Patriotic Pancakes

My Ben loves a good holiday.

Today he wanted a patriotic breakfast.  Because what says freedom like pancakes?

We took a mental inventory of the fridge and cabinets 

and came up with strawberries and blueberry syrup.

Not bad!

Then Bethany asked if we were going to color the batter.

We are dangerous when we start brainstorming.

I'm the one who thought of the squirt bottles.

Who wants to settle for red and blue pancakes when you could have stars and stripes?

We mixed a little batter with some red and a little more with some blue

and put them in old ice cream syrup bottles.

Perfect for squirting designs after putting down the regular batter.

I kept the stove a little lower than normal so I could afford to let them set up before turning.
(You have to work pretty fast.)

Ooops!  Didn't manage to land that one.

I don't have to tell you perfection is a terrible goal, right?

Good.

Obviously you just put the best ones on top.

After the fancy cakes we made a few with strawberries cooked in.  Mmmm!

Toppings for the table:  red, blue, and...

chocolate chips.

(Trust me, there are few things more American than chocolate chips.)

Blueberry delight for Ben.

Chocolate chip roll up for Bethany.

Something entirely too neat for Lee.

To each his own.

Happy Fourth!