WHOLE WHEAT PANCAKES

Ok, so this isn't a food blog, per se. However, what would a blog about gratitude be without food? Just so you know, I LOVE FOOD and am exceedingly grateful for good food! So...grateful for food blog post#1: Pancakes (yes, I realize these pancakes are naked. Bear with me and I'll explain why).

When I was growing up, we pretty much just had cereal for breakfast. And I was pretty much starving by 10:00 every day at school (although I totally understand that cereal is, by far, the easiest breakfast so it makes sense that in a family of 8 children we would have cereal every day). Occasionally on Saturdays we would have Bisquick pancakes, which we all loved, but that was the only type of pancake I knew.

When I was about nine years old, I went to a sleepover and my friend's mom made us pancakes with chocolate chips in them. Wow! I had never conceived such a wonderful thing!

Now that I'm an adult, my love of pancakes has just expanded and I have found all sorts of amazing pancake recipes: Cottage cheese pancakes, white pancakes (as opposed to whole wheat pancakes), blueberry pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, oatmeal pancakes, cornbread pancakes, apple cinnamon pancakes. All of them: yum!

This one, however, is our standard school morning pancake. It's all whole wheat, and sometimes I throw some ground flax in, just to boost the nutrition. It doesn't take that long to make and cook them, and they are quite filling.

Our favorite topping is applesauce and maple syrup or cinnamon-sugar (I know--weird, but yummy).

These are pictured plain just because a) they are pretty this way (look at that golden brown, unadulterated by any toppings! :0) and b) the eater of these particular pancakes wasn't quite ready to eat them and I didn't want to get them all ready for my picture and then have them all soggy for eating after sitting too long (these were the last of the pancakes) and c) these are both just excuses: I was busy dealing with a cranky 2-year-old and chose not to. There you have it.

My kids even like them plain or if any are left over, toasted with butter and sugar for an after-school snack. You see my 2-year-old trying to take a pinch.

Whole Wheat Pancakes (this was originally a recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, but I've changed it a bit)
2 c. milk
2 T. vinegar
(This just makes a nice sour milk to start out with, which seems to make the pancakes lighter. I never seem to have buttermilk around and this is a good shortcut)
Let the milk sit for a minute, maybe while you get the dry ingredients together.
2 eggs
3 T. oil
Mix all these wet ingredients together well

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 T. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
Mix all these together and add to the wet ingredients

Add flour or milk to get your desired consistency and mix with a whisk until blended, but don't overdo the mixing. Pour on hot griddle (about 325 degrees) and flip when you see bubbles, or when the underside is golden brown. Makes about 20 six-inch pancakes.

Here's a yummy but not-so-nutritious variation: sometimes (usually on a weekend) I will make these with whole milk and part or all white flour (my boys beg for these pancakes! they call them "white pancakes") and they turn out so fluffy and delicious.

Ok, if you insist: here is a picture of whole wheat pancakes in the double-decker way we like to eat them. Start with pancake, then applesauce, another pancake, topped with butter and syrup. Yum!



I am so grateful for whole wheat pancakes!