Fluffy Pancakes

This last week we have fixed ourselves a very difficult but long needed goal of all having breakfast (or some of it) all together. In order to make it a little bit more interesting I have been working an an all time classic of my childhood: pancakes. I still have memories of breakfasts when I was a kid and my mum making us all pancakes in different shapes.
While I am not that gifted in the shape science of pancakes yet I decided to make it up recipe wise and I have finally come up with a lovely, fluffy and tasty recipe. It even comes with the bonuses of being cruelty free and sugar free!

For these fluffy pancakes, you will need:

2 1/2 cup of plain flour

1 cup of self raising flour

4 table spoons of baking soda

2 table spoons of agave syrup

5 table spoons of vegetable spread

3 cups of coconut or almond milk

3 teaspoons of cinnamon

3 table spoons of flavour extract (we liked almond, vanilla)

Heat up a pan on the stove at medium heat,

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, do not worry about small lumps,

Pour a serving spoon in the pan, wait until the top bubbles,

Flip the pancake,

Watch it raise up for about 30 seconds depending on your stove,

Remove and put on a plate.

Serve with butter and maple syrup!

If you don't have hungry children already waiting at the table, you can keep the pancakes warm in the oven while baking the end of the batch. If you do not finish all of them, put them in a sealed tub with a few wedges of freshly cut apple to keep them nice and moist in the fridge for the next time!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

I just lost a whole year with my children...

Tonight my husband and I were sitting down for the first time in over a week (we're working a lot these days plus got a few tummy bugs thrown in the mix which spiced up our evenings plans). Simon is in his third year studying to be a Primary School teacher. We were chatting about family and school curriculum and I suddenly picked up on something that had not fully hit me before: Nursery (kindergarten) here in Scotland starts at 4! And Primary School at 5!? Back home in Canada, kindergarten starts at 5, so children start Primary school at 6. When I heard here of children starting nursery at 3 I did think it was a bit young, my plan for the girls was to wait till they'd turn 4 if they seemed ready for it, but I didn't realise this was actually my only option if I want my children to get a cushion year before Primary school.
So this means I only have one year left with Lilly at home and not one with a potential extra one...just one. And it feels very final, and that these nearly three years so far have gone by much faster and that we have very little time left together. I know it is not the end of the world, but I feel like I have just lost a whole year and also I really need to get more research in the curriculum here as it is much more different than just high school encompassing both middle school and high school in one go.
This is adding one more little bit to the home sick feeling I have had lately (it has been more than eight years since my last maple cream cookie and you don't find hot apple cider powder here... and it took Lilly to be two and a half to go walk in snow for the first time and she was terrorised of it...).
I am going to go to bed now and tomorrow I am going to start planning on how to do the things I thought I had two years to do before Primary fit into one. Hopefully I will be better ready for Kaede's turn.