Recipes of a SAHM: German Pancake

Sorry, no photo - we ate it before I decided to post.  Next time I bake one, I'll add a pic here.  In the meantime, do a web search for German Pancake, puff pancake, you'll find a ton.

I was first introduced to the German Pancake at Elmer's restaurant in Lynnwood, by the Alderwood mall.  When I saw it on the menu, I thought lemon was a very odd thing to put on a pancake.  But I saw someone else's order and it looked amazing!  I tried it and was hooked!  It quickly became my "usual" (I am a creature of habit) along with a side of bacon or sausage links, coffee and maybe even some OJ.  Just thinking of it, reminds me of days gone by, when Jedd and I would go out for weekend breakfasts, read the paper or peruse real estate flyers, and take a good hour or two to enjoy a leisurely morning.  Once we moved out of Everett (and had kids), we did not get to Elmer's often.  And sadly, sometime in the last 5 years, Elmer's went out of business.

So, you can imagine my joy upon finding not only a recipe for a German Pancake, but an EASY recipe!  I'm all about simple these days.

This recipe is about the size of the single serving at Elmer's.  It is just about right for Jedd, Kyla and me, along with bacon or sausage on the side.   Once Maxx starts eating table foods, we may have to make two pancakes.


GERMAN PANCAKE
adapted from Parents Magazine, July 2008

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1.5 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

butter
powdered sugar
lemon wedges

Heat oven to 400.  Place butter in 10 or 12 inch oven proof skillet.  When oven is hot, place skillet in oven until butter melts.

While waiting for oven to reach temp, whisk eggs in a bowl.  Add flour, milk, sugar & vanilla.  Whisk until smooth.  Immediately pour batter into hot, melty buttered skillet.  Bake 18-25 minutes or until puffed and browned.  (This is a good time to cook your bacon or sausage.)

Remove from oven.  The pancake will fall in the center as it cools.  Serve immediately with butter, sprinkle with powdered sugar and finish off with a generous squeeze of lemon.

Can also serve with fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries & blueberries are great!) and/or whipped cream.

Original recipe calls for:

• regular butter - I found this made the edges very salty, which was weird tasting
• reduced fat milk - we only have whole milk, so that's what I use (obviously anything in between would also work fine)
• 1/4 tsp salt - added at the same time as dry ingredients (again, too salty for my taste)
• only 1 Tbsp sugar - I like my batter a little sweeter
  

Confessions of a SAHM, Guilty Pleasures

I may enjoy some of the kids' toys more than they do.  Some days, this is what I do when they are napping.  Yes, this SAHM business is very difficult, indeed.  I feel, however, that I am up to the task.

Play date, anyone?

Maxx Is 7 Months Old

At 7 months, Maxx has just started to do an army crawl (Papa will be so proud!).  It's kind of funny, he only uses his right leg, the left just sort trails behind.  Regardless, it works for him and now I cannot leave him alone for hours and hours and hours and hours at a time, like I used to (ha!).  But seriously, now I can barely be gone for 2 minutes.  Especially because Kyla has so many toys with small parts that always seem to be strewn about the floor.  So sad.

"This is what I think of your stinkin' update photos"

Status Update

What we've been up to recently:

Diaper Duty:
Kyla is almost completely potty trained!  With just a few emergencies (Kyla yelling from the back seat that she needs to pee NOW and me pulling over on the side of the road to put a pull-up on her), we are on our way to a diaper-free existence for Kyla.  Yay for no diapers.  Boo for yucky public toilets and tiny toddler bums.

Got to give credit to Ms. Patty (& helpers) for being so diligent the 3 days that Kyla goes to "school."

Now, to work on Maxx.  Too early, you say?...

ABC's & 123's:
Kyla is learning so much!  She knows her colors, ABC song and can count (to twenty, if she feels like it).  She is beginning to recognize numbers and likes to show them on her fingers as well.  Recently she pointed out an "ogagon," which I finally realized was the stop sign - octagon!  Thanks again to Ms. Patty & school.

She likes playing pretend.  She will say she has to go to work to make some money.  Apparently she has been listening to Daddy very closely!  She also likes to pretend to go grocery shopping and have tea parties and wash dishes.

Makes me want to smile:

• How Maxx is absolutely entranced by Kyla.  He is so completely entertained by her, as are Jedd and I.  She is pretty darn amusing these days and says some really funny stuff.  Maxx just watches her with complete adoration.

• When Kyla sees a yellow vehicle, she will say, "Oh, I see my happy, lellow car!"  She points out all the yellow cars & trucks and says they make her, "very, very happy."
  
• That Kyla is good at sharing.  Although often that means I will be offered a bite of a very slobbery snack.
• That Maxx is still so easy-going, sleeps through the night and has such a sweet disposition.
  
• Hearing Kyla mis-pronounce words or phrases and make associations.  Like, "Oh, this one's a little turkey," instead of 'tricky.'  Or when learning that Tinkerbell was on her new underwear, she said, "Oh, dinger bell?"  And I said, "No, her name is Tinkerbell."  And Kyla said, "Oh," and then started singing Jingle Bells.
  
• To see Maxx sitting up on his own and trying to crawl.  Despite not yet having mastered the skill, he still manages to make it all over the room by rolling and twisting and mysteriously maneuvering around.
  
• That Kyla loves to dance.  We went bowling and I think her favorite part was the blaring music.  She would push the ball down the lane and immediately start dancing, not even bothering to see if the ball hit the pins or not.
• That Kyla has decided that Maxx is now the Maxxinator!

We love Thomas:
Thanks to Ally & Riley for their generosity in sharing their Thomas the Train toys with us.  Currently, the playroom is one big maze of a train set!  And yet, after using all the track, I am looking at it, thinking, "hmm, we could use a few more pieces."  Must restrain myself.  Kyla loves playing with the trains almost as much as Jedd.  And Maxx is content to watch Kyla while gnawing on a piece of track.

Our little study bug:
Jedd has started another quarter of his master's program.  It was soooo nice to have him take the summer off.  This quarter he has class every Wednesday.  These are long days for me and I am looking forward to December when he will be off work for parental leave.  Woo Hoo!  We have grandiose plans of going to Jump Planet and swimming at the Y and story time at the library and Christmas shopping and baking cookies, to name a few.  With all the stuff I have planned, by the end of the month, Jedd may miss work!

SAHM Confession:
Being at home fulltime is a contradiction of emotions.  At times, I feel completely bogged down by my new duties as a SAHM (cleaning, cooking, teaching, discipline, diapers), yet at other times, I feel guilty that I have so much fun (experiencing new milestones, playing with the kids, going on play dates).  Some days, I feel like a complete loser because the house is a disaster, I haven't showered and I want to lock my kids in their rooms.  And other days I feel that I've got it mastered because I have cleaned the entire house, gone to yoga and have dinner ready by 6pm.  It is all just a roller coaster of emotion and I'm trying to enjoy the ups, the downs and the loop-de-loops without falling out of my cart or completely de-railing.  

Guilty Confession:
I am a Facebook addict and some days I have to will myself not to check it every hour.  Shh, don't tell Jedd.  He is already regretting buying me a laptop for my birthday last year! ;)  But, hey, if you want to be my friend, send me a request!

New Endeavors:
We have joined the YMCA!  Maxx has been to Mommy & Me Yoga and seemed to enjoy rolling around on the mat.

Kyla loves the pool!  She was so mad when we took a tour but she couldn't go swimming.  I signed her up for a toddler sports class.  I had to prepared her that we would be going to the Y, but would not be swimming.  I told her there would be other people in the pool, but it is not our turn.  And she replied, "Oh, yeah.  There 5 people in the pool?  It too many!"  They did soccer this week and next week is golf.  Maxx goes to the Y daycare while we are at her class and it's great to be able to have some one-on-one time with Kyla.

I am excited to try the Zumba classes.  I hear they are high energy and lots of fun!  It's been a while since I've done anything high energy and I'm a little worried that it's going to kick my butt and I'll make a fool of myself with a large crowd watching.  But that never stopped me before!

Go Sounders:

We love the Sounders (Go Freddie!)!  We'll be cheering them on this weekend and hope that they make it to the next round of the playoffs!

Happy Halloween

Kyla thoroughly enjoyed Halloween this year.  She got to pick out costumes for herself and Maxx.  She was a spider and Maxx was a monkey.  For weeks beforehand she kept talking about how she was going to be a spider.  She often notices the spiders outside our kitchen window, as well as their absence.  She will ask where they are if they aren't in their web.  To which I usually reply that they are doing whatever we happen to be doing or are about to do, such as, eating dinner or taking a nap - because it's dinnertime or nap time and so one and so forth.

On Friday, we went to Granite to trick-or-treat in the afternoon.  At first Kyla she was a bit timid.  After approximately 6 minutes, she was following some older kids around and was completely unfazed when I left her to tend to Maxx.  After she had hit up all the offices, she thought she'd go for round two at some of her favorites.  Then she ate about 4 pieces of candy and once the sugar kicked in she was running up and down the halls like a crazed toddler.  At one point, she ran up to Minnie Mouse and pushed her down for no reason at all.  (Sorry Peyton!)  That was when I knew we were done.

On Halloween, Jedd took Kyla out around the neighborhood.  He added hot pink neon blinky-light string to her spider legs.  (I know there is a more technical name and explanation for what they were, but I'm writing in layman's terms, here.  It was like neon glow necklaces that were longer, much thinner and powered with a battery pack.  Nerd Alert: Jedd just informed me that it is called Electroluminescent Wire.)  Apparently her costume was quite the hit, as well as keeping our little spider very visible.  After they came back, she helped hand out candy and one 10-ish year old boy exclaimed, "cool costume!"  And one of the neighbors had all kinds of questions for Jedd about how the lights worked.

Maxx stayed home with mom and helped hand out candy.  He only tolerated his costume for a short time.  He got very hot and high-centered on his belly and he did not like that.  But in all, he was a good sport and oh so cute!

Of course the best part of the Halloween is enjoying the candy!  Kyla chose a Tootsie Pop and waited by the door for the other trick-or-treaters to come.  She loved handing out candy to the other kids!  And now she is all about bargaining for Halloween candy.  "I good girl, I get Halloween candy?"  Two and a half and negotiating already...

Maxx Is 6 Months Old

Maxx is eating rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas and pureed fruit. 

He can spin around on his tummy to get to his toys and he really wants to move forward, but hasn't quite mastered that skill.  At this point, he looks like he is practicing a skydiving free fall, with his belly on the floor and his arms and legs in the air.  Maxx also likes being held upright so he can push off with his feet and "bounce."  And he's starting to sit on his own, supported by a hand, or both.  He's still a little unsteady, though.  If he looks to one side or tries to grab a toy, he usually falls over. Crawling is still a ways off, I think.  When he is on his tummy and I try to lift him onto his knees, he drops his arms to his sides and does a face plant.

Watching Kyla is one of his favorite things to do.  This makes him quite happy and can distract him from being tired or hungry or otherwise cranky.  And if she smiles at him, he is ecstatic!  It's very cute, he just stares and stares at her in the hopes that she will notice him.

He's growing every week.  I think this past weekend he had a growth spurt.  I put him in his car seat and he felt like he had gained 2 pounds!

And as always, he's a trooper, being dragged along everywhere we go and hardly making a fuss.

These pictures are getting more and more difficult to take without help.

Maxx Is 5 Months Old

Maxx has a go-with-the-flow personality and rarely cries, unless there are loud, scary noises such as a room full of talking people, the faucet of the tub running, the vacuum, the hair dryer, sudden outbursts of laughter, to name a few. To go along with his easy-going attitude, is an adorably flirtatious little smile. Maxx thinks a fake cough is really funny and loves smiling at people. He drools enough to go through several bibs a day, but I usually just let him soak his outfit, instead of having to wash a bunch of bibs (mom of the year alert!). Maxx is reaching for objects, but mostly just with his right hand because his left hand is always in his mouth. He still has the softest pudgy kissable cheeks that just make me want to eat him alive! But, I will refrain.