Salmon with Pea Pancakes

Do you like peas?  I don't.  Not really.  I mean, I'll eat them if they are on my plate because that is what grown-ups do, but I rarely make them at home.  They just aren't my favorite veggie.  Mr Pear's likes them though, so when I saw this recipe for Pea Pancakes in the Bon Appetit magazine I figured I'd give them a shot.

And I liked them!  In fact, I thought they were awesome.

These are savory pancakes, a bit on the salty side, they taste very much like the blinis typically served with caviar.  (I like caviar.  Seems weird though, to like fish eggs but not peas....oh well)

We pan fried some great salmon to serve with our pea pancakes and the combination of the two made for a great dinner that felt just a bit gourmet.  Not bad for a Monday night dinner made in about a half hour!

Here is a link to the recipe....my picture below.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

You may be asking yourself, more pancakes?  Yes!  More Pancakes!  Pancakes are still our go-to breakfast food for the twins.  Some days we have whole wheat waffles spread with applesauce, but most days we have pancakes. The kids are still loving the Oatmeal Pancakes and the Sweet Potato Pancakes, but since it is fall and since I do love pumpkin, we had to try some pumpkin pancakes.  Plus?  How awesome is it to be able to stir in canned 100% pumpkin puree and add a serving of veggies to their diet so quickly and easily?  Very awesome.

These pancakes are hearty with a nice pumpkin taste, very similar to a pumpkin bread.  I hope you enjoy them!

Pumpkin Pancakes, adapted from Ruth on All Recipes
2 cups white whole wheat flour (you can use all-purpose too)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups pumpkin puree

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients.  Pour the milk into a large measuring cup and then add the vinegar, egg and oil.  Mix together then stir it into the dry ingredients.  Lastly, stir in the pumpkin puree.

Fry on a hot, lightly oiled, griddle.

Oatmeal Pancakes

The boys eat pancakes just about every day.  They LOVE pancakes.  Between the two of them, most days they eat 3 pancakes and a whole banana for breakfast.  And God forbid Mama doesn't get them onto the trays fast enough, watch out!

When they aren't eating pancakes with veggies in them, they are eating oatmeal pancakes.  These pancakes are almost completely oatmeal.  Two cups of old fashioned oats to just 1/2 cup of flour.  Even so, they are nowhere close to being bland like plain oatmeal.  The buttermilk and melted butter in the batter make these pancakes so so good.  Alex and I love them just as much as the kids do.  This is definitely my favorite pancake recipe. A warning though: these do take some advanced planning. The batter needs to be made at least two hours before you can actually fry up the cakes.  This is necessary in order soften the oatmeal.  I make the batter the night before so it is ready to go first thing in the morning.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Pancakes, adapted from Bon Appetit, August 1999
2 cups old fashioned OR quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk**
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
additional butter for frying

**if you don't have buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar for each cup of milk called for in your recipe.  Stir them together and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Beat eggs slightly and add them, the buttermilk and the vanilla and mix the batter together.  Once the melted butter is slightly cooled, stir that in as well.  The batter will seem very runny, don't worry.  The batter has to sit at least 2 hours so the oats can soften.  I make this the night before, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and just give it a stir before frying up the pancakes in the morning.  By then the batter will be much thicker.  Spoon it on to a hot buttered frying pan or griddle.  Flip the cakes when they begin to bubble and seem cooked on the edges.

Tip!  As I've said in the past...if you want to make a bunch and freeze them, let them cool completely then put them on a parchment paper-lined baking try in a chest freezer for about an hour.  Once frozen you can put them into freezer bags without any danger of them sticking together.  If you don't have a freezer drawer or chest you can stack them with squares of parchment paper in between each cake.

Anti-Spoon Feeding Rebellion - Breakfast Battle

Last week the twins decided that even though oatmeal with fruit has always been a huge favorite, it wasn't going to be any more.  When mouths became sealed shut against my attempts and spoons (loaded with food) were continuously pulled away from me with tiny strong fists I waved the white flag on the breakfast battle. I blame the spoon.  It seems as though the spoon feeding days are coming to an end.  The kids are much more interested in grabbing and shoving their own food into their mouths now so goodbye oatmeal....hello sweet potato pancakes!

Breakfast in my house is at 6:30am so it has to be easy.  I made this the night before so cutting a few of them up with some diced bananas took me no more time than stirring together that oatmeal. These pancakes taste great, have a ton of veggies in them, freeze and thaw easily...they are the perfect breakfast finger food.

Sweet Potato and Blueberry Pancakes, adapted from Start Fresh: Your Child's Jump Start to Lifelong Healthy Eating by Tyler Florence

2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 eggs
2 c. buttermilk *
2 medium sweet potatoes, pureed**
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c. blueberries (optional)

* To make buttermilk add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar to each cup of milk called for, stir and let stand for 5 minutes.
** For sweet potato puree, chop potatoes into 1 inch pieces and steam in a steam basket until fork tender, about 10 minutes.  Put in food processor or blender with some of the cooking water and process until smooth.

For the pancakes whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl whisk your eggs and add the (cooled) melted butter, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, pour in your sweet potato puree and combine.  You may need to add a bit more flour depending on the consistency of your puree, I needed an extra 1/4 cup.    Pour the batter on a medium hot oiled griddle or skillet.  If using the blueberries add a few into the pancakes right after you pour them out. My poor little Aaron gets a bit of a rash when he eats blueberries so unfortunately we had to skip them.  Flip your pancakes when the edges start to bubble.

A cool trick for freezing these!  After they are completely cool lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet and pop them into the freezer for 15 minutes or so.  After that put them into freezer storage bags.  This flash freezing keeps them from sticking together in the bag, neat huh?!  If you don't have room in the freezer to fit a tray you can just stack them in freezer bags with a piece of parchment paper between each one.  According to the recipe this makes about 12 four inch pancakes but I made them silver-dollar size and I swear it made a hundred.  (or at least it seemed like it)  I'm not complaining though cause the kids loved them and with two bags in the freezer, I won't need to make them again any time soon.