Pumpkin Pancakes and Whole Wheat Pancakes

Nutmeg requested this recipe and I forgot to give it to her. So now I will share it with you all. It's one of my favorites. They're so tasty that they really don't need much adorning. My favorite way to have them is just with apple butter. My husband, we'll call him Basil, is a pancake "purist" and likes it with maple syrup. Nutmeg found they were also good with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. I found this on Recipezaar and slightly modified it.

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 cup flour (you can do all-purpose, half whole wheat half all purpose, or all whole wheat)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (I don't actually have this so I make about half of this amount cinnamon and the rest I make up with whatever pumpkiny spices I have such as nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and ginger. They all give great flavor.)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 cup buttermilk (I almost never have this because I would never go through it, so I put 1 tbsp of lemon juice in a measuring cup and then fill it up to a cup with low fat or skim milk.)

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

nonstick cooking spray

1. Whisk together your dry ingredients (first 5) in a bowl and set aside.

2. Whisk together wet ingredients (next 6, yes, in baking sugar is considered a "wet" ingredient).

3. Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Mix as little as possible, just until everything is wet. It will still be lumpy and that is OK! Just make sure you don't over mix it because then it will get tough.

4.  Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop batter and drop on griddle. Do not scrape out measuring cup for perfectly portioned, easy-to-flip pancakes. Cook on a griddle, if you have one, at about 250°F, using the nonstick spray as needed. Flip when pancakes are bubbly on top and puffy and dry around the edges. Only flip once!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

I've searched and searched for a good whole wheat pancake recipe that doesn't taste like warm whole wheat flour. I finally found one hiding in my handy-dandy Betty Crocker cookbook. Whodathunk? I adapted the instructions though so I'll go ahead and post it here. I think I improved on it. If you follow their instructions just to beat everything in after you've whipped up the egg, it's probably going to come out tough and then you'll run into the problem of it tasting like sawdust. Anyway, here's my adaptation of these delicious and filling pancakes:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk (a little more for thinner pancakes, which I like so I added a couple tbsp more)

1 tbsp packed brown sugar

2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

butter or nonstick spray

1. Whisk dry (first 3) ingredients together in one bowl, set aside.

2. Beat egg in another bowl. Add milk, sugar, and oil, mixing well.

3. Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Mix as little as possible, just until everything is wet. It will still be lumpy and that is OK! Just make sure you don't over mix it because then it will get tough. (I repeated these VERY IMPORTANT instructions in case you missed them the first time.)

4. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop batter and drop on griddle. Do not scrape out measuring cup for perfectly portioned, easy-to-flip pancakes. Cook on a griddle, if you have one, at about 250°F, using the nonstick spray or butter as needed. Flip when pancakes are bubbly on top and puffy and dry around the edges. Only flip once! (Hey, I repeated this one too. This time because I'm lazy.)

Happy breakfast!

Rosemary

Sweet Potatoes: From moderate failure to triumphant success

So I, like most everyone, decided to make a sweet potato dish for my thanksgiving dinner last week. And, trying to be clever and make stuff up ahead of time, decided to peel, slice, coat in olive oil, and roast the sweet potatoes on Wednesday, toss it together into a casserole that night, and basically just have to heat it up on Thursday. Which I did. After slicing and roasting them for an hour or so, I tossed in some brown sugar and let them sit until I got around to them again. At which point, I added a bit of orange juice and nutmeg and tossed the potatoes again. I then made a topping with chopped walnuts, a bit of flour, some cinnamon and nutmeg, and poured some of the orange juice/olive oil liquid from the potatoes in with it, and then sprinkled all that on in a layer over the sweet potatoes. Put it in the oven with the turkey when there was about an hour or so left before lunch and then was served with dinner. Tasted great...except...the consistency of most of the sweet potatoes was a bit chewier than I would like. Only a few were actually soft, and I have no real words to describe how off they were. Everyone took a few polite bites, but they were not exactly the star of the meal.

Faced with a nearly full pan of sweet potato "casserole" I decided to get inventive with my leftovers. I tossed the potatoes (it was generally easy to separate out the nuts) into a food processor and pureed them as best I could. Then I used it to make sweet potato bread. I generally followed the recipe for pumpkin bread in the Betty Crocker cookbook, leaving out most of the spices (since the potatoes were already flavored), and trying to balance out the liquid to flour ratio. One loaf disappeared that very night and the other one made it to work but was gone by the end of the day. So I'd say that whether or not your sweet potatoes turn out right, it's pretty easy to turn your sweet potato casserole into sweet potato bread - nuts and all.

Thyme

Honey Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe came about because I had a few things in my kitchen that I needed to use up. I took an existing recipe and modified it for that purpose. They turned out even better than I had hoped. So if you happen to have these ingredients, I suggest giving this recipe a whirl. They're not very heavy on the pumpkin flavor, if you're concerned, but you can always go with unsweetened applesauce or some other fruit/veggie puree if needed. They stayed nice and soft for that day and the day after and probably would have longer, but by that time they were gone. Pardon the bad picture.

Yield: 3-4 dozen

1 cup honey
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 tbsp dry, powdered egg (I modified the recipe to use honey, so I had to decrease water, hence dry eggs. If you use regular, you'll have to use a lot more flour too, so I don't recommend it. Maybe a honey expert can chime in about a good way to balance this if you don't have dry eggs.)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups oats (quick or regular but not instant)
1 cup mix-ins (I used dried cranberries and butterscotch chips...a bit sweet, but still good. Any dried fruit/chip/nut will work.)

Mix together honey, butter,pumpkin, powdered egg, and vanilla. In another bowl whisk together baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and flour. Stir wet and dry ingredients together just to combine. Throw in oats and mix-ins, again stirring only enough to combine.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet and bake in 365°F oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for about 2 minutes, then place on rack to cool.

Rosemary

Green Chile Enchiladas

There is just nothing in the world like real New Mexico Green Chilies. They're so so yummy! The flavor is beyond anything you can get in a can. I've been fortunate enough to acquire a fairly large amount of them this year. I decided to make enchiladas and was fortunate that the two freezer bags I used were mild in heat so even my toddler could enjoy...even if he was a bit skeptical. Here's the recipe for some of the dang tastiest enchiladas you'll ever have.

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
makes one 9x13" pan

1-2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
~1 cup chopped roasted New Mexico green chilies (you can get away with about 2 cans if you like, but the flavor isn't as good, or roast and peel anaheims for something similar)
1/2 tsp or so ground cumin
2 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken stock
enough flour or corn tortillas to get the job done
3-4 cups shredded chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Sweat onion and garlic in oil until translucent.  Throw in green chilies and cumin and cook until fragrant.

2. Add flour and cook for another minute. Stir in broth and cook until thickened.

3. Using tongs, dip tortillas in sauce (both sides) and stack on a  plate. Set aside another 1/2 cup of sauce for later.

4. Add chicken and half of cheese to remaining sauce. Then assemble enchiladas in 1 of 2 ways. 1) put filling in each tortilla, roll, and fit into pan OR 2) put a layer of tortillas on the bottom of the pan, followed by a layer of filling, a layer of tortillas, a layer of filling, and a final layer of tortillas; more like lasagna. I find the first method to be just as easy, less heavy on the use of tortillas, and more attractive, so that's my preferred method.

5. Spoon reserved sauce on top of enchiladas and sprinkle remaining cheese.

6. Bake at 350 or so until cheese is bubbly.

Rosemary

Bean and Butternut Tacos

I would dub this recipe the squash recipe for somebody who doesn't like squash. It is yet another crazy-sounding recipe that I went out on a limb and tried and then LOVED. EatingWell, you rock my world. I am so sorry for ever doubting you. For the original recipe, visit www.eatingwell.com.

Basically, you cut up a butternut squash into 1/2 inch dice, toss it with olive oil and some chili/taco type seasonings. Then bake at 400 degrees until tender and starting to brown up a bit 20-25 min. Meanwhile, take 2 cups of cooked pinto beans, drained, toss in some other chili/taco type seasoning and heat it up on a stove for about 10 minutes. Heat up some flour tortillas and throw in the beans, squash, cheese, shredded cabbage and green salsa. But I had neither cabbage nor green salsa, so I just use the picante-style salsa I had in the fridge. I thought about throwing in some thinly sliced raw bell peppers, but I knew I'd probably be the only one eating them, so I decided against it.

They were soft and delicious. They didn't taste at all "squashy". But the recipe made them very flavorful. It also gave me a chance to use the dried red chilies my husband brought back from New Mexico during a work trip.

And, as if I needed to sell this any more, even my 1-year-old seemed to like it. (Of course, he munched on a piece of raw butternut squash and didn't seem to mind that either...go figure.)

how to cook pumpkin seeds

Don't let Cayenne be in charge of the time!!!!! She burns them!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Since the days have turned nice and chilly I've decided to start cooking again. This soup is easy, fast and delicious!

Chicken Noodle Soup

3 medium carrots, diced
1 small/medium onion, chopped up
½ to 1 ½ cups celery, diced (I had let some celery languish in my fridge so I had chopped off the top 1/3 and bottom, and whatever was good I used)
1 chicken breast, cut up (this was from a…um…well endowed chicken so you might need 2 but that depends on your preference)
Noodles (see below)
Oil
1 tbsp butter
Salt
Pepper
Water
Parsley (opt)
Sage (opt)

Heat the oil in the pot. Throw the veggies into the pot with a little bit of salt. Cook until soft. Throw in the butter and the chicken. Cook for 2 or so minutes. Add water until it reaches the desired level. Then add more salt, pepper and other seasonings. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes then add noodles and cook for another 5 or so minutes. Enjoy!

Noodles
(recipe from Better Homes and Gardens “New Cookbook”)

2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp dried basil, marjoram, or sage (I chose sage)
½ tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water
1 tsp oil (I used olive oil)

Mix the flour, herb of choice, salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. Combine egg, water and oil. Add to dry mixture, mix well.
Knead the mixture until dough is smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). Roll out the dough to the desired thickness and cut into noodles.
This made more than enough dough for the soup. I have over half of the dough leftover.

Nutmeg