Weekend Brunch

Another food I sometimes crave right now is pancakes, but I don't love what they do to my love handles. And Blake makes some fantastic pancakes from Everyday Food magazine (pretty much every weekend), but this week we decided to try out their whole grain substitution. It was a total hit! And since I recently went blueberry picking, I made a really tasty simple blueberry syrup. We ate a few more than we probably should have, but I felt a lot less guilty this time!

Pancakes and Homemade Blueberry Syrup
Serves 4
First of all, here's Blake's usual basic pancake recipe. It comes from Everyday Food magazine, with a couple of our own alterations to make them the perfect Japanese-style hotcakes.

1 C all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 C milk
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 T butter, melted (or vegetable oil)
1 L egg
1 T vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 200°; have a heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), egg, and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not over-mix; a few small lumps are fine).
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel. (I really like this method because you're not deep frying your pancakes, so it's way better for you, but still tastes amazing!)
4. For each pancake, spoon 2~3 T of batter onto the skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 4 on a square griddle).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1~2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until lightly browned on the other side, 1~2 minutes more. Transfer to the platter, cover loosely with foil, and keep warm in the oven. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You should have 12~15 pancakes.) Serves warm, with desired toppings.

Now here's the recipe for whole grain yogurt pancakes:

1/2 C whole-wheat flour
1/4 C corn meal
1/4 C wheat germ
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 C milk
1/2 C plain low fat or fat free yogurt
1 t pure vanilla extract
2 T canola oil (or melted butter, of course, but we're going for healthy here, and it's really good with the oil)
1 L egg
1 T vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 200°; have a heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, wheatgerm, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not over-mix; a few small lumps are fine).
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel. (I really like this method because you're not deep frying your pancakes, so it's way better for you, but still tastes amazing!)
4. For each pancake, spoon 2~3 T of batter onto the skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 4 on a square griddle).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1~2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until lightly browned on the other side, 1~2 minutes more. Transfer to the platter, cover loosely with foil, and keep warm in the oven. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You should have 12~15 pancakes.) Serves warm, with desired toppings.

Homemade blueberry syrup
*I think that blueberries tend to taste a little bland and musty when they're cooked, so I added the lemon to brighten the flavor. It's really good! And not too sugary sweet. If you like things sweeter, add more sugar or even better, dust the pancakes with a teeny bit of powdered sugar right before serving.

1/2 C~ 1 C fresh or frozen blueberries
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
2 T honey
1~2 T sugar

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the blueberries all burst and soften and the sugar starts to thicken. Take it off the heat, and let cool slightly. It will get slightly thicker as it cools. Serve over pancakes.

*try this with other berries as well. But if you're using strawberries, I recommend cutting them into small pieces and combining them with some other berries. Strawberries don't have much flavor once they're cooked.