Monday Meals: PawPaw's Pancakes

Pancakes are probably not what you expect to find on a blog that usually promotes clean eating, but they're a staple at our house, and I have a few tips to make them healthier.

First, here's the recipe...but keep reading for some additional tips.

What you'll need
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour (I love King Arthur organic flour)
1 Tablespoon sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 egg (the fresher, the better!)
1 1/4 Cups whole milk

*As always, use local, natural, organic, fair trade products whenever possible.

What you'll do
1. Preheat griddle/skillet to 350 degrees (medium-high heat on stove).
2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt).
3. Stir in butter, egg, and milk.  Use more or less milk depending on how thick you like your pancakes.  If you like them super thick, turn the temperature down a tad on your griddle/stove to give them more time to cook throughout.
4. Pour batter onto griddle/skillet.
5. Flip pancakes when bubbles begin popping and edges are solidified.

Tips and Tricks
1. So why ditch the Bisquick?  Because... 1) it's full of trans-fat, 2) these pancakes are SO much tastier, and 3) they only take an extra two minutes to make.

2. Add blueberries to the batter make them even tastier and healthier.  Blueberries are a super fruit, recommended for their high antioxidant content (so long free radicals!)

Fresh organic blueberries add flavor to these old-fashioned pancakes.

3. Top pancakes (and waffles) with pure maple syrup.  We LOVE Maple Gold brand.  If you can buy local syrup, please do.  When it comes to syrup, we opt for non-organic, but if you have an abundance of cash, go for it.  Here's a great article on organic versus non-organic syrup: Organic Maple Syrup

Our topping of choice is Maple Gold Pure Maple Syrup.

4. Decorate pancakes with fruit.  This is the best way I have found to get my boys to eat fruit with their breakfast.  Whatever they use to decorate, they have to eat.  (Sometimes I am still amazed that this trick works!)

Silly face pancakes with strawberries and blueberries.

5. Freeze the leftovers!  I always make extra pancakes and stick them in freezer-safe zipper bags. The boys will eat pancakes two or three more times for breakfast during the week.  On super-busy mornings, they can even grab and microwave them all by themselves!  This is a major time-saver during the week and healthier than store-bought frozen pancakes.

6. Use a stainless steel or aluminum electric griddle.  You can make a lot of pancakes in a short amount of time.  Avoid Teflon because it's just not safe.

Enjoy!