It’s Halloween, and now that the bowl of goodies is waiting for trick-or-treaters and the kids’ costumes are ready, what can you entice them to eat before they head out into the neighborhood?
Kids get excited over the once-a-year chance to dress up and get piles of candy, so it’s sometimes difficult to get them to eat a real meal before they go trick-or-treating.
How about breakfast for dinner? The egg, that marvelous single-serve packet of protein, is an ideal starter for a meal that children often are too excited to eat. Accompany that with some fuel-worthy carbs such as pancakes and you have the heart of a meal that will get them through the night.
Since it is Halloween, they can get their serving of vegetables with these pumpkin pancakes (recipe follows), which also are a great brunch idea for the winter holidays.
Breakfast for dinner is a year-round option; easy meals that you might not have time for in the morning are just as good when you want an easy supper. Breakfast burritos and quesadillas are nutritional and filling options, along with breakfast sandwiches, waffles and plain old scrambled eggs and toast. Add a side dish of fresh or canned fruit and you have a satisfying meal.
It’s easy to add pumpkin flavor to pancakes, as shown in this recipe from kingarthurflour.com.
Pumpkin Pancakes
1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour or gluten-free substitute
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup pumpkin purée, homemade or canned
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, spice, and salt until evenly incorporated.
1. In a separate bowl or measuring cup whisk together the milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and egg.
2. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just until evenly moistened.
3. Heat a large pan over medium heat or preheat a griddle to 350 °F; the surface is hot enough when a droplet of water skitters across it. Lightly grease the pan with butter or vegetable oil.
4. Spoon the batter, ¼ cup at a time, into the pan; a scone and muffin scoop works well here.
5. Cook on the first side until the edges of the pancakes start to look dry, about 2 to 3 minutes, then flip the pancakes over, and continue to cook until the bottoms are brown, an additional 2 minutes.
6. Serve immediately or transfer cooked pancakes to the oven to stay warm, if desired.
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