Today is National Pancake Day. Enjoy These Healthy Pancake Recipes!

I heard on the radio that IHOP is celebrating National Pancake Day today. Who doesn’t love pancakes? There are so many different variety’s and toppings, it’s hard to not like them!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily advocating for IHOP pancakes. I think it’s generous of them to celebrate pancakes and encourage people to donate to charity. However, I can’t advocate so much for the nutrition value of their pancakes. Yes, they have a “Harvest Grain ‘N Nut Pancake” that is supposed to be whole grain. However, I’m quite confident that it is not 100% whole grain.

Here’s the nutrition breakdown for 4 of them:

Harvest Grain ‘N Nut® Pancakes

• Calories 920
• Total Fat 49g
• Saturated Fat 11g
• Trans Fat 0g
• Sodium 1810mg
• Total Carbohydrates 95g
• Fiber 10g
• Sugar 22g
• Protein 25g

First off, 920 calories and 95g of carbohydrate at one meal might be a bit much for most people. The pancakes are probably pretty large, so you would be best served having one of them and a side of fruit and an egg. Yeah, right!

Instead of suffering through an experience of only eating one “not really whole grain” pancake when you have a stack of 4, why not celebrate National Pancake Day at home. You can still donate to charity!

Healthy Pancake Recipes

Try these two recipes and see what you think. If you’re the “pancake mix” convenience kind of cook, there are some great whole grain pancake mixes. I’ve tried Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Grain Pancake & Waffle Mix and we’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve also had a friend who made jars of pancake mix to give away as gifts. It was great! All we had to do is add milk, eggs and a little oil. Just make sure that if you purchase a mix, read the ingredient list for whole grains. If it says ‘enriched’, then it’s not whole grain.

Pumpkin Pancakes
Use canned pumpkin puree, freshly prepared puree, or frozen puree which has been thawed.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole
  wheat pastry flour (if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use 1/2 cup all purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat
  flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup molasses or maple syrup
• 3-4 tablespoons fat free buttermilk or skim milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or hazelnuts, optional

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, beat egg slightly. Add pumpkin or squash puree, molasses or syrup, milk or buttermilk and melted butter or margarine. Mix until smooth.
3. Blend in the dry ingredients all at once. Mix until batter is smooth. Allow batter to rest for 30 minutes or more.
4. Stir nuts into batter, and add an additional tablespoon of buttermilk or milk if the batter is too thick.
5. To make pancakes, spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter onto a lightly greased preheated griddle or heavy skillet. With the back of the spoon, flatten batter to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cook slowly until bubbles appear on top and bottom is golden brown. Lift edge to check. Turn and cook until other side is golden brown.
6. Place on a platter and set platter in a warm oven. Continue making pancakes until all batter is used. Makes about 24, 3-inch pancakes. Serves 4 to 6 people.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Place flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, vanilla, oil and egg in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour on the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Healthy Pancake Toppings:

Here is something that my husband and I do to make our pancakes even healthier. Rather than topping with butter and syrup, we often will top with one of the following (or a mix):

• yogurt
• marmalade or fruit jam
• peanut butter
• honey

And we almost always top that with some fresh or frozen fruit! Or even better, we make a berry compote. But that’s a recipe for another article!

Happy Pancake Day!
– Julie