Saturday, Pancake Day

On Father's Day, Brittany shared a post (here) which explained the pancake tradition for our family. In my home, Saturday is officially known as Pancake Day (I'm just not willing to get up early enough to make them before church on Sundays). My girls LOVE pancakes as much as their Aunt Brittany and they're often asking if it's Pancake Day yet by Wednesday.

I don't very often make pancakes from scratch so I'm not sharing a recipe here, but I love to customize our pancakes by adding a variety of ingredients. The basic mix that I start with is Aunt Jemima's Whole Wheat Blend. They are very good as is, but I rarely leave them that way. I almost always add some vanilla when I mix them up. From there, I choose from a number of add-ins based on what sounds good for that morning. Some of my favorites include: oatmeal, canned pumpkin, applesauce and mashed banana. With most of these I throw in some cinnamon as well. The stack pictured above was perfected by adding a personal favorite: grated zucchini along with cinnamon. Hope you'll try playing with your pancakes, too!

Easy Summer Cupcakes

I got this recipe from my cousin during my recent trip home.  She made it in cake form but I wanted to try cupcakes for us.  I made these for 4th of July weekend and they were perfect for a light summery treat!  This is actually a Weight Watchers recipe, so they're guilt-free!

1 white cake mix

1 can 7up or Sprite

Light Cool Whip

strawberries, hulled & halved

Mix the cake mix and soda in a large bowl.  I just used a whisk but you could use a mixer if you like.  Pour into greased cake pan or use paper liners for cupcakes.  I baked mine according to the directions on the cake mix, but just tried to keep an eye on them when they got towards the end.  I think I ended up pulling mine out a little early and they were done.  They didn't really seem to brown like a cake normally would, perhaps the absence of eggs?  This made about 18 cupcakes for me, but I tend to fill them pretty full.

Let cool completely.  Frost with Cool Whip.  For mine, I spooned the Cool Whip into a large Ziploc bag, cut off a generous tip and piped it on.  I had the whole batch frosted in no more than 3 minutes.  Place one strawberry in the center of each cupcake and you're done!

Obviously this can be altered in whatever way you want.  I originally intended to use blueberries and strawberries for my July 4 theme, but the blueberries were too expensive that day!  You could use lots of different fruits, or none at all.  Top with nuts or chocolate chips or sprinkles, whatever your heart desires.  You can also do this with any type of cake mix, so you've got endless options!  It makes a really moist cake that is oh-so-delicious.

Pumpkin Loaf

Here it is, the final pumpkin treat.  I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com and it was definitely a keeper!

Ingredients

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans because it's what I had on hand)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
2. Put softened cheese, butter, and sugar in mixing bowl. Cream together well. Beat in eggs one at a time until blended. Mix in pumpkin.
3. In another bowl combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and walnuts. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour all at once over batter. Stir just enough to moisten. Turn into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60-70 minutes until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove to rack to finish cooling.

Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Pancakes

Didn't I promise you more pumpkin recipes?  Well, here was a yummy yummy breakfast treat.  To make it extra amazing, I made mine up extra special with banana slices in between two pancakes, then topped it off with butter, syrup, Cool Whip, and chopped pecans.  Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk (I added some extra because I thought the batter was a little thick for my taste)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I substituted with chopped pecans)

Directions

1. Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, lightly beat together the milk, egg, pumpkin, and oil. Stir flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, blending just until moistened.
2. Heat a lightly greased griddle over medium high heat.
3. Pour batter, 1/3 cup at a time, onto the prepared griddle. Make a jack-o-lantern face in each pancake with the chocolate chips. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 5 minutes per side.