Thursday, September 27, 2012

Tiny Drops of Fame: Pumpkin Pancakes!

So, if you’ve been reading this blog a while now, you might remember back in January when I posted my recipe for pumpkin pancakes.
Well, our local magazine, 417 Mag,  has started hosting a monthly “Reader Recipe” contest, and the October theme was pumpkin!  So I of course submitted this recipe, because I LURVE it SOOOO much.  And…lo & behold, I WON!  Totes crazy.
They called me up at work to let me know, and then said, “Okay, I’m going to transfer you to our art department so we can set up a photo shoot.”
*GuLp*  Photo Shoot?  Um… okay.  You should know…I’m not 100% comfortable in front of a camera.  I very much prefer to be the one BEHIND the camera. 
But, still slightly stunned and very humbled, I set up a day so that the photographer from the magazine could come out to our house & take photos.
OUR HOUSE.  Holy crap.  We don’t have a fancy house.  So as much as I would LIKE to do some fancy kitchen photo shoot like Julia Child:


…our kitchen kinda looks like this (but with appliances):

(Took this before we moved into our new house.)
But we make do.  The photo shoot was scheduled for a Monday.  So….we spent the entire weekend before that scouring the kitchen, steam mopping the floors, clearing counter tops and clutter…and cleaning the rest of the house too, because OMG Strangers/Photographers In. My. House.  Gotta look nice for these people! What if they want to sit on the couch!  What if they want to shoot photos on the porch?  What if they need to USE OUR HALL BATHROOM???  We even cleaned & conditioned the leather furniture in our living room.  We were THOROUGH.  (In all honesty though, it really needed it.  We’re more of a “vacuum & dust once a month” type of family.)
Monday morning rolled around, and I baked up a HUUUGE stack of pancakes, so that at least a few of them would be perfect.  When Jamie, the photographer, showed up, she was all about shooting the tall stack, rather than just picking out a few.  We busted out some pecans and spices and a bottle of maple syrup, and they made food-photo-magic happen.

Jamie loved the natural light from our dining window as much as I do…that’s my favorite spot for food photos.
The end result?
ROM_pancakes

Utterly gorgeous.  And SOOOOO much better than the pics I snagged when I first posted that recipe!  They did a great job and I am just overwhelmed and super happy about the whole shebang.
This post is littered with links to their article, but if you haven’t accidentally stumbled upon one of those yet, CLICK HERE.
And for those who are too lazy to click?  Here’s the recipe. :D

Makes 6-8 pancakes (3-4 servings)
Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (nuts are optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
a pinch of  salt
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/8 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 can pumpkin puree

Directions
1. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl (or your mixer), reserving half of the chopped nuts for garnish.
2. Add milk, brown sugar, oil, vanilla and egg, and beat until well mixed. Stir in pumpkin until well combined.
3. Spray a non-stick pan lightly with butter-flavored cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan per pancake.
4. Turn pancakes when the tops are covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked.
5. To finish, sprinkle with the remaining nuts, and drizzle with maple syrup.


7 comments:

  1. Sweet love you are famous! When you have your TV show, don't forget the rest of us. And by the rest of us I mean Jojo and me, OBVs. We can come on the show and comversate and get drunk while you cook. That is a recipe for greatness.

    Congrats on your feature!!!!!!!!

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    1. Fo Sho! We will be like "My Drunk Kitchen"...only on REAL TV. Not that silly YouTubes thing. :D

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  2. So I wrote a whole comment earlier and nothing showed up? Probably because I was on my phone.
    Basically I was like don't forget Jo or Me when you are a famous TV chef. We will come to your show and drink and chat while you cook. ANd people will love watching us hang out. Because we are all hilar.

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  3. Ok so third comment because I just saw that it says you view them for approval. You must be fancy. Feel free to dump that second comment :)

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  4. Haha, Yup, sooooooo fancy. Actually, I picked it instead of the "Captcha" option to avoid spammers, since it's a little easier for the readers.

    We are TOTES hilar. I can't wait for the debut of The Jeauxthea Show.

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  5. My grocery store sells 2 different sized cans on pure pumpkin puree, which do you use in this recipe? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. It would be the smaller size, usually a 13-14 oz can.

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