2 Kid Approved Recipes

I love to cook and bake. It really is how I show love (I'm 1/2 Italian after all). I especially love to find or create recipes the whole family enjoys. In our house Saturday morning means one thing -  Pancakes! The kids look forward to it all week and to be honest, so do I. It's a tradition we started years ago when my friend Brenda had us over for brunch and served us the most delicious pancakes I've ever had. She shared the recipe, and the tradition began.




It's not a complicated recipe at all, in fact that's what I like most about it. No special ingredients! It's the William Sonoma Buttermilk Pancake Recipe.

2 Eggs

2 Cup Flour

2 Tbls Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

2 1/2 Cups Buttermilk

4 Tbls Butter Melted

1/2 tsp Vanilla

In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs on medium speed until frothy. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Stir just until the batter is smooth and no lumps of flour remain; do not overbeat. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter onto a heated and greased skillet and cook until golden grown. Serve with maple syrup. 

For the Buttermilk, I just use regular milk and add a little white vinegar. 

You can add blueberries or chocolate chips to the batter of course. We always serve it with bananas. 

I always make a full batch and have plenty left over to pop into the microwave on busy weekday mornings for the kids. I just freeze them on a cookie sheet:

And after an hour or so, pop them into a zip lock bag and store in the freezer. 

Now the nutritional value of these pancakes is not very high clearly. We try and make up for it with the fruit. But it is a weekly treat. 

Our next family favorite is this cookie recipe that happens to be on the top of my son's list. The only description is "Healthy Cookie". But it's true, it is healthy and I feel good about making these cookies. 

The Players:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup finely grated carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins

Optional Glaze
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp milk

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, optional nutmeg and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip together applesauce, butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended and smooth about 1 minute. Stir in egg and vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture. Stir in quick oats, carrots, raisins, and mix until combine. Drop mixture by heaping tablespoon fulls onto a Silpat lined cookie sheet two inches apart and bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden and set. Allow to cool several minutes before removing to wire rack to cool. If using glaze: in a small mixing bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and milk until well combine and smooth. Pour into a piping or ziploc bag, snip a small tip off the end and pipe over cookies (note: store cookies in a single layer).

These cookies also happen to be a favorite of my daughter's teacher. So this batch is going to him tomorrow (for teacher appreciation week). I made another cookie recipe for my son's teacher last night (his favorite). So lots of cookie baking going on here these days! 

Thanks again for stopping by and here's to another day closer to a life in balance ...

xo

Sloane