Pumpkin season once again

Working nights is hard. Even with a few days off, I still find myself wide awake the middle of the night, then unable to drag myself out of bed the next day.

My slothful tendencies of late are only amplified by my husband's annoying love - no, need - for running. He's training for another race right now, so when I rolled over and hit snooze yet again he jumped out of bed and headed off for a little 16-mile trot.

Finally I decided enough was enough. But I didn't want to actually do anything with the day, like go for a run myself or write the research protocol I've been avoiding for a week. So naturally, I decided to cook something.

If you've read this blog before you know that pumpkin and pumpkin spice are flavors I'll never tire of. This good old pancake recipe from Martha Stewart turned out to be perfect for the waffle iron. And with whole wheat substituted for white, eating them feels pretty virtuous. Almost as if I'd run for two hours myself.

Pumpkin spice waffles

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 tbsp oil or melted butter

3-4 tbsp sugar (or more, depending on how sweet you like your waffles)

6 tbsp pumpkin purée

1 egg

1 cup skim milk 

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour 

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Pumpkin pie spice: 1 tsp cinnamon, dashes of ginger, nutmeg, and allspice or ground cloves, to taste

Turn on waffle iron to preheat. Whisk first four ingredients. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a mixing cup. Alternate pours of milk and flour, whisking as you go, until all ingredients combined.

Spoon 1/3-1/2 cup of batter onto waffle iron (amount pictured made a thick fluffy waffle, also pictured) and cook until browned. 

Can be frozen and reheated in the toaster for another lazy day.