We discovered this recipe through Sunset Magazine when we were living in Las Vegas. It's one we probably made more down there, then since we've been [back] in Portland. In fact, it's been about five years since I think we've made them, and in that time, we forgot why we probably had not made them since our desert days: the pumpkin makes a very moist, custardy pancake. Delicious, but still, not exactly fluffy throughout. They may have been better in Vegas due to the altitude. Who knows?

Eddie was convinced the girls were not going to like, let alone eat, these pumpkin pancakes. I think he was actually preparing to cooked up all the batter so he could then ceremoniously throw them away.

But wait! Turns out, the girls LOVED THEM.

Yes, even Bean.

They gobbled them up (with whipped cream squirted on top, naturally) and asked for more.  Bean even reported it at school that Monday, when they ask the kids about what they did over the weekend. Talk about an endorsement from the pickiest eater in the house!

Personally, my favorite part of this recipe is the butter you put on the pancakes that is made with chopped candied ginger. Yum!!!

P.S.- Eddie threw in a tiny bit of buckwheat flour for some of the regular flour the next time he made these and the texture came out perfectly for us. No more custardy pancakes!

Pumpkin-Ginger Pancakes w/ Ginger Butter

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup plain or vanilla low-fat or non-fat yogurt
2 tbsp. butter, melted
Candied-ginger butter (recipe follows)
Maple Syrup & Homemade whipped cream

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl, mix egg, milk, pumpkin, yogurt, and butter until well blended. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture just until evenly moistened.

2. Place a non-stick griddle or 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat (350F); when hot, coat lightly with butter and adjust to maintain temperture. Spoon batter in 1/3-cup portions onto griddle and gently spread into 4-inch rounds. Cook until pancakes are browned on the bottom and edges begin to look dry, 2-3 minutes; turn with a wide spatula and brown other sides, 2 to 3 minutes longer. As pancakes are cooked, transfer to baking sheets and keep warm in a 200 F oven. Serve warm with candied-ginger butter, maple syrup and whipped cream. If you have kids, sprinkles are a must!

These also freeze very well. Separate the pancakes with parchment paper or waxed paper cut into squares just larger than the pancakes. Keep in a ziplock bag in the freezer.

Candied- Ginger Butter: In a bowl, with a wooden spoon, stir 2 tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger into 1/4 cup of soft butter. Chill until firm before serving. Makes about 1/4 cup.

This is a delicious and easy weeknight dinner. Everyone loves it in our family, except of course, the Bean. (Sigh.)

You can use a rotisserie chicken or quickly cook up some boneless and skinless chicken for the recipe. (I did the latter last night, while I was prepping the remaining ingredients.) You also don't have to be exact on the amount of mushrooms and mixed vegetables listed below, either.

[Full Disclosure, this is not an image of our pot pie from last night, but a close replica I found online. I forgot to take a picture of ours...Dinner was late enough as it was in getting home late and drama surrounding the impending icy/snow weather.]

La Casa de Camarillo Chicken Pot Pie w/ Puff Pastry Crust

3 cups chopped and cooked chicken
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
4 tbsps butter
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
3-4 green onions, thinly sliced
5-6 tbsps flour
1 cup half n half
2 tbsp port wine or sherry
1 sheet of puff pastry

Heat oven to 400 F.

Set your frozen puff pastry sheet out to thaw.

In a liquid measuring cup, pour 2 cups chicken broth. Add 1 tsp dried thyme. Set aside.

In a separate liquid measuring cup, pour 1 cup half and half and add 2 tbsp port to it. Set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add chopped mushrooms and green onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add thawing mixed vegetables, stir regularly, for 4-5 minutes. Add your 6 tbsp's flour to the mixture and stir to evenly coat vegetables. Add broth with thyme mixture. Stir. Add cream and sherry. Stir. Continue cooking and stirring until thickened. If you want a thicker pie base, pull 1/2 cup of the liquid out of pan, add 1 tsp flour, mix well to blend, then put the thick flour broth back into the saucepan to blend with the remaining ingredients.

Add chicken to filling mixture and cook for 2-3  minutes. Pour chicken pie filling into an oven proof baking dish. Set aside.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the puff pastry between two sheets of parchment paper until thinner and in the general shape of the baking dish you are using. Remove one sheet of parchment from the dough. Use a cookie cutter or knife, and cut a shape into the middle of the exposed side of dough before putting the thinned dough on top of the hot filling. Remove the top sheet of parchment if it hasn't come off on its own already.

Crimp the edges of the dough around your baking dish, then place in the oven for 25-30 minutes until crust is browned. (Depending on how full your filling is in the dish, you may want to place a cookie tray under the baking dish in the over to catch any drips.)

When pot pie is done, remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before dishing up into shallow bowls.

 

Our first no school snow day in Portland did not result in snow, but in ice by lunchtime and into the afternoon. The girls pestered me to go outside and I told them only if Eddie took them (he and I both attempted to work remotely from home).  

Here are some of the ice leaves the three of them discovered and were quite proud of.

I'm just glad no one broke their necks on the stairs!

I get a complimentary subscription to Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The November 2014 issue had a delicious looking weeknight recipe: pork and squash enchiladas. We made it last weekend and Eddie, Lulu, and myself can all vouch for its deliciousness! Bean, she's reached that picky-food phase so she refused to even try. Good, more for us!!! I should note, I bought corn tortillas that were smaller than the recipe called for, so Eddie just converted the dish into a true casserole.

Pork & Squash Enchiladas

1-2 tbsp olive oil + extra for roasting fresh squash
1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into small pieces
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained
1 tsp chili powder
1 14 oz can enchilada sauce (1 2/3 cups)
12 6-inch corn tortillas
1 packages butternut squash cubes from Trader Joe's produce dept. OR can of cooked winter squash
1 8 oz package shredded Mexican four-cheese blend
sour cream
cilantro
avocado

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut butternut squash cubes, if necessary, into smaller dice. Toss w/ olive oil and roast in the oven so they are cooked through.

In a large non-stick skillet heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add pork; cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add onion slices and additional oil if necessary. Add roasted butternut squash. Add tomatoes and chili powder; cook and stir 2 minutes.

Version 1 - Classic Enchilada Presentation:

In a 3-qt rectangular baking dish coat bottom with 1/3 cup enchilada sauce. Stack tortillas, wrap in damp paper towels and microwave 40 seconds until softened, if necessary. [Note: we do not have a microwave so we skipped this step.] Top a tortilla with 1 rounded tbsp. squash (if using canned), 1/4  cup pork mixture, and 1 tbsp cheese. Roll up; place seam-side down in prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese. Cover. Bake 24 minutes or until heated through and cheese melts.

Version 2 - Lasagna-Style Presentation:

Put a portion of the enchilada sauce in a skillet and warm it up. Quickly dip each corn tortilla in sauce so each side is coated. Place in a 3 qt. rectangular baking dish until the entire bottom of the pan is covered in tortilla's (coated in sauce) along the bottom, overlapping tortilla's where necessary. Next add a layer of the pork, squash, onion, tomato & chili powder mixture evenly across the top of the tortillas. Next, a layer of cheese, then do another layer of sauce coated tortilla's, meat/squash mixture, finally ending with shredded cheese on top. Place in oven for 20-25 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted. (Cover if necessary with foil and then remove foil the last 5-7 minutes before removing from the oven. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings. Sprinkle servings with chopped cilantro. Serve with sour cream and avocado.

*The pork/squash mixture is equally delicious in breakfast burritos and with scrambled eggs or in omelettes!

I think the thing that I get the biggest kick out of this, is that her favorite restaurant is Sushiland. If you had told me this a year ago, I would have told you that you were crazy and not believed you.

Eddie and I had a concert date on Monday night. Dan Mangan came to the Doug Fir, the middle act of a three artist show. Dan was AWESOME and we bought a piece of each vinyl he sold at the merch table and he was kind enough to sign them all for us, too. We are looking forward to when his new album is released at the beginning of the year and he comes back to Portland in the spring with his full band.

We'll be there!!!!

 

Here is a picture below I found of Dan Mangan, online, and I just have to say, again: Dan Mangan has to be one of the kindest, nicest people we've ever met. He looks very "Portland" too, even though he's Canadian:

 You should check out my favorite song here: Tina's Glorious Comback

or Eddie's favorite song, here:  Leaves, Trees, Forest

Enjoy!

The girls had a great time on Halloween, so did Eddie.

Bean's face paint was missing by the time I picked her up from daycare, so we re-did it after dinner:

Bean looks so much like my cousin, Jeanne Marie, when she was little in that picture above!

Lulu was a ghost, but it morphed into a Ghost Bride (of sorts) by the time we got done with make-up. She is also allergic to the white face make-up, like myself, so I decided to just do ghoulish black eyeshadow around her eyes and lips to give her that 'walking dead' look...She got lots of compliments along the trick-or-treat route, people thought she looked scary underneath the veil with the make-up, so there you go.

 

Once we got home, Lulu set out organizing her candy by what kind it was. And in all honesty, say what you will about me now, I was never that OCD when I was her age.

Bean, meanwhile, literally INHALED the four Reese's Peanut Butter cups in the king-sized candy bar one house was giving away. We were shocked she actually fell asleep when she did despite the bedtime sugar intake.

 

When all was said and done, Eddie and I were quite pleased that another Halloween had come and gone with creative, homemade costumes for the girls. Those are the best kind!!