Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

 

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I don’t make many things with pumpkin although it’s one of my favorite vegetables. I had two unopened huge cans of pure pumpkin puree with glorious plans of making yummy things until it ran out. They’ve been sitting and sitting…waiting to be used. I finally just thought, ‘what the heck, if I ruin a recipe then I ruin it. At least I would have tried it’ and so here is my own vegan pumpkin pancakes.

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They are not as fluffy as some recipes, the batter is on the thin side. But you could put in chocolate (dairy/nondairy) chips for a yummy creamy-ness. Mmmmm. Enjoy!

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Did I mention they are a snap to make?

Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/2C  Nondairy milk

2T Oil

2T Pumpkin Puree

1 1/2 C Flour

2T Sugar

1t Baking Powder

1/2t Nutmeg

1/2t Ginger

1T Cinnamon

 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

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I haven’t roasted pumpkin seeds since I was in…2nd grade I think. It was at school and I remember being amazed that something so yucky and slimy would taste good. It was a great memory….but let’s take a moment and think:

Who was the first person to scoop out the gunk from a pumpkin and think, ‘oh! I have a great idea! Let’s take the seeds, heat them up and eat them!’ A crazy person. (or a really hungry one) But we all get to benifit from this persons…out of the box thinking. Bless their crazy thinking.

Here it is. And here are the steps I followed. I made the ‘savory’ version.

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Apparently they need to dry first before pouring on  the butter, seasoning and baking. I didn’t follow that perfectly, and they still turned out great.

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On another note, I’m writing this while eating caramel corn. I love fall. It is the best. Amen.

Day 18: something orange

I have decided to join some other bloggers to do a 30 day challenge. We are following a fun list of things to take a picture of every day for a month. It would be awesome to have you join in on the fun! Just let me know so I can follow ya. 🙂

Day 18: something orange
16877449709.jpgHad to. It’s October. It’s fall. So my ‘orange’ is our pumpkins. I felt really bad not going to the pumpkin patch this year. Like we were not allowing Emma the opportunity to have the experience. But the more I thought about it, I realized that I would rather have her remember fall as crisp walks together, caramel apples, carving pumpkins with daddy, getting to wear new scarves/hats and getting her own hot drinks at Starbucks. All of which we’ve done…except the caramel apples….must take care of that this weekend with OMA!!! 🙂
Happy Fall everyone, which traditions or memories do you want to leave your kids about fall?

National Bundt Cake day!

Happy National Bundt Cake Day! I have been looking forward to this day to try new recipes and, as it turns out, I went totally predictable and went seasonal. Boring. But my taste buds aren’t complaining. If you have 30 seconds PLEASE go check her out. It is because of her that I even know of this holiday. She has been leading up to this day with 30 bundt recipes! Seriously, bundt cakes are her passion and we get to reap the benefits with pictures that make me want to lick the screen. Hmm, not sure that’s a benifit…but anyways she is amazing and dedicated to say the least. And creative, meatloaf bundt anyone? Personally, I just have fun looking at her pictures, she’s the one who makes the cakes at 5:30am. Hah!

I’ll be in LA, which is where she lives, this week for a fundraising conference and would love to meet her if nothing else but to eat her cakes! (No offense Food Librarian, I’m sure you’re very nice hehe)

OK, so enough rambling, just go check out her blog. Here is my bundt cake to celebrate this very special, very sacred holiday.

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My Bundt cake is a Pumpkin Spice cake with raisins. Topped with a Vanilla Glaze. I double glazed it. Double the calories. Double the goodness. I also froze the mini’s for a dreary day. Planning ahead. For when I’m feeling lazy wanting to surprise Travis with a dessert.

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Pumpkin patch…kinda

OK, so we tried to go to the pumpkin patch with it’s amazing pony and carnival rides but with only an hour till closing as we walked up- they wanted to charge is $82 buckaroos!!! I was like…’forget this!’ and everyone else was debating it. hah. They actually wanted to charge little Emma $17 to go in0- adult price!

So instead we went to their pumpkin patch but didn’t buy anything. They have a separate patch where it’s mostly picked over. We were there only for pictures though so with that mindset we  were ok. Well most of us. Emma didn’t get that memo.

Poor Grammy!

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Once we got to the patch and pumpkins she started crying and telling the scarecrows to ‘go away!’ She was scared of them 🙁 But I was so proud that she used her words!

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This was the best we could get of Gramps, Grammy and Emma. She wasn’t going for picture time. But thank goodness Gramps acts silly around Emma! We were able to get a great family shot!

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Love her hat. I got it from a friend and I added the buttons. 🙂

And finally, Emma was into a smile phase for 3 min and I just so happen to be holding her.

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Pumpkin Bread

I have had this recipe for forever and have successfully procrastinated this recipe for I think 4 months. It seemed every time I opened my pantry there the ingredients were staring back at me telling me how hard it will be to make. Well, I finally did it! And no, or course the recipe wasn’t as hard as I was making it out to be. I think it took about…30 min to make and bake it. Easy shmeezy.

It feels like I accomplished some large obstacle and now have the power to take on bigger…HUGER feet’s like cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the garbage ON THE SAME DAY. Holy cow, stop the presses- yes I’m thinking about doing a lot today. hehe I love exaggerating. I think I would die if I didn’t do it.(hehe get it?) I always exaggerate and that is what makes me me. OK, so back to the recipe. You can go here to get it. I’m too lazy to write it all down here, plus you can convert it to the metric system and make it in Europe or wherever! It’s SO good on a fall day and I think next time I’m adding raisins- oohhh or even better rum soaked raisins.That would make for an unbelievable taste. Pumpkins and raisins just seem to be good friends. Total, it makes 3 loaves. I am freezing 2 and having one to have with tea. Enjoy and happy November- I hope your heat is on, you are drinking tea and all snuggled in a blanket. 🙂

Mmmmmm

Tis the Season

Tis the season for pumpkin carving, hay rides, buying candy in bulk, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Knee high boots and hot chocolate/cider. I accomplished most on the list this past week and even though I don’t have pictures of them all (that would be kinda freaky to me) I do have a picture or two of some pumpkins we put our artistic stamp on.

Patti Pumpkin

I decided that I had to name her. So let me introduce you to Patti Patrice. She likes cold nights, laughing with children and small votive candles. Nice to meet you Patti!

Artist Emma

I will now officially say that Emma has entered into her abstract phase in her artistic career. She likes to paint and color with her left hand and hates stopping. Well done Emma!

A Lovely Day in the Neighborhood

Today was a beautiful day. The clouds threatened us with dark colors but nothing has rained down on us but sunshine. Emma and I took a walk because Emma was freaking out wanting to go outside it would be good for Emma to get some fresh air. Once outside, she immediately started talking high pitched and looking for the neighborhood cat. She ADORES it and just so happens to also freak it out. She’s just a toddler….I mean my baby…*sniff, my baby is growing up!…..

Here kitty kitty...

Here kitty kitty

Kitty!

“There it is mommy!!!”

Our neighborhood cat

Unfortunately, it only came to see me and after a while got frustrated with Emma and just left. So we continued on our walk adventure. I took many many pictures and annoyed the crap out of Emma, but out of them all….only ONE had her with her eyes open. This one:

Don't you just love her pants?!!

The beautiful hill by our house

We slowly came home and colored on her special pumpkin, a project I had been holding off on till today. I had to have something to bribe her with to come inside…and she didn’t want to come inside…she let me and the whole neighborhood understand she didn’t want to.

Before

This pumpkin is awaiting Emma’s creativity. So before…

beautify-ing

In the middle of being beautified…

Now black...

OK say it with me. “Oooooooo” I know, she has an artists stare huh…:) Or maybe the sun is just in her eyes.

TaDa!!!!!

Tada! The finished product which greets visitors at our front door.  🙂 Enjoy your Monday, we are going out to celebrate a friends birthday for dinner. (Yahoo, I don’t have to make anything!!!) Tomorrow I’m making BBQ Chicken pizza…mmm. For some reason I’ve been craving BBQ. Huh. Anyhoo, have a nice evening.

Janek the Pirate Captain

Don’t you just wish you could relax like animals…or at least like cats?! Never complaining and even prefering paper bags to comfy couches. Hmmm, but maybe he isn’t relaxing at all and is…pretending to be a sea captain! Captain Janek out on the wide open ocean who has the last treasure map taking him to a treasure chest full of tuna and fake mice. (because real mice would be yucky) There he hudles behind a big rock looking at the site of the treasure. But alas, it is guarded by many scary looking cars and dogs. Will he be able to take hold of this treasure?!

Captain Janek

OR……

Janek's alter-ego

Mommy and Emma

Emma and I had a nice day together although our days tend to side more on the boring end of the scale. Our exciting adventure today was we went grocery shopping. My life has officially become lame. I never though I would get excited and plan my meals out 2 weeks in advance and make desserts just because. However, if I was living by myself I would seriously be eating a whole lot crappier.

Emma's pumpkin

We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend and unfortunately didn’t get pumpkins. The ATM wasn’t working and the fix-it-man wasn’t fixing…sad day. Well Emma got her pumpkin at the grocery store today and tomorrow we will decorate it. I have a couple ideas. We’ll see- and of course I will take pictures of it.

Pumpkin Patch

For some reason I thought that as a child grew up, it would be easier to take pictures of them. Nobody told me that, I just came with it on my own. Maybe next year it will be easier.

We went to the pumpkin patch for a friend’s birthday (London’s 2!) and of course I jumped at the idea of taking fall pictures. They turned out…great of Trav and Emma, but just OK with me and her. I do believe I have the cutest child there is and proof of it was today. She was so adorable it hurt. We unfortunately didn’t get to bring home pumpkins, because their ATM was broken and they only took cash…so yeah: Safeway here we come. Enjoy the pictures. All in all it was a nice sunny, cold, windy fall day. I’m making homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. Yum.

She of course HAD to have her goldfish.

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OK all together...'awwwww'

Daddy and Emma

Me and Emma- I have a thing for flowers on hats and scalloped edges.

See what I mean?! Trav and Emma are adorable and us…well by the time it was my turn she was more than ready to go.

Emma ready to go-she hit her wall

And finally the dirty wheel barrel cart thing. She absolutely LOVED it. She loved pushing things in it, playing in it and having daddy push her in it. When we left she threw a fair tantrum because we had to leave it behind. (*Good Christmas present, family members-hint, hint)

Emma and daddy