Pumpkin Pancakes

Fall has turned into being all about that squash, that squash being pumpkin. But I still think of fall as apple season. Late in September my maternal family would head up to Edward's Orchard to go apple picking, buy apple cider, and eat the absolute best apple cider doughnuts. To me fall is all about harvesting apples. But sometimes you buy a pie pumpkin (for the seeds of course) at the store and end up with quarts of fresh roasted pumpkin puree. So, here's a recipe for pumpkin pancakes!

Various Winter Squashes in Various Forms

Pumpkin Pancakes
Makes about fifteen two tablespoon of batter pancakes

3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flout
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch to 1/8 teaspoon cloves (optional)

Grease and heat the pan on medium. Mix liquid ingredients and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients. Gently mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Add the batter to the pan. Flip when bubbles form in the batter and the bottom of the pancake is brownish.

Inspired by Mark Bittman's Everyday Pancakes (his pancake making instructions are the best if you need more detail than I've provided) and Eagle Brand's Pumpkin Pie.

I hope you enjoy,
EAH


PS I'm sorry about my spotty posting. I try to post Tuesdays and Thursday and I was able to do that before our kiddos joined us. I will definitely be posting every Thursday (because when I realize that I've forgotten on Tuesday, I'm extra motivated to get a post scheduled for Thursday).

Better Butter

I'm all about saving money and eating "healthy." By that I mean we don't eat margarine or keep pop on hand other than ginger ale for upset stomach. But I eat choclate chips out if the bag.

The butter in action. The step by step photos I took
didn't turn out very well so I didn't end up using them.

I had been buying Land o Lakes spreadable butter with canola oil since it's spreadable and it should be lower in chloresterol since it's not all butter. (I have high bad  chloresterol so I try to exercise more and limit it in my diet.)

But I stumbled upon a make your own recipe!  And it was great.

Let two sticks of butter soften, whip with a hand mixer and add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, if using unsalted butter, and 1/2 cup of canola oil. Wash out a 15 oz container of the store bought stuff and you'll be able to fill it up with homemade.

This was a game changer! We save almost $2 since it costs a little more than half as much to make as it does to buy it. It's not quite as smooth as the store bought stuff but it still spreads much more nicely on toast than real butter does and tastes great.

I can't wait to experiment and see if I can make lower fat spreadable butter by mixing milk back into the butter. I'll have an update once I give it a try.