Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin pancakes are the favorite breakfast at our house right now. Sooo yummy and easy to make. If you love anything pumpkin (like I do!) you should definitely give them a try.

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 eggs
1 cup wheat flour (or white if you prefer)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbs. sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin

Beat the eggs together then add the rest of the ingredients. Bake on a hot griddle. Makes about fifteen 4-5 inch pancakes.

This is the same recipe we use to make regular pancakes with just the cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin added. It's a very simple recipe and make very good pancakes.


These pancakes go great with Buttermilk Syrup. If a syrup could be life changing, this would be it. I have a hard time fighting of the urge to drink it, it is SOOOO good! (Thanks for the recipe, Danielle!)

Buttermilk Syrup:
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cube butter
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. white corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Bring buttermilk, butter, baking soda, sugar and corn syrup to boil and boil for 3 minutes. Take off heat and add vanilla.

I mass produce this recipe in batches. The most I can cook at one time is 3 X the recipe because the baking soda makes is bubble up A LOT. I'll make batch after batch until I use up all my buttermilk and then I freeze it in glass jars to pull out as we need it.

The Smell of Sweet Success

I felt like the little red hen today. Not only did I make this beautiful loaf of whole wheat bread, I ground the wheat by hand first. It took a long time. I think we might need to invest in an electric wheat grinder. Still, I was so proud of my beautiful, yummy loaves of bread. Now I'm just wondering if I'll really be able to make enough to satisfy Jeff's love of bread.

(I tried several recipes in my quest for homemade whole wheat bread but my favorite was from this blog. She even has a video on making bread that is really helpful in case any of you are interested.)

POST EDIT:
Apparently I am making myself appear more homemakery than I really am. Jeff says I need to post more about all my failed attempts. In the interest of not having a long post I failed to mention that this is at least my 10th attempt at homemade wheat bread in the past two months. Most of my other attempts were dense and crumbly or doughy in the center. I was almost to the point of giving up on ever making a decent loaf of bread. The only reason I ground my wheat is because I had no wheat flour in the house, had no money left in the budget to go out and buy wheat flour, I wanted to try out the wheat grinder Jeff's parents gave us for our birthdays and I have heard how wonderful white wheat is vs. red wheat and wanted to try that out as well. I certainly don't spend my days out in the field shucking wheat and then come home and sew my entire family matching outfits for Sunday the next day. Sorry to disillusion you Shannan! ;)

Rainy Days and Mondays

Mondays tend to be this weird combination of lazy day and work day at our house. I know a lot of people clean their house on the weekend, but I prefer to do it on Monday. This is because it seems like it gets the dirtiest over the weekend, so if I clean on Saturday, by Monday it feels like I need to clean again anyway. Since I plan on cleaning on Mondays, I tend to put off taking a shower and getting ready for the day, making me feel like it's a lazy day. Today we got a very late start to the day. Emily didn't wake up until 10:00 and then I woke Max up at 10:30. Before you get all jealous, this is not the normal time my kids get up, we just had a late night last night and Max woke up around three and screamed for about an hour for who knows what reason, so I feel I was justified in having my kids sleep in today.

It was a gloomy, dark, rainy day which put me in the mood for a little extra homemaking so Max and I made homemade granola bars. I don't know why I've become such a from scratch kind of girl lately, but I love making things on my own that most people would normally buy from the store. This is probably part loving to save money and part loving to create something. These are very easy to make and I think they are pretty good. Of course I got the recipe of Allrecipes, if anyone was wondering. Oh, how I love Allrecipes!

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup flour (I used wheat even though it calls for all-purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 cups chocolate chips (or raisins, nuts, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients but the chocolate chips. Stir in the chocolate chips. Press the mixture into the pan. Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes and then cut into bars. Wait until they are completely cool before serving or removing.

I used only 1 cup of chocolate chips even though it called for 2 and I think it was plenty. The first time I made these I used raisins and I thought they turned out really good even though I'm not a huge raisin fan. I also pressed down the mixture halfway through baking and again when I pulled them out of the oven. There was also a suggestion on Allrecipes to add Rice Crispy's to give them that crunch that Quaker granola bars have. I think this sounds like a great idea, but we don't eat cereal and I didn't want to buy a box just to make a batch of granola bars. Maybe next time.

My dreams have been SQUASHED!!

(Ha, ha, ha! The title is one that Jeff threw out when I asked,"What should I title my post?" and we had a good laugh over it so I decided to go ahead and use it.)

Anywho, we brought home several butternut squash from Jeff's parents after the wedding festivities a couple of weeks ago and I have had a wonderful time finding ways to use them. Who ever knew that cooking with squash could be so fun and yummy?!

The first squash I used to make baby food. I have been making my own baby food for Emily, and it is very satisfying and easy. I just cook up a bunch of sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, or whatever vegetable I want to add to her repertoire of food. Then I puree it in our blender, adding some water if needed to get the consistency I like. Then I pour it into ice cube trays. I store them in freezer bags after they're completely frozen. When it's time to feed her I just thaw 3 or 4 cubes in the microwave and viola! She loves her food and I love looking in the freezer at all the pretty colored bags of frozen fruits and veggies. Right now she has squash, carrots, green beans, and pears. (BTW, that one squash made enough to fill that whole freezer bag. We are down probably about a third of what we started out with.)

The next squash I used to make squash soup. Now, Jeff was not too excited about the prospect of squash soup for dinner, but he changed his mind after he tasted it. This was YUMMY!! Here's the recipe:

1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
32 oz. chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream

Cover the vegetables with chicken stock. (I actually used part stock and part water and bouillon because that's what I had.) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. (I actually used our hand wand and blended it right in the pot.) If needed, add more chicken stock to get the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a dollop of sour cream. (Crackers go really good with this soup.)

The original recipe called for celery, but I didn't have any so I left it out. It also said to saute the vegetables in 2 T. butter first, but I skipped that part. Did I mention that this soup was yummy? It made enough for the four of us for dinner (with both Jeff and I having a second bowl of soup) and three lunches for me and Emily. (My brave little eater Max would not try this soup. He just kept pretending to take a bite and then would say, "I no like it, mommy!") Another thing that was great about this soup was that all the vegetables, minus the carrots, came from Bill's garden. Thanks for a yummy dinner, Bill!!

Yesterday I cooked up our third squash and made "Better Than Pumpkin Pie". Jeff and I both thought this was one of the best "pumpkin" pies we have ever had. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

Place squash in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and simmer over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and cool. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a blender or food processor, combine butternut squash, brown sugar, cornstarch, egg, milk, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Process until smooth. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a table knife comes out clean when inserted in the center.

Instead of cooking the squash on the stove, I actually pricked it with a fork several times and baked the entire thing in a 400 degree oven for an hour. Then I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and blended the squash in our blender. It was a big squash and it was not cooked all the way through, so I ended up cooking some of it in the microwave for a few minutes. I only used 1/4 of the entire squash to make this pie.

Can I just say that I have had so much fun expanding my recipes to include squash! Who knew that I would love cooking with squash so much. I actually have one more butternut squash that I got from a neighbor and I've found a recipe for squash fries that is supposed to be even better than sweet potato fries. I'll let you know how they turn out. In the meantime, Bill and Deanne stopped by today and brought me a big red cabbage. I've already got what looks like a yummy recipe to try for tomorrow night!

(If you are looking for a place to find good recipes, check out Allrecipes. It is AWESOME!!)