Pumpkin Pancakes for One

Let’s talk about breakfast for just a minute. You know, the most important meal of the day? I’ve never been one to skip a meal and have always been a breakfast eater, mostly of the cereal variety. Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to have some protein at breakfast, which usually comes in the form of Greek yogurt or soy milk. I can’t do solely doughnuts or pancakes or waffles for breakfast. No matter how much I eat, it always seems like I’m hungry a few hours later.

Pancakes are not a weekday breakfast. Pancakes are for lazy Saturdays and sleeping in and drinking cups of coffee. Except for these pancakes. They’re quick, easy to mix together, and only make two large-ish pancakes, perfect for breakfast for one. And you only dirty two bowls and one pan. For my protein fix, I had some Morningstar veggie sausage patties on the side. There isn’t a ton of sugar in these so I don’t feel like I’m on some kind of sugar-high after eating them. They’re just moist and full of those wonderful fall flavors. I topped mine with some plain yogurt and a drizzle of agave nectar, but feel free to go all-out and use butter and maple syrup. If you’re not a big nutmeg fan, reduce it to 1/8 of a tsp or leave it out altogether because the nutmeg flavor is very strong.

Do you eat different breakfasts on the weekends vs. the weekdays?

Pumpkin Pancakes for One
source: Cate’s World Kitchen

Ingredients

1/4 cup pumpkin
1 egg white
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

Preparation

Stir the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger together in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg white, pumpkin, and buttermilk. Stir into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten everything (there will still be a few lumps).

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and spray with nonstick spray. Pour half the batter into the preheated pan and cook until bubbles appear on the top, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook an additional minute or two. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve with maple syrup.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

We woke up on Saturday morning to a winter wonderland in Nashville, and the roads were pretty much impassable. Fortunately, I had everything I needed to make these delicious pancakes. A lot of the bulk comes from the shredded carrots, of which my food processor made quick work, but the spices add a lot of the carrot cake flavor. The batter is thick and needs to be spread thinner on the griddle, otherwise the middle doesn't cook through. Definitely try these for a variation on your normal pancake without any added fat.

Carrot Cake Pancakes
source: Cooking Light January 2010

Preparation

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• Dash of ground cloves
• Dash of ground ginger
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups finely grated carrot (about 3 medium/large carrots)
  
• Cooking spray
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons honey

Preparation

1. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through ginger) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and next 4 ingredients (through eggs); add sugar mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in 2 cups carrot.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Spoon a 1/4 cup of batter onto pan, spreading with a spatula. Cook for 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Carefully turn pancakes over; cook 1 minute or until bottoms are lightly browned. Repeat procedure twice with remaining batter. Combine butter and honey in a small bowl; serve with pancakes.

Blueberry Pancakes

Growing up, we usually had pancakes made from Bisquick, so I always thought that making pancakes would be hard enough to require a shortcut like Bisquick. Little did I know they are actually pretty easy.

Joe has the day off today, and I don't work until noon, so I thought I would make a special breakfast for the two of us. I had some blueberries that I needed to use and decided I would try some blueberry pancakes. I lugged out my trusty Joy of Cooking and got to work. I mixed the dry ingredients yesterday so all I had to do was add the wet ingredients. This was also the maiden voyage of our fancy new George Foreman grill. I laid the bottom plate flat and used the griddle plate. Joe is very excited about the food blog and decorated the serving plate with strawberries so the picture would look pretty.



Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 3/4 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- (1/2 tsp vanilla extract) (I omitted this optional ingredient because I'm lazy.)
- (I added 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries)

Instructions:
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Combine milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract (and blueberries!) in another bowl.
- Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients.
- Cook like pancakes (My words. Joy of Cooking has a two page explanation of how to cook a pancake.)

I kept the pancakes on this fancy oven-proof serving plate in a 200-degree oven until I had cooked all the batter. Joe and I loved these. We served them with Country Crock light, Lite syrup, and coffee. They were so much better than our previous discus-like pancakes that we had attempted with Bisquick. Next time I will attempt waffles with the new fancy George Foreman.

recipe from Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition