Pumpkin Pancakes

Flintstone doesn't understand Saturdays. He gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 no matter what day it is.  While it makes me groan a little to get up at such a "decent" hour on a Saturday, it does give me a nice block of time to get some stuff done.

This Saturday, Flintstone woke me up with sloppy baby kisses and giggles (I had brought him into bes to try to weasel an extra hour of sleep out of him). We got up and cuddles and played for a while. Soon he was doing his own thing, and I had some time to tidy up the kitchen.

Then I absolutely destroyed it again making pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin french toast. I am ALL ABOUT Fall themed foods.

The recipe is really simple. I just took my Nan (my mom's mom, may she rest in peace)'s. Pancake recipe and added in pumpkin and spices:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsps baking powder
2 tblspns sugar - Fair Trade!
1 humanely obtained egg (back yard chickens!)
Humane milk - almond milk works great or Organic Valley (not Horizon Organics - they are not humane)
Ground flax seeds - optional; just some added nutrition
1/2 a can (or more) of pumpkin - or use fresh!
Cinnamon
Allspice
Ginger
Cloves

1. Put all the ingredients except the milk together in a bowl, with spices adjusted to your taste preferences.
2. Mix together, adding milk until you reach the desired batter consistency.
3. Fry up, just like regular pancakes.
4. Enjoy a warm taste of Fall!

Pumpkin French Toast
Bread - I used some leftover buns - this is a great way to use up add pieces of bread.
3 Humanely obtained medium eggs
1/2 can of pumpkin
Cinnamon
Allspice
Ginger
Clove

1. Mix the eggs, spices to taste, and pumpkin in a wide bowl. The batter will be thicker than typical french toast batter; that's a good thing!
2. Dip (or soak, per your preference) your bread.
3. Fry up as usual.
4. Enjoy another perfect Fall breakfast!

Flintstone loved these*, and I'm ok with him eating them (without syrup!) because they're whole wheat and pumpkin is full of vitamins and minerals. 

If you like these, you should also check out my famous Pink (beet) Pancakes! Flintstone (and Punky and MacGyver) loves those, too!

* And I got some great pictures, but of course the upload failed.  Erg.  Maybe later.

Pink Pancakes!

MacGyver has been out of town all weekend taking care of some business up north (which will probably be featured in a different post), so Punky and I spent the weekend getting things done around the house.  For a minute there, I almost thought I was nesting.

I don't have to work today or tomorrow, since I took a couple days off to try to get things done around here and grab a little big of relaxation before our adorable little ball of sleep deprivation makes his appearance, so today I'm playing Stay at Home Mommy.

I've been a SAHM (sort of) before, when Punky was 4/5.  I wasn't really home all the time since that was my last year of law school and I spent the summer studying for the Bar, but it was pretty darn close to full o n SAHM, and MacGyver was working all the time.

I got to get up a little later than usual this morning (which is good because I haven't been able to sleep the last couple nights - I'm not sure if it's pregnancy related or just because MacGyver's away), then got up to put together breakfast and lunch.

On a constant mission to fit as many veggies into our diets as possible, this morning I opted to make my famous and loved Pink Pancakes.  I hadn't realized how long it has been since I last made them.  They're very simple to make - just regular whole grain pancake batter with pureed beets mixed in (I also like to throw in some ground flaxseed meal for good measure).  You put in enough beet puree to make a deep pink batter:

Because what kid wouldn't want to eat something that color?  Doesn't it look like some sort of yummy dessert?  Without an oz of artificial color.

Any you just cook them up like regular pancakes.  You can't taste the beets at all.  (Trust me on this, I hate beets.  I think they taste like dirt, but I recognize that they have a lot of nutritional value, and MacGyver and Punky like them.  So I'm all about serving them in ways where I can't taste them!)

Voila!

One serving of veggies down.  With a little banana and a touch maple syrup as real as you can get (My dad tapped the trees and made it himself).

Then, I had a nice, leisurely morning.  I sat in the backyard amongst all our new sprouts (for the second growing season that's about to start!!), drank my tea, and read a ton on my Nook.  Man, I love that thing.

I got some cleaning done in the kitchen and had just sat down to a nice lunch of extra veggie soup when Tonks decided to toss her cookies.  Three times.  At least only one of them was on the carpet.  Ugh.

You know, I'm due in two weeks, and am expecting a good few years of cleaning up all manner of bodily fluids and whatnot thereafter.  Can't the dogs just hold back on eating stupid, inedible crap and let me have these last couple weeks?  Lol.

Now, I just have 5 or 6 things left to get done on my list tonight (after yoga since I don't expect to be able to sleep anyway), and I'll feel like I actually accomplished something this weekend.

Originally titled "At Home" posted:

Aug 26, 2010 11:02 AM