Happy New Year! I can't believe that it is 2010. 10 years since Y2K which some new we would never live through! I remember being a kid and thinking I'll never see the year 2000! I'd be 30!!! Well, I made it and this year I'll be 40!!! Holy Cow!
I don't know about for you, but for my family 2008 and 2009 were tough and because of that I know 2010 is going to be wonderful!!! We had a wonderful holiday. We moved and are hopefully in this new home to stay for awhile. My Walker man asked me this morning when we were going to move again (we've moved twice since August 31st!) and I told him I didn't plan on moving again for a long, long time and he said "good, because I like this house." Our last move was to our "rental-investment property" that we've owned since 2001, but never lived in. It was 1500 square feet and just a tad on the small side for us. Mostly it didn't afford any outside play and that was really hard for my very active kids to get used to. I was thankful for the place to land and wasn't that excited about moving (very hard, I don't recommend doing it any more than necessary and I'm a Realtor for heaven's sake!), but now that we are here and mostly settled I am thankful for the interim move because it has made this home much more enjoyable that I think it otherwise would have been. I'm very thankful indeed for this beautiful home.
I'll be updating my
gratitude blog today and also posting my New Year's resolutions. . . I think I've finally figured out how to succeed at making (and keeping) them. . . we'll see!
Hopefully you have a New Year's Resolution or two. . . I think they are good for us. Even if we don't keep them it affords the opportunity to assess our lives and at least make a note on how we want to improve. We were, after all, created to become more than we are. Life is a process of growing and improving that should never stop. We can't be truly happy if we don't become more. It doesn't mean we have to strive for positions of supposed greatness or set goals to do feats worthy of world records, just to improve. How do you want to improve this year? I hope you'll share with me!
on to the
PANCAKES! I have 2 small mama's boys that
LOVE pancakes. I'm not a huge fan and don't find them to be entirely high on the health and nutrition scale. I have some whole wheat blender pancakes that score pretty well, but my kids don't
LOVE them. I have a recipe from Rachel Ray called Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes that I do adore, but let's just say they qualify more for dessert than a healthy breakfast (or dinner!) My boys were good at church yesterday (if you don't count the belching contest at the drinking fountain as we were trying to leave *grin* *grit teeth* *grin*), so they wanted pancakes and pink chicken (left over ham) after church. I agreed to make it for them. I love to use sour cream in my pancakes (a tip from Rachel Ray), but I'm also on a much stricter budget than I used to be so I made sour milk for them and added oatmeal for the health factor. I have to say they turned out very well so here is my recipe for you. Budget friendly,
food storage certified, and yummy to boot!
Rachele's Oatmeal Pancakes
(for a family of 6, cut in half to adjust accordingly!)
2 Cups Milk PLUS 2 T White Vinegar
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Quick Oats
2 Eggs
3 T Oil
2 T Brown Sugar (white will work too!)
1 t Salt
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Vanilla (optional, but i put vanilla in everything!)
Add vinegar to milk and let sit. Mix all dry ingredients and then add soured milk, oil and eggs. Mix to combine well, but don't beat. Ladle onto medium hot griddle (I use non-stick so no extra fat, spray with Pam or use butter if your griddle is not non-stick.) Cook until bubbly in the middle and dry on the edges, then flip and cook for another minute or two. . . smear with butter and serve with syrup!
A little more "healthy" for a pancake and pretty yummy too!
