I don't think it would surprise anyone if I said that my 2 year old loves pancakes. What kid doesn't? Recently we had a couple of fireside floor picnics and pancakes were on the menu both times, so since then she has been asking regularly for pancakes pancakes pancakessss!
Pancakes seem more like a treat than a meal to me. I mean, they're basically just cake for breakfast with a little less sugar. Top that with her usual whipped cream and honey and our beastie will have quite a sugar high. I want to give her pancakes because she likes them, but I want to feel good about what she's eating too.
I played around with different flours this morning, and I think the result was good enough to share. Kirah sure gobbled them up anyway, and that's what's important. I mixed buckwheat and whole wheat flours, and used molasses instead of white sugar. What I got was a pancake rich in fiber, protein and iron with a sweet, slightly spiced flavor. The flour mixture feels right because they don't have any of that bitterness that can come with buckwheat flour, but if you don't find them to your taste you can definitely increase the sweetener, or adjust the mix of flours as you like.
Buckwheat-Molasses Pancakes
1 cup flour (a little less than 1/2 buckwheat, a little more than 1/2 whole wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 Tbsp dark molasses (labeled "full flavor" or "robust")
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp melted butter
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl, and wet ingredients in a small bowl. Add wet to dry, stirring just until mixed. You should have a fairly smooth, thin batter.
Fry over medium-low to medium with a little oil, flipping when bottoms have browned and tops have bubbles in them.
These are great with whipped cream, maple syrup or apple butter.
Now, sit down by the fire on a picnic blanket with plenty of stuffed animal guests and enjoy!
Well, it's the most disgusting photo montage I've ever seen....
She knows she's funny.
It's almost December and I have no idea where this year has gone. What happened to fall? Did we just skip that whole season? I don't know. But I seem to remember sometime around July swearing that I was going to get my Christmas shopping done early this year, and now I have less than a month and I've barely even started. All of those handmade projects I had swirling around in my brain? Not happening.
Part of the problem of Christmas shopping for me is that I keep getting distracted by things for myself or the little one that neither of us really need, but that are super cute anyway. Vintage finds really make me swoon, but they're often pricey or delicate. When buying presents for Kirah I try to weigh the price over how much she'll actually use the item. Wooden train set and dollhouse are both justifiable gifts - expensive vintage sweaters not so much.
Fun to dream about wee charming vintage-y goodies though.
Miniature Miss Sunshine Dress, Green tweed coat set, Tin saucer collection, Strombecker doll table and chairs.
<3 Lovies
This Thanksgiving has been a long one. Fun, and delicious, but long. Full of cooking, and eating, and working.
Because our holiday celebrations weren't spent at our house we don't have a whole fridge full of leftovers, but rather some bits and pieces here and there to make into meals. I don't much feel like cooking, but I have to make something.
I made this recipe this weekend and it turned out very well - especially for leftover tofurkey sandwiches. Today I needed to use up the rest of the loaf, so after staring into my pantry for 10 minutes I decided on some quick walnut butter.
This brings me to a peeve of mine. Nut butters can be such a nutritious thing for a vegetarian, but most store-bought ones contain a lot of sugar, salt and oil. I have only found one product from one brand that contains just nuts and nothing else, and that's the one we buy. It takes a little getting used to to go without the sugar, but I think that nut butters should taste like nuts rather than corn syrup! So, since I haven't been able to find anything but this one almond butter that fits my apparently strict snack standards, making my own seems like the best way to get what I want with a little more variety.
Nut Butters
You can use whatever nuts you like for this. I tried it with walnuts, but truly, anything would work.
You can add oil, sugar or salt if you choose, but taste test along the way - you might not need as much as you'd think!
1. The first step is to toast the nuts. You can buy roasted nuts if you like, but be sure to buy the unsalted kind so that you can be in control of how much you add. You can toast your nuts in the oven, but I like to put a single layer in a dry skillet over medium heat and shake occasionally until they begin to brown and become fragrant.
2. After the nuts have cooled enough to handle throw them in a food processor and blend, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Soon the nuts will becomes a smooth paste. After you reach this point you can add oil for a creamier butter if you like. Choose an oil that is flavorless or that complements the nut flavors well, and add in a thin steady stream while blending, stopping the machine just when it reaches the consistency you want. Any extra blending can agitate the oil and cause it to develop a bitter flavor.
3. Season if you like. Salt, sugar, cocoa powder, spices.
4. Store your homemade butter in the fridge - without preservatives it can go rancid quickly. In the fridge it may keep for a year or so. Separation is normal - you will need to stir it before using, especially if you added extra oil.
The verdict: I made a plain walnut butter with a little bit of homemade walnut oil that I had leftover. Spread on walnut bread it was perfect and Kirah likes it too. I will probably not be buying any store-bought spreads from now on.
Hooray for homemade snackies!
It's been a while. But we're all fine.
Been busy with preschool. Lots of food related projects.
Got a miserable looking scrape on her nose from falling off a rock, but she hasn't complained a bit. I think it looks much worse than it felt.
Maybe I'll get in the mood to snap more pictures soon - this time of year makes me feel so full of inspiration, but too lazy to act on any of it.
I am such a sucker for Halloween marketing. Christmas too, but we're not quite there yet. Anyway, if it's black and orange I can't control my feet - they just walk me right on over to take a peek. Hubby's (legitimate) complaints that our holiday decorations are taking over our small storage closet have become an inner voice, which is probably for the better, and I haven't splurged on anything yet this year. Just a tiny bit of festive consumerism - I couldn't pass by the Halloween sprinkles at Williams-Sonoma.
I didn't even have any baking planned, or really anyone to pass off a bunch of baked goods to. Keeping them all in our house is just too dangerous. :)
I did, however, have a sugar pumpkin sitting around from our apple picking trip, and with a quick bit of internet browsing I found a cupcake recipe to let Kirah help me with. This one comes from the My Kitchen Addiction blog.
I'm not a big frosting fan. Not even a huge fan of sweets, really. But if it has 'pumpkin' in the name I'm sold, and these cupcakes are insane. I actually had to go and get a pumpkin spice latté from Starbucks to drink with one because I swear they taste exactly the same. Plus the pumpkin gives the cake the most wonderful fluffy texture that was almost enough to make me eat every last one before I sent Hubs off to work with them.
Don't they look....errr... well, at least KINDA cute?
I just made a few changes to the recipe. I made a simple vanilla cream cheese frosting instead of the one suggested, and I made my own pumpkin purée rather than using canned. If you haven't made your own before please give it a try! It is so much brighter and fresher tasting than the canned kind (which I hear is made from butternut squash and not pumpkin anyway), and it's nice to have some around to add to pancakes or yogurt or oatmeal or... anything else you can think of!
Pumpkin Purée
No ingredient list for this recipe - you'll just need one good looking sugar pumpkin! You can also do this with any variety of squash - just adjust the cooking time for the size.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Cut pumpkin in half, lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and pulp with a spoon (save the seeds for roasting if you're up for it!). Place both halves cut-side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your pumpkin. When it is soft and the flesh comes away easily from the skin, it's done. Scoop all of the flesh out into a food processor and blend until very smooth.
To get a canned-like consistency you can strain it with a paper towel or cheesecloth lined sieve, but I just leave it as is.
