Taste of Fall...

Pumpkin Pancakes!

So, since Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, 

and along with Fall comes lots of yummy recipes,

those of my favorite being made with pumpkin or squash,

I thought I would do some 

"Taste of Fall" posts 

where I share my favorite Fall Time recipes, most of which are a wonderful way 

to use up the pumpkin and squash that we have in abundance this time of the year!

Today's featured recipe is Pumpkin Pancakes...

I really don't think I have had a more tasty breakfast pancake than this yummy recipe.

My kids and hubby were WOWed  

over by them and we can't seem to get enough of these

light, fluffy, full of flavor, perfect and delicious pancakes.

(I just wish we had LOTS more pumpkin/squash than what we do,

so we could enjoy these ALL throughout the year, they are that good!)

Pumpkin Pancakes 

(Mix all dry ingredients together)

1-1/4 cups unbleached flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

(Mix all wet ingredients together in another bowl)

1 cup milk 

2 Tablespoons melted butter

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin OR squash puree

1 teaspoon vanilla

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  

Melt butter on a non-stick skillet. 

Pour batter on skillet (1/4 cup per pancake).  

Cook 2-3 minutes per side.

Serve with REAL butter and REAL maple syrup!

Make up some yummy-ness for your family today that is sure to make your house smell SO good and bring many smiles to faces and "OOHs and AAHs" from your family as they eat them!

Enjoy!

Weekend breakfast yummyness!!

I LOVE weekend breakfasts 

because it is two days out of the week that we all get to sit and enjoy breakfast together as a family!  

love, Love, LOVE these moments!

Steel Cut Oats are enjoyed Monday-Friday for breakfast and so when Saturday morning comes around it means PANCAKES!

Tracy is our weekend chef and the kids look SO forward to his yummy breakfasts he fixes which always consist of some kind of pancake made from scratch with fried eggs.

However, once in awhile, Tracy doesn't feel like pulling out all of the containers of salt, soda, sugar, flour and measuring things out and making a mess. SO, when he has mornings like this we make OVEN Pancakes. 

SO easy, 

just four staple ingredients and 

always a HIT with kiddos!!

 

Oven Pancakes (AKA German Pancakes)

1/4 cup butter (1/2 cube)

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

6 eggs

Put butter in 9x13 pan and turn oven to 425 degrees and put pan in oven until butter is melted. 

Put flour, milk and eggs in blender mix on high for 30 seconds

Pour mixture into buttered pan

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cut into 8 pieces...serves 4 people perfectly!

Enjoy with REAL maple syrup, 

or my family's favorite...peanut butter and syrup.

Pancakes of ANY kind definitely 

make the perfect weekend breakfast!

Great use for cornmeal!!

I don't know about you but I LOVE anything made with cornmeal!
I really enjoy eating pizza where they have sprinkled the pan they cook the pizza on with cornmeal, or cornmeal on top of hamburger buns. There's just something about biting into the crunchy cornmeal coating...
Yummy!

I really enjoy cooking from staple ingredients and
cornmeal is definitely
a staple ingredient in our house!
With all of the soups and bean dishes we make up Cornbread is delicious and so I alternate by making up either corn bread or any of my other homemade breads. (click here for Cornbread recipe AND Split Pea Soup recipe)

Until this year, I have only ever used cornmeal to make CORN BREAD, however we received a delicious recipe for Cornmeal Pancakes from some great friends of our family! We made them up one weekend and they were a great hit with our kids! However, we realized that we needed to cut the recipe in half since it made more pancakes than our family of four could eat for one breakfast and so we adjusted the recipe and also added an extra egg to the batter since we have chickens and it's always nice to use our Farm Fresh Eggs (since they are plentiful at our house) and we added in vanilla to the recipe as well.

**********************

Last Tuesday, I had just gotten home from work and starting cooking up some split peas and then the power went out for the rest of the afternoon. Thank goodness my gas range still worked even though the power was off, but since the power was off all afternoon, it meant I couldn't bake up any bread to go with our Split Pea Soup.

When Tracy got home he whipped up a batch of "Cornmeal pancakes" and we spread some butter on them and folded them in half and ate them with our Split Pea Soup and they were delicious!
********
I often times think about the Pioneers and how they must have ate and compromised with things and I'm sure they would have thought this meal was delicious!

Once again my kids never complained, but commented how yummy it was! Oh, and after dinner Ethan asked me if we had any leftover pancakes so he could take a PB and J sandwich
to school for lunch the next day!

He thinks they are great and loves it on Monday when we have leftover pancakes from the weekend because that is what he wants in his lunch...
Pancake Sandwiches!
(I would love to be a fly on the wall when my kids open their lunches at school and wonder what people are thinking). (wink)
**********
I sure love and appreciate
my "easy to please" kids
and my hubby
who always pitches in and helps out
when things haven't gone well
with my afternoons!
How VERY lucky I am!

Cornmeal Pancakes
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Add the buttermilk, milk, oil, and eggs and stir until all ingredients are incorporated. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
Heat a griddle or large frying pan to medium hot and oil lightly.
Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to ladle the batter onto the griddle.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface;
turn to brown the second side. Serve with butter, syrup or jam!

Enjoy!!

For the love of Buttermilk!

Ahh....Buttermilk, I don't know what I would do without you!!

Buttermilk is a staple in my house and it is used to make our weekend Buttermilk pancakes, many of my muffin recipes (click here) and also Biscuits.

*************

Tuesday was a hectic day because I have been trying to get my house "organized" (thanks to Ann Marie)....

Last week Jade was sick for 3 days, Saturday Tracy and I spent all day working in our food storage room and Sunday was church

and so it meant that when I went to work on Monday I had piles of laundry in the laundry room and piles of paper to go through piled all over the kitchen table. It was driving me crazy!! I told myself that I wouldn't do email or Blog until these 2 things were taken care of and that would be my reward. ************** I reflect often on a quote that was given to me by one of my favorite people in the world Joleen in one of the community classes she taught and it has stuck with me and I can truly attest that this is true:

"Family members get along with each other better and are happier when they leave the house in the morning and happier when they walk in the door each night when TWO things exist:

1. The house is in order

2. There is a plan for dinner"

Which leads me to my Tuesday....

Planning and making dinner takes time out of your afternoon and since I wanted to get these 2 projects done (so I could have my sanity back), it meant that when Tracy called me at 5:45 to tell me he was on his way home I asked him if he could figure out something for dinner.

S0 he stopped by Albertsons and grabbed an 8 piece chicken from the deli for $4.99 and then he called me and told me to make up some "instant potatoes", "country gravy" and a "can of corn" from our food storage and some "buttermilk biscuits" (as he wanted to have our own KFC dinner at our house). I have to admit it, even though I'm not a fan of "cheap food" it was delicious! We each ate a piece of chicken (and put the other piece in the fridge to have for lunch the next day) and we really felt like we were eating a meal at KFC! (Since we only ate 1/2 the chicken the chicken only cost $2.50 and the rest of the items were less than $1.00 versus spending $15.00 to $20.00 going to eat at KFC). The thing that made this the yummiest was the HOMEMADE Buttermilk Biscuits (which were ready in less than 20 minutes from start to finish and cost pennies to make). Thanks to husbands who make their wives burdens lighter by adding some "man meals" to dinner once in awhile.

(funny sidenote....Tracy said that while he was getting the chicken, Albertsons was having some extreme coupon special going on and women were running around piling lots of Pillsbury GRANDS biscuits, cookie mixes, Fruit Gushers, etc.... into their carts. He came home and told me how much he is grateful that I can take simple ingredients and cook almost anything from scratch).

I'm the LUCKY one to have a hubby who is so appreciative and thoughtful!

*******************

By always having Buttermilk on hand, it means that if we don't have any bread, I can whip up a batch of Buttermilk biscuits in less than 20 minutes and they are the perfect compliment to any soup. They also make great "Egg Biscuits" for breakfast and are yummy with fruit smoothies. *****************

TIDBIT...if for some reason you don't have any buttermilk you can always add 1 Tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to each cup of milk and let it stand for 5 minutes to "Sour" and you will have buttermilk to add to your recipes.

Yummy, flaky Buttermilk Biscuits!!

Hot Buttermilk Biscuits (really easy and really good) 2 cups flour ½ teaspoon salt 3 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda 3 Tablespoons butter 2/3 cup buttermilk Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add buttermilk all at once. Stir lightly with fork. Knead gently on lightly floured board. Roll ½ inch thick. Cut with 3 inch round cutter. Place on baking dish with biscuits touching. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 or until lightly browned.

***************************** My hubby Tracy is our weekend breakfast Chef and he makes either of these pancake recipes for our weekend breakfasts! YUMMY!!

Light & Fluffy Buttermilk pancakes

Whisk together: 1 cup flour 2 tsp. sugar ¼ tsp salt ½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp baking soda Microwave the following for 30 seconds (twice until butter is melted) 1 cup buttermilk 2 Tbsp. butter Then whisk into the milk mixture: 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla After wet ingredients are whisked together add to dry ingredients until just barely mixed. Cook on 380 degree skillet using ¼ cup scoops. Cook 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side

Enjoy with REAL maple syrup and butter!

(also great topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries and vanilla yogurt)

*********************

Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancakes (mix together) 1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour ¼ cup wheat germ 2 Tbsp. sugar 1-1/2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt (whisk together wet ingredients) 1-1/2 cups buttermilk ¼ cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla Add wet and dry ingredients together until just barely mixed. Let stand 10 minutes. Cook pancakes at 380 degrees on oiled skillet. Use ¼ cup scoops and cook 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side.

These are the yummiest topped with real butter and either a fruit syrup or home made jam.

Our Tradition on the weekends is we usually make light and fluffy pancakes on Saturday morning and Whole Wheat pancakes on Sunday morning. They are such a yummy treat that we look forward to all week because the rest of the week we have “steel cut oats” for breakfast each day.