Pumpkin Waffles...Mmm!!!

Do you ever get a little taste of something and then really want some all for yourself?

The preschool cooking class in our synagogue made pumpkin waffles last week and I got a little sample.

It was only one bite.

Since then, I've been contemplating pumpkin waffles, and finally I made some...what's the end of October without something pumpkiny?

I used this recipe with one minor edit.

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat pastry flour, a great substitute)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (only had a little sprinkle left in the bottom of the bottle...)
1 pinch salt
2 eggs (I used egg substitute, we were almost out of eggs)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 2/3 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in large bowl. In a second bowl, add eggs, sugar, pumpkin, milk, and butter; beat well. Gently fold in the flour mixture. Spoon in about 3/4 cup of batter into the waffle iron. Cook each waffle for 4-5 minutes.

They turned out beautifully and deliciously:

And yes, this kid eats breakfast every morning while reading the newspaper. He reads the comics, the weather, and checks out the Jumble game. Occasionally he asks me about headlines and I encourage him to read the article but he hasn't taken me up on it yet. Still, I think it's wonderful and adorable. (Even though I hate to share my newspaper with anyone, even my husband and children!)

But I digress from the waffles. I need some cooking advice. The first 4 or 5 waffles came out perfectly. I used lots of nonstick spray, and nothing stuck at all. My waffle iron has a sensor that tells you when they're done, and it worked great. Then everything went downhill - they started to stick! Same batch, same waffle iron, same non-stick spray. What happened!? I thought maybe it got too hot, so eventually I turned off the iron to let it sit for a while, tried again, and it still stuck (maybe I didn't cool it off enough?)...okay, so what do you think? Usually it's the first one that gets all messed up but I figured after 4 or 5 perfect waffles, I was home free. Let me know what you think, please.

It's the beginning of NaBloPoMo...so here I go!

Actually...

What two-year-old uses "actually" in a sentence!?

Gearing up for NaBloPoMo

I know things have been quiet around here for the last few days. I've decided to take a short break in preparation for NaBloPoMo (oh, and I've started playing FarmVille, which is a ridiculous time-suck. Whose idea was this!? Oh yeah, my husband.)

Marci's going to be playing along, and I am pretty sure Miriam is too.

Anyone else planning on doing it? It's always a fun way to kickstart my creative juices flowing to get a post up every day. Come on....

Signs of Fall...

On my driveway....

In the backyard...

On the car window...

And what's fall without some cookies baking in the oven?

Go see other people's pretty pictures this week.

Haveil Havalim: The Post-Chagim Edition

What's going on here today?
Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs -- a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It's hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack. The term 'Haveil Havalim,' which means "Vanity of Vanities," is from Qoheleth, (Ecclesiastes) which was written by King Solomon. King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other 'excesses' and realized that it was nothing but 'hevel,' or in English, 'vanity.'

Please please please publicize HH on your own blog and share the news about it!

Please read this first:
Rabbi Harold Robinson is Remembering Captain Benjamin Sklaver (as is my friend, Rabbi Yair Robinson), and I think you should be too. Small soapbox: no matter how we feel about the fighting, the politics, etc, that is no reason to vilify our troops in any way. This is a lesson that we learned after Vietnam, and I am proud that for the last 2 years our congregation has been reading the names of the military dead each Shabbat with our Kaddish list. I sincerely hope for the day that we no longer need to read the names. In over 2 years, we've never had a week with no names. It's been a very sobering reminder. This week, as we read Captain Sklaver's name, I had a real story to go with it and I was even more sad to know that all of these names have stories. Zichrono livracha, may his memory be for a blessing. The organization that Captain Sklaver started, Clearwater Initiative, is pretty incredible. I will give ONE DOLLAR for every comment left on today's Haveil Havalim to Clearwater in memory of Captain Sklaver.

Things That Might Be Funny...cuz it's best to start with a joke or two

Toby at A Time of the Signs thinks that Someone really needs to tell them.
Torat Yisrael is riffing on the idea of Gaza zoo disguising jackasses as Zebras.
Benji Lovitt is being funny again: More Great Moments in Israeli Marketing: Oh Dear... and also with Forget Madoff, Hadassah Has Other Issues to Deal With. He's also getting psyched that BREAKING NEWS: ALF to Attend Jerusalem Tweet-Up Sunday Night! I wish I could be there too!

Israel

Good News from Israel has Photos of Second Hakafot.
Esser Agaroth shared Jew Encouraging Ascension To The Temple Mount Incurs Intimidation From Police.

Israelity has these interesting posts: Let the children stay, Pomegranate economics, and Unrolling the Torah.

Our Shiputzim is visiting National parks: Caesarea edition.
The Rebbetzin's Husband wants to know CNN - Did something blow up in Lebanon, or not?
David Morris at Tzedek-Tzedek asks Did Barak Overspend? and also The Third Temple as a Political Objective
Joel Katz of Religion and State in Israel presents Religion and State in Israel - October 15, 2009 (Section 1)Religion and State in Israel - October 15, 2009 (Section 2) (completely different material in both, btw) AND
Yechezkel presents Happy Birthday to Avigayil as the Wellsprings of Salvation Overflow (K"Y) offering analysis on newly released statistics about the chareidi growth rate in Israel and how it impacts the "shidduch crisis"...

Judaism

Shmuel Sokol presents Pilgrims visit Joseph's Tomb, under armed guard.
Yechezkel gives us Ezer or Kinegdo?, an exerpt from his book about the role of Women in Judaism.
Shiloh Musings offers us The Year of Double Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, and No Simchat Torah.
The Real Shliach thinks it's fun for the whole family: The Real Shliach: Blues can be a good thing too (he was in my hometown!)
Seraphic Secret has this post about the right to bear and keep arms: Jews, Guns and Torah.


Yisroel wants to know, Is It Halachly Permissible to Leave Eretz Yisroel To Go Touring?
Ilana-Davita worked through some Blogger's Block to offer her interpretation of Bereshit.

Miscellaneous....

Samson BLinded presents Civilized anti-semites need nuclear mullahs.
Eliyahu Fink presents Too Smart For Their Own Good at Pacific Jewish Center.
The Rebbetzin's Husband muses on Knee-biters.
JackB is Listening to Her Breathe.
Harry-er hopes for peace: R' Kook and the Nobel Peace Prize.
leah aharoni considers Mothers' Guilt.
David Levy wonders about the UJC's Hero Project...America’s Next Top Jewish Communal Professional.
Yisrael Medad has a few posts: Koutsoukis Corrupts The News, J Street in Three, My Right Word: Gershom Gorenberg - Gosh and Canaanites, Jebusites Welcomed But No Jews.
Mottel shares Mottel and the Mystery of the Imaginary Cliff People and also Hit The Road Jack.
Annette Berlin presents Bubby’s Lemon Pie, which rightly belongs in the Kosher Cooking Carnival, but sounded pretty yummy to me!
A Mother in Israel has a great post about Leftovers and the Kosher Kitchen...a dilemma easily solved, imho, with vegetarian eating!
Leora was thinking about her favorite books from childhood.
The Head Yenta is wondering if it's meshugenah that Anne Frank has a YouTube channel?
David is wondering what it really takes to be a rabbi these days...


Did you know it was Blog Action Day this week? Here are some of those posts:
Caring About the Environment Jewishly at The New Jew
Israel: Blog Action Day at Global Voices Online
Raising Our Voices, One Blog at a Time at the Religious Action Center's blog
Do Not Destroy right here at my blog
Did you participate in Blog Action Day? I tried to catch them...sorry if I missed you.


That's all for this week's Haveil Havalim! Please link up so lots of people can share the Haveil Havalim fun...

You could just cut and past this:
This week's Haveil Havalim is up over at Ima on and off the Bima. Check it out!



Submit your blog article to the next edition of Haveil Havalim using our carnival submission form.

Shabbat Shalom!

Hope your Shabbat is restful, peaceful, and fjavascript:void(0)ull of joy.

Do Not Destroy - Blog Action Day

Deuteronomy 20:19-20:
“When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only trees that you know do no yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siege works against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced.”

This Torah text is the basis for the Jewish value of "Bal tashchit" - which means "do not destroy" (okay, that's not a literal translation - literally, it means "master of destruction.") It's a pretty important Jewish commandment, and I'm proud that our tradition has environmental protection as a basic belief.

With that in mind, we come to this year's Blog Action Day, whose theme is climate change (did anyone else remember that we did this topic in 2007?). Yes, that's right, the environmental disarray that we find in our world today. We definitely have a responsibility to do something about the current state of our environment.

We tend to be pretty "green" in our house. We recycle, we use cloth napkins, we take reusable lunch bags and don't buy bottled water. It's a pretty regular topic of conversation in our house.

But of all the things I've ever written about being eco-friendly, this post is my favorite. It's not long, so I'm going to reprint in its entirety:

7 year old, practically spitting: Mom, I am so mad at you!
(glances around...) I'm so mad at you that I'm going to waste water!

He turns on the bathroom faucet and just lets the water run for a few moments.

Then he shuts it off and walks away.

What does it say when your kid rebels by being eco-unfriendly!?

 Are you participating in Blog Action Day?