Blueberry Pancakes and Country Walks...

Shorne Woods Country Park

This weekend the sun finally came out providing the perfect opportunity for a country walk. My husband and I decided to go to one of our favourite places – Shorne Woods Country Park. It’s a beautiful place for a walk and has a good mixture of trails from gentle and easy going to slightly more rigorous ones including the infamous Cardiac Hill. It really was a joy to be outside in the fresh air listening to the bird song and watching dogs happily retrieving sticks for their owners.

After a lengthy hike our appetites were in full swing. What better way to ‘celebrate’ our walk then by going home and having freshly made blueberry pancakes with a generous helping of Canadian Maple Syrup. A pot of freshly brewed Kicking Horse Coffee on the side made this a real North American treat.

Here is the Blueberry Pancake recipe I used courtesy of the BBC GoodFood website.

American Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

• 200g self-raising flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 egg

• 300ml milk

• knob butter
• 150g pack blueberries

• sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking

• golden or maple syrup

Method

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.

2. Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.

Enjoy!

Shorne Woods

Canadian Maple Syrup

Blueberry Pancakes

Home Made Pumpkin Pie.It’s Easier Than You Think...

The Magical Pumpkin

Pumpkins ARE magical. They have pleasing shapes, are beautiful shades of orange and they smell of Autumn when you cut into them. Of course one of the best things about pumpkins is the way they taste! There are so many wonderful things you can create with pumpkins – never mind carving them into Jack O’Lanterns!

I am saddened by how many people throw away the seeds when they are carving their pumpkins. These seeds are not only good for you – they are absolutely delicious. All you need to do is clean them off and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes or so and presto – you have a snack that you won’t want to share with anybody else!

Luna Raye’s Perfect Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Ingredients

A pumpkin of course!

Directions

While you’re scooping all the gloop out of your pumpkin make sure to have a bowl handy in which you can reserve the seeds.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.

When you are finished with your pumpkin (carving it or preparing the flesh for a recipe) go back to the seeds and clean off as much of the gloop as you can, but don’t be too worried if there is a small amount left around the seeds.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and spread the seeds out.

Lightly salt them and put in the oven. There is no need to add any oil.

Keep checking on them and giving them a swirl around the tray to make sure they are toasted on both sides.

When they are crisp to the bite take them out and serve them up.

You will wonder why you ever threw them away!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

So what else can you make with pumpkins?

• Soups.

• Stews.

• Curries.

• Roasted in the oven with some butter and maple syrup or brown sugar.

• Mashed on its own (or with potatoes) with lots of black pepper and some butter.

• As a filling for pasta, pasties and rotis (the best I ever had came from a little newsagents shop in Fiji).

• But my all time favourite recipe for pumpkins is the mighty pumpkin pie!

The UK is not big on pumpkin pie. It is near impossible to buy the usual canned pumpkin that many people use back in Canada or America. I have seen it in specialist stores but it usually requires a small bank loan just to purchase one can.

Most of my friends in the UK make funny faces when I talk of my love for pumpkin pie (they start talking about weird North American foods like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or egg-y waffles (eggo waffles) with maple syrup and crispy bacon).

Maybe it’s the Canadian in me but it just doesn’t feel like Autumn without pumpkin pie. This year for Thanksgiving I was determined to make one from scratch. I thought it would be impossibly difficult, but I found the most amazing website which talked me through the whole process. I am not much of a baker but I am pleased to say the pie (well I actually had enough mixture for 2 pies!) came out beautifully. The website said that once you have tried pumpkin pie made from scratch you wouldn’t want to go back to the canned version and I absolutely agree!

Please follow this link for their really easy to follow and fun to read recipe for the perfect pumpkin pie made from real pumpkin.

For those of you who have never tried this wonderful dessert (usually served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream) then give it a try. You will love it!

Yummy Pumpkin Pie Made From Scratch.