Pumpkin Pancakes

Thanksgiving is a foodie's holiday - right? And why not get things off with a great start - breakfast! In my family, lunch is skipped in favor of having an early dinner so having a filling breakfast is essential. Doing a Thanksgiving breakfast with my home-bound grandma was all my sister's genius idea - and was quickly met with instant approval from everyone! I prepared a feast for us - fruit salad, hashbrowns with rosemary and thyme, Applegate Chicken and Apple sausage and pancakes. My grandma loves pancakes but said I didn't need to make anything special. Plain pancakes are fine. But Thanksgiving is for more than plain pancakes - they are for the best ever (and very fluffy and sweet) gf pumpkin pancakes!

Two days later I got a phone call from my grandma thanking me again for breakfast and she kept telling me how proud she was of me. I was thankful that I was able to show off my culinary skills to her and prepare something that the family could enjoy! And I'm sure you will be thankful for this delicious recipe! It makes a lot (I was cooking for 8) - freeze the leftovers and you can have a taste of Thanksgiving any time!

Pumpkin Pancakes

3 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups + 1 T rice milk

1 cup Libby's canned pumpkin

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

Preheat an electric griddle to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients together with a hand mixer, or whisk together.

Lightly spray the griddle with cooking spray. Scoop the batter on to the griddle using a 1/8 or 1/2 measuring cup. When halfway done cooking, flip over.

Serve while still warm. Tastes great with maple syrup (and perhaps even powdered sugar?).

Stuffing

Thanksgiving means turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, another scoop of stuffing and more, right? Back during my less-than-ideal eating habit stage, I would make Stoffer's stuffing and have that be my meal. One night, I had my leftovers cooling in plastic containers before putting them in the fridge. The next morning, I found my (then very cooled) stuffing still on the counter. I cried. What a waste of stuffing!!! I never realized how emotionally attached I was to bread and herbs...Am I the only one with this problem?

Last year, I was on a mission to make stuffing. I tried and fell in love with Silvana's recipe in Cooking for Isiah. I made the recipe twice - once as soon as I got the book and the second time for Thanksgiving. I even brought over the entire recipe (after several healthy "tastings" first, of course) to my family as another stuffing option. The cornbread stuffing is packed full of corn, bacon and apples.

This year, I am a recipe tester for the new on-line gluten free magazine Easy Eats.

(Do you subscribe? You really should.) I tested the rye bread stuffing. Did you know that ryeless rye bread is a thing? It is and it is delicious! I made Gluten Free Goddess' recipe found here. First and foremost - I didn't realize I missed rye bread until I had a slice. I highly recommend trying it out! The stuffing recipe I tested for Easy Eats was Mushroom-Rye Stuffing (page 79). The recipe was easy to make and had such a hearty flavor. This is a dish that is worth passing around the table for the holidays! I'm glad I took on my recipe assignment - it pushed me beyond my traditional family favorites and I tried a new recipe that tasted more like Thanksgiving than any other stuffing I've had before.

What's going in your stuffing this year?

Road's Ends Organics Mac and Chreese

I love (and miss) the novelty of convince foods. Even though I have no desire to eat food from McDonalds, I miss the simple pleasure of going in, ordering, and leaving without asking any questions in mere minutes. Same went for packaged foods. I pretty much lived off of Kraft Mac and Cheese my first year out of college. I've seen gluten and dairy free mac and cheese in a box at the store once, passed it up, and then spent months trying to find it again. Road's End Organics has a Dairy Free Mac & Chreese Alfredo Style. Gluten free, soy free, lactose free, cholesterol free and vegan. Perfect! Over $3.00 a box at Wal-Mart? This was going to be a splurge. Especially since the blue box gluten and dairy filled versions were priced under a dollar in the same aisle...gr...

The good:

The product is organic. And soy free (most gf foods contain soy). The cooking instructions are pretty close to the Kraft version. It cooks pretty quickly - the noodles need 6-10 minutes of cooking time. The only ingredients that you need to add are a milk product of your choice or water as well optional butter or olive oil. I added bacon (ruining the vegan-ness of the meal) and that was quite tasty. You can never go wrong with bacon (unless cooking for a vegetarian or vegan, of course).

The bad:

It was really bland. I was more excited about eating my frozen veggies seasoned with salt and pepper. It was expensive. I had high hopes for the dish, so I realize the bar was set pretty high. It didn't taste like Alfredo and the color was an off-putting beige with dark specks. The best word to sum of eating it was "meh".

The ugly:

Not my prettiest dish.

Maybe I should stick with making my mac and cheese from scratch. It tasted much better and had lots of flavor.

(Note: I have issues with cow's milk products and butter, but my stomach loves goat and sheep's cheeses. My default from scratch mac and cheese uses goat's cheese.)