a day in the kitchen... and a coon

My morning started with some amazing pumpkin pancakes!

Here is the recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour

3 Tbs brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 Tbs vegetable oil

2 Tbs vinegar

1. In a seperate bowl, mix milk, pumpkin, oil, and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour batter onto the griddle, using approx. 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

how to make pumpkin pancakes

* they are thick, so don't be alarmed!

Since then, I have made my very first pot of daddy's chili, daddy's birthday cake and pumpkin pies! I think after our dinner at the Brazilian steakhouse last night and all that I have been eating here at home... I have quite possibly eaten more this weekend then I did all last week! I need to fast. haha. So much for that 6 lbs I have lost. I have prob. gained it back! Oh well. Life's too short!

Other than cooking this weekend, I did have one rather exciting- ish event! Coach and Ringer decided to munch on a raccoon they somehow managed to catch yesterday. Luckily, they are OK and more just gnawed on it rather than ate it. No blood was visible and they're doing OK. But let me just tell you when I walked into the back yard to go borrow a pan from the neighbor (aka mom) it was a huge surprise to see a dead, baby raccoon laying in the yard. The ironic part of the coon was the fact that coach has a stuffed raccoon that is EXACTLY the same size as the 'real' coon laying in the yard. The only thing that caught my eye was the flies around it... It was bad! The emergency vet lady laughed at me when I called her because she said "ma'am, is there any visible blood or lesions on the raccoon or your pets?" I said... "ummm... I am NOT going near that thing, I don't live in the woods and I do NOT know why it is here." Then as I was about to hang up from her (after I did what she said and did go near it...) she says "oh, and ma'am... you should definitely remove the raccoon from your yard." I told her that would be my husbands job when he got home. Lucky for him, Dad got home before him and mom sent him over. He removed the dead raccoon and confirmed that there were in fact ZERO signs of lesions or blood. Lucky for Coach and Ringer! This is now the third animal they have tag teamed and brought towards the door. I guess they think it is a good thing! They had one squirrel all the way inside the dog door next door and dad thought it was a sock! Hahah. Then, Michael found another squirrel a few months later out by our hammock. This was most definitely the first and hopefully LAST raccoon!

Time to sit and read my magazines and maybe some of the three books that my ADHD self is in the process of reading. But first, I am going to put up the Halloween decorations outside. Michael says it is too early... but he is at work, so guess what... they're going up! :o) he DID get the boxes out of the attic for me, so he must have changed his mind. ;)

~~let go laughing.