Day #172

Has it *not* actually been that long that we've all been mostly isolating ourselves? Fortunately no one in my family has shown symptoms or been diagnosed, but can we all agree that mentally it is really really really hard to stay home ALLTHETIME? I am VERY over this.

On the plus side, I've never looked forward to a routine OB appointment as much as I'm looking forward to my 36-week check in on Friday.

You may have gathered this already, but I'm not the kind of mom who is at-the-ready with a boatload of crafts and educational games. Always thought I would be, but then I had four kids, and well, a lot has gone out the window. <Insert shrugging emoji>

One is all about his new Transformer, and the other is all about his new Legos.

I let her pick out her own outfits. <Insert another shrugging emoji>

He fell asleep on the kitchen bench for a good 30 minutes. <Insert a third shrugging emoji>

Saturday night partaaaaaaaaay! At least until half of them get injured.

Thankful for a husband who's always willing to entertain his kids, even if it means enduring physical pain.

Made Greek quinoa chicken bowls last night. I thought it was tasty as usual.

They did not.

But look! Signs of true spring! Tulips? Daffodils?? I'm not sure what I planted in this particular place, but I'm glad that this is the one stinkin' thing that coronavirus cannot stop!

Now for some food talk- I did actually make a new recipe this weekend. You ever heard of a pannekoeken? It's a Dutch pancake, and me being mostly Dutch, you'd think I'd have made them before. I have Kristin Cavallari's True Roots cookbook and she has a version of it that my oldest has been asking me to make. I had to make a few substitutions based on what I had on hand, but it turned out great!

Dutch Pancake

3 eggs

3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or cow's milk

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla (omit if you're using vanilla almond milk)

3/4 cup flour (I'm out of white whole wheat at the moment so I used all purpose)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a large (10 inch or so) cast iron skillet or Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or Kitchen Aid, beating for a minute or until mixture is smooth. Pour into the skillet or Dutch oven and bake uncovered for 25 minutes.

The pancake is done when it is puffed up and golden brown. Remove from oven and cut up into 4 slices.

Mmmm...except sorry for the dirty tablecloth. And also this is 1/6th rather than 1/4th cause mom life means sharing with your kids apparently. <Insert final shrugging emoji>

The texture is kind of like a thicker crepe. My only regret is being too lazy to whip up a berry sauce to go on top of it- we just used plain maple syrup which was still good, but just not as fancy-feeling. To make a berry sauce, simply bring ~1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries + 1/2 cup water to a boil. In a small dish, stir together 2 teaspoons cornstarch + 2 teaspoons water. Stir that into the boiling berries and it will instantly thicken a bit. Remove from heat and serve warm. Almond butter with some sliced bananas would be amazing as well. Even though I used all purpose flour, these are still lower in carbs and calories than traditional pancakes.

Per 1/4th of a pancake:

164 calories, 23 grams carbohydrates, 4.5 grams fat, 7 grams protein, 85 mg sodium

Good luck to everyone this week!