Pancakes and Traditions

I love traditions!  They create such a sense of belonging and unity within a family!  When a couple gets married, they are each bringing family traditions into their marriage.  Some traditions from each family will be kept and others end up being dropped, as the new family creates it own traditions.  My sweet mother got up every Sunday morning and made waffles, or occasionally pancakes, from scratch.  She still does that when I go home to visit and happen to be there on a Sunday, even though making enough for The Bru Crew is quite a chore!  Bru Crew Dad's family, instead, came home and made pancakes after church on Sundays.  Since we can barely get ourselves out the door on time for Sunday School on Sunday mornings, and every other Sunday, I have to be there more than an hour before Sunday School for Ensemble rehearsal, making a big breakfast each Sunday morning is not very practical for us, plus, for it to really be the tradition I grew up with, it would need to be waffles, and while I love to EAT waffles, I can't stand to make them!  At home, we eat the frozen ones when we eat them...that's how much I dislike making them!  Because the pancakes for lunch after church was important to my husband, that is a tradition we chose to continue.  I, however, get tired of making the same pancakes every Sunday.  (It doesn't make a lot of sense really, because I eat peanut butter toast for breakfast every single day without getting tired of it, but it is what it is.)  Anyway, I am on the constant search for "new" pancake recipes to try!  Blueberry, strawberry, double berry (both blueberries and strawberries together), banana nut, pumpkin, "pink" pancakes (which has ricotta, pureed beets and cinnamon), apple cinnamon, gingerbread, and chocolate chip have all made an appearance at my house.  Some more than others...chocolate chip and blueberry being the most common.  Recently, I didn't have ingredients to do anything exciting, but I replaced half of the milk in the batter with OJ and added chocolate chips.  Orange and chocolate are a GREAT mix, but I wasn't sure how it would taste in a pancake.  I am so grateful for my husband's patience as I try new pancake recipes!  Knowing the tradition, my mom recently emailed me a recipe for cinnamon roll pancakes that she had come across.  It took me a little while to work up the courage to try them, but today was the day.  They were delicious!!!  They were much more complicated than most of my pancakes to make, so they will not be in our regular rotation, but it was an enjoyable break from our norm. Rather than syrup, these pancakes a a cream cheese glaze (aka-Frosting) that made them taste more like cinnamon rolls.  Little man is my picky eater, and he was not thrilled with this newest development. (Cream Cheese is on his "Do Not Eat" list.)  His one pancake took over an hour for him to finish.  The girls, however, loved them!  I found they were so rich that we didn't eat as many as we usually do, so there are LOTS of leftovers!  Notice the serving plate on the table.  It looks like breakfast one day next week!

If you have a great pancake recipe, please share it with me!  I'd also love to hear some of your traditions!