Blueberry Pancakes

I meant to take a picture before I started eating, but I couldn't help myself. Oops.

I don't know about you all, but I LOVE blueberry pancakes. LOVE. The thing is, we don't usually eat sweet stuff for breakfast. Our standard weekday breakfast is "fried" egg whites, Canadian bacon, and hash browns. We make the whole thing into a little stack and it's really quite tasty. On the weekends though, I like to kick things up a notch. Usually we have whole eggs and real bacon and actual potatoes and such, but every once and awhile I need my sugar fix. That's where these pancakes come in.

It took me ages to find a pancake recipe that really knocked my socks off but I finally found one that works every time. The key is to take it easy with the stirring. I'm serious. Whatever you do, DO NOT over-stir the batter. Over-stirring makes your pancakes tough, dry and nasty, which is probably why we didn't eat very many of them until I found this recipe. What really takes it over the top in this instance is the fresh blueberries. Oh, man. What is it about cooked blueberries that is so fantastic? When I figure it out, I'll get back to you. I'm sure there will be lots of cooking eating research involved.

Anyway, try this recipe this weekend. I promise you won't regret it!

(And, if you want to substitute chocolate chips for the blueberries, I totally won't mind. Just include your address in the comments. I'll bring the bacon!)

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp melted butter
additional melted butter
3 - 4 oz blueberries (to your tastes)

Directions
Heat an electric griddle or heavy skillet until very hot. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Crack egg into a measuring cup, lightly beat, then pour in buttermilk. Add the egg and buttermilk mixture and 2 tablespoons butter to the dry ingredients, whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps. DO NOT over mix!

Test griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush melted butter onto the griddle. Wipe off excess using a folded paper towel.

Using a 4-ounce ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter onto the hot griddle. Immediately place blueberries on top of batter. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden brown on bottom, about 1 minute.

Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in a low (175-degree) oven. Serve with butter, maple syrup, and lots of crispy bacon. Yum.

Adapted from The Best of Martha Stewart Living Favorite Comfort Food

Is Thought Enough?

This blog has never been about the thing I'm about to blog about. This blog is about cooking and crafting and having too much pumpkin, but the thing I'm about to blog about is also a part of who I am, so I feel compelled to share it with you now.

A friend - not a real-life friend as we've never met in person, but certainly a REAL life friend in that I feel I can count her as such - is going through something really scary right now. Her little boy, completely out of the blue, had a seizure the other night. Tonight, he had another. I found out via Twitter, which seems so silly but also makes me so thankful that, for all the drivel that goes on there, there are moments when things that actually matter are shared.

In her blog and her tweet, she asked for prayers. The thing is, I don't pray. I consider myself Agnostic and no, I don't particularly want to debate that right now, thankyouverymuch. Since I don't pray though, I've always said to people, "You are in my thoughts." I write it on sympathy cards and say it to friends all the time. And yet, right now, that just doesn't feel like enough. I know that prayer brings comfort to some but I just know that's not the answer for me.

That said, your thoughts? If you do believe in prayer, does the knowledge that someone is thinking of you and concerned for you enough to provide comfort, or does a higher power need to be involved for it to make a difference? And if you don't pray or don't believe in prayer, do you say or do something other than keep people in your thoughts?

I hope for this to be a polite, genuine discussion about the ways in which we extend comfort to others, but note that I am not above ass kicking if folks get all shouty up in the comments.

The Great Pumpkin Strikes Back

Today is the first day since the official start of fall that it's actually been COLD. It's basically been in the 50's and pretty dreary all day, which to me is a fantastic excuse to spend the whole day inside cooking. Unfortunately, we had some errands to run before I could settle in - although those errands yielded a new cake stand, a Toffee Mocha and some sewing supplies, so I can't complain. :-) Once I got home though, I was in full on kitchen mode.

I'll talk later about what we prepped for batch cooking day (it seems that our batch cooking has extended itself to the entire weekend, rather than just one day) but for now let me tell you about two delicious, pumpkin-laden things we made today: Pumpkin Butter and Pumpkin Yeast Bread. Are you drooling yet? Oh, that's just me? Okay...

First, the Pumpkin Butter. If you're thinking, "I bet that's a lot like apple butter," you're correct; it really does taste quite similar. I was actually a little disappointed that my batch didn't taste more like pumpkin! I used apple cider instead of apple juice and I think that, along with the fact that after 20 minutes I deemed it "thick enough", is why mine didn't come out tasting like a spreadable pumpkin pie. I probably would have gone the full 30 minutes with it if it hadn't kept leaping out of the pot and splattering my arms, which was both surprising and painful. Next time, I think I will try it in the CrockPot with less cider, since the crock requires less liquid than a stovetop version. Also, 2 teaspoons of ginger was quite a lot - I'd probably reduce that, too.

Honestly, though? Even with the apple and ginger overtones this is amazing. My batch yielded about 5 cups of spread and I was a little worried about what I would do with it all until I saw this post about the Trader Joe's version. Apparently, it has a ton of uses, including a topping for oatmeal and granola, a stir-in for plain or vanilla yogurt, and a delicious addition to pancake or waffle batter. They say you can also mix it with softened cream cheese and spread it into a graham cracker crust for a quick pumpkin cheesecake! Um, yes please!

As for the bread well, I'd had my eye on this recipe since I started getting the hankering to cook with pumpkin again, and Bryan was finally ready to make it today. We decided to throw caution to the wind and make it in the bread machine, which turned out to be a bit hilarity-filled when we realized that the dough had risen to the top of the bread machine. The resulting loaf was so high we could barely get the pan out of the machine, and the slices are at least 10 inches tall. Despite looking like we put an engorgement charm* on it, the bread is DELICIOUS and yes, even better with a little pumpkin butter slathered on it.

The only downside to all this cooking with pumpkin is that we still have half a can left from the bread that needs to be used within the next few days. I've been eyeing two recipes in my queue, Pumpkin Gingerbread and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins. What should I make next?

*I rarely talk about anything here but cooking and crafting, but can I just say that I am beyond ready for HP7 to hit theaters?!?

Batch Cooking Sunday

Lately I've been in a bit of a cooking slump - at least where recipes not containing pumpkin are concerned. I went through a span of a few months where I was extremely ambitious in the kitchen, to the point where I was churning out completely amazing food, but at the expense of about an hour or two of time almost every weeknight. It was delicious, but exhausting.

After a few trying weeks where all I wanted to do was call for takeout, I decided that the best thing to do was to scale back a bit. We introduced tacos to our weekly staple of meals and they have become one of our new favorite things to throw together on a night when we're tired or busy. I've made some simple pastas, soups, and casseroles, all of which have been delicious and were made in a fraction of the time that I used to spend in the kitchen. (I promise, I'll post about them soon.)

Last night though, we watched Rachael Ray's new show, Week in a Day. The concept of the show is that in one TV hour, Rachael shows you how to make five dishes that you can eat throughout the week. I thought this was totally brilliant, except that Rachael's food takes FOREVER to make and we already had ingredients on hand for a bunch of other things that I was going to prepare this week. So, I decided to spend my afternoon in the kitchen making nearly everything for our meals this week. On the list?

Heart Smart Banana Bread (to take to work tomorrow - my coworkers need a treat!)
We had some Kroger-brand baking mix in the cabinet, and three ripe bananas on the counter, so this seemed like a good way to use them up. I used whole eggs because that's what we had on hand, and added 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg. It SMELLS amazing!

Stuffed Pepper Stoup (Monday's dinner)
I made this up to the point where you add the chicken stock and crushed tomatoes, then turned off the heat and am letting it cool. When I get home from work tomorrow I'll take the pot out of the fridge, bring it back up to a boil, and add the orzo. We love this recipe.

"Healthified" Spinach and Rice Casserole (Tuesday's dinner)
I came across this one last year when I was on Weight Watchers, and made some changes to it today to make it tastier. Namely, I used 2 cups of diced ham and a little more cheese, and added more seasoning based on what I remembered from last time. I stopped the prep on this right after stirring in the spinach and rice, then added the ham and cheeses without bringing it to a boil a second time.

Baked Ziti (Wednesday's dinner)
I saw this on Annie's Eats last weekend and immediately bumped it up in the queue. I followed the directions for this exactly and up to the point where you combine all the ingredients and put them into your baking dish. I can't wait to try this with a crisp green salad and garlic bread. Mmm.

I also made this soup for today's lunch, and I have to say - it's fantastic. We pureed it at the end with an immersion blender to make it sort of creamy and blend the flavors. If you try this, make sure you don't skip the apple-red onion salsa and cranberry sour cream! I know they sound odd, but seriously... they totally MAKE the dish.

Right now I'm taking a break, but I hope to churn out a loaf of pumpkin bread to take to work with the banana bread (it's from a mix, so don't go thinking I'm THAT ambitious today) and an apple cider bundt cake (oh, it looks so good) for our desserts this week. And, unfortunately, I still have to make tonight's dinner: Curried Butternut Squash Soup with thick slices of fresh pumpernickel from the bread machine and our favorite Spinach Salad with Apple and Red Onion.

Honestly though? I'm so tired right now, you guys. Being in the kitchen and on my feet for the afternoon was exhausting! It took me about two hours to prep everything, but I should also say that Bryan helped me with quite a bit during this time, including continually removing dirty prep bowls and utensils and washing out pots and things that couldn't go in the dishwasher (which was full and running while I was doing this, oops).

Even though I'm wiped I feel really good about having dinner ready to go for the next three days... and I'm sure I'll feel even better about it when I'm relaxing on the couch with Bryan while dinner heats in the oven!

The Great Pumpkin

I am, officially, obsessed with pumpkin. This time of year I go wild for anything made with pumpkin, including coffee drinks, bread, cakes, muffins, pasta, and soups. This year, however, I'd read that there was a "pumpkin shortage," and that due to several poor harvest years in a row, we might not see the canned stuff gracing the aisles at our local supermarkets until November.

Well, this injustice will not stand! Armed with a little too much ingenuity for my own good, I decided to buy WHOLE pumpkins and puree them myself. All in the name of fall, of course...

Right?

So, a week ago I roasted and pureed two cute little sugar pumpkins. It wasn't that hard, but it wasn't that easy, either. Our food processor has a hard time pureeing things so that they're perfectly smooth and it look me an hour, several bowls, and a myriad of cooking utensils to get it all perfectly smooth. When I finished, though, it was a lovely shade of orange that's far more vibrant than what you see when you crack open a typical can of the stuff. Gorgeous.

Unfortunately, my pumpkin needs are greater than what I can churn out of a few sugar pumpkins in an afternoon. Thankfully, Amazon has everything, and so we ordered a case of 12 cans of the organic stuff last week. THEN, we went to the grocery store last night and THEY HAD CANNED PUMPKIN. It was the regular stuff, the Kroger brand, but we got so excited that we bought six cans and vowed to cancel the Amazon order as soon as we got home.

I'm sure you can figure out where this story is headed...

We couldn't cancel the Amazon order. Oops. Apparently it's shipping Monday, which means that I will now have the following for my pantry: six cans of Kroger brand pumpkin, 12 cans of Farmer's Market organic pumpkin, 2 cups of homemade pumpkin puree, and 3 whole sugar pumpkins.

Ack. The whole sugar pumpkins are currently posing as a delightful centerpiece for our dining room table, but I doubt the cans will offer us the same sort of harvest charm. I've been hunting for recipes to use it and so far have found a few promising ones, including this Chipotle-Pumpkin Black Bean Soup and this Pumpkin Yeast Bread. I'm especially excited, because the pumpkin surplus gives me plenty of excuses to make Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage, which is so so so so so so good.

Last night though, we made these pumpkin spice lattes, and I have to say... they were pretty good! Give one a try (you could probably do it on the stove top if you don't have a mini CrockPot) this weekend and let me know how you think it stacks up the Starbucks original. :-)

Last Day, Late Day

Today I slept in until 9:30. I never do this.

I'm up around 6:30 AM on weekdays, so I try to be up around 8 AM on weekends. Bryan usually sleeps until nine-ish, so I typically spend the hour before he gets up puttering around on the internet and figuring out what we're going to have for breakfast. It's nice. It's a routine. I like my routine.

Today, however, things were a bit different. I was actually up at 7:30 but for the past five days I've been waking up during the middle of dreams and feeling really groggy. I went back to sleep, figuring I'd only be out another half hour and then could commence with my last morning off. Apparently, my body had other plans. When I woke up again and looked over at the alarm clock, I literally jumped out of bed, shouted, "OH MY GOD I SLEPT IN," then turned to Bryan and shouted, "IT'S TIME TO GET UP!!!"

Bryan, being a reasonable person, just looked at me like I was insane. Which I am, because it's my DAY OFF. Granted, it's the last day of five in a row that I had off and I haven't even touched the laundry pile or organized my closet, but I'm ON VACATION.

Because I am mildly insane, and to make up for being so lazy on my vacation and daring to sleep past the hour of 8 AM, I spent the rest of the morning making pancakes, a pan of lasagna for later, and dying my hair a gloriously bright shade of red.



It really seemed like the thing to do.

P.S. It may seem like this isn't possible, but I swear it's even brighter in person!

P.P.S. Please disregard the extra chin that's threatening to expose itself. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but I suspect that it has something to do with the aforementioned pancakes and lasagna.

On Our List

I'm off work today, and it's going to be a very exciting weekend. Since we are enjoying a three-day weekend, it's only appropriate that we have three very exciting things going on throughout.

A.
We're finally painting our bedroom. You have no idea how thrilled this makes me, because painting the bedroom means that new linens (and furniture? maybe?) are in the very near future, and that's the part I really like. I posted a picture of our fabric board here a few weeks ago, and I can't stop looking at it. It took me a little while to find exactly what I wanted, but now that I have I am absolutely in love with it.

2.
We'll also be getting our gaming on vicariously through Mario Marathon 3, which started a few hours ago and will be going strong through at least Sunday evening (probably longer). I am a self-professed geek and I absolutely love this event!

Basically, three thirty-somethings from Lafayette, Indiana play through all the Mario games throughout the course of a weekend to raise money for Child's Play, an organization that raises money to donate toys, games, books and cash to children's hospitals (Riley in Indianapolis, for example, is one of the recipients of their donations). I came across Mario Marathon partway through their first year (2008), and was excited to see them raise over $11,000 in just a weekend. Last year the marathon raised almost $30,000 over five days, which was just amazing.

This year they've only been playing for a few hours and are already up to nearly $9,000 in donations. Not only is watching them play the games entertaining, but seeing an online community band together to raise money in this capacity is just amazing. When we're not painting or enjoying the other activities on this weekend's list of excitement, I'll be tuning in to root the guys on. You should all check it out - pop on over and chuck them a couple of bucks! After all, it's for the kids!

D.
When we're not painting or (vicariously) gaming, we're going to be embarking on a new cooking adventure: canning. I recently decided that it would be fun to try, so in preparation I bought a Ball Canning Discovery Kit two weeks ago. We now have mason jars, recipe booklets, canning salt, some specialty seasonings and a number of other goodies to go with. I think we're going to try making some salsa, a few jars of pickles, and this Zesty Zucchini Relish to start. We already love to freeze leftovers, so the idea of canning them is just irresistible. Yes, we're geeks. See above.

Also on the cooking list for this weekend are a) making Beer Can Chicken with our second CSA bird, 2) enjoying copious amounts of this tasty Pineapple-Mango Salsa, and d) whipping up another batch of the Pioneer Woman's Breakfast Burritos. Last time the recipe made 14 burritos, which froze and reheated beautifully! It was fantastic to pull two out and not have to do anything for a hot and filling meal in the AM. Speaking of the AM, it's possible that English Muffins will make their way into the mix, but we have a lot going on already... so we'll see how it goes.

Now that you're all drooling on your computers, I think my work is done. Also, I hear the rustling of drop cloths in the bedroom, which I think means I need to skedaddle and tell Bryan what to do help Bryan with the priming. And don't worry, I'll post pictures when it's all done. I promise!