Weekend food

This last weekend Mr Siili and I didn't do much, but we did make some yummy stuff in the kitchen.

On Saturday, we made some peruna rieska aka unleavened potato bread. This is the first recipe I shared on this blog back in 2008.

While the breads were baking, we made chicken soup for dinner. There was enough for us to have dinner for the next couple of days. I'll be thankful when it is gone today.

See the broccoli that I put in the soup? Well, that is about all the broccoli there was. This piece of broccoli, shown below, was the last one at the store and it was itty bitty. It only cost 0,16 cents! I just couldn't pass it up like everyone else had because I knew Mr Siili would find this lone piece of packaged broccoli as funny (and cute) as I did.

Then on Sunday, I made oh so Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes and Mr Siili helped me cook them. I've asked a co-worker to bring me more canned pumpkin and I think I'm going to have to ask my dad to bring some when he comes to visit too. These pancakes are that yummy!

Last weekend's baking

This last weekend I tried two new recipes: Crusty Bread and Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Glaze. Both recipes turned out great, but I think I'll only be making the bread again in the future. Don't get me wrong, the Pumpkin bread was good too, I'd just rather use my coveted canned pumpkin for other things, such as Pumpkin pancakes or pie.

The Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Bread recipe came from Eat Cake for Dinner. I've tried some of her recipes before and they always turn out great.

The recipe called for a glaze on it, but I was too lazy to make it. I still think it turned out great. Mr Siili liked the bread well enough, but he said he preferred the pancakes I made earlier. So, I think I'll be making pancakes with the rest of the canned pumpkin.

The Crusty Bread recipe I saw on a friend's FB wall from Pinterest, which came from a blog called Simply So Good. This bread was insanely easy to make and yielded quite yummy bread. Mr Siili didn't believe it would turn out to be any good, but was very surprised with the results. I didn't take any pictures this first time, but I should the next time I make it. The bread comes out of the oven just looking so beautiful!

I made the very basic recipe this first time around, using only plain flour. Next time I'm going to switch it up a bit and add some graham or other flour too. I want to make dried cranberry and orange flavored bread (as suggested on the blog), but Mr Siili is against it. I think I'll make it at some point anyway, when I have somewhere to take the bread. He doesn't have to eat it.

Let me know if you try either of these recipes and what you think of them.

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes

I love finding and trying new recipes. I love it even more when the recipe is a winner! This last week I was checking out Making Lemonade's Friday post and saw that she had linked to some Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes from Mom On Timeout. They looked delicious, easy and I happened to have one can of pumpkin left! I printed out the recipe and made them Saturday morning.

Oh my gosh! These really are perfect! They are easy to make, moist and oh, so yummy. (Even if I didn't have any cloves because I ran out of it last time I made zuc bread and never bough more, until today.) I've eaten them with maple syrup, apple sauce, plain and even cold. That are just that good. I was also nice enough to share some with Mr Siili.

The left overs are going with me to work tomorrow for breakfast! And I now need to figure out where to find more pumpkin, because I am going to make these again.

Below is the recipe for Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes.
If you want to see some yummy pictures and step-by-step how-to, check out Mom On Timeout's blog.

Ingredients
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c wheat flour   (I used barley flour as I didn't have wheat flour. JH)
3/4 c brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 c canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin)
1 c milk
1/4 c applesauce (or vegetable oil)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  I know there is a lot of ingredients but it is SO worth it!  Once all those spices get in the bowl just take a sniff and smile.  Smells like pumpkin pie!  (You can use more or less wheat flour depending on your preference.)

Add remaining ingredients and mix until just blended.  Do not over mix - just until blended.  I use applesauce but you can sub in vegetable oil if you prefer.

Pour about 1/3 cup of batter onto a lightly butter skillet.  Cook over medium heat until pancakes are lightly browned on the bottom.  Turn and cook until done.