There is a natural dilemma that many of us face...how to give your kids pancakes without all that extra sugar from syrup. Okay, most people probably don't face this issue, but neither do we (and not because we don't eat pancakes, because we do)! I was making pancakes many months ago and the kids were eagerly awaiting their treasured breakfast. Their Mommy was not thrilled about this particular meal because syrup is sticky and leads to messes. I was using a small skillet and trying not to burn them so I set the pancakes on a their plates and went back to the stove.
Well, take two hungry toddlers, a couple of plates of fresh food and a lack of supervision and you get A MESS! Just kidding. What happened was they ate them without syrup and then asked for more. I obliged of course, marveling at the miracle I just saw.
Best thing was, I forgot the oil and the sugar when making the batter. The oil was a mistake that shouldn't be repeated. The sugar was one of those moments of accidental genius. See, we use whole wheat flour in our pancakes due to my high metabolism (you just cannot get a sufficient amount of energy from white flour) and that was what I used in the pancakes that day. I tried one to test it out and sure enough, they had flavor to them and it was good!
The children were happy for a while to eat the pancakes in the buff, but Mommy and Daddy were slackers and didn't stop their own sugar rushes. Eventually, they caught on and asked for it too. So each time I made them I could only slip one or two in without syrup before they started asking.
That was fine and dandy until we threw out the sugar last Monday. See, syrup doesn't sit well with a person if they are giving up refined sugars and pure dessert type foods (I haven't had sugar, minus in actual food, for over four days now). But what would the kids reaction be? They protested a little (maybe 30 seconds) and then ate their pancakes anyway.
But a couple days later was even better though because I nearly accomplished an all organic/natural pancake. I used Raw Milk (not pasteurized or homogenized). Our oldest calls the Raw Milk "Special Cow Milk." Our elder daughter calls it "Cow Milk." I also put in aluminum free baking power and soda. The salt was all natural sea salt and the eggs were from cage free, vegetarian feed chickens. Plus the floor was 100% organic and whole wheat. Only things that slipped by were the lemon juice to make the milk sour milk and the Canola Oil (yeah, I know we need to change that one).
Well, they liked them. They ate them and the understood when I said the syrup was all gone because it made us feel yucky. It was fantastic. The boy even ate 1 1/2 scrambled eggs with his 3-4 pancakes. Even the baby took some nibbles.
Here's the recipe I used (its a double batch):
2 cups Organic Whole Wheat Flour
2 tbsp Lemon juice - (should be organic or fresh squeezed)
2 cups Raw Milk
1/2 tsp Natural Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Natural Baking Soda (aluminum free)
4 tsp Natural Baking Powder (aluminum free)
2 eggs from cage free, vegetarian fed hens
4 tbsp Canola Oil (you should use a healthy one like coconut)
Dump the flour in a bowl. Put the Lemon Juice in a two cup measuring cup and pour in milk until it is a little past the two cup line. Let it sit will you mix the other dry ingredients into the batter. After at least five minutes have past, put the milk into the batter and blend the eggs and oil in the measuring cup until well mixed. Add the egg mix to the rest and stir until smooth (very few batter lumps, if any, remain). Cook on a 350 degree skillet.
My kids love pancakes and are willing to eat these ones plain anytime. We gave them cage-free scrambled eggs and raw milk with this meal (see pictures below). I try eating them plain with a breakfast meat and eggs or sometimes I dump some blueberries or strawberries on them. Natural fruit sugar is way better than refined sugars any day. We'll follow up with a better recipe once we find a good way to soak the batter overnight. Soaked grains are so much better for you. I just like the fact that my kids are eating syrup free and loving it so I had to post this one.
Awesome looking pancakes! We love pancakes around here, too, and I just figure that as long as we're using a natural sugar, it's not that big a deal. I buy pure maple syrup, which is expensive, but then just a tiny drizzle is plenty! Also, I love to top my pancakes with plain yogurt (homemade!), fresh fruit like strawberries, and THEN the drizzle of syrup. Best breakfast ever!! Hubby likes his pancakes with jam, so I buy the "just fruit" jam that doesn't have sugar or corn syrup.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on throwing out the bad stuff in the pantry! I figure that buy making breakfast every morning I save tons of money I used to spend on poisonous (IMHO) boxed cereals, so that allows me to buy healthier things like raw milk and farm fresh eggs. And if you're already putting lemon juice in your batter, then soaking it the night before is a piece of cake!! Mix the flour, lemon juice and milk the night before, and add the other stuff the next morning.
I'm so proud of you! :D
See, we didn't know you could soak with milk! Now we'll be having our extra-real pancakes in the morning! Woohoo! Thanks Nikki.
ReplyDeleteWe want to get farm fresh eggs... soon enough.
ReplyDeleteWe use unsweetened applesauce as an oil substitute quite often!! You can google the most effective ways to use it, but basically it works fine to just use twice as much applesauce as oil ex: your recipe calls for 4 T, which is 1/4 cup, so you would use 1/2 cup applesauce in that recipe
ReplyDeleteALSO--- a wheat idea: we grind our own wheat. We buy the buckets of whole hard wheat and grind it ourselves (it's much less expensive and you know everything that is happening to your wheat!)! On most wheat grinders there are multiple settings Fine, Bread, and Course. We use the bread setting for any recipe that calls for whole wheat, and the fine setting if we are using our own whole wheat to replace white flour (it doesn't affect the texture as much to use it ground up a little finer). ALSO- we like to put healthy yogurt and/or fresh fruit on our pancakes (NOT tilamook, WF or yoplait! They have a lot of added sugar! Mountain High and Cascade Fresh both have less than half the sugar of those brands)
oh yeah, and have you guys looked into raw sugar? It's supposed to be just fine for consumption in moderation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good information. We are using a brand called Sucanat right now if needed, but I don't see the need for sugar when the flavor takes care of itself. I do like the applesauce idea and might try that instead of oil and that would probably add any sweetness lacking. We will be grinding wheat when we can afford the grinder. You guys are awesome for already being there!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not actually a brand it's called Sucanat (it's dehydrated cane juice). And we def use all natural sweeteners all the time, especially honey. I love the idea of applesauce though. And we are definitely hoping to get a grinder soon. My neighbor JUST told me that I can come over anytime and grind wheat, so I am excited to do that once we run out of our whole wheat flour (we just bought 20 lbs! We use Wheat Montana - Bronze Chief.). Yay! And I am really looking into getting my own Nutrimill for Christmas or with our tax refund. :) Speaking of appliances I also want to get a BlendTech Mix and Blend. They are AWESOME and would totally outdo my wussy Kitchen-Aid(which heats up after kneading only 1 batch of bread for 8 minutes on medium!). We should get together and switch recipes and stuff. :)
ReplyDelete