Oatmeal Pancake

These are simple, basic, and can be topped with anything you want. Try bananas, berries, or whatever fruit/greek yogurt combo you want. These are basically the Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes without the pumpkin. They don't look as beautiful, but they're full of healthy goodness. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes

We used up the very very last of the pumpkin with this - finally! Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes, mmm mmm. Despite how it might look in the picture (forgive my horrible photography skills), they turn out very well. They're moist, light, and flavorful. And they pack a powerful punch of fiber and sweet, sweet beta carotene.

We learned of the original recipe from Kath Eats and proceeded to tweak it slightly to our tastes. For one, we increased everything to use 1/3 cup of pumpkin instead of the 1/4 cup, and balanced out the rest of it as well, using 1 whole egg instead of just egg whites. If you've made both kinds, what did you think? Enjoy!

Vegetable Soup from Scratch (without stock)

Yes, you can make your own vegetable soup from scratch without using stock or bouillon or whatnot. It's actually pretty simple. I would've just chucked everything into a pot and started boiling, but it turns out that you can get a lot more flavor out of the veggies if you saute them first. I think poaching would work fine too if you'd rather do that.

There are a lot of different options to work with here, which is the beauty of vegetable soup. Throw in leftover veggies, throw in whatever spices you want, add salt, and ba-da-bing! You're done. Enjoy.

Vegetable Soup from Scratch (without stock)

Total time: 1 hour
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients

• 2-4 potatoes
• 1-3 carrots
• 1 bell pepper
• 1/2 bunch asparagus
• 1/2-1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed and chopped
• water
• salt and various seasonings to taste
• examples: thyme, oregano, parsley, cumin, cajun, turmeric (will turn soup yellow), garlic powder, crushed red pepper, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, etc, etc, etc
• optional: wine (add a splash or two right before adding the water so the wine can loosen the flavor that's stuck to the bottom of the pot)
• optional: 1/2 cup rice

Cooking Directions

1. In a large pot, grill/saute/poach onion, potatoes, and carrots - make sure the potatoes and carrots are cut small enough to cook quickly - until almost completely cooked.
2. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding enough water to reach half way to 3/4 the top of the pot.
3. Bring to a boil on high heat, then set to medium to low. Add salt and seasonings of your choice.
4. When veggies are done, add any remaining veggies and test the broth. Does it need more salt or cumin or?
5. When all veggies are done, test again, make final adjustments, turn heat off, and let sit for a minute.
6. Serve as is or over rice if you wish.

Voila! As leftovers, the veggies soak up even more of the spices, creating an even more flavorful dish.

Note: If it turns out you added way way too much salt, cutting a raw potato in half and tossing it in the pot will soak up a decent amount of sodium. Give it about 10-15 minutes to accomplish its job.

Healthy Popcorn

Would you like a snack that's easy, low-calorie, fun, and healthy? Then you want homemade popcorn!

Do NOT do microwave popcorn anymore. For one, doing it on the stove is so simple and healthier for your wallet too. But also there's bad stuff in that microwave bag. Really bad stuff (number 3 on this list).

As you can see, our popcorn went a little overboard. Whoops. Next time we'll use only 1/2 cup instead of a whole cup. What's great is the types of experimenting you can do as well. But more on that after the recipe.

Eggnog Cookies

This is kind of a cheat (sort of). Sure, they'll taste like eggnog, but it's because there's eggnog in it. You could try making it taste like eggnog by just using rum and nutmeg flavors - though the proportions will be off. Eggnog is really easy to make too. It just takes some time. Ask me if you want to learn how.

If you're in a pinch, buy a store brand eggnog (though it will have lots of added sugar). These cookies come out kind of hard, so forewarn anyone who tries them that has sensitive teeth. The cool part is they look amazing and taste just like eggnog! And you get to use rum in the glaze. Yay! Enjoy.