What's for Breakfast? - Pineapple, and Chocolate Chip Pancake Flop

For my mother's last birthday in November of 2010, I wanted her to wake up to something delicious on her special day. I had just moved back from the island and was hoping to show my appreciation in any way I could. Apparently, breakfast is not my forte and an area I could use some training and improvement. In theory, the pineapple pancakes sounded mouthwatering. Sweet, filling, refreshing, almost like an upside down cake.  I already knew that chocolate chip pancakes were her favorite, so that was just a given. How hard could that be? Whip up some batter, throw in some chips....voila! Right?

Come to find out, using pineapple CHUNKS is a completely preposterous idea in the pancake realm. They are far too large and overtake the thin patty resulting in what looks like terrible cancerous tumors spotting what could have been a beautiful creation.

The juice from the pineapple made the pancake cook much slower than the ones containing chocolate chips.  Those containing chocolate chips will burn if put on the heat at the same time as those containing pineapple. Please learn from my mistakes. That is also one of the purposes of this blog. Not everything comes out perfectly. But we live, we learn, we burn.

My mother couldn't stomach the breakfast I attempted to make, but she did laugh heartily, which I guess was a pleasant birthday present in itself...just not what I was going for exactly.

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Foodie Baby: When Raising a Foodie Baby Backfires

Even the most motivated and doting new mothers around know that there are some mornings that one cup of coffee isn't doing the trick and the thought of hearing the food processor whirring at its eardrum-splitting decibel level sends a shiver down the back of your neck. Most days you do it anyway because, well, you love your baby and the look on their face when they hear the screeching devil machine is just too much to take:

Today was one of the rare occasions I fed Piper breakfast from *gasp* a jar. It was called "Country Breakfast," but as I opened the container it smelled more like dog food. I am from the country and I advise you to take that description with a grain of salt. I tasted a bit of it myself and almost gagged. "Oh well," I thought, "maybe she'll like it anyway."  Wrong.  I was given this face:

until I took the slop out of the jar, mixed it and reheated it with whole milk, sprinkled a large amount of pepper into it and about the same amount of celery seed, minced and lightly sauteed some onion and mixed it in, as well as a fair amount of garlic powder. I'm surprised the child didn't want her choice of sausage links or patties to accompany her gourmet meal. Yep, this is what we asked for when we wanted a foodie baby.  No one to blame but ourselves.

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What's For Breakfast? - German Pancakes

I received an easy and interesting-sounding recipe for German pancakes this morning from Allrecipes.com.  Piper and I jumped on it of course, and it proved to be a really pleasant breakfast dish.  I didn't know what to expect as I had never even heard of German pancakes before, and here is how I would describe it:  A mellow, dense, filling, and somehow sweet (although I don't know how as the recipe doesn't call for any sugar) breakfast that oddly resembles a combination of flan, quiche, and French toast.  I may rename it Germench Fluichoast (pronounced DJUR-MENCH, FLEESH-OST).

First of all you must realize that it is far too early to be doing anything on a Sunday morning besides popping the bubbles surrounding your head while aimlessly wandering through the house with your first mug of coffee.

 Shake it off, now let's get started!

~Ingredients~

1.  1/4 cup of butter  (4 tablespoons), (I used real butter, not margarine)
2.  1 cup of all-purpose flour
3.  1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
4.  6 eggs, lightly beaten
5.  1/8 tsp. salt

~Instructions~

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Melt butter in a medium baking dish.

 3.  In a medium bowl, mix flour, milk, eggs, and salt.

 4.  Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish, in the center of the butter.  It should look like this:

 5.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown!

 6. Drizzle with maple syrup....ENJOY!

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Foodie Baby: BABY COLONIC EXPERIMENT!

I know it doesn't seem like food and poop should really be used in the same sentence, and I don't really know why I got the sudden urge this morning to clean my baby's gastrointestinal tract.  Maybe it's because she's just not one of those super poopy infants that blesses me with a ginormous pantload every day that had me feeling like I needed to get the gears working.  At any rate, the method I used is below.  Don't forget to click on THIS LINK to see a hilarious Saturday Night Live skit regarding blowing out your colon! I will get back to you all on the results...tick, tock, tick, tock....

~Ingredients~

3 whole pitted prunes
1/8 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup of water

~Instructions~

1. Heat the rolled oats and water in a small bowl for 30 seconds on 60% power in your microwave.
2. Spoon the oatmeal into a food processor.
3. Plop the 3 prunes in the food processor as well.
4. Puree until a rich and creamy texture.
5. Make sure your baby eats all of it.
6. Wait for impending diaper explosion....or not...like I said, I'll get back to you.

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