Pancake Strips

Over the last few months we've been trying really hard to eliminate a lot of processed foods from our diet. Part of putting the pantry together was making sure that it was as easy as possible to make foods from scratch...but that still doesn't mean "homemade" is easy. For example, the box of frozen mini pancakes that Kid #1 loves is a lot easier to buy at the store than it is to make on my own. But, for the sake of better health and better budgets (well...more the better health issue...those frozen mini pancakes are  pretty cheap), I have been trying to make and freeze homemade pancakes and waffles.

I have to admit, I already gave up on the waffles. I did it once, but waffles are kind of finicky, and it's hard to know how they're doing once the iron doors are shut. Too many of the waffles came out extra-crisp, and the waffle maker is hard to clean. Now we save it for special occasions.

But this past weekend I decided to make chocolate chip pancakes with Kid #1, and she was really excited about it. We used this recipe from Annies Eats, and the pancakes were awesome. I made a huge batch so that I could freeze the extras for school mornings. But the pancakes were a little thinner than I expected, and this happened:

So, two of my pancakes morphed together, and came dangerously close to consuming a third. For a moment, I was sad, and then I thought "Why am I fighting the pancake love?" Making pancakes isn't all that hard, but making just one big pancake would be even easier:

So, for the next round I filled up the whole pan, and that beautiful pancake flipped like a dream:

And after it was all cooked and colled, I used my pizza slicer to make it into strips. The only thing Kid #1 loves more than "nuggets" is "strips", so I had no doubt that pancake strips would be a huge hit with her.

Once cooled, these pancakes strips can go straight into a zip lock bag for freezing. I was worried that they would have to be frozen individually or they would stick together but that wasn't a problem. I think they just have to be cool first. Tip: the Annies Eats recipe seemed on track to make about 4 giant pancakes, which would be a good month's worth of pancake strips. Unless, of course, your dogs like chocolate chip pancakes and are expert counter surfers. Then it will make significantly less. Just saying.