Sunday Brunch: Pumpkin Pancakes

Well well well...here we find ourselves enjoying yet another lazy Sunday morning. I really hope these never end. I need my sanity days. Now, my intention was to post this on Friday (really!) but that clearly never happened. So welcome to an actual Sunday Sunday Brunch brunch post. See what I did there? Low-cal calzone zone, anybody?

Anyway. I mentioned early in the week how I am basically obsessing over all things pumpkin and one of the newest and most frequent fixtures in my diet are pumpkin pancakes. Sometimes these appear with chocolate chips, sometimes they fly solo. The recipe is super easy and is actually the recipe that I posted before for single serving whole wheat pancakes, just with pumpkin and spices added!

Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- a few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg
- 1/3 c. milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tsps. maple syrup
- 3 tbsps. pumpkin puree

What to do:
- Mix up your dry ingredients first. Then add in the rest. When it comes to the spices, you are free to do as you please. This was an experimentation for me one morning so I do not actually have measurements for you.

- I usually add about 3 tbsps of pumpkin puree to my mixture because I am only doing the single serving amount. You should probably adjust accordingly if you are making more. Also, the pumpkin will make the batter a little bit thicker so I pour in a touch more milk at the end to thin it a bit.

- Ladle batter onto hot skillet (medium low heat) and let brown on each side. Add chocolate chips at your discretion ;)

- Serve with butter and maple syrup. Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes? Share below!

Sunday Brunch: Blueberry Cream Cheese Pancakes

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This weekend we have been entertaining a guest and had to be sure to make it a good one. Happy to say that he pretty much experienced college in one night--good hosts for the win! We spent the days exploring some new places around Pittsburgh and doing some shopping. To keep with the theme of new things I decided to do something a little different with my Sunday brunch: blueberry cream cheese pancakes! Sounds yummy, right? You would be correct.

Here's what you need:
- 8 oz. package cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2 c. flour
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/4 c. milk
- 2 tbsp. butter, melted
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 c. blueberries

What to do:
- In medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs one at a time incorporating them into the cheese as you go.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
- Add milk, butter and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture. Pour into dry ingredients. Stir until well mixed; stir in blueberries.
- Set lightly greased on medium heat. Cook pancakes just a few minutes on each side.

I have seen other ingredients that also include lemon in the recipe which I imagine is just delicious and summer-y! 

<3 Ashley

Will you try this yummy breakfast? 

Sunday Brunch: Harris Grill

Yesterday, we went out to brunch for our friend's birthday. One thing I love about going out with these girls to celebrate is that we usually find some new and interesting places to dine. The Harris Grill on Ellsworth Ave was no exception. The atmosphere in the place is great; dim lighting, some odd kind of religious artwork and some crazy humor in the menu descriptions give this place its quirky-ness. The biggest draw for us to this place was the $14 brunch--basically everything is $14 and that includes coffee or tea, orange juice or a frozen mimosa (believe that the 21 year olds in the group proudly whipped out their IDs while us babies said "coffee please!") a fruit bowl and whatever entree you want. The set up around the table consisted of omelette, breakfast mac n cheese which looked heavenly, and sticky bun skillets. I was a sticky bun girl. The buns come in a personal sized cast iron skillet and are accompanied by the delicious home fries and bacon. I could not have asked for a better way to start a Sunday. The restaurant's proximity to the bus stop on this very icy day in Pittsburgh was also plus. The Harris Grill scored big in this group's opinion.

Coconut Pancakes

Two posts today?! Boy are you lucky!

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OH.MY.GOD. Coconut pancakes. Let me tell you...you will never have another pancake again (okay...maybe you will.) When my roommate's mom suggested this to us, I was a little unsure just because coconut is not my go-to flavor. I will never question her again is pretty much the lesson I have learned here. We made these cakes for our little "Gal-entine's Day" brunch Sunday morning and were blown away. I didn't even put syrup on mine (just a little cinnamon) and I was fully satisfied flavor-wise. All you do? Make your favorite pancake recipe and add a bunch of coconut shreds. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a measurement. I was told just to gradually add the coconut until I could see the shreds all throughout as I was stirring. Here's the recipe that we used from Martha Stewart:

What you need:
- 1 c. all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 c. milk
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

What to do:
- Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt)
- Mix milk, butter and egg in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture. Mix until everything is moistened
- Gradually add coconut shreds as you stir. Stop when you are able to see the shreds throughout (there should be a lot!)
- Heat skillet over medium
- Ladle batter onto the skillet. Let cook 1-2 minutes on each side. (I'm always a little weary about undercooking pancakes so sometimes I let them sit a bit longer)
- Enjoy! This recipe says it makes 4 servings but we got 3 (two pancakes per person) but I am sure we made them a bit bigger than Martha wanted us to...

<3 Ashley

Will you try this? What are your favorite kinds of pancakes?

Sunday (on a Monday) Brunch: Finals Edition

The last brunch of the fall semester occurred yesterday and it was just as dreamy and wonderful as all of our other get togethers. The difference? We took the brunch abroad to a restaurant rather than making it in our apartment. The reason, of course, being that it is FINALS WEEK--which is also why this post is coming to you late. None of us can barely find the motivation to make a grilled cheese let alone a fancy shmancy brunch. We decided since we were going out to find available study locations we could still have brunch and just let someone else do the cooking!

We packed backpacks with textbooks, notebooks, lecture print outs and tech and elected The Porch right on campus as receiver of our money and giver of food. Boy did they give! I ordered the "Porch Scramble" and couldn't have made a better decision. There is chicken and mushroom in that egg pile up there. So much yum! They also came with some wonderfully spiced potatoes, a homemade English muffin and a side of their HOMEMADE ketchup which also had a bit of a spice to it. Michelle ended up getting their quiche which also looked absolutely to die for. On top of the delicious meal and the wonderful company and conversation we are convinced that Pitbull was dining a few tables away--not really but this guy looked WAY too much like him. 

Now if you will excuse me, I still have one more paper to blaze through. (Prayers are being accepted)

<3 Ashley

Do you have a favorite restaurant you like to brunch at?

Sunday Brunch: The Weekend We Had No Brunch

Unfortunately today did not work out for our group Sunday brunch. I will admit that it was my fault...I slept in way too late and at that point no one was too committed to making our stuffed french toast. Perhaps next week we will have more success! There are some fantastic things to talk about though:

Movin' on in: Well...not until August. The girls and I got our first off campus house! It is actually nice and homey too--unlike many of the dumpy places in South Oakland. We are meeting with the landlord tomorrow to sign the lease!

A+: Out of all of the stress and constant work that I have endured through this semester, it finally feels like it is paying off. We got our midterm papers back in History of Mass Media and guess who got a perfect score....THIS GIRL!

Let's hope that all of this is all continues into this week to make it a good one too!

<3 Ashley

What good has happened to you this week?

Letter From the Editor: November

I don't know about my fellow students, but I feel like this semester has absolutely flown by! It's already November. I have a tendency to see Halloween as the official kick off to the holiday season (whether it is or not...I don't particularly care) and as of November 1st have dived head first into holiday planning. An example of this? I've got my pumpkin pie recipe ready to go and my roommates and I have discussed at which point it is acceptable to start playing Christmas music--very soon!

This month on the blog look for a lot of fun holiday themed posts! When I first started blogging I had a tendency of posting a lot of holiday recipes and think now is as good a time as any to bring that back. I will be sharing some of my favorite holiday dishes with you and also posting some other fantastic pieces of holiday inspiration. I will also begin rolling out some of the exciting weekly features that I have planned for Sunday Brunch. What do these include? Well when I first started out blogging, fashion was the topic of choice. I kinda would like to get back to those roots and do a post each week highlighting one outfit that I have worn in the past week--come back tomorrow for the first of these posts featuring my Halloween costume this year! Another thing I would like to do is a small Sunday post. Sunday brunches are a fixture in my group of friends and I would like to share our creations with you. This coming Sunday has stuffed french toast on the menu and surely some great conversation!

I hope you are as excited as I am for this month!
<3 Ashley

What do you look forward to in November?