Pumpkin Pancakes

I have a lot of pumpkin right now, and I am getting more. I also had a bacon and eggs in the fridge. The pumpkin recipe can be found here. I used more of the pumpkin puree that I made on Sunday. I estimate that the entire dinner costs around $8 to feed all five of us. Not bad, I'll have money left over for gambling and cigs--if I smoked or gambled.

The apples are just peeled, diced and sauteed with cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter until their deliciousness increases 10 fold.

The pancake recipe was spot on, but I had to double it for our family, I had 3 pancakes left over when all was said and done. They smelled absolutely amazing, I did read a few other recipes that called for 6 tablespoons of pumpkin, if I were you, I wouldn't bother, definitely not enough to be tasty. Also, I specifically try to find recipes that use buttermilk, as I have about 2-4 cups of buttermilk from making homemade butter each week.

A Special Dinner and One Mean Dinner Breakfast

Corn, red mashed potatoes, asparagus (click here for recipe), sauteed mushrooms, herb butter, and a salt and pepper seasoned, grilled rib eye.


German Pancakes

Asparagus with Hollandaise
And the breakfast plate

The Breakdown:
1.First German Pancake recipe here I add about 1/3 c. sugar, get it in the oven because it takes the longest, I bake mine solely in a glass pan and on 350 for about 45-50 minutes
2. Apples (peel and cut into small pieces) sauteed in 2-3+ tbsp unsalted butter with vanilla, 1/3c sugar and cinnamon to taste. When all prep is done for other foods, start these over medium heat until tender
3. Eggs, just enough scrambled eggs for your family we like 2-3 per person depending on what we're having, add a little butter to the pant and then garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste with a handful or so of shredded cheese.
4. Asparagus, season with salt, pepper and olive oil, put in oven with German pancakes for 10-15 minutes or until tender
5. Hollandaise Sauce, there are a lot of variations, some are intimidating. I halved the one I hyper-linked and cooked it over low in one sauce pot, no complicated equipment necessary. I omitted the cayenne, though I like it, my family does not. It takes about 10 minutes to make.
6. Ham, I reheated leftover ham. In the microwave.

Whew! It is a lot but I also had an egg retirement home living in my fridge and we need to eat them before they went to the Dark Side.

Buttermilk Pancakes

This pancake recipe was from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. These are absolutely the best plain pancakes I have ever had. The batter takes about 5 minutes to make and I put the hot ones in the oven while I cook the rest. I have also found, like it suggests in the book, that powdered buttermilk is just as good as regular buttermilk. I figured that to make this recipe, it costs under $3.00 with butter and maple syrup. The syrup is the most expensive factor, lately I have not been able to find it for under $14.

Bacon Egg Bake

Another egg bake!

This time I used:

• 3 strips of leftover bacon (actually I intentionally cooked extra the night before for this)
• 8 beaten eggs
• 2 cups of shredded cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• dash of cayenne
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Layer cheese in the bottom of a greased pan with bacon on top. Pour eggs with garlic powder, salt and pepper over top. Bake at 325 for 45-55 minutes.

Simple and Quick Egg Bake

Six eggs, beaten with:

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp garlic powder

sea salt and pepper to taste.

Layer cheese on bottom of a greased pan (I pour eggs over it). Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. A simple breakfast that I did not have to mind while the kids and I got ready to begin a busy day.

Pardon my absence but I lost my camera, and have been busy preparing for the end of our school year.

Buttermilk Waffles

Nothing fancy here, just a recipe from p. 234 of The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. I didn't read the directions right the first time I made these but they came out perfect and I have been making them the same since then. I used powdered buttermilk and have been using it in many recipes, it is really great to keep on hand. I wish someone would have alerted me sooner to the fact that homemade waffles are fantastic! I have ruined my family for the better, they will likely never eat pre-made store bought waffles again.

Cost analysis:

Flour $0.26

Buttermilk, salt, other stuff $0.10

Eggs $0.44

Unsalted butter $0.21

Butter $0.44

Over priced maple syrup $1.25

Total: $2.26 for eight waffles with fixings, that fed four people (we could have had a few eggs too, but it was a small breakfast)

I buy better flour and eggs, so if one were to do generic, the cost would likely be lower. Though I do buy flour in bulk.

Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls

I got this recipe from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Its the Basic Sweet Dough Recipe on pg. 470 and the Cinnamon Roll Recipe on pg. 474. The dough has to rise twice, once when you make it and once after it is rolled out. I put mine in the fridge at let it do it's magic overnight. I put it in the oven right away in the morning and made the icing, which was super easy, while they baked.

PS The cookbook is definately worth having, it's very well-done in my opinion and actually contains at lot of good information about cooking, in general.