Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I’m so sorry for my recent absence.

My first full week of school went really well, but I have been so exhausted at the end of the day. This is the first day in over a week that I’ve even turned on my home computer!

I’ll hopefully be back in the swing of things soon. Finding my routine and getting my sleep patterns back in order is top priority for mission “Resume Unending Energy” to be successful.

Until I have a bit more steam to really share what I’ve been up to lately, I leave you with this.

This is a public service announcement: Make these Cinnamon Bun Pancakes and top them with Maple-Butter Icing.

Do yourself a favor and double the recipe to freeze the extra pancakes for easy toaster pancakes.

You will thank me later.

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Recipes to Try

My summer vacation is quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow I’m heading back into work to prepare my classroom for the new school year.

Last year I had 18 students but this year I’ll only have 12. A good number for grouping. Another benefit of such a small class is that my classroom will seem much larger. I’m looking forward to reorganizing the furniture in the classroom. Once I’m all set up, I promise to share photos.

I’m a bit behind sharing recent recipes so thought I’d do a one off of recipes I’ve been enjoying lately.

Here goes!

Puffed Amaranth

 

I first heard of amaranth when I was in college. I babysat for the family that began Nu-World Foods, one of the first companies to introduce amaranth to the American market. I was instantly interested in their business and was eager to try their products. Time passed and amaranth went to the wayside for me due to availability abroad.

Well, things have changed and I can now buy puffed amaranth in Germany. I’ve been enjoying it with plain yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast. It is light and fluffy but packs some staying power. If you haven’t tried amaranth, give it a try!

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Mmm… blueberry buttermilk pancakes! I made these pancakes while my friend Katie was visiting. The fruit syrup was simply made by heating fresh blueberries and strawberries together until they stewed in their juices. 

Buttermilk Pancakes with Peaches

Pancakes were the main breakfast food while Katie was here. These buttermilk pancakes were great topped with fresh peaches and maple syrup. Delicious!

Roasted Green Bean Potato Salad

This was one delicious dinner! I followed Kath’s recipe for roasted tofu potato salad. The only changes I made were to add roasted chickpeas and leave out the bacon (obviously.)

When making this recipe again, I’ll probably leave out the tofu and stick to chickpeas for my protein. This creamy, warm salad is a must try!

Veggie Noodle Stir-Fry

This is really a bit of a cheat meal… but it was good enough that I ate it twice in the last two weeks. I stir-fried broccoli, a leek, carrots and mushrooms then tossed in a packet of “stir-fry seasoning” before adding the cooked noodles. Oh so comforting and easy!

Caprese Baked Egg Cups

My baked egg cups turned out nothing like Jessica’s in looks, but based on the taste, I’d say they met her mark. This recipe was beyond easy, ready for the oven in about 2 minutes. I used halloumi cheese rather than mozzarella, chopped tomato rather than cherry tomatoes and milk rather than cream; this probably explains why my baked eggs turned out like ugly ducklings, but I tell you, even with these substitutions, the flavor was fantastic!

Aloo Gobi Mashed Indian Cauliflower

I had a head of cauliflower that needed to be used up from last Friday’s CSA box. This recipe was the perfect fit; fast, warm and subtly spicy.

I ate my aloo gobi with fresh, plain yogurt. It might sound strange, but the cool worked with the heat. I’m glad I have leftovers of this mash!

So there you have it! A few of the wonderful recipes I’ve been enjoying the past couple of weeks.

I recommend you give them a try.

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Homemade Vanilla Sweet Cream Butter

This is what happens while you talk to someone across the room and whip cream at the same time.

Oops.

Several weeks ago when I made my friend Rachel’s birthday pavlova, I over whipped the whipped cream and stumbled upon the way to create delicious homemade vanilla sweet cream butter and buttermilk.

After over whipping the whipping cream, I was left with the fat solids and the liquid.

I simply strained away the butter milk and set the butter on a paper towel to strain a bit more.

Over the past week, I’ve spread the vanilla sweet cream butter on hot English muffins and toast. Slightly sweet and dainty.

The vanilla sugar butter milk took my whole grain pancake mix to a whole new level.

Strawberry yogurt and fresh strawberries perfectly complimented the pancakes.

So, how to make this delicious mistake?

Vanilla Sweet Cream Butter and Butter Milk

Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

Method

1. Combine the whipping cream and vanilla sugar in a large, cold bowl. Whip together with a handheld mixer past the whipped cream stage until the whipped cream breaks into solids and liquids.
2. Strain the butter milk off of the butter. Strain the butter in a cheese cloth or paper towel.
3. Refrigerate and enjoy.

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Saturday Day

This morning started out like all Saturdays should, with sleeping in and waking up to pancakes.

Banana walnut whole wheat pancakes in a pool of maple syrup.

After breakfast I went to the gym for Body Balance and, as usual, left feeling amazing.

Once home from the gym, I had a simple lunch of French bread with smoked emmentaler cheese and left over creamy avocado sauce from dinner last night.

Lamb’s lettuce and cherry tomatoes topped it off.

After a while I decided to bake some cookies.

After much consideration, I went with a recipe from one of the 160 cookbooks Sebastian recently downloaded for me.

Right from the Amish Recipes E-cookbook!

Soft Amish Chocolate Chip Cookies

I prefer soft cookies over crunchy ones, but these were too soft and fluffy for me. They were like mini cakes.

Sebastian on the other hand loved them so they won’t go to waste.

Half-way through the mixing, a terrible thing happened.

I was busy creaming together the sugar and margarine when something hit me in the forehead.

Not unusual.

Cookie dough splatter happens all the time.

Then I heard a clink clink of something bouncing onto the floor.

To my surprise, the right beater from my hand mixer laid motionless in the dough.

With as much as this machine has been used over the past 2.5 years, I really should have expected this to happen eventually. Does this finally justify the purchase of a KitchenAid stand mixer?

SOFT AMISH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1/2 c. margarine
1 c. sugar
2 large. eggs
1/2 c. milk
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda (place in the milk)
1 (12 oz.) bag chocolate chips or butterscotch chips (I used half chocolate chip and half Heath toffee)

1. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and milk with soda. Mix together and add baking powder.

2. Gradually add flour and stir well. Stir in chocolate chips or butterscotch chips.

3. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 1 teaspoon of dough. Bake at 400 degrees until the edge is lightly brown.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but Sebastian and I have a coupon book for restaurants and services in the Bonn area.

You buy the book for 15 Euros and then are entitled to buy-one-get-one-free meals at the participating restaurants. We’ve probably saved over 80 Euros already and have only used about 1/4 of the coupons.

Anyways, tonight we found a new restaurant from the Gutscheinbuch and had dinner there. The food was good and the atmosphere was really nice. We walked away saving 16 Euros. Success.

The coupon book expires in March so we need to up our going-out game and use the coupons that are left.

Anyways, I hope you all had a nice Saturday too. Enjoy a restful Sunday!

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Report Writing

After spending a good amount of time this morning finding any excuse possible to procrastinate writing reports, I finally got down to it.

Seeing that I’ve spent the last 8 hours writing, I’ll make this post as language light as possible.

Where to begin? Intimidating, no?

And that’s only the half of it.

‘Good Morning’ tea and pancake plans.

  A scoop of protein powder in the batter made for ultra fluffy pancakes. Topped with pecans, coconut butter and maple syrup, yummy.

After breakfast, I was ready to go.

First up, art.

Pre and post our lesson on facial proportions in portraiture.

The best part of being a teacher is witnessing children learn and expand their understanding right in front of you. It’s so cool to be a part of this learning. This simple art lesson took place in 40 minutes. The little artist was so proud of her much more realistic second drawing. We’re now doing one facial bit at a time. We’ve done eyes and noses. Next up, ears, mouths and hair.

Social studies followed a short re-hydration break.

  Will break for breaded and baked eggplant.

After finishing social studies, I started on science then decided to swap over to math instead.

Snack break!

After that, the photos stopped but the work didn’t.

Luckily I had a cheerful pot of roses beside me all day. Every time I glanced next to my computer screen, I couldn’t help but smile.

Just so perdy.(Pretty spoken like my grandpa.)

Tomorrow I plan to finish science, literacy, ICT and the general teacher comments.

I’m saving PE and Design and Technology for the work week.

Wish me luck, peace, insight and honesty.

Night all!

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Peachy Pancakes

I love pancakes. Perhaps you’ve noticed.

When I made a batch of pancakes this weekend, I ate some and froze the rest. This morning’s breakfast was therefore quick and delicious, thank you freezer.

2 frozen whole grain pancakes topped with half of a peach, raspberries and maple syrup.

 

An incredibly powerful storm blew through last night so I didn’t sleep very well. The flower pots were blowing around the balcony and the wind was pelting so loudly against the windows I thought they might break. The cats were also scared and running around like crazies all night.

Here are a few photos from the hills and castles across from my apartment. The sky was still spooky this morning even once the rain stopped.

 

I had a good day at work but the icing on the cake was running into a friend at the gym. When I acted in my first production with the Bonn Players, this friend acted alongside me. I haven’t seen him in almost a year so it was great to bump into each other. He’s the kind of guy who just brightens a room and makes people smile. I’m smiling now just thinking about him!

Maybe it was karma since I ran into him after just posting my very first Operation Beautiful notes in two of the lockers at the gym.

Du bist stark und schön!

You are strong and beautiful!

Now I’m off to bed.

I hope you had a great Monday!

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Pancakes with Banana and Nutella

Saturday apparently is now synonymous with pancakes.

For three weeks running, I’ve made pancakes for Saturday morning breakfast.

I don’t plan on ending this tradition any time soon.

There are just too many possibilities.

Like Pancakes with Banana and Nutella, for example.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup of the Whole Grain Pancake Mix from this post

1 cup butter milk

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix the ingredients and let sit for 20 minutes before cooking over a hot non-stick pan.

Nutella Sauce

Ok, so we don’t buy the real nutella in this household. It’s generic brand all the way!

Chocolate and hazelnut goodness in a jar!

Take one almost empty jar of nutella and add a very small slash of milk. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir and microwave for an additional 15-30 seconds.

Drizzle over hot pancakes and banana slices.

Say it with me now, Mmmmmm!

You won’t regret making this combination!

One more exciting thing! Today my fruit and vegetable lady was selling her first harvest of pumpkins! Yippy!!!!! 

Let the pumpkin oats eating fest begin!

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Vegan Banana Bread Pancakes

For some reason, banana bread has been heavy on my mind lately.

Warm, sweet, sticky banana bread.

Between getting ready for the new school year and savoring every last bit of summer, I’ve not taken much time to bake.

So, my dreamy banana bread was turned into something a little more manageable and less heat-producing. (It’s finally hot again in Germany.)

Makes 10 pancakes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Wet Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk of choice (I used oat milk)
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil (melted), or oil of choice
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 large banana, mashed but with lumps

Method

1. In a  large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the liquid ingredients. Whisk the liquid mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. If your mixture looks too runny, add a little more flour. If it looks too dry, add a splash of milk.
2. Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium heat for at least 2 minutes. Pour the batter, 1/4 cup at a time, onto the warm skillet. Cook until bubbles appear and the edges are set. Flip and cook the other side.
3. Serve with extra banana slices and nuts, drizzled with maple syrup.

These certainly hit the spot and made me temporarily forget about real banana bread. Give them a try, the ingredient list seems long, but they are so simple to make.

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Pancakes and Stir Fry

I don’t know if it’s my subconscious saying, “you have to go back to work soon so take full advantage of your vacation days,” or what, but I slept in again today… to am embarrassing 10:00 am.

Needless to say, breakfast also served the purpose of lunch.

Luckily it was filling and delicious!

Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

Makes 8 pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup spelt flour

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 1/2 cup soy milk

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 Tbsp. raw sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. ground flax seed

1 cup fresh blueberries

Method

1. Whisk together the flours, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, combine the soy milk, coconut oil, and sugar. Microwave for 1-2 minutes or until the coconut oil is melted. Whisk together then incorporate the vanilla and flax to the liquid ingredients.
3. Carefully pour the wet ingredients into the dry while whisking. Mix together until combined, the mixture may be a bit lumpy, but that’s ok. Gently fold in the blueberries.
4. Preheat a non-stick skillet for at least 2 minutes then pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the skillet. Cook until bubbles begin form in the middle and the edges are set then flip and cook the other side.

Tomorrow, my job as a teacher officially resumes.

To be honest, I’m excited to go back. I really miss being around kids and look forward to jumpstarting my creativity once again.

All day today, I did school-prep work on the computer. I also planned 2 new bulletin board displays that I’m really excited about. I’ll show you guys the finished product in a week or two.

Around 4 o’clock I was hungry again but didn’t want to eat anything too heavy before going to the gym, so I sliced up an apple to eat with a beautiful heap of peanut butter.

It has been raining all day today so getting out of the apartment and going to the gym took quite a bit of personal encouragement. But as they say, you never regret a workout, you only regret skipping one! This is true.

Once home, it was time to really feed my hungry body.

You’ve got to love a good stir fry!

No recipe here, but the veggies included 1/4 block smoked tofu, 1 carrot, 1 small zucchini, 3 mushrooms, 1/2 red pepper, 1/2 red chili pepper, 2 small cloves of garlic, a nub of ginger and 1/4 red onion. The sauce was just soy sauce, agave nectar and a splash of orange juice.

Ok, I guess that is kind of a recipe. Oh well.

So, I’m off to bed, wish me luck tomorrow as the teachers all gather back together. This will certainly be a productive week before the kiddies return!

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Roman Feast

In the year group I teach, half of the school year is dedicated to studying Ancient Roman life in social studies.

Today, my class celebrated all we’ve learned with a Roman Feast!

I can do feast.

I can do feast all day long.

My day of feasting began with the most decadent breakfast.

Whole Grain Strawberry Pancakes with Nutella Sauce

Ingredients

Pancakes

• 1 cup and 1 Tbsp. whole grain pancake mix
• 1 cup plain kefir (or buttermilk or half yogurt/half milk)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup ripe strawberries

Nutella Sauce

• nearly empty jar of nutella
• splash of milk

Method

1. Mix the pancake ingredients and let rest for 20 minutes.
2. Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat. Spoon 1/4 cup pancake batter onto the hot pan.
3. Once the edges begin to harden and bubbles form in the batter, flip over and cook the other side.
4. Put a splash of milk in an almost empty nutella jar and microwave for 20 seconds. Stir well and let sit a minute to thicken.
5. Top pancakes with fresh strawberries and drizzle with the sauce.

These were so good they made me slow down and make a “mmmmnnh” sound with each bite!

Each and every bite was perfect!

The school day started with a math test but quickly found its way to a party of Roman proportions!

Quick Facts About Roman Feasts

1. The Romans loved to show off their wealth through the food they served at their amazing feasts.
2. Commonly served food included exotic choices such as pig nipples, calve brains,  snails, swans, crows, horses, peacocks and mice.
3. At feasts, the Romans ate until they were sick.
4. Some homes even had special rooms for people to be sick in.
5. Once a Roman was sick, they went back to carry on eating.
6. The Romans ate in courses, similar to fancy dinner parties today.
7. Eating was conducted while laying down on large sofas which resemble beds.

I have the best parents in the school. I put out a list of feast items about 2 weeks ago, and today, we had a feast prepared for us!

The parents provided bread, green beans, salad, grapes, cheese, radishes, ham, olives, asparagus, dates, pea pods, cherries, hard boiled eggs, grape “wine” and even a modern day “field mice” dish.

She cut chicken breast into mice shapes then wrapped them in bacon and sage, just like the Romans!

I passed the mice and other meat dishes but my plate was still full and I ended up with a Roman-worthy stuffed stomach!

We had such a lovely feast outside in the shade. The kids dressed up in togas and behaved like rich Romans. It was a blast!

The feasting continued after lunch when we had a good-bye party for one of the students who is leaving after this school year.

His parents came in with tons of fruit and the most delicious strawberry tarts.

The little boy’s grandmother woke up extra early this morning to hand-make these beauties.

They tasted even better than they look.

You might not think that’s possible, but it is.

The school day carried on without eating for about 3 hours… but then the feasting continued at home in the form of a pre-workout protein punch.

Dark Chocolate S’more Protein Bar

It may have been almost a week since my last visit, but I still gave my all at the gym today.

A little bit of strength training and a lot a bit of cardio. I was one sweaty lady.

Dinner was a quick one.

Salad with tomato and balsamic vinegar, steamed pea pods and a sweet potato with cinnamon and almond butter.

Mmm… cinnamon and almond butter… tastes like Thanksgiving!

Who does this remind you of? My favorite Pea Family.

That will do it for my feasting today. I’d better stop before I have to find the sick room.

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