Ski Patrol Dogs

Heat has been a theme for the last few weeks. It is totally insane how freaking hot it is. Still, when the kids wake up the house is cool from the AC and they want a hot breakfast regardless of what the forecast is for the day. When I was a kid my mother would sometimes make me pancakes that were shaped as funny objects. Usually, however, they were your normal round circles or smaller circles that I called babies. We made the mistake of making alphabet pancakes years ago. We used to do a first initial but shortly thereafter we started making the whole name. Lower case letters are hard to create freehand from batter and it takes some practice. We are getting better, but you need to have the perfect consistency to really make a believable pancake that can also be used as a teaching tool. Somehow recently we have shifted to topical shapes.
To combat the heat this morning the kids asked us to recreate ski patrol dogs from Aspen. Our kids are obsessed with skiing and love our dog and all others. Ski Patrols are firefighters x 10. Mix in an avalanche dog and you have one heck of a pancake. We have been really lucky to get to Aspen for a visit every year. When I went to school in Colorado, I was lucky enough to make wonderful friends who were natives of Aspen. I fell in love with the people, the town and the mountain. After college, I was a ski bum in town working multiple jobs and “living the dream”. We go to visit our friends every year and Noah and Sasha feel as though it is their second home. While skiing, the kids have had the chance to meet and play with the ski patrol and their avalanche dogs.
So the vegan pancake is super easy to make and takes very little time. I combine mostly almond flour, whole-wheat flour, oat bran, a soft banana, equal amounts of baking powder and soda and soymilk together. On a hot griddle with grape seed oil we make our shapes. Like all pancakes, we wait for the bubbles to pop and then carefully flip them so as not to loose an arm, head or leg from the pancake shape. This time of year they are amazing with fresh berries from Twin Springs market. The local blueberries are so amazing and with a little maple syrup we got a hot cool breakfast.