Christmas Novella's

   Remember I mentioned in an earlier post that I would make the Aldi's Pumpkin Ravioli again only the next time would be for breakfast and with something other than cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them? Last Saturday morning I did just that. Breakfast was Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage, scrambled eggs, coffee and Pumpkin Ravioli with what I will call, Buttery Maple Sage Sauce. It was delicious! I had Apple Cider and just forgot it was in the fridge. It wasn't missed, but served cold would have added a nice dimension to the layers of flavor and textures that did show up for the party. I did however take the mums I had in water on the window sill that broke off while repotting them last week and place them on the table. :-)

   I do think it is a stretch to apply the "Recipe" label to this post but to tell you I put 1/2 stick of real butter, 1/4 cup of real maple syrup and 1/2 ~ 3/4 teaspoon of rubbed sage into a saucepan, melted the butter and simmered all ingredients together on medium low until foamy and began to thicken, would be the recipe for the sauce I put together to gently toss the Pumpkin Ravioli in before plating. So there it is for it's smashing debut ~ my new offering for Thanksgiving breakfast's in future. The real reason for this post however is that little corner of a book you see behind the cream and sugar; the book you will see below.

   Friday evening, as usual, I read when I went to bed. The Christmas Shoppe by Melanie Carlson was the book I was reading at the time. By the time I read to the point I had only twelve pages left to finish the book I was so sleepy my eyes were closing longer than they were staying open, and I just could not focus. I wanted to finish the book awake and alert so I left the ending for Saturday morning. When I woke up it was start the coffee, get dressed, wash face and the rest of that morning routine, pour the coffee in my mug and settle in for the enjoyment of finishing a good story.

   

This is one of two books I have won from contests Melody Carlson has run in conjunction with her Christmas novella's.

Seems silly I know, but I loved using the coordinating bookmark she sent with the book. 

   In The Christmas Shoppe we meet a number of people right in the beginning that all live in a small town called, Parrish Springs. Having lived in a small town for many years I could easily relate to those characters. There is one woman, Mathilda Honeycutt, an old and eccentric almost hippy type of woman. She is mysterious and calm, despite the fact most of the town is in an uproar over a building she purchases right downtown. She turns this building into..... you got it, The Christmas Shoppe. Through it all Melody does a great job of portraying how being courageous enough, or in some cases broken enough, to take a good and real look at things hurtful in the past we can begin to do things like forgive. In doing that we can be the patient, peaceful and victorious Christians we were meant to be. I really liked this book and do recommend it. Although everything in the the book pointed toward it, it did not have the intensity of that "Christmas" feeling the others have had because bar a few pages at the end, it takes place around Thanksgiving. I would like to have had some of the mystery surrounding Mathilda Honeycutt be removed by reading some more about who she was and what motivated her to do what she did. Be that as it may, it was a good book and I really enjoyed it. I think the elusiveness of Mathilda had its place as did the building up to Christmas. The message of love is most certainly portrayed in these pages.

An Irish Christmas is the first of Melody Carlson's Christmas novella's I read.

   This book is about decisions made, secrets kept, and seeing both sides of a situation. Melody makes no attempt to make this a mystery, she drops gentle clues all along about how a time spent 20 years ago is going to show up in the here and now. Albeit a novella, the characters are well developed, the plot is well woven and you get to travel from the eccentric time of World War II to  President Kennedy's assassination and its impact, from a town in California to a beautiful place in, Ireland. Through that time and bi~continental travel you find the true meaning of, Christmas ~ restoration. This book spoke to me on levels I may never share publicly, but suffice it to say I highly recommend this book.

Christmas at Harrington's was the first of the two I won from one of Melody Carlson's contests.

I enjoyed the using the bookmark that corresponded with this one as well.

   Christmas at Harrington's is a book about new beginnings and the patience, trust in God and humility it takes to get to the point that you can and want to put your past behind you, forgive and move forward to living life to its fullest. This is the other Christmas novella I won from a contest Melody Carlson ran in 2010. This book taught me to look past circumstances and that love needs to always be my first response, to be spirit led, not head lead. Great read, and you don't have to wait for Christmas to read it, its message is absolutely timeless.

   I become so discouraged when I see how long Halloween things are blasted all over the retail environment, particularity in comparison to how soon before and how quickly Thanksgiving gets set out and then vanishes. I would just love to go into a Black Friday discussion here and give my views on how it has stolen the celebration of Thanksgiving weekend............ oh and yes the Grey Thursday that officially began last year that has taken a chunk out of the actual one day of the year set aside to be thankful and enjoy family, but I imagine that will be addressed in few weeks right here on Honeycomb ~ stay tuned. Okay, rambling. What I was trying to get to was that I do start reading the wonderful Christmas stories every year about this time. They do not take away from Thanksgiving, they enhance the whole of that holiday.  Once we get to Thanksgiving and I have read a few good Christmas stories, I am so ready to start the wonder of Christmas. If you don't read Christmas novella's or maybe don't read much at all, I recommend these quick little reads that are so inspiring.  Try one, you have nothing to lose and they truly are quick reads. While there are books she has co~authored and one by another author entirely, here is the best list of Melody Carlson's Christmas books and novella's I could find.

   There are so many other authors out there putting out wonderful Christmas books. Two of my all time favorites are Finding Father Christmas and its sequel, Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn. Do you read Christmas fiction this time of year? I would love to hear which author's you like and about the stories you have enjoyed.

Aldi Addendum

   Yesterday evening, Sunday, my husband mentioned that I should go to Aldi and see the other pumpkin items he saw when he was there last week. I was going to go buy bottled water anyway, so Aldi's it was. I will not promise to never mention Aldi again because I know they have truly scrumptious gourmet foods throughout the holidays, particularly Christmas which is quickly on its way. This will however not be an ongoing series here at Honeycomb Cottage, its just that their selection of pumpkin groceries is well worth mentioning. So with a minimum of editorial comment I will give you a pictorial summary of what I saw this evening.

Pancake & Waffle Mix $2.49  ~  Pasta Sauce $2.49

Iced Latte $1.19

Dry Coffee Creamer $2.29  ~  Coffee $4.99

Bread Mix $1.49  ~  Pizelle's  $2.99

$.99

Last one in the store!  $1.99

Coffee Creamer $2.29

Cheesecake $7.99  ~  Pie $6.99

Ravioli $2.49

$2.49 each

$1.99

The following are not pumpkin products but certainly looked good and seemed fitting for this post.

I do not remember the price on this Cider.

Kraft Caramels $1.89

   Done with buying the water and few other items and on our way home. We live fairly close to the Aldi's we shop at but the ride home, especially if it is evening is always nice. We have deer in our neighborhood that roam freely and in large number.

Shortly after leaving the store we see this beautiful creature. It is near impossible to see but there is a large buck in those trees.

One of the quaint features of this house we pass that I like.

The next street over from us and always decorated nicely.

Across and down the street.

Still across and the down the street.

One yard over from the 2 piccies above.

    Home and now it is time to gear up for the week.

My three pumpkin items this trip.

Not too strong or spicy ~ just delicate and yummy!

Since I am posting this the next evening, Monday, I will add a few updates.

   Those pumpkins were large but the pickings were slim and picked over. I went back today and they had a new and full tote of beautiful large pumpkins of which seven of them now rest adorning my front porch and steps. A few more updates here. I did snag the Pumpkin Pizzelle's and Pumpkin Bread Mix while there today. Also, I discovered today the Pumpkin Ravioli is great with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on it. You could put butter on them and let it melt before sprinkling the cinnamon sugar on but there is no need to ~ they are GREAT. Prepared this way this Ravioli would be outstanding served with a good sage sausage, my choice is always Jimmy Dean, and apple cider ~ cold or mulled. I have a traditional Christmas breakfast. Thanksgiving however tends to be muffins and sausage, bagels and fruit or just oatmeal. I think this year it will be this Ravioli, sausage and cider. I may try a tweaked version of the serving suggestion on the bag for the next lunch or supper meal I want to make these. They recommend a Browned Butter Sauce using 1 stick of butter and 10 ~ 12 sage leaves, melting the butter, adding the sage leaves cooking on medium~low heat for 2 ~ 3 minutes just until the butter begins to brown, then remove, set aside and drizzle over Ravioli once prepared. The last update is that while there last night I missed a few items. I did not take piccies of them today, but I will list them for you.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream   1.5 quarts   $2.89

L'oven Fresh (Aldi's baked goods brand) Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crème Cake   20 ounce   $2.99

Frozen Pumpkin Spice Waffles   9.8 ounce   $1.49

Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix   17.5 ounces   $1.69

If you go to an Aldi grocery and try any of the pumpkin food items, I would love to hear how you liked them.

Pumpkin Pancakes and a bit more.

   Years ago I discovered a little store called, Aldi. I will confess that I have never liked the soap or any cleaning products from that store, but there are a number of wonderful grocery products there that I find to be as good as the well known brand name products ~ and some I like much better than those higher priced items. There are blogs that offer good tips on using that store. This particular blog gives a monthly menu and then some. This is a good article to look at on yet another blog. You do not have to look far to find plenty of ideas for the Aldi products. Ariel at the blog called Food Lush, posted this little article about their Beer Bread Mix. On the same blog Erica posted this, and Julie posted this.  A few years after I discovered Aldi while visiting my daughter in Germany, I had the opportunity to shop in one in their country homeland, Germany. Aldi is a German based store. Let me just say it was full of so many more products than the stores I shopped in stateside. Today, our Aldi stores are more like the one I shopped in Germany. Gourmet cookies and cakes, imported wines and so many other lovely products line the shelves. No, this is not an Aldi commercial, just a great find I have enjoyed for years I thought I would share, and a segue into my post today. Pumpkin!

Could not resist posting the logo, I mean just look at that rich pumpkin colour!

   Earlier today Jon went to Aldi to buy white rice, maple syrup, shredded cheese, green peppers and onions. He also managed to buy Krinkle Cut Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips, Butternut Squash soup and these........ 

Pumpin Bagels and Spiced Pumpkin Fall Harvest Salsa

Such a good man!!! I had the Aldi's Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread in the refrigerator, and on that half bagel I snagged and toasted ~ YUM! I had never had the salsa so I tried it with the Sweet Potato Chips ~ oh yeah!! 

   And now to the recipe and reason for this post, my favorite Pumpkin Pancakes. I found this recipe some time ago on allrecipes.com where you can see this recipe here. These pancakes are moist yet light and full of pumpkin flavor without being overpowered by the spices. This is an autumn worthy Pumpkin Pancake recipe. I make enough to have leftovers to freeze. They are delicious when toasted, just pop them in the toaster frozen and they are great.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.   In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

2.   Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat (I just use butter flavored no~stick Crisco spray). Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Makes about 12 pancakes.

These are your ingredients.

It was only when I went to put the Ginger in that I realized I had grabbed the Nutmeg instead of the Ginger. Since I had already put the other ingredients away I am going to just insert the Ginger here.

Scrap the Nutmeg above, this is what you want.

Giving the batter a rest for a few minutes makes lighter pancakes!

Now we are getting somewhere.

This might be a good time to remind you that the pictures enlarge when you click on them.

These are SO good. I just love autumn :-)

   The canned pumpkin is from Aldi's and so is the pure Maple Syrup and the Pumpkin Syrup. I like recipes that use only a portion of the can of pumpkin because I use that remaining in my oatmeal in the morning. Yes indeedy!! 1/2 cup oats, 1/4+ cup pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, 1/4 cup Craisin's, 1cup water; stir, cook, stir again and drizzle real maple syrup. That is not my "go to" breakfast in the autumn, it is my breakfast in autumn. Oh, the oats are from Aldi's. Ald'is Millville Oatmeal is nuttier than that big name brand and any of the private labels in groceries I have had.

   I hope you are enjoying this autumn. I would love to hear your favorite pumpkin recipe! Please fell free to drop me a line via the postage stamp on my Home Page, or in the comments below.