too sugary for a breakfast item, in my opinion! But all in all this will be a staple for birthday breakfast!

Happy Birthday!

It was a crazy busy weekend, so I unfortunately forgot to post this on Saturday.

Happy 8th Birthday to my baby girl!!!

It feels like this picture was just yesterday, yet it has been 8 years. Where has the time gone. It has been fun to watch you grow into a wonderful gal who enjoys art, music, and occasionally annoying your brothers.

I'm not as good as my mom at decorating a cake, but I think the oreo middle made up for it!

If you couldn't tell, we had to have a Justin Bieber party... she was very happy to get the movie in blu-ray! Bieber in high def... go ahead be jealous!!

In the morning I made the b-day girl a special breakfast of cake batter pancakes (recipe to come later!)

Furniture Re-Birth

I have been thinking about adding a desk to Gabrielle's room for awhile. I just never really looked for one. Now that she is going to start taking piano lessons in the Fall, she needed a place to set her keyboard and practice. I was out garage sale-ing one morning and saw this desk for $5. I loved all the detail on the top drawers and the spindle legs. Right after buying it I knew I wanted to paint it black. 

The only issue I had about taking on this project was I didn't want to have to strip and sand all the parts. So I did some research on the internet and found that there was a primer that I could use that would adhere to anything pretty much. So I headed to Menards and bought the primer and got to work making sure to carefully follow all instructions on the can including drying time between coats. That is Key!

I didn't really want to spend any more money or time on new hardware, so I bought nickel spray paint and painted the metal parts and painted the wood white. I also added black details... peace signs and zebra stripes.

Here is the finished product (minus one pull, I need to find the last screw) I am extremely happy with the results, and Gabrielle likes it too!

Cowboy Pork Chops

 Sorry I am a few days late with this one...but trust me it is worth the wait! I found this recipe on the back of the package.

Ingredients: 
1 pkg Rice Sides Baby Back BBQ rice
4 pork chops
1 pkg sliced mushrooms
French Fried Onions
Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
Garlic
Salt & Pepper

• Cook Rice according to package. 
• Meanwhile in a skillet cook pork chops seasoned with salt and pepper for about 6 minutes, until they are 145 degrees. 
• Remove and cook the mushrooms in the same pan. Add in a little garlic towards the end of cooking.

To serve: Layer rice, pork chop, mushrooms, cheese, then top with fried onions.

Wordless Wednesday

Cowboy Pork chops and Rice.... Recipe to come tomorrow

Individual Fruit Pizzas

I LOVE Pizza, any kind of pizza... as with any kind people have differing opinions on toppings. So, I happened upon Individual fruit pizzas at The Crunchy Mamacita. It was a match made in heaven! We could have pizza, but choose our own toppings.

Here's the recipe.....
Crust
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold butter

Mix flour and sugar together. Cut in cold butter. A food processor make quick work of this. Press into 10 inch pizza pan or equivalent sized rectangle cookie sheet (I used the smallest of my Wilton set of 3 and lined it with parchment paper) Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes. If you're making individual pizzas use a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes while the crust is still warm. Or, just cut it into rectangles...which is what I did.

Frosting
8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1tsp. vanilla extract

Mix well with a mixer. Spread on cooled cookie crust.

Toppings
Anything you want! Strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, rasberries, peaches, bananas, mandarin oranges, etc.

Weather

It has been a rollercoaster for weather lately. From 90 degrees to 70, from sunny to rainy. I must say the 70 and rainy is my favorite and I think deep down it is the boys' favorite too! 

The only thing about this weather I am not enjoying is Allergies, which seem to have hit all the kinds in some form or another. Each kid has at least 2 medicines they can take depending on their symptoms. I am looking forward to the day that the pollen or whatever is causing this is gone. I dislike this nighttime routine. Jayden is a horrible medicine taker. He will do the nasal mist, but will not drink or chew any medication. I have tried to call it his vitamin, or stick it in his desert, but everytime he catches me and hands it back.