Snow and pumpkin pancakes

We indeed got the snow that was predicted last night, lost power for two hours, and woke up to 20s and sunshine. It was so warm before the snow began, and wet due to some early rain yesterday, the snow piled up but melted quickly on the driveway, gravel lane, and parts of the pastures. Today the sun is helping the meltdown, but with highs barely getting out of the 30s today, and another night of 20s, we’ll have it around for another few days.

Yesterday I finally roasted the large farmer’s market pumpkin I bought in November and never used at Christmas. It stored just fine on the kitchen island and with this cold weather I decided pumpkin soup would be good for dinner. I roasted half the pumpkin and used about a cup for dog dinners and the rest in a pot of pumpkin soup. My husband makes it the best - he purées the roasted pumpkin after removed the skin and usually adds coconut milk and cheese plus salt, pepper, and cayenne. For a richer flavor, we sometimes use caramelized onions puréed with the pumpkin.

This morning, happy to have power back, I decided to roast the other half and make pumpkin pancakes. We rarely make them, and I don’t always have flour on hand, but today I did. I made the batter up and added cinnamon, nutmeg, a tiny bit of clove, and brown sugar, then mixed in the pumpkin, an egg, some oat milk, and a little vanilla extract.

The griddle that came with our gas stove has never been used, but I pulled it out and wow - never made pancakes so easily in my life! I’ll definitely use it again next time we want pancakes.

I also had just enough walnuts to toast and simmer in butter, and a wonderful jug of NY maple syrup my daughter-in-law’s parents sent us for Christmas. This all added up to a wonderful snow day brunch.

The snow was lovely yesterday as it fell, and at bedtime it was very pretty out, but as it melts today it’s looking more like mush and all I can think of are the paddocks and gate areas at the barn, and how long it’s going to take us to dry out from this. Then I look up and focus on the snow still sitting on tree branches. Lovely, no mud, though the sun is melting it as the day marches on.