Announcing

It was a long road, but we finally made it!

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

Oh my goodness it's a recipe!  It's super simple, super yummy, and everything I needed was either out on the counter or on the top shelf of the cabinet or fridge.  I didn't have to bend or lift a thing, so this recipe fulfills both my requirements and those of my doctor.  It's win/win here!

Now, this recipe isn't vegan, but it would be super easy to veganize by making flax eggs.  This is what I would have usually done, but my little personal blender with the grinding blade has bitten the dust (I'm very sad about this!), and since I've been pregnant, the desire for eggs has been astronomical.  I NEVER just eat eggs under normal circumstances, but I've eaten my fair share over the last several months.  I fully plan to go back to being egg free after the baby is born.

This recipe came about, because I had a wicked craving for pancakes, but I've also never really liked plain ol' pancakes.  I'm not a huge fan of things made with refined white flour in the first place, and I'm very very picky about my pancakes anyway.  I need them to TASTE like something!  I went on an internet search to find some inspiration, and I discovered a lot of gluten free folks using oats as a flour substitute.  What a fantastic idea.  Oats are so healthy!  I decided to give it a try and a twist or twelve of my own, because you know I've got to get rid of as much added fat and as many animal products as I possibly can, and I'm surely glad I did.  These were fantastic!

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups traditional oatmeal (not the quick cook or instant variety)
• 2 cups almond/soy/rice/whatever milk of your choice
• ½ cup canned pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin puree-also see further notes below)
• 2 large organic eggs (I used ½ cup of Egg Beaters--much healthier.  You could also use egg replacer or the aforementioned flax eggs.)
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1.  Grind oats into flour using food processor.  As you can see, I used a blender, but that's only because the food processor weighs a bazillion pounds and was in a bottom cabinet.  The blender was on the counter, so it required no bending and lifting.  I totally recommend doing this in the food processor.  It's faster, easier, far less messy, and a breeze to clean up.

2.  Pour milk into oat flour and mix very well using a fork or wire whisk.  You'll have to pay attention here, because you need to get all of the lumps out.  It will be VERY thin.  In fact, you'll think, "I'll never be able to make batter out of this!" but trust me, you will.

4.  Soak oats in milk, storing in fridge overnight.  You need to soak at least 12 hours, and you can soak for up to 24 hours.

5.  Next morning, mix all other ingredients into the soaked oats.  Mix well.

6.  Heat griddle or large skillet over medium heat and lightly spray with olive oil.

7.  Pour about a ¼ of a cup of batter onto the skillet and cook two to three minutes, until edges start to dry and brown and bubbles form and pop on top.

8.  Flip with spatula and cook until bottom is golden brown, two to three minutes more.

Enjoy!

Notes:  If for some reason you don't want to use pumpkin, there are lots of substitutes.  You could use ½ cup of apple sauce, ½, cup of well mashed banana, ½ cup of plain soy yogurt (or dairy yogurt if you aren't trying to veganize), 4 T oil, or even 4 T of melted butter.

This recipe made a bakers dozen.

The Confession

I can finally come about the reason I've not been around for so darned long -- I'm pregnant!  I had some complications in the first trimester, which have now thankfully resolved.  That lead to lots and lots of bed rest and then lots and lots of taking it easy.

I've been cleared to have a bit more freedom now that things are going well, but there still won't be much cooking.  There's no lifting of anything heavier than my purse, so that leaves out the food processor, the blender, the dutch oven, and a myriad of other things used to create fantastic meals.  There's also no bending, and that makes it hard to cook, as well.

Now, I'm not complaining here.  I'm absolutely thrilled.  I've never been so happy about anything.  I love this blog though, and I promise that someday I'll be back.  Someday not all that far away even.  Let's say sometime in March!  So stick around, and I'll be back with renewed fervor and lots of yummy vegetarian eats!  (And just for the record, I fully plan on raising a vegetarian baby!)

No, I Haven't Forgotten You!

Hello lovelies! It's been such a long time, I know. I haven't, however, forgotten you or my blog, and I haven't abandoned you either. I've had some medical issues that have kept me out of the kitchen for a few weeks. They are resolving now though, and I hope to be back in the kitchen soon, creating yummy vegetarian dishes for all of us to try!


Stick around for a bit and bear with me here, because I'll be back soon enough.

Shepard's Pie

This is more of a guideline type of thing than it is an official recipe.  You can use lots of different stuff for your filling.  I'm using ground seitan here, because Drew likes his to be "meaty" and also he's not terribly fond of vegetables.  There are several different things you could use to emulate meat if you so wish--steamed and ground tempeh, tvp, and of course ground seitan.  This is also REALLY good with just a vegetable base--lentils and onions, diced zucchini and yellow squash, the traditional mix of peas, carrots, and potatoes, etc. etc.  If you like it, you can put it in your Shepard's Pie; my personal favorite is lentils, onions, and zucchini.

This version is actually my "cheater's version", meaning that instead of actually making gravy, I used a can of soup.  You can use cream of anything soup (I used potato, because that's what I had).  That makes this particular recipe not vegan, but if you make your own gravy, it's quite easy to veganize.  I do that most of the time anyway, but I was in a real hurry when I made this.  We needed something hot, healthy, filling, and we needed it relatively quickly.

Shepard's Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ground seitan
• 4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into uniform pieces (I only tell you this, because my husband and I once had a huge fight over whether or not to peel and chop the potatoes before boiling them.  He insisted that since the recipe didn't specifically state that the potatoes needed to be peeled and chopped before they were boiled, then he was supposed to boil them whole, peels on.  I tried to tell him that it was pretty much common sense that you peel and chop potatoes before boiling them unless you want to be boiling potatoes for three hours; he continued to insist that if he was supposed to peel and chop, then the recipe would have said peel and chop.  The stupidity of that fight made me see that either it's not so much common sense to everyone, or common sense is not so common!  Draw your own conclusions here.)
• 2 TBSP butter or margarine of choice
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I used soy.)
• 1 can cream of something soup plus 1/3 can water
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Boil potatoes until fork tender, about 20 minutes.

2.  Spray non-stick skillet with olive oil, and brown onion and garlic over medium heat.

 3.  Add seitan (or whatever you're using as the filling) and 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce.

4.  Cook until everything is well coated with the sauce, about five minutes.

5.  Add cream of whatever soup and 1/3 can of water, stirring until everything is mixed well and heated through, about five minutes more, remove from heat.

6.  Salt and pepper to taste.

7.  Mash potatoes with the butter and milk.

8.  Pour seitan/soup (or gravy) mixture into a sprayed 9 x 9 pan.

9.  Spread mashed potatoes over top of the mixture, pushing to edges of pan.

10.  Cover and bake 30 minutes in a 350° oven.

11.  Remove foil and broil for two to four minutes, until potatoes are browned but not burned.

Enjoy!