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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Snow Day Fun

We just came to the end of the great ice storm of 2011. I love to have a snow day, it's a great excuse to sleep in and stay home and just take it easy. I do have to get over the idea we are going to actually get much of what I planned done and just enjoy the time spent doing things we don't always have time to do.

We started out making bunches of banana pancakes with yummy buttermilk syrup. I know buttermilk syrup may sound strange, but try it, it really is very yummy. The pancake recipe originally started out from Martha Stewart, but nothing I cook actually stays the same as the original recipe. Here is my version:

Banana-Buttermilk Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large ripe bananas, mashed

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk in buttermilk, egg, butter, and banana until batter is well combined. Cook on non-stick griddle at 350 or in a large non-stick skillet lightly coated with oil. Serve with Buttermilk Syrup.

Buttermilk Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
5 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Bring sugar, buttermilk, and butter to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Whisk in baking soda, vanilla, and cinnamon.

You can use the buttermilk substitute trick, 1 cup milk with 1 T lemon juice or vinegar and let sit for a couple of minutes, but the pancakes are really so tender made with the buttermilk.

I tripled the recipe and I still ended up with only a couple of pancakes by the end of the day. They munched on them all day.

We spent a lot of time out in our yard playing in the snow/ice. We had several inches of snow on the ground before the storms and the rain snow mix mad the top layer of snow hard. Which made for a lot of fun.

The first picture Mia is standing on the crisp layer of snow/ice, the second picture she fell through.

The kids figures out they could peel the ice off the leaves, for some cool ice impressions of the leaves.


Kirsten made a face sculpture in the ice layer.


It was nice to just enjoy the past several days sleeping in and just enjoying the time spent together. Back to the usual tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. Funny, I just tried some banana pancakes the other day, and it's a new favorite for my kids. I'll have to try this recipe, though I can't get buttermilk here. I knew about souring the milk instead, but recently read a tip that said to substitute half plain yogurt and half milk for buttermilk. I'm excited to try that syrup too -- looks yummy. We can't always find pancake syrup here (fake or real maple) so it's good to have some alternate recipes.

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  2. I've heard the ice/snow storm was terrible! I still keep in touch with one of my Ohio neighbors and she said Canton had been declared a state of emergency for a time, with lots of people without power. I hope you guys were able to stay warm without any problems! Those pancakes sound really yummy, and perhaps a bit more healthy for you too? I guess that means you can eat more then! :-)

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  3. I'll have to try both the recipes! We are a big pancakes for dinner family!
    So glad I can "keep in touch" with what you guys are doing via your blog!

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