Nutcracker Pancake Breakfast!

I have been MIA lately (you noticed, didn't you).  The short story (because most of you are probably really wanting to only know about the pancakes) is:

We closed on our new house beginning of November.  :)

We got sick around the same time with a horrible (and I mean horrible in that it was the worst virus to hit our family in a long time - maybe ever.  Suffice to say that one family member went to the ER for dehydration concerns and it looked like a couple more might end up there as well,  but we pulled through it finally). It kind of made the rounds so when one person was better, another came down with it, and so forth.  Thus we played musical virus for a couple of weeks.

We (well, actually my husband) were FINALLY healthy enough to move some stuff after Thanksgiving so we did.

Then we ended up traveling unexpectedly after only being in the house two or three nights.

We returned several days later AND that brings us to the pancakes (finally, you say).

The evening of our return, we attended the ballet - more specifically The Nutcracker.  It was beautiful, it was festive, and it was a great start to the Christmas season!

Perhaps it was because of the ballet.  Perhaps there was a need to stretch my creative wings.  Perhaps I just wanted to see the delighted smile on my kids' faces.  Or maybe it was a combination of all of the above.  Whatever it was,  the next morning, I went from just making pancakes to making a nutcracker themed breakfast!  :)



I used a pancake mix and swirled in some red and green food color (although the red color looked more pink which was fine because it still fit a nutcracker theme).  I let the pancakes cook extra long on one side, and then I flipped them quickly and let them sit there lightly toasting on the other side briefly (think seconds) so as not to obscure the festive color swirls.  I added whipped cream and sprinkles and candy cane bits for a stack of pancakes that would make the gingerbread man himself stop in his tracks if he happened by.  :)

And what's a nutcracker themed breakfast without nuts and mice, right?  Soooo, I added a few almond mice, toasted nuts, and Nutella wording!  :)

Voila!  The Nutcracker Breakfast!