Pancake Day!

Pancake Poem
Shel Silverstein

Who wants a pancake,
Sweet and piping hot?
Good little Grace looks up and says,
"I'll take the one on top."
Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?
Terrible Teresa smiles and says,
"I'll take the one in the middle."

I am not sure why I never knew this but did you know that Mardi Gras, aka Fat Tuesday, aka Shrove Tuesday is also known as PANCAKE DAY!

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Among Anglicans, Lutherans, some other Protestant denominations, including ethnic British communities in Canada, as well as Catholics, this day is also known as Pancake Tuesday, as it is customary to eat pancakes. It falls just before Lent, and was traditionally a day of fun and feasting before fasting for 40 days of Lent.

Pancakes and doughnuts are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs.

Isn't that NEAT? I could not pass up the opportunity to celebrate National Pancake Day since Pancakes are the one thing in our family that everyone eats (yes there are very few things that each one of us will all eat) AND there are so many delicious pancake recipes out there so I thought I would do a little homage to Pancakes!

1. Check out this site for some fun printable on pancakes from coloring pages to mazes to bean bag pancakes and pancake finger puppets! I use this site a lot to get fun themed activities for Shayla and has great quiet time activities for church and road trips, etc. www.activityvillage.co.uk/pancake_day.htm

2. Recipes. Pancakes were also big in my fanily growing up too (also maybe because they were probably the only thing all 7 kids would eat) from big pancake on Sundays to Norwegian Pancakes on Birthdays to my moms famous buttermilk pancakes - everyone loved pancakes! Here are a few of my favorite pancakes to make and eat!

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
(Adapted from Mom's famous buttermilk pancakes, from Amy)
This recipe is just like my mom's famous buttermilk pancakes but with whole wheat flour and one less egg to make it fluffy. We love these pancakes and freeze them in batches to toast for later!

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. sugar (optional--we use 2 Tbsp. brown sugar)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

Combine eggs, buttermilk, and oil in a bowl and whisk until frothy. Put dry ingredients in sifter (or mix with fork) and add to wet ingredients. Combine with a few strokes. Batter will be lumpy. Place batter onto very hot, well-greased griddle. Flip pancakes when bubbles start to appear on the surface.

Chocolate Protein Pancakes
These are so healthy and good and let me get my chocolate fix. You can omit the protein powder if you like and use all whole wheat flour vs half oat bran and add sweetener of your choice to taste. You can even add chocolate chips too if you want them extra chocolatey! And Vegan!

• ½ cup flour (I use whole-wheat or whole wheat pastry)
• ½ cup oat bran (you can sub flour)
• ¼ - ½ cup cocoa powder (depending on how chocolatey you want them – I use ½)
• 2-4 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder (start with 2 and you can add more to batter after you taste it if you want)
• 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cup nondairy milk OR milk (I use almond milk) (add more if needed to make consistency of smooth pancake batter).
• optional: ¼ cup sugar (If using liquid sweetener, decrease milk accordingly)

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet and mix. Then make your pancakes! (Makes 16). These freeze great too! Also make great PB&J pancake sandwiches!


Amazing Apple Pancake

This is the apple version of German Pancake (more quiche like than pancake but OH SO GOOD! It works well when using wheat flour if you whisk the egg and flour together first. Great for company too! From Molly.

2 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 c white and 1/2 cup wheat flour (or all white or all wheat)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3-4 TBsp butter
8 eggs
1 c milk

Lower the rack in your oven so that it is closer to the bottom of the oven than to the top. Preheat the oven to 4250. In a bowl, mix the apple slices with the two sugars and cinnamon; set aside. Chop the butter and scatter it in a 9 X 13” glass baking dish (or two glass pie plates) then place the dish in the oven. Spraying the pan with cooking spray before putting the butter in keeps the pancake from sticking. The butter is necessary though to help the pancake rise like it should. After the butter melts, I put in the apples and sugar and then put the pan back into the oven. I then beat the eggs, then stir in the milk, flour, and salt in the same bowl (less mess) that I used to mix the apples and sugar and when it’s well mixed, I pull the pan back out with the apples already cooking and pour the batter on top. Don’t’ stir. Carefully return the baking dish to the oven and bake for 20 minutes or less. You could serve with powdered sugar.

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY TO YOU ALL!