Pumpkin pancakes and vegan mac and cheese

On Friday night I made Angela from "Oh She Glows" (see her link in my blogs I follow list, you can find the recipe on her site) Vegan mac&cheese- it was scrape the pot good!! 




yummy sauce!!



 

 I really liked the fact that the sauce was tasty without having a ton of calories like normal mac and cheese sauce, and that it had pumpkin in it (because I often neglect vegetables in my life, yes I could probably use a mom telling me to eat my broccoli lol...)

Ty also loved it and has requested I make it again :) And he used to be a huge cheese addict!

On Saturday morning Ty was on shift at the firestation which sucks because we usually cook together on Saturday and make a nice breakfast. :( I decided to make a yummy breakfast anyway and made pumpkin pancakes! (I'm on a bit of a pumpkin kick I guess!!)

They were delicious, and the house smelled so good for hours after I made them! They also fueld me through an hour and a half long workout later and kept me full until about 4pm!

I basically used one cup Hogdson Mill's whole wheat baking mix, 1 cup of pumpkin,  1 tablesppon of molasses, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil,1 tablespoon of fat free sour cream as my 'egg', 1 teaspoon of allspice, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and about a cup of almond milk (as much as needed to get it to a batter consistency) Mix all of that together, plop dollops of it in a lightly oiled nonstick pan until browned on both sides and then drizzle raw organic honey on top..mmmM!!

If you dont have ready mix you could follow this recipe:

 1/2 cups milk

1 and a half cups pumpkin puree

1 tablesppon sour cream as 'egg'
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar (or molasses- I used molasses

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger ( I didnt have any but it would add to the flavor!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, sour cream, oil. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

Spray your griddle or frying pan with non stick and put it on a medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Really good with hot chocolate too.... :D

Reading Tina's blog post  from "Carrots and Cake" reminded me of our visit to Swamphead brewery! Ty and I were in local brewery withdrawal after our trip to the awesome city of Asheville, and decided to go visit Gainesville's one and only local Swamp Head Brewery. http://www.swamphead.com/

 I wanted to try the cask of pink beer they are tapping every Wednesday night and selling snifters of for breast cancer awareness month but it was gone already :( Their other beer was wondeful though, made right on site- we stood around with friends amdist huge containers filled with brews.



A pic I stole off Google

The brewery has a tasting room with all their beers on tap, and I got to meet one of the owners/creators :) Swamp Head has a variety of brews, my favorite was Wild Night Honey Cream Ale wich adds tupelo honey from Apalachicola, the area northwest of Gainesville that's the only place in the world tupelo honey is commercially made. The brewery is sustainable, and their spent grain feeds local cattle, isn't that neat?

You can also buy a 'Growler' (yes this is Gator country!) of beer, basically a little barrel of it for $18, a great gift for the men in your life!