"Vermont to the Core" Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

A few weeks ago, we visited Vermont in the height of apple season. It rained for most of  our trip, so no apple picking. But, before we left on Sunday, we collected crispy-crunchy-colorful leaves during this mini-hike and

bought a load of  fresh Vermont macs for just 25 cents each at the famed Cold Hollow Cider Mill.

cider making!

"Vermont to the Core" Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
2 eggs, well beaten
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c milk
 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 c sugar
3 medium apples, peeled and coarsely grated (We used "Vermont to the Core" Macs from Cold Hollow. You might like a little less apple in your batter.)
butter or oil, for frying

1. Mix the eggs with the milk or yogurt in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together.
3. Combine the wet and the dry ingredients and stir in the apples and whatever other flavorings you see fit.
4. Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet over low to medium heat. Drop large spoonful of batter into the pan and flatten it out a little (otherwise, you might have trouble getting them to cook in the center) and cook until golden brown underneath. Flip the pancakes and cook them for an additional two or three minutes.
5. Serve immediately, or keep on a tray in a warmed oven until you are ready to serve them.

Love Your Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Whipped Cream

It was Love at First Sight in Morning Glory's Pumpkin Patch. Still, we ran, rested and picnicked our way through their breezy fields, drawing out our visit. 

Later, we roasted pumpkins, adding the sweet, fresh puree to everything. Is there anything romantic than pumpkin? We will be smitten all fall, making pumpkin bread (bonus family recipes below!),  pumpkin smoothies and pumpkin soups and more. 

Now, for the pancakes that you're really going to loooove . . .

Love Your Pumpkin Pancakes 
from Say Yes  (stellar photo above also courtesy of Say Yes)
 sserves 6

2 1/2 c flour (we subbed 1 1/4 c. oat flour)

4 T sugar (we used Rapadura)
4 t baking powder

1 t sea salt
1 t ginger

1 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon

2 pinches of clove
2 c milk
3/4 c pumpkin puree
4 T melted butter
2 farm fresh eggs
for garnish- chopped pecans (or better yet, we used freshly roasted pumpkin seeds)

1. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter and eggs.
3. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Add extra milk if your batter is too thick.

4. Grease skillet and bring to a medium heat; pour 1/4 c. batter for ea. pancake.
5. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes each side.
6. Serve with maple cinnamon whipped cream, maple syrup, and garnish with pecans/seeds.


Maple Cinnamon Whipped Cream
1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
maple syrup
dash of cinnamon

1. In a chilled bowl pour heavy whipping cream. Drizzle as much maple syrup to your tasting and add a dash of cinnamon. Beat on high until peaks form and is light and fluffy.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

BONUS PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPES:

My Mom's Awesome Pumpkin Bread Recipe is a keeper. Here are the good & evil versions. Up to you which is which . . .

My Mom's Awesome Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ¾ c of flour
1 ½ c of sugar
1 t of baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
¼ t salt
1 c of canned pumpkin
½ c cold water
½ t of each: allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg
2 eggs
½ c of oil
½ c raisins
½ c of chopped walnuts
Directions:
1. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices together in a large bowl.
2. Add the pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Beat until the batter is smooth.
3. Add the chopped nuts and raisins to the batter.
4. Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

To Serve: You can serve this bread hot or cold – plain, with butter or cream cheese. Enjoy!

Her Hippy Dippy Daughter's Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 c unbleached all-purpose flour

¾ c spelt flour

1 ½ c date sugar

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

¼ t sea salt

1 c fresh pumpkin puree 

½ c cold water

½ t of each: allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg

2 farm eggs

½ c of melted organic coconut oil (or olive oil)

½ c raisins

½ c of chopped pumpkin seeds

2 T ground flaxseeds

Directions:

1. Sift the flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices & flaxseeds together in a large bowl.

2. Add the pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Beat until the batter is smooth.

3. Add the chopped seeds and raisins to the batter.

4. Pour into a well greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

To Serve: You can serve this bread hot or cold – plain, with butter or cream cheese. Enjoy!

Here's my mom, who O calls "Graham Cracker" making pumpkin bread with him.

Autumnal Olive Berry Syrup

Happy Fall! 

We are officially foragers. Here's proof. 

This text came in the other day from our friend Meg (above photo attached): 

"Autumn olive berries! Lots outside of Reid's office."

 Having never met an autumn olive berry, we were excited and 

arrived there within a few hours time to greet these abundant deep red berries. 

 On the way home, we spotted lots more along our driveway.

Guess we could be making jam for days or even weeks around here!

Autumnal Olive Berry Syrup
inspired by Three Foragers
serves 4
On the stovetop, we cooked 1.5 cups berries with 4 T water over medium heat for a few minutes, until berries were softened or burst.

Next, we pureed it and pushed it through a strainer, which helped us deal with the seeds. Then, we added 1/2 c maple syrup and re-heated it on the stove. That's it! No need for cheesecloth, pectin or any other fancy items.

A tiny bit tart, but really delicious over pancakes. Leftovers were great drizzled over butternut squash.

The puree keeps in the fridge for a few days, longer with a squeeze of lemon juice. Puree could also be added to pancake batter, baked goods or smoothies. Will you groan if I say the word antioxidant again here? How about lycopene powerhouse or phytonutrient?? We will now  look for these berries every fall!

In the meantime, two other messages just came in about foraging:
free raspberries-whatever's left in patch at Mermaid Farm &
an with an invite to pick concord grapes.
We're on it!

You're Up Early! Oven-baked Pear Pancakes

If you're the first one up and want to spoil everyone else in the house, make these. You can whip them up quickly and then relax with the newspaper (and/or legos). Waking up to a house which smells curiously of apple pie will start everyone's day off on the right foot.

You're Up Early! Oven-baked Pear Pancakes
slightly adapted from Real Simple
serves 4

Ingredients
2  pears
1/2  c date sugar (or table sugar)
1/4  c spelt flour (or all-purpose flour)
3 eggs
1 c whole milk
2  t vanilla
1 T unsalted butter, melted
sea salt
1/2  t ground cinnamon
2 t sugar

Directions
Heat oven to 400º F.

Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with olive oil. Slice pear thinly. arrange them in the pie plate.

Combine 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, eggs, whole milk, vanilla, unsalted butter, and a pinch of salt in a blender. Pulse until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Pour over the pears. Place in the oven and bake until springy to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Heat broiler. Sprinkle the pancake with ground cinnamon and the 2 tablespoons sugar.

Broil until browned, about 1 minute. Serve warm.

This custardy, non-traditional pancake would be great addition to a potluck brunch and can definitely be eaten for dessert. Just add ice cream.

Farmer J's Goat Milk Pancakes

It always happens this way. You're hosting out-of-town-guests, all excited to show them your hometown.

And, then . . . it's actually your visiting niece who discovers the snakes- much to her cousins's delight- in your stone wall. Or your sister who leads everyone to a secret park in downtown Edgartown.

My sister's crew also introduced us to a nearby goat farm during their recent visit. (Don't get her started on the health benefits of goat milk!)

At this tiny farm, our children fed grass to 'Lily' and her kid, 'Honey Pots'. My sister and I happily forked over some dollars, via the honors system, for fresh goat milk and cheese.

When we got home, we made goat ice cream. Later, we savored crumbled goat cheese over arugula salad.

Best of all, the next morning we made this simple pancake recipe. The goat farmer's, J's, go-to recipe, actually. . .

Farmer J's Goat Milk Pancakes
serves 6
2 c flour (we used 1 c spelt, 1 c all-purpose)
2 T baking powder
2 eggs
2 c goat's milk
3 T melted, cooled butter
3 T cottage cheese
we added:
1/2 t salt
1 T sweetener (local honey/maple syrup/sugar)
1 t vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, butter, vanilla, cottage cheese and honey/syrup.
Combine dry & wet ingredients, stirring until just incorporated.

Cook 'em up! Then, wash and return those milk jars :)

I was surprised that nothing tasted super-goaty! And so pleased to support this local, healthful food effort. We'll be back to see Ole' Lily and Honey Pots again!

PS We miss you, kiwi-cousins!

Grain-free Silva Dollars (or How to Silence a Group of 8)

My sister from New Zealand has been visiting with her family. It's been a happy, crazy time as we love on our four children combined, ages 5 & under. Highlights have included mini golf, beach dates, farm tours and of course pancakes.

Even though they're paleo and my little family has food allergies, we still managed to created this crowd-pleasing, high-protein batch.

Grain-free Silva Dollars (or How to Silence a Group of 8)
adapted from Nourished Kitchen
serves about 8 (about 20 silver dollar pancakes)

Ingredients
8 large eggs
4 T applesauce
2 T honey
1/2 to 1 c coconut flour
1 t unrefined sea salt
1 t baking soda
ghee or coconut oil (for frying pancakes)
cinnamon (for sprinkling the pancakes)




Instructions
Mix eggs, applesauce and honey into a food processor and pulse until slightly mixed. Add coconut flour, salt and baking soda slowly to the liquid ingredients and process until they form a firm batter that is still liquid enough to pour off a spoon. (Or you can just do it really fast by hand like us!)

Melt ghee or coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium to medium-low heat. Pour a heaping tablespoon of the pancake batter into the hot fat, sprinkle with cinnamon. Gently fry the pancake for a few minutes, until browned on the bottom; flip the pancake and fry for a further one to two minutes.

Serve with honey, fruit or yogurt. Enjoy!

I'm thinking pancakes have got to be the easiest way to cook for 8! 

Back-to-School Egg-free Pancakes

We're always crowing about our farm eggs around here, aren't we?
We do realize, though, that not everyone can or wants to eat eggs. O has allergies to nuts while some of his new preschool and soccer buddies have other allergies.
Here is a recipe that anyone, with or without an egg or nut allergy, preschooler or "grown-up", will love. And want to make again and again.

 On your left, you'll see a flash of red between O's school and the garden.
That's him running to the door on his first day last week!

First day of soccer, last week, too! (In red again!)

Back-to-School Egg-free Pancakes

adapted slightly from Art of Dessert

serves 4
1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 c oat flour

1/4 c sweetener of choice (date sugar/local honey/pure maple syrup)
1 1/2 T baking powder
1/2 t sea salt
2 c milk of choice (whole milk recommended)
1/4 c organic coconut, olive or grapeseed oil
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c melted butter (for vegan, you can use melted coconut oil/applesauce)

Sift together flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, oil and orange juice. (If using a liquid sweetener like honey or syrup, add it now.) Slowly add in the melted butter. Combine with the dry ingredients. 

Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto a hot nonstick pan. (This batter tends to bubble up and thicken due to the baking powder. You can gently stir it to break down some of the bubbles to bring it back to a pour-able consistency.) Cook until you see a few bubbles rise to the surface and it's dry around the edges, then flip over to cook the other side until lightly browned. 

Serve with butter and maple syrup. (Shh: we've been substituting organic coconut oil for butter lately and no one has complained.)


Wishing all a wondrous, inspired school year!
I am excited for O to build with outdoor blocks, play violin and bake bread with classmates, but I must admit I am now missing his constant company, endless questions and general sweetness.
Our pancake ritual already has more meaning than last week.