Gingerbread Mancakes

Make these SUPER yummy and fun pancakes for Christmas breakfast...or whenever!  I used a slight variation on the Gingerbread Pancake recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  Here is a link to theirs

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/gingerbread-pancakes.html

but this is what I made:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda  
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger 
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves  
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• OMIT MOLASSES
• 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted 
• 1 cup water 
• 1/4 cup milk

I mixed all ingredients then poured into a standard condiment squirt bottle.  I found that decorating the gingerbread man with raisins (which tastes divine, by the way!) is most effective if I laid them on the hot oiled griddle first, then squirted the gingerbread man shape on top of the raisin design.  (The raisins sink and can't be seen well if you lay them on top of the cooking batter).  Flip, plate, and enjoy!  SO tasty, a very delicate gingerbread flavor (omitting the molasses makes it more subtle) and a HUGE hit with the kids!

Christmas Side in School Lunch

This is just a tiny side to the lunch.  Cheese cut to santa face, with a strawberry hat!

Grinch Pancakes

More Christmas pancakes!  This time its the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  Apparently this turned out pretty good because Henry was afraid of the pancake!

Rudolph Lunches

Now here is a really easy christmasy lunch to pack!  I used my multi-sized biscuit cutters to cut turkey sandwiches into 2 sized circles & stacked them.  Pretzel bits made the antlers, half a cherry tomato for the nose, cheese for eyes with blueberry pupils.  These lunch boxes came back empty!

Quristmas Quesadillas!

I cut the quesadillas into squares, used bell pepper strips for ribbon, and put sour cream (smoothed out a smidge with milk for easy squirting) into the same squirt bottles I use for pancake batter.  I squirted out white & food-color-dyed "red" to make sour cream candy canes for dipping.  The boys LOVED this for dinner!

Christmas Vegetable Tray

I thank pinterest for this idea - sorry for no credit, but I saw similar ideas posted all over the place.  We took this to our neighbor's christmas party.  It's fairly obvious how to make it.  The bell peppers at the bottom are filled with dip.

Elf on the Shelf Breakfasts

2 of our mornings this December: our elf made tiny breakfasts!  The pancakes are easy enough to miniaturize.  The donuts are cheerios rolled in powdered sugar, cinnamon, and some were frosted.  I made the mini box with card stock & tape.

Christmas Pancakes!

Olive the Other Reindeer Lunch

Another Christmas lunch, for the slightly more advanced lunch-maker.  Topping a standard sandwich is a hand cut cheese "Olive", the dog from one of our favorite Christmas books, "Olive the Other Reindeer".  I used a hand-cut pita slice to make the two-toned color of her face, and cut nori (seaweed snack) for her eyes, ears, & mouth.  Using holiday books as inspiration for school lunches makes for some very enthusiastic kids!

Stocking Lunch

Another fun Christmas-themed lunch is this stocking sandwich.  Simply cut to a vague sock-shape, topped with cut cheese "fur", colorful details made with bell peppers, and a cute message or name made in cheese cut with fondant cutter letters (purchased at Michaels).  Ho Ho Hungry?

Santa Lunch

With Christmas just around the corner, here are some fun lunch ideas to keep festive in the brown bag!
This sandwich is topped with cheese cut to look like the big man himself.  Red & green bell pepper make the colorful details.