Pancakes Pancakes

Pancakes get a bad reputation. But really, with a few simple tweaks, it can be a healthy breakfast or snack. I just came across this post about spinach pancakes from Snack Girl.
This looks delicious – however I know that my kids would see green in their pancake and turn up their noses. I wanted to share this link – because maybe your kids will love them – but also to point out that you don’t have to put something green in your pancake in order for it to be a more healthy option. Just by using whole wheat flour, canola oil and not too much sugar, makes it healthful in my book. Pancake mixes often have unwanted added ingredients but making them from scratch is actually pretty easy.

I guess now would be a good time to talk about what goes on the pancake! You can start with a whole wheat cake and think you are doing pretty darn good. Then comes the butter, whipped cream and high-fructose corn syrup maple syrup. Okay, now we have a dessert. But there is an easy fix. Skip the butter and whipped cream and replace your maple syrup with a high quality one that does not contain high fructose corn syrup.

Here is my basic pancake recipe. Feel free to add fruit (blueberries, bananas, etc.) or even shredded squash or sweet potato or as Snack Girl suggests, spinach.



Whole Wheat Pancakes

1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2-1/2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

3 tbsp. brown sugar

2 eggs

1-1/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)

2 tbsp. canola oil

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in one bowl. Mix eggs, milk, and oil in another. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well. (if you are adding a fruit or vegetable, now is the time to add it.) Fry in a non-stick frying pan into pancakes. Freeze extra in a plastic bag for quick snacks to heat up later.