Spiced Pumpkin Waffles

I had some canned pumpkin leftover from some muffins I made and pumpkin waffles sounded like an appealing way to put it to use. I was lucky to find this recipe from food.com and with a few tweaks, it immediately became a fall favorite.


INGREDIENTS:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 2/3 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled


DIRECTIONS:
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in large bowl.
In a second bowl, add eggs, sugar, pumpkin, milk, and butter; beat well.
Gently fold in the flour mixture.
Cook according to your waffle iron directions.

I served these with the "homemade fabulous syrup" which made them to die for!

Yield: 5 waffles

Cranberry-Orange Pancakes with Cranberry-Maple Syrup

These are really delicious - we didn't quite use a full cup of fresh cranberries in either the batter or the syrup. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
• Cranberry-Maple Syrup

Preparation

• 1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, and stir until just blended. Stir in cranberries.
• 2. Pour 1/3 cup batter for each pancake onto a lightly greased hot griddle or nonstick skillet. Cook 2 to 4 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked; turn, and cook 1 minute or until lightly browned. Keep warm. Serve with Cranberry-Maple Syrup.

Jackie Mills, R.D., Coastal Living
NOVEMBER 2011

Basic Pizza Dough

This is the less healthy version of pizza dough that I will sometimes make.  I received this recipe from a college roommate my senior year.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pkg (1 Tbsp) dry yeast
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp melted butter or margarine
1/2 tsp salt
2 c. flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place all of dry ingredients into large bowl and mix.
2. Place milk, water and butter in liquid measuring cup and microwave 1 minute.
3. Mix together until forms sticky dough.
4. Knead 3 minutes on floured table top. 
5. Keep in warm place 20 minutes or until a good size.
6. Put in pizza pan and add sauce and desired toppings.
7. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 min.

Yield: 1 pizza

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

We make pizza a lot. I've already shared my 30-minute pizza dough recipe (for when you're in a time crunch), but here's a good one to make when you have time to plan ahead. This healthy dough can be made in the bread machine, or you can hand/machine knead for 10-15 minutes and let rise for an hour. I got this recipe from my friend, Sarah's pizza cookbook. 

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c. warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)
1 (1/4 oz) envelope active dry yeast
2 tsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 c. cool water

DIRECTIONS:
Dissolve yeast in water and combine all ingredients. Use desired method of kneading and rising.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 12 minutes.

Yield: 1 large pizza pie

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons brown sugar
8 slices of bread

Directions:
1. Mix the eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mutmeg and brown sugar in low flat bowl for easy dipping.
2. Dip the bread into the egg mixture on both sides and grill in a pan until lightly golden brown, about 2-3 minute per side.
3. Serve with maple syrup.