So, Sunday the plumbers came and put in our new water heater. We were so excited to have hot water, to finally wash dishes that were stacking up, to finally shower. Unfortunately we’d had to wait. For whatever reason our new water heater was wired incorrectly and as a result had no power. It would be another day before we had hot water and know the wonders of said dish washing and showering. Since we were still snowed in (we live on a dead end street with a sizable hill that doesn’t get plowed) and waterless dinner needed to be easy and made with ingredients we had on hand. Earlier Sunday I had been reading the most recent Cook’s Illustrated in which there was mention of a broccoli stir fry. We didn’t have all the ingredients for it and not near enough fresh broccoli, but it sparked an idea for what turned into a delicious Asian-inspired dinner.

The original recipe was just broccoli but like I said, we didn’t have enough of it but we did have mushrooms and carrots and some baked tofu. After weeks of heavy food through the holidays and baked goods just for the sake of it being winter, a nice healthy dish of vegetables and healthy, low-fat protein sounded really good. We were going to just have rice with the stir fry, but I remembered that one of the things we had laying around the kitchen was half a pound of whole wheat egg noodles from our CSA. Now, I know that these aren’t necessarily traditional Asian fare, but, like I said, we were snowed in and this was an Asian inspired meal, plus, I love Asian noodle dishes!

There’s just enough heat from the cayenne and Sriracha to have a slight burn, which was nice. You can adjust this to your taste by using more or less cayenne. The original recipe called for a minced whole clove of garlic, but we had just run out making breakfast the previous day so I used the garlic powder. You can (and should) substitute a whole clove of garlic for the garlic powder. Our pantry is not normally this bare, but with the weather the way it was, we just hadn’t been able to restock anything. Trust me that has been taken care of now as I have some other delicious meals planned for the week. For now, enjoy this quick (seriously, 20 minutes) and easy meal.

Chinese Five Spice Veggie Stir-Fry
Serves 4, Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp. Sriracha (Asian Chili-garlic sauce)
1/8 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp. corn starch
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
1/2 lb. mushrooms, cut into quarter-inch slices
1/2 lb. broccoli florets, chopped in half-inch pieces
1/4 tsp sugar
2 carrots, julienned
1/2 lb. tofu, cut into half-inch cubes
1/2 lb. udon or egg noodles, cooked per package’s directions
toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Whisk broth, hoisin, soy sauce, sesame oil, Sriracha, five-spice and corn starch together in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine 1 tsp. vegetable oil, garlic powder and cayenne pepper, stirring well

Heat remaining cayenne-garlic oil in a wok or large non-stick skillet over medium high heat until just beginning to smoke. Add mushrooms and broccoli and sprinkle with sugar. Cook, stirring frequently, for 7–8 minutes. Add carrots and tofu and cook for 3 more minutes until the carrots soften.

Add broth mixture and cook for 1 minutes, stirring to coat vegetables well. Add the cooked noodles and stir to coat.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Today was supposed to be wonderful. It blizzarded big time here yesterday. Er, big time for Nashville. We got 5–6″ followed by about a quarter-inch of ice on top of that. As a result, we had a lovely day of nothin’-doin’ planned for staying inside. Well, not exactly nothin’-doin’. There are a few chores and some cleaning that we needed to take care of, but we also planned on going outside and playing in the snow like five-year-olds at heart that we are. We started with an awesome breakfast — a hash of sweet potato, onion, mushrooms and chicken apple sausage on thick-cut, toasted Amish all topped with an over easy egg and finished with black sea salt.

It was delicious. The sweetness of the sweet potato paired really well with the sweetness of the sausage while the earthiness of the mushrooms kept the whole thing from becoming cavity inducing. The black sea salt melted into the warm egg forming smears of black salty goodness. And speaking of the egg, with the over easy egg on top, I was able to enjoy one of life’s simplest pleasures: watching the yoke flow like yellow lava down my little breakfast mountain.

This is something I will be making again soon. It’s super easy, you just dice and brown one sweet potato, add half a diced onion and a couple links of your favourite sausage and let them get a little color on them. Then add some sliced mushrooms and a clove of minced garlic and let it all cook until any moisture from the mushrooms has cooked out and the potatoes are done (make sure you season with salt and pepper to taste). Serve it on a slice of toast and add an over easy egg on top and voila!

After breakfast we began our chores all the while I was excited about going out into the snow to watch our dogs around and sink into the snow and generally be confused as to why their world is the wrong color. I had planned on adding some pics to this post of us and the dog frolicking and the tiny snow man with a baby carrot for a nose that we would have created as is my tradition.

Instead of this wonderful day we planned on having, our water heater decided to die and leak water all over the finished area of the basement. There was one area at the bottom of the stairs where the water was standing two inches deep. Nothing was damaged and we were able to finally get all the water sopped up. Unfortunately the laundry room where our water heater is is carpeted. We have fans blowing across it and a dehumidifier sucking moisture out of the room. hopefully we won’t have to deal with any mildew issues. The plumber was going to be able to install a new water heater today but because of the weather and Nashville’s inability to handle even the threat of flurries, his truck got stuck a few miles from here so he’s coming by tomorrow.

So, here we are, tired, hungry and waterless due to the ineptitude of whoever originally installed our water heater not putting the shutoff valve in the right place. Oh well, maybe we’ll take a late-night snow walk tonight. Or maybe we’ll just order pizza, open some wine and watch movies. Hmmm…that sounds like a great idea…

Anyway, if you got snow, I hope you enjoyed it. There is little I enjoy more than the instant transition to a child that happens within me when it snows. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to enjoy it tomorrow. or at least shower.

Okay, I know. It’s been way too long since I’ve posted. I could bore you with many excuses about how I’ve been too busy or how being sick followed by the major holidays really got the best of me and my time. But in reality, my heart just hasn’t been in it. I’m not sure why. Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking. But lately I just haven’t had the drive or inspiration to come up with anything culinarily speaking, let along have it be anything good enough to post about. I’ve been in a rut. But I think this dish may have done a lot to pull me out of that rut. The sauce alone is by far the best I’ve made. Its bold and complex, yet not overpowering and it perfectly compliments the lightness of any kind of pasta. But that’s not the reason I made this dish. It just so happened that our most recent share from our CSA had fresh homemade whole wheat spaghetti in it and it made me  immediately start craving meatballs.

Now I know that traditional meatballs are at least beef and often a beef and pork mixture. Some even add lamb to the mix. While there’s no denying the tastiness of those routes, we wanted something a little on the lighter side. So we turned to turkey. But to keep them from drying out, I braised them in the tomato sauce which kept them really moist and flavorful. Speaking of flavor, I did add some pork to up the ante a bit.

As for the sauce you can use your favorite sauce if you want, but I recommend trying mine. You can make it in a large batch and can or freeze it for later use. If you do end up making it, don’t skimp on the wine. I know that there is only 1/2 cup in it, but really good wine makes a big difference. I used the wine that we made last fall. It’s an Australian shiraz and I’ve found that it’s perfectly suited for cooking.

Hopefully, I will now return to regular posting. I’m sorry it’s been so dry here lately. I hate that I didn’t really do any good holiday-themed posts other than for Thanksgiving and that over the last two months I’ve really only had 3 posts. I promise to try to do better. For now, I hope you enjoy this recipe; we really did.

Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs

3 slices pancetta or thick-cut bacon*, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp. ketchup
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb ground turkey
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 quart tomato sauce (my recipe follows)

In a lightly greased non-stick sauté pan, over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain when done; leaving behind the grease for cooking. (*If you are going to use bacon, I recommend blanching to remove some of the smokiness.)

In remaining bacon grease cook shallots until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and continue cooking 2 minutes. Remove onion and garlic with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain, leaving behind any remaining grease for cooking.

In a large mixing bowl, combine bacon, cooked garlic and onion, and all remaining ingredients except for tomato sauce until mixed well. Form into 2″ balls. Heat oil in sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté meatballs until brown on all sides, about five minutes.

Once all meatballs have browned, remove them from the pan to a plate.

Pour tomato sauce into sauté pan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to combine flavors left in the pan. Add meatballs to sauce and simmer covered for 15–20 minutes over medium-low heat to finish cooking meatballs. Serve over spaghetti, garnished with shaved Parmesan cheese.

And now, here’s my delicious pasta sauce recipe. It really is a great all-purpose sauce. You can fancy it up by adding more basil or garlic or even turn it into a vodka sauce. But, as it is, it’s pretty wonderful and would go perfectly over any pasta with a garnish of Parmesan.

Ben’s Tasty Tomato Sauce

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 quarts stewed tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
6 oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. butter
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste

In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, cook onion and carrot in oil until soft, about 7–8 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, wine, crushed red pepper and bay leaves and stir well to combine. Bring to a fast boil and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and continue to simmer for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves. Working in batches, process in a blender until desired consistency is reached.

Return to low heat and add butter and tomato paste. Stir in good sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes. Serve hot or store in an air-tight container in refrigerator for up to one week or freeze for up to six months. Makes roughly 5 cups.

Two organic, free-range farm-fresh eggs over easy with salt and pepper and toasted fresh Amish honey wheat bread topped with apple butter. A delicious Saturday morning treat. Have a great weekend everybody!

Everybody has experienced it. Piles of thanksgiving food left over after the big meal. For days at almost every meal its turkey, dressing, potatoes, etc. Monday I took a big plate of everything we had at Thursday’s Thanksgiving feast to work with me for lunch. It was still really good, but it had lost its charm. Instead of delicious smoked turkey and exciting sides it was just another round of leftovers. I was done with Thanksgiving food. It was time to move on. Inspired by a taco theme day on Whiskerino (a biannual beard growing competition I’ve participated since its inception in 2003), I decided that slow-cooking the turkey in a spicy sauce would be a great way to use up the rest of the turkey we had left.

This totally hit the spot for me as I’ve been craving tacos all day. As I said, my Thanksgiving turkey was brined overnight in an apple cider mixture before being smoked for eight hours over a combination of hickory and mesquite chunks. This smokey sweetness and the spice was a perfect combination and after simmering for over an hour in the sauce, the wonderfully moist and tender meat just fell apart. I paired the tacos with a quick and easy salsa rice & beans. You take cup of rice and substitute salsa for the water and cook as directed. Once the rice is done cooking, stir in a can of beans and a pinch of salt and top with a little shredded cheese and you’ve got a fast, tasty side dish that’s sure to please.

Spicy Tequila Lime Turkey Tacos, Thanksgiving Leftover Edition
Serves 4

2 tsp. olive oil
1 red onion, diced
3 small tomatoes, cored and diced (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cayenne peppers, diced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
2 oz. tequila
1 tsp. triple sec
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp. Tapatio Mexican hot sauce (or equivalent)
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
2 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chipotle powder
1 tsp fresh cilantro (plus more for garnish)
1 lb cooked turkey
24 corn tortillas

In a large pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–8 minutes or until translucent. Add tomatoes, garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper and cook until the tomatoes start breaking down, about 5 minutes.

Stir in all remaining ingredients except for turkey and tortillas and bring to a boil. Add turkey, reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and pull turkey apart with forks.

To serve place a small amount of turkey in the middle of two stacked tortillas and a top with cilantro. Garnish with shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese and sour cream.

Do you have any unique tips, tricks or traditions for using your Thanksgiving leftovers? I’d love to hear about them. leave me a comment and if you end up making these delicious tacos, let me know what you think!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know we did, but we almost didn’t. A few weeks ago I came down with the swine flu which then turned into pleurisy. For more than the last two weeks I have been in bed. I didn’t really leave the bed or couch unless i needed to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately that meant no cooking which really sucked. Fortunately, I did get better in time for us to host Thanksgiving for my family this year. I am so glad that I did get well in time because it was awesome. Megan and I made a lot of great food with the help of my sister, Annalise, who cam into town a couple days early from New York. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen laughing, cooking and mess making to put together the best thanksgiving meal any of us has ever had.

Megan did an amazing job of putting together a beautiful table scape with colourful felt leaves and a large vase of fall gourds.

I got up at 6:30am to start some coals and remove the turkey from the Apple cider brine that it had been soaking in for 10 hours. I dried it and applied a dry rub and threw it in the smoker for a glorious 8 hour smoke. Look at that beautiful bird!

While the turkey was smoking, Megan, Annalise and I made brunch. There was mini chevré, sun-dried tomato and rosemary quiches, turkey sausage balls and a fruit & cheese platter. My parents came over just before noon for brunch and to hang out while the three of us continued to prepare the main feast.

The menu for the day was fantastic. In addition to the smoked turkey (which was by far the best turkey I have ever had), the three of us made some mouth-wateringly delicious side dishes.

Annalise made a delicious cornbread and sage stuffing which contained 2 sticks of butter! Paula Deen would be so proud!

Megan made a very tasty sweet potato casserole with cranberries, her mom’s homemade apple sauce and a crunchy pecan brown sugar topping.

We made this really awesome potato and mushroom pie from Martha Stewart. Man, that jailbird can cook!

I made a mostly from scratch green bean casserole with a white wine, mushroom & sharp cheddar cream sauce (see below for the recipe). Screw you campbell’s, mine’s WAY better!

Throughout the meal there was much laughter and family antics including Megan stealing my turkey leg!

My parents enjoyed all the great food and my mom discovered that the felt name cards make great name tags.

Megan used the name cards and the string that held the napkins together to make a thanksgiving eye patch.

For dessert megan made a really great Rum Pumpkin Pie with fresh whipped cream.

I wanted to share the recipe i came up with for my green bean casserole. I didn’t want to go the cream of mushroom soup rout this time. so I came up with a creamy mushroom & cheese sauce to hold everything together and there’s bacon! I’ve never had a better great bean casserole. The only thing that I didn’t make was the fried onions which I suppose i could have made if i was really industrious. But for now, this recipe will have to do. I hope you guys enjoy it, and if you make it, please let me know.

Ben’s Homemade Green Bean Casserole

3 strips of bacon
2 shallots, diced
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, Cut into 1/4″ pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup half & half
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup french fried onions
1 qt. Green Beans

Preheat oven to 350º F.

In a sauté pan over medium heat, fry bacon until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towel to drain leaving grease in the pan. Chop the bacon once it has cooled. Return pan with bacon grease to heat, add shallots and cook for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook until all the moisture that the mushrooms release had evaporated. Stir in half of the white wine and continue to cook until all of the wine has evaporated. Remove shallots, mushrooms and garlic from the pan and set aside for later.

Return pan to heat and add butter, heating until the butter is melted. Sprinkle in flour and whisk continuously until all the flour is dissolved; continue cooking and whisking for 2 minutes. Whisk in half & half, broth, remaining wine, Worcestershire, nutmeg, red pepper and salt and pepper to taste and cook for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of cheese and whisk until it all melts and then add the shallots, mushrooms, garlic and bacon and stir to combine.

Fold green beans and half of the fried onions into cream sauce and pour mixture into a greased 8″ x 8″ baking dish. Cover with remaining cheese and bake for 25 minutes. Remove dish from the oven, sprinkle with remaining fried onions and return to oven, cooking for an additional 5 minutes or until fried onions are golden brown.

Hopefully now that I am well I can return to a regular blogging schedule. Have a great weekend everybody!

I’ve titled this My Butternut Squash Lasagna because it seems everyone and their mother has their own recipe for this fabulous fall-flavored, Italian-inspired dish. Now, I know some of you will think, “Oh look, he’s making more winter squash. What else is new?” Somehow I have become the squash guy. It’s mainly due to the massive amounts of both summer and winter squashes we’ve received from the CSA we’ve participated in this year (we also happily signed up for the winter program with Avalon Acres. Support your local farmers!). For this Lasagna I really wanted something hearty. I was inspired by Nancy Vienneau’s Butternut Squash Leek Lasagna but wanted a bit more.

Taking a cue from Nancy, I knew that a good béchamel would really make this lasagna great, But I wanted to build upon it with slightly sharp shallots and the earthiness of mushrooms. I really wanted to use a good chicken-apple sausage, but the stupid Kroger by us stopped carrying anything fancier than smoked sausage. However, to reduce the fat, I found a good low-fat turkey smoked sausage. I ended up building more flavour into my cream sauce by deglazing the pan that I cooked the sausage in before starting the béchamel in the same pan, incorporating the little brown bits of intensely delicious flavor (known as sucs in French) into the sauce.

I was really pleased with how this turned out. The sage accentuated the butternut squash perfectly while being supported nicely by the nutmeg, allspice & cardamom. And the wonderful no-boil lasagna really helped in reducing the work involved in bringing this all together.

Butternut Squash and Smoked Sausage Lasagna
serves 6–8

4 tbsp. butter divided
2 large shallots, diced
½ lb. white mushrooms, washed, destemmed and sliced ¼” thick
1 lb. Turkey Smoked Sausage, sliced ¼” thick on the bias
¼ cup water
3 tbsp. flour
1 ½ cup half & half
1 cup ricotta cheese
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. allspice
pinch of cardamom
Kosher salt & fresh-ground black pepper
1 box no-bake lasagna
1 butternut squash, roasted & puréed
1/3 cup chopped fresh sage
6 oz. shredded Romano cheese

Preheat over to 350ºF.

In a stainless steel sauté pan, melt 1 tbsp. butter over medium high heat. Add the shallots and sauté for 3 minutes; add the mushrooms and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until the mushrooms are done. Remove from pan and set aside.

Return pan to heat and add sausage. Cook sausage until it is golden brown on both sides. This can be done in batches so as not to crowd the pan. Remove all sausage and set aside.

Bring pan back up to medium-high heat and add water. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the brown bits from the sausage off the bottom of the pan (make sure you get all the little bits). Allow the water to simmer for a few minutes until it is almost completely evaporated.

Add remaining butter to pan, once melted sprinkle in the flour and whisk until the flour fully dissolves into the butter. Add half & half and whisk to combine well. Add shallots, mushrooms and stir continuously until the sauce begins to simmer. Stir in ricotta and season with nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and salt & pepper to taste.

Cover the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish with a thin layer of the cream sauce then cover with a layer of the lasagna. Spread half the butternut squash purée evenly over the pasta and sprinkle with a third of the sage. Cover with the sausage and sprinkle with about a quarter of the Romano cheese and then spread with another thin layer of the cream sauce. Add another layer of the butternut squash, sage, Romano and lasagna and then spread with the remaining cream sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Romano and sage.

Cover the dish with foil and bake covered for 25 minutes at 350º, remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese browns. Allow to cool for 5–10 minutes before cutting & serving.

Try it sometime, and let me know what you think!

Lately, with the weather going further and further towards winter here in Nashville, we have been craving foods with warmth. Especially Megan, who could die from hypothermia in 70º weather. And I’m not just talking about food that is served warm. Megan had the idea for this spicy, India-inspired pumpkin soup that sounded like it would help keep our body temps up. This soup was hearty and served piping hot, but the spice to it from the Madras curry and cayenne really warmed us up! It’s not overly hot by any means, it’s just enough to let you know its there. But this soup is not jsut about the spice. There’s depth of flavour from the pumpkin and other spices as well. And, what’s more, it’s souper easy to make (I know, I’m hilarious with the puns)!

When we made this soup, we heading out the door to meet some friends, but needed a quick meal. Megan’s hope was that we could just mix all the ingredients and let it simmer a bit and it would be edible. She was right on target. Quick and easy, this soup came together just in so little time that Rachel ray would be proud.

Megan’s Spicy Pumpkin Curry Soup

1 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 roasted tomates, diced
4 cups puréed roasted pumpkin
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
½ cup milk
1 tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. hot Madras curry powder
¼ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cardamom
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cayenne powder
¼ tsp. powdered ginger
raisins for garnish

In a large stock pot (8 quarts or larger), heat oil over medium-high heat, being careful not to let it smoke. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently for 2 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook 2 more minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 6 more minutes, continuing to stir.

Add remaining ingredients in order and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently to combine ingredients well.

Simmer for at least 20 minutes. Garnish with raisins and serve Immediately. Serves 4–6 people.

Along side the soup, we had naan (Indian flatbread) from Trader Joe’s frozen food section. We laughed hysterically by the package’s directions for heating: Preheat oven to 400ºF and cook for 1 — 1 ½ minutes. Oh well, it worked and it went really well with the soup.

With fall apon us (and threatening to surrender us completely to winter), few things sound better to me right now than warm baked goods utilizing the fruits that are in season. For dessert last night, Megan made this awesomely adorable and seasonally appropriate apple pie-o-lantern. There wasn’t much to it, store bought crust, Megan’s mom’s homemade apple pie filling. But, it was darn tasty. And, with the face Megan gave it, how could I not share this?

She even gave it a little stem and leaf detail!

Along with the pie we made a spiced cider that was pretty heavy on the rum and whiskey. A wonderful pairing with the pie and a great way to warm up while watching movies on the couch friday night. Sometimes, the best date nights are the cheapest ones.

After the weeks of glorious winter squashes from the CSA, this last week we finally got a pumpkin! We instantly started making a list of dishes want to use it for. Pumpkin bread, soup, muffins, pancakes, pie, etc. — you get the idea. Fortunately, the pumpkin was large enough that we can use it for a few meals. One afternoon Megan roasted the pumpkin, allowing us to use it whenever we need, which is great because I wanted pancakes as soon as I woke up this morning.

The pancakes were wonderful — nice pumpkin flavor, a bit of spice from the cloves. Even better, this recipe couldn’t be any easier; just throw some ingredients in a blender and you’re ready to cook. We topped the pancakes with organic maple syrup, a sliced apple from this week’s CSA share, a dusting of powdered sugar and shaved dark chocolate. My goodness it was amazing. In fact, while you read how to make them, I’m going to go eat the left-overs while while I watch football.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

3/4 cup milk
1 cup cake flour
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. table salt
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin pureé

Add ingredients in order to a blender and blend until well mixed.

Scoop batter in 1/4 cup servings onto a buttered, preheated griddle (or large skillet) and cook until done, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Dust lightly with powdered sugar and top with shaved dark chocolate. Serve with warm maple syrup. This recipe will make roughly ten 4 inch pancakes if a 1/4 cup is used to scoop them.

If you make these, let me know what you think!