Fall Check In: Part II

Well things seem to be moving in the right direction now in the Little Kitchen. It has officially been over a week since we've lasst been to an emergency room for any sort of visit (YAY).  We met my sister at the ER yesterday because Nephew broke his arm. The Boy is feeling better, although still on the DL for baseball (disabled list) until his ab. muscle heals. (To be quite honest, he may be driving me a bit batty, but then again, he is a 15 year old boy....who has an injury....)

The boys were all thumbs up and smiles!

 My little baking buddy tripped running to the next activity at gymnastics, d'oh! He is such a trooper.  The Boy came with me to meet my sister and nephew at the hospital and boy did Nephew's face light up when he saw his big cousin! We brought a lego kit with us and the two of them worked on it while we waited.

Things are looking up though for a few reasons:

1) The beloved Winnipeg Jets are back in town and this town is ecstatic! I am not the biggest hockey fan around, but I understand the significance of this event. The villagers were so sad when the Jets left...even though the Jets lost last their first home game (and the all the games since), it still felt like a win here.

2) Another bonus to this fall season is the Yankees have been knocked out of the World Series! As a true Mets fan, I am not happy with play off season until the Yankees are out.  If you don't believe me, you can take note of how I celebrated with last year's Buh Bye Yankees post! I think I will have to bake some pretzels today...

3) This year, not only have the Yankees been eliminated, so have the Phillies! I must admit I am sort of rooting for St. Louis these days. Perhaps because we spent opening day in St. Louis at the festivities and went to a game.  I am also rooting for the Texas Rangers as they have had a rough year and it would be nice to see them win

4) While the fall weather has kicked in and it is getting a bit cooler, overall the weather has been wonderful. The leaves are coming down and the geese are gathering but the weather is still working in our favour. (you know, we can stil BQQ!!!)

I really do need to get baking/cooking for you guys.  Hopefully things will slow down a bit now and we can bet back to basics!

This is my favourite picture of the day. We stopped to pick up his favourite subway sammie on the way home.  He is still a Little dopey from the meds and is wearing my Mets hat! Love the little guy!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Pancakes, Pajamas, and The Empire Strikes Back

In the wee hours of the morning (5:30am) Boy and Hubby left for an early morning baseball practice.  Shocking! The Boy and baseball? A while after the two early birds left, I was joined in bed....get yours heads out of the gutter!! My adorable 5 year old nephew crawled in to cuddle.  We were joined shortly after by the two cats who always seem to want some sort of attention. 

We decided it was time to get up when we both had to pee. I know, that was too much information. With the big boys gone, the Lego came back out, we watched "The Fox and the Hound".  Of course while the movie was playing I was able to sneak into the Little Kitchen to mix up some pancakes.  Nephew wanted to help with the flipping but I was worried about the hot griddle and such...he did have fun watching though.  Using my intergalactic pancake moulds can be tricky though.

Top to bottom: Tie fighter, Millennium Falcon, and an X-wing

The Millennium Falcon gets a dab of butter and a dose of maple!

Not only did I get to use my moulds this morning, I also got to give my pancake pen a try as well as my new griddle! (Nothing but fun times in the Little Kitchen!)

Put together your favourite pancake recipe. I used this one today. 

Pre heat the griddle and oil up the moulds and place them on the griddle to heat up.

If you have a pancake pen, load it up with batter. If not use about 1/4 cup of batter per mould and a knife to help spread the batter into all the nooks and crannies.

Cook the pancakes until all bubbly and dry on the edges.  You will have to cook the pancakes longer on the first the side than you normally would. 

If the pancakes happen to stick to the edges of the mould, use a knife to scrape and push the pancake out.

Flip and finish cooking.

Transfer to a baking sheet in a warm oven to keep until all the batter is cooked and made into pancakey goodness.

Half the galaxy could have come over for breakfast!

Serve with maple syrup and butter!!

What did we do while eating our pancakes this morning?  We stayed in our pajamas and watched the Empire Strikes Back of course!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Cookies and a Sleepover!

Tonight my 5 year old nephew is sleeping over and we are having a blast making cookies!  What kind of cookies? Star Wars cookies!!! (My favourite kind!) Nephew is 5 years old and thinks the world of the Boy, who is 15....they are like 2 peas in a pod when they are together.  After playing with some Lego while watching the Mets game, it was time to make some cookies!

The Best cookie helpers...EVER!

 I pre made the dough so it would chill while the boys were playing.  This way the Little Kitchen was cleaned up a bit and we had some counter space to work. I used my go to recipe for sugar cookies, you know, the recipe used for the Sugared Snowflakes.

Best cookie cutters....EVER!!

I won't bore you with the recipe but the printable version can be found by clicking HERE
Baking with the boys is so much fun.  I will have to do it more often.

That Darth spatula is my favourite!

Hard at work to get those cookies cut!

The Boy is such a good big cousin!!

Sprinkle that flour!

Nephew LOVES to sprinkle flour!

Hey!  There's my favourite spatula again!

Now for the taste test!!

We decided it would be quite appropriate to watch Star Wars IV A New Hope while we ate our cookies.  After all the original movies are the ONLY ones worth watching!!
I think in the morning we will break out the pancake moulds!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!