You have to try my new breakfast favorite. A healthy and kid-friendly blueberry pancake.
Kelsey Vitols
April 25, 2021
Warm blueberry pancakes just remind me of weekends as a kid. During the week we were too busy (or slept in late) to have a full breakfast. Breakfasts usually consisted of leftover cold pizza (still my favorite to this day) or a bowl of cereal (also, still one of my favorites). Only on the weekend were we having pancakes or other fun breakfasts. So, to me, having pancakes takes me back to family time, relaxing, and a fun day with no worries! If that wasn’t enough of a reason to make pancakes for this project, the home-cooked comfort feeling you get when eating a plate of nice warm pancakes should!
These pancakes are bursting with fresh warmed blueberries which are not only full of flavor but are full of micronutrients (the good stuff!) like vitamin C, manganese, vitamin E, and fiber! Each serving (two pancakes) has a total of 7 grams of fiber! That’s almost 1/3 of your total fiber goal if you were to make these for your kiddos for breakfast. We all know fiber and vitamins are good for you, but why are they good?
Has your kid ever had a tummy ache or not been able to go to the bathroom? That could be due to not having enough fiber, so by adding in these pancakes to their diet is a sure way to help increase daily fiber. Vitamin C is also extremely important and necessary for growth and development, which is exactly what children need! So instead of taking those Flintstones’ chews, you can make sure you’re hitting your nutrition needs and your child’s nutrition needs, by adding in these pancakes daily or even just a few times a week.
These pancakes are also packed full of protein, which is the satiety macronutrient, if you didn’t know. That means that these kid-approved pancakes will not only be delicious, but they will keep you and your kiddo fuller longer due to the higher protein in them. Most people tend to snack in-between meals because they’re not eating enough protein throughout the day or within each meal. These pancakes will help curb that feeling.
Another great nutritional aspect about this type of breakfast is that its lower in sugar content. I personally prefer to use sugar free maple syrup, which keeps the sugars in this meal pretty low, at only 22 grams per servings. (the daily recommendation is to stay below 100 grams of sugar a day) Eating a lower sugar diet or replacing sugar with sugar free or low sugar options can help with weight-loss, it helps with stabilizing your mood to a degree (your kiddo won’t have that sugar rush and then a crash!), it can also help with your skin as well. If you wanted to go a different route, that does include more sugar, you could always use pure maple sugar, or even add honey instead of maple sugar! That would have added vitamins and minerals in it as well if you decided to opt out for honey.
The main bulk of the pancakes consist of only five ingredients. Most of these ingredients you already have in your pantry or lying around in your refrigerator as well! So, I would consider this recipe not only a low-cost recipe, but a "low time" recipe! No need to spend hours preparing a healthy fun meal. The toppings can be adjusted too, to whatever you have convenient in your house! If you have grapes, slice up some grapes for the mouth or the eyes! You could also get a little creative and maybe make a little monster or a character out of the toppings.
Once you have gathered up all of the ingredients, it really only takes a few minutes to make one serving, so you can always serve up that first serving to your hungry kiddo in a matter of a few minutes and then finish off the rest of the batter while they are content and eating. These pancakes also stay really well in the refrigerator if you do not eat them all right away. I simply popped them in my toaster oven for a minute and they were slightly crispy while still being soft on the inside. I actually cut these into strips and used them more as a pancake dunker in my maple syrup when I had them as leftovers which was fun!
Quick overview of the preparation and cooking:
Once you have gathered up all of your ingredients, put a pan on the burner to start heating it up while you mix up your batter. You're going to want to add the dry ingredients in one bowl (flour and baking powder) and the wet ingredients ( yogurt and eggs) into a separate bowl. Once you have them separated, start to slowly fold the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredient mixture. Add your blueberries to the batter and softly fold them in as well. Once your pan is heated (you can carefully put your hand slightly above it to make sure it is hot enough) start to ladle the batter into the pan. I did two 6 inch pancakes at one time. But, if you have a larger pan, or a griddle you can do more at once! Once the pancakes start to have little bubbles in the batter, which is about 2-3 minutes, you can flip the pancake to the other side for another 2-3 minutes. Both sides of the pancakes should be golden brown. Remove the pancakes from the pan and put them on your kiddos plate and start to decorate it! I personally sliced up the bananas into little coins for the mouth, I took two almonds for the eyes, put a left over blueberry for the nose, and little cutie clementines for the ears. But, you can create and decorate the pancakes however you would like!
Yield: 3 servings Serving size 2 - 6 inch Pancakes
INGREDIENTS: 1 c. Whole wheat flour 1 tbsp. baking powder 2 eggs 1 2/3 c. Vanilla Non-fat Greek yogurt 1 c. Fresh blueberries, washed. 1/2 of a banana, sliced in 1/4 inch width (about 1/2 cup) 6 tbs Sugar free maple syrup 1 medium orange 6 almonds (optional for eyes, could use blueberries as well)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, stir the eggs and Greek yogurt, then fold it into the flour and baking powder mixture, forming a thick batter. Mix in blueberries. Leave a few out for decorations on top once cooked.
2. Pour batter onto a sauté pan and cook over medium-low heat, using a silicone spatula or spoon to smooth out the batter into a 1/4-inch thick pancake shape (since the batter won't spread easily on its own). Look for a the edge of the pancake to start to round out, forming a lip that you can easily slide a spatula under, after about 2-3 minutes of cooking. Lift the corner of the pancake, and if the bottom is lightly golden, slide the spatula all the way under and flip the pancake.
3. Cook until both sides are lightly golden. Repeat until you've used all of the batter.
4. Slice bananas and serve on top of pancakes as the mouth
5. Add almonds (optional) or more blueberries as the eyes and
nose
6. Peal orange and add 2 slices around the pancakes as ears
7. Serve pancakes warm with syrup drizzled on top.
SOURCE OF RECIPE: HTTPS://WWW.DELISH.COM/ JAN 2016