Perfect Whole Grain Freezer Pancakes

Every morning I ask my kids what they would like for breakfast, and their answer 95% of the time is PANCAKES. Now getting up every morning making pancakes gets tiring and on some sleepless nights it sounds terrible! On special occasions I do make my own pancakes, but in the last year I have gotten lazy and started buying pre-made pancakes. You know the one you find in the freezer section? 

There are a few problems with this:

1. They are expensive. 

Homemade anything is usually cheaper then the pre-packaged version.

2. All are made with white flour. 

I am not anti-white flour but research after research shows everyone needs more whole grains in their diet. I think it's better to start your kids out younger eating the whole wheat flours, so as adults they have adjusted to the taste difference (because there is one) and will hopefully enjoy (and choose) the healthier version. 

3. Packed with preservatives.

Again, I am not anti-preservatives, they are necessary in some foods to help them keep longer. However, if I can't pronounce you preservative ingredient in a simple pancake recipe (which for hundreds of years people have been making at home without preservatives) then I probably shouldn't be feeding it to my kids. 

4. Environment Impact

Ok, yes I know my hippie self is coming out, but all of the pre-made pancakes come in a cardboard box and about every 3 pancakes are wrapped in a plastic bag. Just imagine how much garbage goes into landfills each year? I am just adding to that with each plastic bag I unwrap because I have been too lazy to make my own pancakes?

With all those reasons listed, I have been on a hunt for the PERFECT whole grain pancake recipe. I have tried many other recipes on the internet and have been highly disappointing with most of them. Either the whole wheat flour alters the flavor too much, the texture is off, they are flat, or too fluffy. Finally, I can say I have found the PERFECT recipe! The kicker to this recipe is the dry mix can sit pre-made in your cupboard for weeks if you feel like stirring up a batch of fresh pancakes OR you can make a bunch of pancakes and freeze them! Here's my recipe and I hope you enjoy!

{now only if I could learn to pour the perfect pancake}

Perfect Whole Grain Pancakes

printable version

Dry Mix:

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup All-Purpose Flour

3 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

4 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon baking soda

1. Pulse old fashioned oats in food processor so they are broken up a little. Do not puree into a flour. 

2. In a large bowl, mix oats, flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. Store in airtight container.

To Make The Pancakes:

1 Cup of Dry Mix above

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk or unsweetened almond milk

1 tablespoon of orange juice

1 large egg

1. Place 1 cup of dry mix into a bowl.

2. Whisk in vegetable oil, buttermilk/almond milk, orange juice, and 1 large egg.

3. Cook on a oiled skillet or griddle.

TO FREEZE YOUR PANCAKES:

1. Lay pancakes out on a cookie sheet. Do not overlap them.

2. Place in freezer for 1 hour or until completely frozen. 

3. Remove from freezer and place 3-4 in plastic freezer bag. 

4. When ready to eat, place in microwave for 60 seconds or until hot.
Tip: Save your plastic bags to reuse when you make them. 

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DIY: Valentine's Day Heart Bird Feeder

Is there anything sweeter then a little boy and his Grandma?? Or in my son's case his Farmor? There is! And that is watching them make these super cute heart shape bird feeders together!

Here is what you need to make these super cute bird feeders ---btw a GREAT gift idea for Valentine's Day! 

1 1/2 cups of birdseed
2 (1/4 oz) packages of unflavored gelatin
heart shaped cookie cutters
cooking spray
wax paper
twine

Step 1:  Mix 1/2 cup of water and gelatin together in a bowl.

Stir until dissolved.

Step 2: Pour in 1 1/2 cups of birdseed.


Step 3: Measure about 7 inches of twine out and cut it.

Tie the twine in a knot to make a loop.

Step 4: Lay heart shaped cookie cutters on some wax paper and spray with cooking spray.

Step 5: Fill the cookie cutters half full of the birdseed mixture.

Step 6: Press the birdseed down into the cookie cutter.

Step 7: Lay the twin loop on the birdseed.

Step 8:  Top the twine with more birdseed until cookie cutter is full.  (Look at those cute little hands!)

You will end up with a couple really cute heart-shaped filled cookie cutters.

Step 9: Let the cookie cutters dry for a few hours and then gently unmold the feeders. Let the birdfeeders dry for another 72 hours until hard.

 Step 10: Find a nice spot, preferable near a window, to hang your finished heart bird feeder.

And enjoy the view as you show the birds in your neighborhood some love!!!

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DIY: $4.99 Hair Accessory Organizer

When you 3 month old daughter has this much hair, hair accessories are unavoidable. You can try your hardest to resist, but once you clip that first barrette in her hair you are hooked for life!

In addition to me buying every cute little headband or barrette I see, many people have made me hair accessories for her and that is where the problem lies. I am overflowing with hair accessories and needed a way to organize them. I was talking it over with my sister Luci one day and she said something about seeing an accordion hat rack that would work to organize them and from there the ideas began to flow...

First I went on Amazon in search for an accordion hat rack. I found this one below for $4.99!

 I took it apart.

Painted it pink with the leftover paint I had from decorating her room. (Notice I attached all the knobs on cardboard for easier painting.)

Next, I used some leftover ribbon I had from her room and looped it through the holes of the pieces.

I ended up with all the pieces looking like this: 

I secured the ribbon with a drop of hot glue to the backside of all the pieces.

Then I made sure to press the ribbon down until it stuck and wiped off any excess.

I ended up with all the pieces having ribbons glued to them and just needed to reassemble the hat rack.

I decided to change out the center knobs for some more decorative ones I found at Target.

I hung it up in her room,

and then filled it with all the hair accessories.

Let's just say this is one of the quickest and ONLY projects I have done since she was born. (Just a little busy with a toddler and a 3 month old if you can't tell by the lack of blogs!) It functions great to organize all of her hair accessories and adds some cute decoration to her room. This one is almost full, so I might have to make another one!

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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DIY: Hidden Storage Wall Cubby

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about my Paint Only Remodels of our Main Bathroom. Now I have talked about this about a million times before, but if you missed it-- I am only allowed to remodel this house using paint. We plan on building a new house on this land in a few years, so my husband doesn't want me to waste money on something we will eventually bulldoze. (You can read more about it on the blog above.)

Part of the issue with our bathroom is storage. We have three drawers and two cupboards...which are all a perfect height for a toddler to get into and unpack every day while getting ready. It's very annoying. We have tried drawer hooks, but he still gets into them. I set out to create another storage unit on the wall, but we really didn't  have room for another medicine cabinet, so I came up with this idea for Storage Wall Cubbies. A few months ago I created these fake paintings and wrote a little DIY Faking a Painting.

I thought they would be great to use as a cover to a wall cubby! A great way to hide the clutter and add some art to the wall. Here is my little DIY on how I created these Hidden Storage Wall Cubbies

To start you need to create two 10"x10" Storage Wall Cubbies:

1'x4'x7' Pine Boards

2' square of 1/4" plywood

Nailgun (or hammer and small nails)

Miter Saw

Table Saw

Wood Glue

4 small hinges

2 cabinet magnet catches

First cut your 1'x4'x6' pine board into 8 pieces that are 10" long with a 45 degree angle on each piece:

Each cubby will need 4 boards that look like below. I like to line them up to make sure they are all the exact same size.

With the boards above, you will assemble your wall cubby. I started with gluing the boards together to make a square.

You will end up with a square like below. (Use can use a L-square ruler to make sure it is square.)

Using an nail gun (or just a hammer and nails) reinforce the box in each corner.

Measure the outside of your cubby box and cut the 2' square of 1/4" plywood into two pieces to be the back of your cubby box. My cubbies are 10"x10" so I cut the plywood to be a 10"x10" square.

Attach the back using a nail gun (or hammer and nails) to create more support to the box. 

You now have a finished wall cubby (or two in my case!)

Now we need to sand and paint it to look professional :) Most likely, you will have some sort of a little gap where the boards meet. Use some wood fill to fill this gap.

Let it dry overnight.

Then sand it with 60 grit, 100 grit, and then 200 grit.

Paint the box your desired color. My frames on my fake paintings are brown, so I matched the color for the cubbies. 

After two coats and a day of drying you should have two wall cubbies that look like this:

Next, install the hinges. Measure two inches from the top and bottom on the frame of your fake paintings.

Install the hinges and you will have a frame that looks like this:

Next, on the cubbies mark where the hinges of the fake painting will meet cubbie. Make sure you give them enough room to close and line up on the cubby straight.

Drill holes in the cubby for the hinges and then screw the hinges in place. 

Now to attach the magnetic catches. These will make sure the frame on the front will stay closed.

Measure two inches to the inside of the cubbies.

Install the magnetic catches. 

On the frame of the fake paintings, install the metal plate for the magnetic catches.

You should end up with some finished Hidden Storage Wall Cubbies that look like this.

Install them on the wall, preferable in a stud so they can handle weight of whatever you put in them. Once installed you have a couple of Hidden Storage Wall Cubbies that hide all your junk you don't want people to see and 

add a little wall decoration to the bathroom at the same time!

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