Autumn Lunch

This whole weekend was awesome.  We had no other huge plans and declared it Family Fun Weekend!  (note: I had a meeting this afternoon but it was during nap time.)  We enjoyed the cool weather, the crisp autumn air and the gorgeous colors that the fall brings to Western Pennsylvania every year.  After an incredible autumn filled weekend, we're sticking with the theme for Molly's lunch.

Our main entrée is pumpkin pancakes.  These were made by using canned pumpkin in the place of eggs for a boxed pancake mix.  We also added some extra cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla for spice and a little bit of Agave Nectar to make them sweeter and easier to eat while cold.  We cut these pancakes with leaf and pumpkin cookie cutters so there aren't 3 huge pancakes to eat, plus they go with our theme.  They are served with a side of light cream cheese that is flavored with a generous amount of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter.  Molly can spread this on her pancakes or just use it as a dip.


We have some Castle Wood Honey Ham as a protein side since the main entrée is carbohydrate based.  We cut the ham with a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter.  (Cook's note: It is very hard to make ham look appetizing by itself.  We tried skewering it, it looked like intestines and we're not going for a gory Halloween theme...yet.  Then we tried rolling it; very wormy looking.  So, we stuck with cookie cutters in the hopes that Molly will find it fun and delicious at the same time.)


Our fruit side is an Empire apple that is peeled and cut into slices.  We added a little bit of orange juice to help keep them from browning.  This was a request of Molly's.  She loves apples, especially crunchy ones.


The vegetable side for our Autumn Lunch is carrots because they represent one of the most gorgeous fall colors, orange.  We fancied them up a little bit to keep lunch interesting.


We've decided not to do a dessert.  This weekend included a trip to our favorite candy store on the planet, Baldinger's.  We feel that Molly has ingested enough sugar from her scrumptious selections that she can go without it in this Autumn Lunch.