Weekend linkage

Though I'm not a strictly "seasonal" cook (we eat lettuce in February) I do prefer to emphasize ingredients from the appropriate time of year, and it seems to me that this carrot and thyme soup would be great for winter. (Our thyme is still going strong, by the way. It has been sheltered by the front door and is proving quite hardy. I guess the abnormally temperate winter is probably helping . . .)

The Three Little Pigs in Shakespearean English. Made my week. "Nay, it shall not be, not by whit of whiskered jowl!"

A really cool National Geographic feature on twins and epigenetics.

If you've ever wanted to live in Sense & Sensibility . . .

pumpkin pancakes

Oatmeal pancakes are one of my favorite breakfasts nowadays.

Besides being way tasty (that is the technical term, I believe?) and the perfect vehicle for maple syrup, they haven't any gluten, and soaking the oats overnight seems to diminish any negative gastrointestinal effects. Enjoyable all around.

(Do you like how I used the word gastrointestinal in a discussion of breakfast? I promise the rest of the post will be far more appetizing.)

Anyway, last week I opened a can of pumpkin to try it in a smoothie-- pretty good by the way-- and then had most of the can left. Hmm. Solution: pumpkin pancakes!


Oatmeal Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup plain Greek yogurt*
1 1/2 cups whole milk, divided
1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 eggs, beaten with fork
1/2 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves

1) Stir together oats, Greek yogurt, and 1/2 cup milk in medium bowl. Cover with towel and leave on the counter overnight.
2) In the morning, preheat an electric griddle to low-medium heat (mine does well on 325). These pancakes are denser and so take a little longer to cook than those made with wheat flour; if the heat is too high you will burn the outside before cooking the inside!
3) Whisk pumpkin, eggs, and remaining milk into rolled oat mixture.
4) In separate small bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Fold into wet mixture.
5) Measure pancake batter out in 1/4 cupfuls onto preheated griddle. Flip when edges are just set and tiny bubbles have begun to pop. When centers of flipped pancakes are no longer "doughy" (this might require test-tasting, poor you) remove to plate and keep warm. Serve with butter, maple syrup, and warm applesauce.

*If you do not have Greek yogurt, use 1 cup of regular plain yogurt (not quite as thick as Greek). Just don't add all the milk right away in step 3; start with 2/3 cup and increase if needed.

Post shared on Simple Lives Thursday.

Well [Spoken] Wednesdays: Dr Juroe edition

I took the only evening class of my college career with Dr Juroe. Three hours every Monday night. It was a good class, it truly was, but by the middle of the semester I was falling asleep halfway through; 8:00 PM is never my most shining hour.

However, once we began to take a break for tea and cookies, things improved. :)

Here are the marginalia of Dr Jim Juroe.

Eighteenth Century British Literature

"That was a joke. You were supposed to laugh!"
"King Josiah was like a one-man Hillsdale College."
"I'm doing this out of human laziness, with which I am afflicted."
"There's not much education going on in the world today."
"I'm going to give you a really dumb analogy now."
"Be quick like bunnies!"
"The dullards are really, really funny."
"Let's talk about more ghoulish stuff. Isn't this fun?"
"She looked like a young Marilyn Monroe: a glass of milk with a swatch of lipstick across it."
"These people can't read. They probably went through college studying sociology.""If you don't know for sure, just shout even louder! That's what our politicians do."
"You're a sneaky bunch."
"Hillsdale has always been long on abstractions."
"Don't hold me to my promises. That would be really tacky."
". . . but that's another part of my wayward youth."
"I execute students who sell their books."
"Paradise ain't never good enough for those who live in it."
"Queen Anne passed some really stupid laws."

a new favorite

I threw this together for a quick supper on Friday night . . . to my surprise, all of the elements worked together really well. That is what I call a serendipitous success.

You need three burners and just as many pots for this meal. But for all that, it's not complicated, especially if you make the soup ahead of time (or use canned soup).

You can serve this with grilled cheese to round out the meal. We two polished off the whole thing, but then, we like meat, especially the male half of us. :) If you're more restrained in your carnivory, this will serve more people.

Soup and Sausage*

creamy tomato soup (my recipe here)
8 to 12 oz pound mild sausage in its casing, cut into 3-inch sections
2 tablespoons butter
one small yellow or red onion, sliced
4 oz button mushrooms, sliced
1 green or red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
salt and pepper to taste
a splash or two of white cooking wine
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (homemade is best)
2 tablespoons spicy whole-grain mustard

1) Make your soup and let it simmer on very low heat. To minimize work at the last minute, make it ahead of time and simply reheat. (I make a really big batch and freeze it.)
2) On high, heat skillet large enough to hold sausage in a single layer; add sausage and let sear briefly. Add 1/2 inch water, cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook sausage 10-15 minutes, until no longer pink in the middle.
3) Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onions, and peppers. Saute 30 seconds; reduce heat to low, then cover and cook 10 minutes or until tender.
4) Whisk together mayonnaise and mustard in small bowl.
5) When you are ready to eat, remove lid from vegetables and increase heat to medium-high, stirring frequently to let vegetables brown but not burn. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Once you see those nice browned bits on the bottom of the skillet, splash in your white wine and stir briskly to deglaze.
6) Serve soup alongside sausage, sauteed vegetables, and mustard sauce. (The husband piled up his sausage and vegetables and spooned some soup on top, which created a great creamy-tomato sauce for the whole thing.) This meal is not elegant. But it is very good.

*I stink at naming recipes. Too cutesy, and I'd feel stupid talking about it. Too clever, and it sounds like a menu item at a molecular gastronomy restaurant. So I go for the obvious.

{image credit: photoshoporama Dan}

Shared on Simple Lives Thursday.

our song is love

And I'm not gonna take it back

And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that

You're the target that I'm aiming at
And I'm nothing on my own

-Coldplay

Happy anniversary, you blue-eyed charmer. How has it been two years already?!