Have I got the perfect autumn weekend breakfast for you.
Grain free pumpkin pancakes with apple raisin compote. Quite the mouthful, huh? Trust me though, it’s delicious.
But first off, let me again tell you how much I love this time of year. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous – perfect for slightly chilly mornings sharing coffee with The Husband on the balcony, balmy afternoons for strong runs and gym workouts, and crisp evenings for walking around our lake or sharing a glass of wine. Not to mention the smells of pumpkin, apples, and spice and the sounds of leaves crunching under your feet and crowds cheering on the local football team. And tomorrow it will officially be my favorite month out of the whole year!
Oh October, how I love you.
So this past Saturday Kevin (The Husband) and I slept in, enjoyed coffee on the balcony while spending some time reading the Bible for our upcoming discipleship group meeting, and then set out for a three mile run. (The same three mile run that kicks my butt when we run it – mainly due to the uphill mile two.) It occurred to us that if we ran the loop in the opposite direction, although we’d be starting and ending on a slight incline, the majority of the run would be on a decline and therefore would be easier.
Brilliant. We crushed it. I felt really strong the entire run, and Kevin let me keep the pace. We finished in about 29 minutes– which was a solid 9:45ish minute mile pace! Although I have to mention that the whole reason for running on Saturday was to finish three miles regardless of time. Therefore, we didn’t take our phones to map the run, we used Kevin’s watch to eyeball the time. I was expecting to be hurting a lot more – but as I said, I felt great and I couldn’t have been happier with our time! It was a great day and a great workout.
Which leads to an even greater brunch – the aforementioned pumpkin pancakes with apple raisin compote. These pancakes are grain, gluten, dairy and nut free – they consist entirely of unprocessed, whole ingredients – win! There isn’t even any added sugar – the natural sweetness of the apples and raisins, when heated, serves as a great topping for the pancakes – no syrup needed!
Plus, these are ridiculously easy to make. The pancakes consist of only a handful of ingredients – banana, egg, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg. Seriously, that’s it. Now as you might expect, these pancakes don’t get as light and fluffy as pancakes made with flour – these will have a wet consistency and therefore don’t taste the same as regular pancakes but for us, they are a great substitute. The apple compote was even easier – heat some butter in a pan, add the sliced apples, raisins, and cinnamon and cook until the fruit forms and compote – about ten minutes overall. I tend to just stir the apples around in the pan, but if you want to get really fancy you can do this:
mid-flip!
Serve these up with a side of bacon and some fresh coffee and you have a perfect harvest brunch that’s to die for. Trust me.
Grain Free Pumpkin Pancakes with Apple Raisin Compote
yield: 10 small pancakes
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 10 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1/2 can pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 banana
3 eggs
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
dash of nutmeg (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
In a bowl, mix together all ingredients. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium high heat and coat with olive or coconut oil. Pour the better onto the griddle in even circles (keeping them smaller to make flipping easier). Heat approximately 2 minute each side or until pancakes are brown and cooked through.
APPLE RAISIN COMPOTE
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 10-15 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup raisins
cinnamon (to taste)
pumpkin pie spice (optional)
1 tbsp butter
INSTRUCTIONS:
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add apples and cook approximately 3-5 minutes until they begin to soften. Add raisins and cinnamon and continue to cook additional 10 minutes until soft and heated through. Serve over pancakes.
Instead of the apple raisin compote, you could top these pancakes with some homemade crockpot applesauce for an easy alternative. Yum.
Bear Family Strong 