Saturday, October 3, 2009

Fall has arrived!

It's Saturday again and we made another big breakfast.  I promise that my next post will not be about breakfast but I couldn't resist trying pumpkin pancakes this morning. They turned out well so I want to share them with you.


Addy has come to expect cooking on weekend mornings. She climbed into her Learning Tower first thing this morning and started to dig into the spice drawer.  Most of the cabinets at her level are still safety latched but I keep the towel drawer, the kids cup drawer and the spice drawer open for her. It definitely provides her with a sense of accomplishment when she can get out what she needs.  The cup and towel drawers are at her level.  She has to be in the tower to get to the spices.


Even if you don't do a lot of cooking with your kids I recommend letting them have some autonomy in the kitchen so that they learn to do things on their own.  Just be clear and realistic with your expectations.  For example, if your child is going through the stage where they have to take everything out of the container and strew it around, only keep a few cups in the drawer.  Otherwise you'll be picking up and washing way too much.  Once they've passed that you can keep the drawer full.

Yesterday we went to a local pumpkin patch with some of our friends.  We didn't pick any pumpkins put we did pose with them for pictures.  Maybe that's why I had pumpkin on the mind this  morning.  These pancakes start with the basic pancake recipe that we like so I'll list that first with the pumpkin addition at the end.  We served them with whipped cream bananas and honey.  I like walnuts on mine but Chad and Addy skipped that part.


The original part of the recipe comes from the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Pancakes
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour/ replace up to half with whole wheat flour
3/4 cup milk
1 TBL brown sugar
2 TBL vegetable oil
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt


Beat egg until foamy.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.  (You can use an electric mixer but we use a whisk so Addy can do the stirring safely.)  Let the mixture rest a few minutes while you heat the griddle to medium heat.  When you drop a few drops of water on the griddle they should jump around.  Cook pancakes until bubbles form on the first side then flip until evenly brown.



Pumpkin addition:
After beating the egg until foaming add:
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
grated nutmeg
1 TBL brown sugar


Finish mixing with other ingredients and cook as described above.


What do you do to celebrate fall?

3 comments:

  1. Addie is so cute! I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be a great chef someday!I love that smile on her face!My son is 10yo, and pancakes was the first thing I remember he measured and mixed all by himself :)I'd love to guide our readers to your site if you won't mind.Just add your choice of foodista widget to this post and it's all set, Thanks!-Alisa@Foodista

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  2. Thanks for the invite Alisa. I appreciate it.

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  3. We like to have on last camping trip. I string up our "pumpkin lights" and we spend long afternoons and evenings around the fire. We also like to cook breakfast on an iron skillet and a griddle over the fire, when the fall mornings are so nice and cool. This morning we will have corn meal pancakes with real maple syrup and of course, lots of bacon!

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