Sunday, May 8, 2011

Pancakes

Happy Mothers' Day!

Pancakes are a simple and homey comfort food. Usually, we enjoy the plain type, made with regular flour and eggs. Today we mixed it up a bit.

This morning I used my Vitamix to make pancakes and blueberry syrup. (Yes, in separate batches.)

The book that came with the blender has some great recipes. I adapted one to make the following pancake recipe.

Hearty Pancakes

1 1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flax seed, ground

Blend the above on high for about one minute.

Add 3/4 cup oatmeal (not cooked - the flakes from the container), 1/4 cup dried cranberries, and 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds.

Blend all on low for about 20 seconds. Let sit about 5 minutes. It will thicken up.

Thin this mixture with water, if desired. Heat griddle to medium (I use a nonstick griddle, with a bit of canola oil on it). Cook pancakes.

This makes about eight big pancakes. I cooked the whole batch, then packed the leftovers in a plastic container, lined with paper towel. Tomorrow morning, we'll just microwave these and enjoy again.

Blueberry Syrup

1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar (or more if you want)

Thaw the blueberries. Add all ingredients to blender. Blend on "high" for about 4 minutes. Pour on pancakes.

Nick says these pancakes are good, but a little too 'Healthy' tasting.

Harrumph.

Next time, I might use regular flour instead of whole wheat, reduce the milk a bit, add an egg, and eliminate the flax seed.