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.
Just a little trouble at home this week. I walked into the couch and broke my toe - just like that. Can you believe that's even possible? A broken toe just from stubbing it. I've been stuck at home on crutches since Tuesday and I've probably got another week and a half before I can start putting weight on my foot. It's not so bad really, but it is an inconvenience.
Trying to keep up with an energetic two year old on a hurt foot is laughably ridiculous. Thankfully I have had my wonderful husband with me more than usual this week, and my little helper has been very understanding that I can't play with her as much as we regularly do.
My broken bone has actually been completely worth the discomfort. I have some time off of work, during a time of year that is so slow for us that I wouldn't be doing much anyway, and I have gotten to spend a lot more time with my family. I've been quite productive in the kitchen, which is always fun for me, and I have been getting to do something I normally only can enjoy about once a week - sitting down to dinner with my husband and daughter - all together. I know I need to get back to work soon, but for now this is perfect.
In my extra free time I discovered the most wonderful cooking blog called that makes me feel really excited over healthy vegetarian cooking again. I have been hobbling around the kitchen trying out their recipes and stuffing my face and loving it. I have to say, the little one is loving it too, especially the little pumpkin seed "cookies".
From the left we have Spinach muffins, Nut crackers, my own white bean hummus (recipe below), and Pumpkin seed cakes.
The spinach muffins didn't turn out anything like I expected them to, but they're delicious - slightly sour from the yogurt, and filled with tasty veggies. The nut crackers are so toasty good, with a sandy texture, and they are a perfect vessel for some thick hummus. The pumpkin seed cakes are my favorite from this site, with only two ingredients and no oven. They are great with plain yogurt and honey, but next time I make them I will definitely try out the chocolate-avocado mousse that is posted with the recipe.
Check out their blog. It's just amazing to me that this couple comes up with so many unique and interesting recipes that are so consistently awesome. And while you're at it, make some of my yummy hummus!
White Bean Hummus
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
2 Tbsp capers
1 large clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
chipotle powder to taste (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
Add beans, lemon juice and zest, capers, and garlic to food processor. Blend for 20 seconds. Taste and add seasonings, blending well. When seasoned as you like, start blending and add olive oil in a slow steady stream until hummus comes together in a thick smooth mixture, being careful not to over-mix as this can cause the oil to develop a bitter flavor. Serve topped with olive oil and a sprinkling of chipotle powder.
Kids love burgers, Kirah loves burgers. As she said yesterday "Burgers are a special treat"!
As I may have mentioned once or twice, we are vegetarian. There are a lot of good veggie burger options out there. I am a big fan of Gardenburger's Portabella burger, and while they're not technically burgers, I'm crazy about Morningstar Farms' breakfast patties. While those are great every once in a while, there's nothing better than a homemade burger, and it's a sneaky way for us to get some more veggies into our little one's meals.
You can put whatever veggies you want into veggie burgers, but you're going to need something sticky to hold it all together. Mashed beans and potatoes are perfect, and this recipe uses both!
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burgers
My recipe is tweaked from this Cooking Books post.
We eat ours with a fork, but if you really want them to hold up on a bun you can use mashed sweet potato instead of grated. They also hold together better when they're slider sized, so this recipe will give you about 16 mini-burgers.
1 large sweet potato, peeled and shredded with a box grater
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small shallot, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 4.5 oz can mild Hatch chilies
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
breadcrumbs
In a large skillet heat a small amount of oil over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes without allowing to brown. Add sweet potato and a little bit of water to keep it from sticking. Cook for 5-7 minutes until sweet potato has softened.
In a large bowl mash black beans, leaving about 1/3 of them whole for texture. Add the rest of the ingredients, adjusting breadcrumbs as necessary to form a mixture that holds together, but is not dry. Roughly 2 to 2 1/2 slices of bread, run through a chopper and toasted slightly.
Form into small patties and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Heat your broiler to 450°F and cook for 7 minutes on each side, flipping carefully.
Kirah is crazy about salsa too, so we serve our burgers with a side of salsa verdé.
This past weekend I talked my husband into driving over the mountains to Wenatchee to a u-pick apple farm. I had to bribe him with homemade soft pretzels, but he agreed, and we had a great trip!
With a make-shift clipboard for her coloring pages, little one did wonderfully on the long car ride, and she slept most of the way back. While we were there she had a blast helping pick out the tastiest looking apples, chasing assorted farm animals, and uhh.... digging in the dirt with sticks. :)
It was a long trip for something we could have easily bought in the grocery store near home, and the slight cost difference hardly made up for what we spent in gas, but ohmigosh, these apples are amazing. Right off the tree they taste like straight apple juice - sugary and tart and SO GOOD. Besides that, any chance to show Kirah where her food comes from - to have her meet the people growing her snacks, to see the fruit on the trees, to touch the leaves and hear the noise of the chickens that fertilize the plants - well, it's priceless.
Ooh, it just makes me want to buy a farm and move to the middle of nowhere!
Stutzman Ranch in Wenatchee, WA
My baby is now a preschooler.
Thursday was her first day, and she had a blast! Since she's only 2 1/2 we go together one day a week. I'll be sad next year when I have to leave her there!
All ready for school! She had to wear her "kitty pants".
She brought her flashlights with her for the car ride. They're part of her "cowboygirl" outfit. More on that later.
