Almond panckes and sewing adventures!

I have no idea what has gotten into me but I have recently developed an obsession with almond! I LOVE IT. Yesterday I tried a pinterest recipe for almond poppyseed muffins, flavor and smell was great, texture was BAD. Definitely need to do some tweeking! But tonight for dinner I made almond pancakes. They came out beautiful, light, fluffy and had the perfect aroma and flavor of almond. I bet they would be even better with poppyseeds! But for this evening we topped them with strawberry glaze and whipped cream. The kids couldn't get enough (and neither could I).

I have also managed to get into sewing. I have made 20+ cloth wipes for my fluffy butt, and now I have started a new project. My older 2 girls are obsessed with baby dolls, as any 4 and 2 year old should be. And of course they want diapers for their baby dolls. For quite a while we had left over newborn diapers but after coming off the dolls and going back on a few times, they start to fall apart and of course they need a new one. Well now we are out. Which makes for some very sad and occasionally mischevious girls. Well I was playing on pinterest, looking at some diapers for the baby and discovered cloth diapers for baby dolls. Who would have thought. Makes perfect sense right?! Well, I get the bright idea "I can make those". Hahahaha. Yeah well. I tried. I would have succeeded had the sewing machine not failed me.

Onward I went to google, and found the free pattern and instructions. I get the pattern printed, fabric cut, and begin sewing. Well my machine has always been a little on the special side and will not back stitch with the switch. So, in order to back stitch I have to turn the fabric around and sew back over the initial stitching, then of course flip it around  again to keep going. Its a pain but it works, and keeps the machine from jamming (most of the time). I get the first step done, which was sew the layers together right side together. It looked decent. Far from perfect but decent. Turned it inside out and did the top stitch to make it look pretty and seal off the opening. At this point I am feeling optimistic. I grab the cabbage patch, try  it on for size, check it out on the American girl doll, and it fits! Now I just need to do the final step. Add the velcro. I measure it out, cut it to fit and stick it on (it was the kind with the stick back, which I thought would be great to hold it in place with out annoying pins!). I make sure the sewing machine is threaded and ready to go. Put the fabric in and start sewing. I get the long top end done and BAM. It jams. Sucked the fabric through the bottom plate. I cut all the threads and wrestle the beast for my beautiful project. Finally it come free. The top side looks great, then I flip it over. The thread is a mess. Tangled, loose and knotted. I sit at my desk thinking, how in the world did this happen. (This is also the moment all 3 kids decide to get up from nap). I grab the kids some lara bars, and a cup of water, I grab my trusty seam ripper and the disaster diaper. As the big kids ate, I nursed the little one and carefully ripped away. I was determined. THIS WOULD WORK! Or so I thought. Once the kids went off to play and the baby back down to sleep I went to set up the machine. Threaded it, set the bobbin. Dropped the needle to catch the bobbin thread, and it wont catch. Try again, still won't catch. Try, and try, and try, and try again and the blasted thing still WON'T catch!! I eventually give up, walk away and go to play with the girls. But I stare at the machine and make a promise, I will be back!

So today at nap time, I grab disaster diaper, seam ripper and again face the beast. I unthread and rethread the machine. dust all parts. Check for loose threads. Set up the bobbin and again, attempt to catch the bobbin. No luck. I swear it was created by the daleks and is laughing at me. Now when I attempt to try and get the needle thread to catch the bobbin it locks up, wheel won't turn, and machine just wont go. I think its done for. The worst part about this, the girls were looking forward to their doll fluff. My oldest had even picked out some fabric for liners to lay inside. :-(

At least the yummy pancakes took their mind off the diaper for a minute.

Almond Pancakes

Makes about 12 4inch pancakes

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter melted
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1) Mix eggs, almond, extract, butter and milk together. If the butter is hot mix it with the cold milk before adding to the eggs so you don't cook them! 

2) Mix dry ingrediants together

3) Slowly mix in the dry ingredient to the wet, until just mixed. Its okay if its a bit lumpy.

 

4) Cook on a griddle or pan heated to medium heat. Flip when bubbles appear and begin to pop on surface.

I hope you enjoy these pancakes! They were delicious. They also freeze well, so feel free to double and make a big batch to last through the week.

<3