Pancakes

Yesterday at breakfast I had made pancakes and provided a few standard shapes for the kids like Mickey Mouse, Sponge Bob, a turtle, and my favorite a large coin - this is the easiest. Jack suggested that I should make him caterpillar pancakes based on large caterpillars that are in world 5 of Super Mario. Last night I told him I would knock out some of those for breakfast and he was excited. Anything that can get Jack excited to get out of bed and get moving in the morning is a good thing. So this morning I went in to his room and told him I would be making his caterpillar cakes. I told him he could sleep a little longer and that I would get him when they were ready. When the time came he was anxious to see them and it was no problem getting him going. I like that.

So he liked the caterpillars but I must have misunderstood. The chosen shape was based on the large caterpillars and he wanted the smaller ones that get angry and turn red when you jump on them. Other then the red I managed to knock out a couple of those for him quickly and all was well. I also tried to make a kumba (sp?) but made the mistake of giving it arms which I now know they do not have. Anyhow here is a pic of a couple caterpillars and a kumba. Jack had already eaten the other larger caterpillar pancake. Funny how these shapes seem to make the pancakes taste better and much easier to eat. Not sure what happens chemically there to cause that change but they are simply more delicious. No, really, they are.



Natty has always been a fan of the sponge bob cake and I have made them for her for a number of years now. Mind you, there really isn't a great likeness to sponge bob or the caterpillars for that matter. Today Mr. Square pants was having issues with an arm and a leg and a hat that decided to part ways with the rest of his body. Anywho, here are Natty's cakes.



Andy doesn't really care for special shapes. He prefers tiny round cakes. The old silver dollar sized cakes do the trick. Other then a lot of pouring and a lot of flipping these are much simpler to make.



The secret to good pancakes is adding lemon juice and powdered sugar to the batter. I like the Krusteaz instant stuff. I also include a little vanilla. Actually I trust that this makes them taste better. I don't eat them so I must rely on the kids feed back. The lemon juice/powdered sugar thing is something I read on the pancake package once. Just sharing the secrets of restaurants and what they do to make delicious pancakes.

I know this is a very exciting post and you probably have found yourself well fed. This is history folks and that is what we are going for here. Someday the kids will look back and remember the poorly shaped pancakes that dad made for them. Oh well, fun times. Sure do love my kids.