{What Will Ate} Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

The world of two year old eating is extremely unpredictable and a little hard to navigate some days. I have found that a huge variety is key to getting Will to eat well rounded, healthy meals. One thing I can almost always count on, though, is that he almost always eats a great breakfast! I love that he starts his days with a nutritious breakfast and a nice full belly!

These whole wheat oatmeal pancakes have been on regular rotation in our house for the past couple of months. Greek yogurt is the secret ingredient in these cakes, keeping them nice and fluffy and not dry at all. Our favorite mix ins are blueberries, peaches and bananas. Chocolate chips are a nice treat on the weekends or special occasions. Will gobbles these up! The batter also cooks nicely in my Belgian waffle iron on level three. A batch of these pancakes usually lasts Will most of, it not the entire week. The waffles freeze beautifully, too- just defrost and reheat in the toaster!

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes
recipe adapted via Sally's Baking Addiction

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup organic old fashioned oats
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk or regular milk
2 Tbsp. coconut sugar
1/4 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup add-ins (blueberries, peaches, chocolate chips, etc.)

Toss the flour, oats, salt, baking powder and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and milk together. Whisk the coconut sugar and yogurt in and mix until smooth. Add in vanilla and whisk until well incorporated. 

Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix gently until just combined. Toss in your add-ins.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Coat generously with coconut oil, cooking spray, butter- whatever you normally use. Once the surface is hot, scoop the batter out in 1/4 cup and drop onto the griddle. Cook until the edges begin to look dry and bubbles form in the center of the pancake, about 2-3 minutes. Flip to the other side and cook for an additional minute. Coat the surface as necessary while the you cook the remaining pancakes. 

Serve with syrup or honey and fresh fruit. 

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

We are in the middle of #snOMG, day 3, here in Charlotte and there are big, fat, beautiful flakes falling from the sky. I am a lover of the snow and have enjoyed a couple of days being snowed in with my little family. Wrigley romps around the backyard like a circus animal and Will just doesn't know what to think of it. I'm pretty sure he prefers to watch the flakes fall from his window.

Every snow day should include comfy clothes, Christmas movies and a delicious breakfast for fuel to play in the snow! My mom used to make us Ebelskivers every snow day and it was a treat we all looked forward to! I have yet to master these tiny filled pancakes and I need to try soon. And I'm fairly certain they would never be as good as my mom's. But since I'm not brave enough to attempt these yet, I have another snow day breakfast for you. 

These Lemon Ricotta Pancakes are the fluffiest pancakes in all the land. This recipe is straight from Williams-Sonoma and has become my go-to recipe for pancakes. Lemon zest and ricotta make for a rare pancake bite! They are extra tasty topped with fresh blueberries! 

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes
recipe from Williams-Sonoma

1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup milk
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1.5 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, milk, egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and 1/8 tsp. of salt. Combine the flour mixture with the ricotta mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites and add the remaining 1/8 tsp. salt. Continue to whisk until soft peaks form. Using a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the pancake batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites. 

Preheat a griddle over medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup for each pancake, pour the batter onto the griddle. Cook until bubbles form on the top and the bottom starts to become golden, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for another minute. Serve with real maple syrup and fresh berries. 

Breakfast Makeover

I have never really been a pancake girl. Give me a choice of pancakes, french toast or waffles, I will always choose anything but pancakes. Add omelettes, fritatas or Eggs Benedict to the mix and I'll leave the first three in the dust. The problem with any of the fluffy, more dessert like breakfasts is that I am stuffed when I leave the table but starving again in two hours. It's delicious, but just not the kind of meal to start the day with that really sticks with you. I recently found a winner of a recipe to add to the breakfast mix and the all American pancake may have just won me over. Finally.

Enter, the Protein Pancake! These protein packed flapjacks have been floating around the healthy food and fitness blogs for awhile now but after a few failed attempts, I decided this breakfast was not for me. It's fun to re-create something into a healthy bite, but not when it has a plastic like texture and would work better as a frisbee than the main attraction on a breakfast plate. I came across this recipe via Twitter and decided to give this healthy pancake one last shot and it was a morning win. The key ingredient? Bananas! Why I didn't think of this before is almost embarrassing but this is what makes the cakes sweet, gives them a nice consistency and- I can't believe I am using this word on my blog- extremely moist.

Protein Pancakes

recipe adapted from Tone it Up!

1/2 banana, mashed

1 egg (or 2 egg whites)

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

sprinkle of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Pour into a non stick pan (I used a little bit of cooking spray) using a 1/4 cup measuring cup for each pancake. Cook until the ends start to bubble and you see bubbles in the middle, then flip over. Makes 3-4 large pancakes. I like to top mine with fresh berries. Mark uses honey. Almond butter or 100% maple syrup would do the trick, too!