Another great recipe from Vegan Brunch. I had actually planned to make my own pumpkin pancakes but my brain was just not functioning and the thought of figuring out yet another recipe completely eluded me that morning. So, I opened my trusty copy of Vegan Brunch and flipped straight to this recipe.

These were not what I expected. Once I whipped up the batter I gave it a quick taste test and I was shocked. It was spicy and sharp, not sweet at all. I added a few tablespoons of evaporated cane juice to sweeten everything up and then, once satisfied with the now slightly sweet taste, ladled the batter into the frying pan. The texture of these pancakes is extremely luscious and moist, absolutely dense with pumpkin and spice, not the fluffy and light pancakes you would usually think of. But they were good, in fact, as I took bite after bite, I realized that I really liked them! And they were the perfect way to start our Halloween weekend. My only regret is that I didn’t fill these with chocolate chips, the combination of chocolate and pumpkin is one of my favorite.

I love non-dairy milks of all kinds, in fact, dairy milk was always repulsive to me so the switch to a vegan version was easy. I enjoy soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, even quinoa milk, they are all delicious. But most often we buy soy milk to use in our baking, smoothies, cereal, every where we can think of. It dawned on us that we were spending a lot of money on pricey soy milks, which is not only an expensive habit but a wasteful one as well: think of all the packaging we were going through! And although I’m not one who believes that all soy is evil, I do believe that too much of any processed food is never a good thing. So, all of these things added up and we have begun to make our own almond milk and it couldn’t be easier or more delicious!

Step 1: Soak 2 cups of raw almonds in water overnight.

Step 2: Drain and rinse the almonds, add them to your food processor with 6 cups of water and a handful of chopped medjool dates. BLEND!

Step 3: Pour the mixture through a cheesecloth into a large bowl. Squeeze the almond meal very well to get out all of the delicious almond milk!

Step 4: You could drink the almond milk now, but I like to add it back into the blender and combine it with a hefty squeeze of agave nectar and cinnamon and nutmeg. The taste is subtle but just right for me!

Step 5: Chill and then serve with a stack of vegan cookies! (Yep, here in Saudi oreos are vegan! Make sure you check in your country though, because the ingredients do change depending on what part of the world they are manufactured in.)

When we moved to Bahrain last year we of course brought our three dogs with us from the states. (If you must fly with your companion animals go KLM, they are absolutely phenomenal with animals! The best!)

First, there is Polly:

My absolute soul mate, best friend, life partner for ever and ever. And no, I’m not kidding. We really get each other in such an intense way, you wouldn’t believe it. I love her with my entire being and would do anything for her. Out of everything and everyone in this entire world she is the most special to me. She isn’t ‘just a dog’, she is my heart.

The shortest out of all our dogs, her stocky, 2 inch legs come courtesy of her weenie dog daddy, while her awesome coloring, super smarts and unwavering loyalty come straight from her cattle working blue heeler mama. I rescued her when she was 1 year old and we have been attached at the hip ever since. She never lets me out of her sight, and I never see any reason to let her out of mine! There is no one else in her eyes but me and I feel the same about her. Okay, enough gushing. Anyway, she is a queen diva bitch. That’s probably why I love her. Talk about a Napoleon complex. She struts around with an ego the size of Texas, and a brain to match. She has attacked pitbulls for no reason, leaving me to yank her out of their jaws. She has no fear and refuses to acknowledge other dog’s existences, except to bite them, because they are beneath her. But when you get to know her you see this is all a front, she is just acting tough. Deep inside she has a heart of gold and just wants to be cuddled….but she’ll never admit it! Also, she is a super right wing, born again Christian uber conservative that loves me inspite of my hippie, vegan, bleeding heart liberal beliefs.

Then there is Lobi:

She was found by my fiance’s friend running through the woods, starving, with a tattered hunting collar dangling around her neck. Just thinking about her living alone in the damp cold woods breaks my heart because she is the kindest, most loving dog you could imagine. She is also the weirdest. She is so quirky and silly, and instead of acting her age (older than dirt) she acts like the kookiest puppy you have ever met. When we got her she was half starved and in rough shape and it was obvious she had been abused and bred continually over her long life. It took us months before she would even sit down next to us and relax enough to let us pet her, she used to just hide under the bed. She would run screaming if we would laugh to loudly or put our feet to close to her, she was convinced it was just a matter of time before we started beating her. But now, two years later, she yanks my socks out of my hands as I try to put them on, doesn’t think twice about trying to crawl into my mouth to follow my bite of dinner and literally crawls up my chest and pokes at my face, demanding to have her belly rubbed. She is so gentle and so silly and she just hangs out all day with a goofy beagle smile on her old mushy face, just happy to be around all of her friends. Her favorite place to sleep is on the coffee table.

I told you she was weird. She is the only dog that Polly will tolerate, and Lobi adores her.

And then there is Jack:

We found him trotting happily down the side of the road one day and scooped him up, expecting to find his guardian’s soon. Well, it’s been a year and he is here to stay. He is the most happy go lucky dog in the world, he has absolutely no concept that there could ever be anything to be worried about or be scared of. He needs to belong to a little 8 year old country boy and go on adventures in the woods all day long, only returning home when they are both covered in mud. He is a pit-bull, black lab cross and he is hilarious. First of all, he thinks he is tiny. TINY. He doesn’t understand why he can’t be carried everywhere and why he can’t fit into Lobi’s bed. He is also the most socially talented dog I’ve ever seen. He knows exactly how to befriend other dogs and he will do anything to get them to play with him.

And here is Volvo:

We found him at a local stables around Christmastime and thought we were seeing a walking skeleton. Actually, a lying down skeleton. His nails were so long he could not walk one step. He had no hair and barely any skin on his back and the flesh that he did have was covered in seeping sores that were being devoured by ants and flies. Amongst all these gorgeous imported horses that were pampered and spoiled rotten Volvo was wallowing in his own filth, his eyes infected and swollen shut, his ears deaf and bloody from a lifelong mite infection and crippled, atrophied hips. We brought him home, expecting to clean him up, give him a few good meals and then put him out of his misery. But now, 8 months later his coat is glossy, his eyes are bright and shiny and he is the grumpiest most cantankerous old man there ever was. He hobbles along behind us on all of our walks and for some reason is passionately, intensely obsessed with Polly. He won’t take his eyes off of her.

And now Tyrone and Leona. In April we got a call that someone had found 7 puppies that had been tied in a trash bag and thrown into a dumpster. The BSPCA, the only animal shelter in this country, was going to put them to sleep without even trying to find a foster home. We couldn’t let that happen! We volunteered to foster them and within a month had found 5 of them wonderful homes. But….we still have 2! I am so hard on the people that come to adopt, I won’t even give half of them the time of day. My puppies are going to go to really good people. Besides, 99% of the phone calls are from Bahraini’s that want to train them to be fighting dogs. I don’t think so.

Anyhow, this is Tryone:

And this is Leona:

Tryone is scared of everything! If you sneeze he will somersault off the bed trying to get away from you. If the door bell rings he pees on himself and cowers under the coffee table. If you drop a fork on the floor he will knock you over trying to get out of the room. He is a strange one. He is shy and quiet and gentle, always watching and trying to figure everything out.

Leona is pushy and headstrong and when you pet her she wags her tail so hard that her spine almost snaps in half. When she is happy her face wrinkles up and she flips over on her back and squirms and squirms.

They are very sweet, smart puppies. They housetrained themselves within weeks, they know their names, they understand our commands, they are very well behaved. Except for one thing. My compound is surrounded by 3 mosques. One across the road, one down the street, and one behind our compound. And 5 times a day, as soon as the 3 competing muezzins clear their throat and begin the call to prayer Leona and Tyrone lose their minds. As the sonorous, nasally voices assault our compound from every direction our puppies decide to join in the religious madness. And do you know when the first prayer call of the day is? 4:30 am. Yes. Every morning, at 4:30 am, two screaming demon puppies WAKE me up. After living in the middle east for my entire life I can tune out a prayer call but I cannot tune out the heart attack inducing howls of two crazy dogs.

So, during one of these delightful wake up calls as I lay in bed tossing and turning (it’s hard to get back to sleep after your body has been flooded with pure adrenaline) I decided I would need to eat something absolutely delicious for breakfast to make up for my hellish night. And that is when I concocted Prayer Call Pancakes. Super simple, super tasty, and just the right hint of sweetness and spice, these pancakes will make any morning a bit easier to wake up to.

Ingredients:

1 and ½ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 and ½ tsp baking powder
1 and ¾ cup vanilla soymilk
2 and ½ Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp golden syrup

Combine all of the above ingredients and ladle big spoonfuls into a very lightly greased frying pan set on medium heat.

When the mixture begins to bubble around the edges flip the pancake over and cook until both sides are lightly golden.

Serve with a side of delicious Linda McCartney sausages!