Week 2 - Pumpkin!

10/6/12 - I can't ignore it anymore.  Summer is over and we're in to fall. I always have trouble letting go of those long summer days and nights.  Everything about summer makes me happy, I'll even take the heat and humidity, as long as I'm near a body o water to jump in to.  I love summer, spring, and winter, but ever since I was a kid, I hated, and I really mean HATED fall.  I never thought the turning of the leaves looked pretty, and I didn't care much for the cold, crisp air that came with autumn.  However, as an adult I am starting to gain a greater appreciation for fall, particularly the food that comes with it; apples, pumpkins, squash, hot apple cider, yummy pies, and hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meals.  So this weekend I decided to embrace the arrival of fall with a pancake appropriate for the season.  I couldn't decide between apples or pumpkins, until I started digging through my freezer earlier in the week and discovered frozen pumpkin puree.
Lately I have been on a kick of cleaning out our freezers.  That's right, I said freezers.  We have 3 total, although in my defense our 3rd freezer is a tiny little freezer that is part of my old dorm-room fridge/freezer.  It now serves as our bar's fridge for drinks, and as an emergency backup freezer.  Earlier in the summer the freezer in our garage broke and forced us to rearrange our kitchen freezer to make room for our stock of frozen foods that was in the garage.  We ended up using the bar fridge and renting some freezer space from my parents until we could fix the problem.  From this little disaster came a realization that we have a TON of frozen food I completely forgot about.  Ever since then I have been on a mission to use up food in the freezer, or in some cases, identify what the heck I froze in the first place!  It took me about 2 weeks to figure out that the two small containers of an orange puree was pumpkin.  So what a better way to use it than in a pancake!  I found this delicious recipe from The Better Baker.  I loved the aroma that filled my kitchen as I made these pancakes.  It definitely drew my husband in to the kitchen.  It was hard not to snack on a pancake or two while I waited for the rest to cook, but I held out so I could enjoy the first bite while sitting down at the table with my family.  Sitting there are the kitchen table, watching him enjoy the pancakes and my daughter intently watching him eat (she's 4 months old and on the verge of beginning solids) was just a perfect way to start the weekend.  I cannot wait until she can start eating pancakes too!  Jó étvágyat!

Ingredients:
 
1-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated
pinch of ground cloves (I skipped this since I couldn't find cloves in my spice cabinet)
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. pumpkin puree 
1 large egg
3 Tb. canola oil
Butter for the griddle

Directions:
In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spiced; whisk to combine.  (It already smells like pumpkin pie - oh my!)

In liquid measuring cup, whisk buttermilk, pumpkin puree, egg and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until combined.

Preheat griddle or electric skillet at 300*. Using a 1/3 c. measure, pour the batter onto hot griddle.  Cook first side until bubbles begin to break on top and edge starts to look cooked, about 3 minutes.  Flip and cook the second side until golden brown, a couple more minutes.

Week 1 - Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Lemon Curd

September 29th - I became inspired by an episode of The Chew.  The theme of the episode was breakfast food and they showed this pancake which peaked my interest.  I checked out the recipe online and found I had a lot of the ingredients already on hand.  I was actually looking for recipes that would use up some ricotta I had leftover from a recipe earlier in the week.  So this was perfect!

I was pretty excited to try this recipe out as it was different than any other pancake I had tried before.  So excited that I prepared the batter the night before.  I actually couldn't wait to get up in the morning and make these.  I whipped out my skillet and started pouring the batter.  It was a pretty thick batter and honestly I was worried the ricotta cheese would make the pancakes heavy.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find them to be very light and fluffy.  And tasty!  I have never used lemon curd before, but it was great in place of your typical syrup.  The berries on top also provided a nice contrast to the sour taste of the lemon.  Plus, it looks pretty.  And if you know me or anything about my cooking, you know that I like a nice presentation.  It's just that extra step that gives you that wow factor.  Although, above all else, it's that taste that counts.  I don't care how pretty something looks, if it doesn't taste good, I'm not going to eat it.  I remember telling my Mom that when I was younger.  Sometimes when she cooked a meal, it didn't always look pretty.  But the taste would be out of this world.  I would always remind her that how it tastes is much more important that what it looks like.  Besides, it all ends up in the same place, right?  So, if the pictures of my pancakes aren't exactly pretty, either because they aren't that pretty or fell victim to my poor photography skills, don't judge until you try the recipe!
Jó étvágyat! (Hungarian way to say Bon Appetit!)

   As I mentioned earlier, this recipe came from The Chew by Ruth Sottile, a woman who presented the pancake on the show.  (For a direct link to the recipe: The Chew - Lemon Ricotta Pancakes )

Ingredients

• 1 cup Cake Flour (I used all-purpose flour)
• 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1 pinch Fresh Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 4 tablespoons Sugar
• 1 cup Ricotta
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 cup Whole Milk (I used skim milk)
• 1 Lemon (zest and juice)
• Melted Butter (for griddle)
• 1 jar Lemon Curd
• Fresh Berries
• Powdered Sugar

Directions:

• Combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and sugar.  I like to whisk together my dry ingredients to make sure they are mixed well.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta, eggs, milk, and lemon zest and juice. Mix wet ingredients with dry until combined.
• Mix wet ingredients with dry.
• Melt butter on a hot griddle or skillet and cook pancakes until brown on both sides.
• When all pancakes are cooked, warm lemon curd and drizzle over pancakes. Garnish with fresh berries and dust with powdered sugar.

Pancakes every weekend for a year?!

Never thought I would take up blogging, but here I am, inspired to blog.  Is that even the proper way to use the word blog?  It's an odd word, sounds a lot like glob, or blob, and I don't like those words.  Maybe that's why I haven't do it yet.  

Anywho, I recently became a Mom.  This made me start to think about what our daughter will learn from us, both the good and the bad.  What traditions will she learn?  What will be her favorite memories?  It made me realize how much I like having family meals.  I mean real, sit-down family meals where everyone sits down at the table, talks about their day, and enjoys a home cooked meal.  I especially love weekends when things are slower and relaxed, meaning more time to prepare a nice breakfast.  Cereal and granola bars are great for weekdays, but I think the weekends call for breakfasts that are more thought out and planned.  My husband and I love pancakes, but I rarely make them.  Occasionally, we go out for breakfast at a local breakfast spot that makes AMAZING and giant pancakes.  They always have a huge selection, which means I take forever deciding what I want.  I wish I could try everything, but I doubt my wallet and waistline would be happy about that.  So, I started to wonder how many different types I could come up with and in the process treat my family to a nice breakfast each week.  So join me in my journey as I attempt to make 52 different types of pancakes in 52 weeks. Along the way I hope it leads to a nice family tradition/routine, with lots of memories at the kitchen table.