Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

I started the day off right with the making of vegan pumpkin pancakes for my daughter who has food allergies. These were hard to flip, but tasted fantastic.

Adapted from chooseveg.com

* 1/2 cup canned puréed pumpkin
* 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
* 1/2 cup unbleached flour
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or sprinkle cinnamon, allspice and ginger haphazardly like I did)
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 3/4 cup plain or vanilla soymilk

Combine the pumpkin with the dry ingredients.

Mix water, oil, and soymilk and add to pumpkin mixture. Beat just until smooth.

Heat griddle or frying pan and oil lightly. Use about 1/4-cup of batter for each pancake; cook until bubbles appear, then turn. Remove when pancakes are golden and slightly firm to the touch.

Simple, Fresh Dinner With An Amazing Blueberry Sorbet for Desert

The basket was ample this week, so I made an easy, farm-fresh dinner to highlight some of the components.

These zuchini and corn tacos were simple and used a lot of the squash and corn we have at hand. I used some chili powder to give it some zest and topped it with feta cheese for a good finish.

Dessert was even better. We've been purchasing blueberries for a month and have collected several large bags of them in the freezer. Wanting to try something new, even though I'm typically not a sorbet fan, I whipped up some Blueberry Basil Sorbet and was very pleased. It's delicious, fresh and has a nice herbal bite to it.



Blueberry Basil Sorbet (adapted from epicurious)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 cups fresh-picked blueberries, rinsed and patted dry (or frozen which eliminates the need to refrigerate for 4 hours)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 TBS light corn syrup
1 TBS chopped fresh basil

In medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, water, and salt. Cook, stirring, until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Let cool for 15 minutes.

In a blender, purée the blueberries with the syrup, lemon juice, and basil until very smooth (you may need to divide this into several batches if your blender is not extra-large). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve for a smoother texture. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight. (Unnecessary if using frozen berries.)

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Add the corn syrup during the last 2 to 3 minutes of churning. Store, tightly covered, in the freezer.

Bowl of Noodles

Comfort is a bowl of noodles studded with farm fresh paddy pan squash, swiss chard, bacon, onion, currents and parmasan cheese. The warm weight of the bowl in your hand soon becomes a tasteful pleasure on your tongue and then becomes a warm weight in your stomach.

I'm referring to yet another dinner made by my husband. I love him for who he is and I love him for cooking for me and our daughter.

Summer Squash, It's What's for Dinner

Huz and I divvy up the chores around here, seeing how we're egalitarian and all. Cooking dinner is no exception. He cooks Mondays, Fridays and Sundays and I get Wednesdays and Saturdays. (You notice he gets one more night than me? Well, I work full-time and even though he's a busy doctoral student, he's got a more flexible schedule and he's MUCH better at cooking than me anyway, so I say go for it!)

Last week I made a delicious squash gratin that I got from 101cookbooks.com. I never got around to photographing it, but rest assured it looked just as good as hers (and tasted great too, although next time I'll probably halve the amount of butter since it was localized to the bread crumbs on top and was a bit much).

Tonight's dinner calls for more summer squash, since that's what we're getting the most of these days from the CSA (damn that tomato blight! I miss my heirlooms). I wanted something more substantial than just squash, pastry and cheese (the likely combination, and one that my allergic toddler cannot partake of) so I found a recipe with chicken: Rosemary Chicken and Summer Squash Brochettes. I'll be firing up the charcoal grill so I hope it's a success (I am woefully unskilled at grilling, my friends). I'll let you know how it is and, if photo worthy, will share some visuals.

Speaking of grilling, the other night Huz made his first beer can chicken. It was delicious, as were the grilled green beans and the bacon-wrapped onions (sweet and savory is always a winner).

Cool Green Summer Beverage

A delicious way to use up all those cucumbers from the CSA is to blend them up in a cool, refreshing drink. Since they are composed of 90% water it makes perfect sense to drink them.

Cucumber Mint Lemonaide Slush

1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
juice of 1 lemon
2-3 TBS sugar (to taste)
4-6 mint leaves
1 cup ice
3 oz tequila or rum (optional)

Put all ingredients in blender. Enjoy!

Another option is this recipe I just stumbled upon but haven't tried yet.

And here's another one using that lovely caramel-colored bottle of Pimm's I just happen to have in my cupboard.

Meatball and Zucchini Kebabs

A wonderful meal was had, thanks to Huz. These spicy meatballs and fresh grilled zucchini kebabs are amazing.

Add the awesome melon and basil-lime granita for dessert and you've got a great summer meal.

Make it. Share it. Enjoy it.

Homeade Granola

I know this isn't using any ingredients from the CSA, but it's a great homemade alternative to paying $4 for a small box of cereal.* I buy the oats, wheat, and nuts in bulk from Whole Foods.

Nothing could be better on a gray, rainy morning than to smell fresh, hot granola baking in the oven. You know exactly what's in it (no preservatives, etc.) and if you're cooking for a toddler with food allergies, as I do, you know it's safe.

Homemade Granola

7 cups oats
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup wheat bran (or substitute rye flakes)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water (or substitute orange or apple juice)
1 TBS vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped dates (or substitute raisins, dried cranberries, etc.)
1 Cup chopped pecans (or any other nut - for my food allergy kid, I use almonds)

Preheat oven to 275. In large bowl, combine oats, wheat germ and bran. In medium bowl, blend brown sugar through water. Add vanilla through salt. Stir sugar mixture into oats until evenly moistened. Pour into large, shallow baking dish (I use an 11x14 pan). Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until lightly brown. Mix fruit and nuts into dish and continue baking for 15 minutes.

Cool and store in airtight container.

Makes 10 cups.

Enjoy!

*This cost me as follows:

$1.41 for sliced almonds
$1.88 for rolled oats
$0.39 for rye flakes
(The rest I had in my cupboard)
Total: $3.68

Better cost than the grocery store, more quantity, better quality.