Back in the Fall, I went to visit my family in my hometown of Clovis, CA.  While there, I went with some of my family to a pancake restaurant called Batter Up.  I had their cinnamon roll pancake that day.  It was so good that I knew that I had to try to make one of my own! So, I began trying various recipes and experimenting on my own.  My SIL sent me a recipe that he had used from the Food Network, and I liked it.  The only problem was that the butter and sugar recipe used for the swirl would burn on the griddle and I would have to clean the griddle between each set  of pancakes cooked to avoid a burnt taste on them.  That was unacceptable. 
     Then my son commented that if it were him, he would just make 2 batters, a cinnamon one and a plain one and swirl them together.  I considered that idea, but I knew that I wanted the cinnamon sugar experience that you get with cinnamon rolls. Then I discovered the secret!  I added some batter to the cinnamon sugar mixture, left out the butter and it worked amazingly well!  So, the credit for this recipe goes to many: Batter Up, Food Network, SIL Adrian, Son Tyler and ME! 

    These pancakes would make the best Christmas morning breakfast.  I mean, they are like cinnamon rolls and you don't have to let them rise! They are fluffy, cinnamony and topped with almond flavored icing that puts them over the top! 
      You just pour the batter onto a hot griddle and then add the swirl.  I like to put the swirl batter in a squeeze bottle.  It gives you greater control.

   The high content of sugar in the swirl batter still melts, but doesn't burn and really gives that cinnamon roll affect. 

    You can add butter, or not, but be sure to add the icing on the top! For a Christmas breakfast, you could even add sprinkles! 

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If you don't know this by now, my mom (Helen, the boss of this blog) watches my daughter while I am at work during the week. When I picked her up on Thursday my mom told me they had had pudding that day. My daughter had never had pudding before and the experience clearly left an impression on her. At bedtime that night she told me she wanted pudding. When I told her no, she said she wanted Grandma. When I told her no, she told me she wanted Grandma and pudding.

Fast forward to this weekend and she has been sick. Although she's had a fever and a cough she's been pretty happy. It has however, been really hard to get her to eat or drink anything. So today, in a desperate attempt to get her to put SOME food into her little tummy I made her some pudding.

She ate one bite and didn't want any more, but don't let that fool you about this homemade chocolate pudding. It is AMAZING! It is smooth and creamy and chocolate-y and happiness in a bowl. Also, it is EASY to make it vegan! Just swap out the butter for your favorite vegan variety and boom! Vegan chocolate pudding.

Pudding really is a great treat that we do not indulge in very often around these parts. However, this homemade chocolate pudding was so easy to make and tasted so good that I'm pretty sure I'll never buy the box varieties again!

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Today I thought I’d do a What to Read Wednesday gift guide for tweens. And I also wanted to combine it with books that would take you back to your childhood.  At least my childhood. These series are timeless classics that will just get better with age. ​

​1. Babysitter’s Club. All about that entrepreneurial spirit and learning important life lessons, Babysitter’s Club will suck your tween into the story. The era may be different but the problems the girls in the books faced are still problems kids face today.

​2.Harry Potter. Being a huge Harry Potter fan, how could I NOT mention it? The struggle to find where he fits in the world, starting a new school, making friends, choosing between right and wrong, dealing with grief, fighting a powerful wizard; Harry Potter is one of the most relatable characters in literature. The rereadability is off the charts too so this series will keep giving for life!

3. Goosebumps. I have already written a WTRW post on Goosebumps, which you can check out here. It will suffice me to say that there’s a reason these books are still around. Tweens will love the horror aspect while parents can feel happy it never gets gory just chilling. ​

4. Anne of Green Gables. Talk about relatability, although Anne grew up in the early 1900’s, her struggles with friends, boys, and family will be familiar to your young reader. She’s also a little over dramatic, a huge plus for me as a child as it gave me one of my favorite phrases of all time “I’m in the depths of despair.” ​

5. A Series of Unfortunate Events. I loved these books in Junior High. I even got my mom into reading them. The books follow the Baudelaire orphans through a series of unfortunate events while being “chased” by Count Olaf in order to steal their fortune. The kids use their talents and ingenuity to work together and get out of trouble, but things don’t always work out the way you plan. These books have a way of disappointing you without frustrating you at the same time. It’s all very delightful actually, you’ll want to keep reading because you have hope things will get better.

​I hope you’ve enjoyed this stroll down memory lane with me. I love these books, and would still reread them all today. I hope you and your tween will enjoy them too. It isn't too late to add them to their Christmas list! 

What book series did you enjoy when you were younger? What would you add to the list?

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    I love all of the word art signs that spell out Christmas messages and I really wanted some for the front of my house.  I found one similar to the JOY sign at a retailer, but it was in excess of $17 and of course I thought, I can make that for much less!  So, I did! 

The JOY Sign:
    Step 1:  Go to your husband and tell him how good you were about not spending that much money on a sign you can probably make yourself.  Ask him if he happens to have some scrap wood that you can use to make your own signs.  He is so proud of you for not spending the money, he goes right out and finds you a board that he cuts in half so that you can make 2 signs!  (If he doesn't have a board, you could always go to Home Depot or Lowe's and look in their reject pile for an inexpensive board.  They are pretty cheap and you don't want a perfect board for this anyway). 
     Step 2:  Find some leftover red paint and paint your boards your base color.  If you don't have leftover paint, you can use a bottle of acrylic craft paint, but it will take a lot. 
     Step 3:  Go to Hobby Lobby or Michael's and find wooden letters in the size you want for your board.  For the "O" in Joy, I found a snowflake ornament at Hobby Lobby that worked great.  I was a little worried about the fact that may "Y" extended over the sides of my board, but now I love the interest it adds to the board. 
      Step 4:  Paint the letters white.  Glue them on with 2 kinds of glue.  Gorilla glue or E6000 will hold them for the long haul and a glue gun will keep them in place until the stronger glue dries. 
      Step 5:  ​Use white paint to make snowflakes and sprinkle them with glitter! Now you're ready to put your sign it its festive place! 
     

The Believe Sign

    Repeat steps 1 & 2 above.
    Step 3:  Use painter's tape to create a diagonal buffalo plaid design. Use left over black interior house paint or acrylic paint. I used house paint for the red and acrylic for the black. 

     Step 4:  Use your Cricut machine to cut out letters and a star in a size that looks pleasing on your board.  I used 4.5 inches. 
    Step 5:  Place your letters and star.  Then decide that you don't want the letters to be gold like the star and paint over them with white acrylic paint. 
    Step 6:  Arrange your signs where you want them and add some Christmas foliage to set them off, as well as a few other accessories!  Take a picture and admire your work! Easy Peasy!