Buckwheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Wow were these pumpkin pancakes better than I expected! I have been on a buckwheat kick this week and it has been mostly succesful. Buckwheat flour is milled from buckwheat groats - a relative of rhubarb. Buckwheat has nothing to do with wheat so it is a great flour to use if you are cooking gluten free or just looking for an alternative to your traditional flours.

These pumpkin pancakes cooked up fluffy and delicious. We topped ours with a little powdered sugar. Next time I might use toasted pecans. Yum. I hope you enjoy them!

Buckwheat Pumpkin Pancakes

1 c. buckwheat flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
2 T. brown sugar
1 c. milk
1 egg
2 T. oil
1 c. canned pumpkin

Combine dry ingredients together. Combine milk, egg, and oil - whisk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Add pumpkin. Stir. Cook on a hot griddle over medium heat. Makes about 12 to 15 small pancakes.

3 - 2 - 1 Chili

I am a teacher by training and I try to teach my students easy ways to remember important pieces of information using mnemonics or songs or silly patterns. Sometimes this also comes in handy while cooking! There are millions of chili recipes floating around and most are very good -however, if you want a tried and true chili recipe without much thought or research, just remember 3 - 2 - 1.

3 cans beans (any type you like)
2 cans tomatoes (I usually used seasoned diced)
1 lb. meat (any kind)

After following this basic recipe, I season the chili using the same 3 - 2 - 1 pattern:
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
2 Tablespoons Cumin
1 Teaspoon Cayenne and Salt

This weekend I met a great local farmer who urged me to try his Whole Hog Sausage. Hmmm... I was skeptical at first but I peered at the ingredients - Pork, Sage, Black Pepper, Salt, Cayenne - and decided to give it a try in my chili. It was perfect! He also had some delicious banana peppers begging to be bought up so I added some banana peppers, a green pepper, some garlic and onion to the chili for some extra flavor. Unfortunately, there were no leftovers. None. Three preschoolers and three adults devoured the entire pot. It really was that good.

After sauteing the fresh sausage until it was crumbly and combining all the ingredients in the crock pot, I cooked the chili for about 4 hours on high. Serve with corn bread! Enjoy!

Easy Fudge

Do you ever have the urge to open a can of sweetened condensed milk just because you want just a tiny, tiny taste? And then you open the can and don't know what to do with the rest? Please tell me this has happened to you! Next time the lure of sweetened condensed milk is too hard to resist, get out a bag of chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and a pinch of salt ... and, voila, you have the makings for very easy fudge. The kids were very impressed at the quickness that the chips and milk combined into gooey, delicious chocolatey goodness before their very eyes!

Combine 1 bag of chocolate chips and 1 can sweetened condensed milk in a bowl. Heat on high in the microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add vanilla and a pinch of salt. Stir. Pour into foil lined 9 x 9 pan. Chill for a few hours. Turn foil lined pan onto cutting board and cut into squares or fun shapes. Enjoy!

Apple Crisp Pie

Farmers' markets and apple picking are two great excuses to make desserts involving apples all through the fall. Last week I staked out the exact location of a local (albeit large) farmers' market here in Charlotte. Today, with my mom and son in tow, we headed over primarily in search of apples. Of course we found plenty of apples but we also left with pole beans, corn, tomatoes, cukes, and cilantro...

This recipe is basically a standard apple pie recipe on the bottom and my favorite apple crisp recipe on the top. The final product came out better than I expected and it was truly an easy dish to make.

THE PIE ...

1 9 -inch pie crust

6 - 8 apples, peeled and sliced (we used Gala and Roma)
juice of a 1/2 lemon
1/2 c. sugar
3 T. brown sugar
3 T. flour
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/8 t. salt
1/4 butter, melted

Prepare pie crust and set aside in pie pan. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the sliced apples in a large bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and toss the apples in the crumbly mixture as best you can. Pour apples into pie dish.

THE CRISP ...

1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. oats
6 T. butter (in small pieces)

Combine these ingredients using a pastry cutter or 2 forks until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the apples in the pie pan.

THE FINISH ...

Cook at 375 for about an hour. Enjoy!