Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

T and I have been out of town all week for family reasons. The kids have been with my mum and we missed them. T leaves today for business and we wanted a special breakfast treat for the family without going out and spending $75.00 on breakfast. I didn't have time to whip up a batch of cinnamon buns, so cinnamon swirl pancakes will just have to do.

Pancakes: Use whatever recipe you normally use for pancakes. They're all the same essentially, but whatever works for you is just fine, including your favourite mix.

Cinnamon Swirl sauce:

4 tbsps butter

1/4 cup hard packed, lump free brown sugar (light or dark, it doesn't really matter)

2 tbsps ground cinnamon

Melt butter in bowl in microwave.

Add in cinnamon and sugar and stir. 

I have a plastic squeezy container I put the mixture into and could nuke when it got too cold to squeeze, but a ziplock bag with a hole at the end works just as well. You do need something though to embed the cinnamon into the pancake.

Glaze:

4 tbsps butter (room temp)

4 tbsps cream cheese (room temp)

3/4 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Using a hand mixer cream together butter and cream cheese.

Add in icing sugar and whip well.

Add in vanilla until well blended.

Take half of the mixture and put it in the microwave until everything melts, maybe 15 seconds.

It should have looked like a light whipped cream mixture before the microwave. It should now resemble white molten lava. Do not burn it or over cook it. 

It's just gross with the cream cheese.

Again, plastic squeezy container or ziplock bag with small hole nipped off the corner. Or just smearing the mixture over the pancakes works too. 

Use the second half as needed.

Using coconut oil put your pancake batter into a hot pan like you would for every other pancake you have ever made.

When the bubbles begin to come up, signalling they're cooked enough to flip add in that cinnamon swirl mixture and flip over.

Cook like a pancake is normally cooked and put on a plate.

Add the glaze, wether by squeeze tube, ziplock or spoon.

Serve hot.

Even the 8 year old boy couldn't do anymore than 3 of these puppies. They're really that sweet.

The Helper of Hamburger

So, the Helper of Hamburger. 

I, being a child of the 80's am no stranger to this concept. However, we tend to not buy prepackaged food whenever possible, preferring to go from scratch/homemade. I am finding this tougher and tougher to do with hockey and dance and swimming lessons and archery and yoga and work and basket weaving. Quick, easy meals don't have to always mean a box is involved. This is a one pot meal that can be on the table in 25 minutes. I serve it with a green salad but I'm sure you could easily toss in a handful of spinach. 

It also reheats really well.

1 pound lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups uncooked penne

1/2 tsp onion salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup havarti cheese

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/8 cup asiago cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and drain off grease. Drain well because even when it's lean ground beef I find it can be super greasy.

Add in uncooked pasta, spices and cheese.

Stir in milk, cream and water and mix well.

Sprinkle the flour slowly into the mixture until combined, don't dump it in or it might seize.

Over medium high heat bring mixture to a boil and then drop down to low, cover and let simmer until pasta is cooked to taste.

Make sure you open the lid and give everything a good stir every now and again and mix things up so the contents don't stick to the bottom or fry the cheese.

Add in salt and pepper to taste. You will need a little