Polkadot Pancakes

Without going into too much detail Fiona has been having some issues with pooping and after a talk with the nurse I've been making attempts to steer her more away from dairy, which she LOVES and more towards fruit, vegetables and whole grains. She does eat a fair amount of cereal and oatmeal and toast, and eats lots of fruit already but is kind of lacking in the veggies department and so I've been thinking of ways to add more of these foods in in fun, enticing ways. For example, I have been offering her healthy oatmeal whole grain cereal that I call "happy square snacks" and last night's dinner attempt... polkadot pancakes.

Now just so you know, we actually never have pancakes for dinner (and rarely for breakfast), but I thought it could be a fun thing for a change, and could incorporate a healthier addition. Ben works late on Tuesdays so this was just for the girls. He's grateful for that. Here's a visual...

Yeah, those are peas. If your inital reaction was "eeeeew" then you've pretty much summed up what Fiona thought. This meal may go down in history as one of my worst ideas yet. Fiona actually eats peas pretty well when they are in a bowl, and adores pancakes, so what I did was ruin two foods that she usually likes to create a gross food that she would not eat. Total. Failure.

Still, she made a good attempt when given some syrup for dipping (yes, this makes it completely 100% unhealthy) and then did have strawberries for dessert, so all was not lost. And today she pooped 5 times (FIVE! That should tell you something about the state of the poor girl's bowels) so hopefully things are looking up overall. Don't worry. I'll keep you posted.

Elevenses with Tanya

Once a week or so Fiona and I have tea with our friend Tanya. Today we planned to get together for elevenses. In preparation for the tea party I thought I'd make these yummy sounding ginger-lemon cakes that I found in one of my cook books. Turns out I should have just gone to the baker down the road!!

I followed the instructions, and definitely used the right amounts of ingredients, etc, but by the time I was done, the 'stiff dough' that I was meant to have was a bit floppy. Still, I hoped for the best, and plopped lumps of it onto a baking tray, as directed. I set the timer for fifteen minutes and waited for the magic to happen...

About 5 minutes in, the kitchen looked a little hazy... I cleaned off my glasses, but it was still hazy, so I had a peek in the oven. Clouds of smoke were released, and I quickly opened the windows and pointed the fan out the way to try to get rid of the smoke before it set off the smoke detector and woke Fiona. Luckily, crisis was averted. And there seemed to be some kind of spill in the oven responsible for the smoke, rather than the cakes.

Another five minutes passed, and I thought I'd better check on them again, and to my horror, they looked like they'd passed 'done' and entered 'char-broiled'. Whoops. Not only that, but they were much smoother and flatter and less appetizing looking than the picture...

And their bottoms didn't look quite right...

Still, I hoped for the best. Fiona woke up from her nap, and Tanya arrived, and I put the kettle on. Fiona was looking a little peckish...

The cakes were ok after some burn removal. They were a little dry too, but butter helped with that. Fiona enjoyed hers, and even insisted on eating the burned bits that I cut off mine. Funny girl. After she was finished, she sprinkled the crumbs in her hair.

Luckily, in addition to the questionable cakes, Tanya had brought some incredible flourless chocolate cake. It was the richest, most decadent chocolate cake ever, and put my sad little cake rocks to shame!

Thanks for the cake Tanya, and thanks for a fun tea time!