| 2009 | August

August 22, 2009

Squash N’ Wheat Blender Pancakes

Like I said in my last posting, I’ve got summer squash growing like crazy in my garden, so I had to find another way to sneak the stuff into my kids’ diet, since they refuse to eat actual, visible pieces of squash or zucchini! So yesterday, I invented these lovely, whole wheat summer squash/zucchini pancakes:

DSCN1465 Using summer squash gave these pancakes a beautiful golden color, and using the blender to grind my wheat made them super-healthy AND super easy, because I didn’t have to haul out the wheat grinder!

Here’s the recipe:

Squash N’ Wheat Blender Pancakes

1/2 cup of whole wheat grains

1/2 cup of oat groats, kamut, or spelt grains

1 cup of milk

1 large summer squash (or zucchini) quartered, with the seeds scraped out

2 eggs

1tsp salt

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons sugar or honey

1 tablespoon baking powder (for thicker, fluffier pancakes, use Rumford baking powder. See note, below)

Directions:

Place wheat, oat grains, and milk in the blender. (Note: you can also just use one full cup of wheat, but the pancakes won’t be as soft if you do)

Can you tell the difference? Oat groats on the left, wheat berries on the right!

Blend on high speed for two minutes. The resulting batter will be pretty thick:

Then add your quartered summer squash or zucchini pieces:

And blend on high speed for another minute or so. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT baking powder. Blend to combine, then add in baking powder last of all and blend for another minute. If you are using Rumford baking powder, the batter will visibly puff up and rise to the top of the blender. This makes the pancakes softer and fluffier than white flour pancakes, so kids will never notice the whole grains!

Pour batter onto hot griddle, and turn after bubbles start to appear on the surface:

The resulting pancakes look so yummy that your kids will never know that they’re loaded with veggies and whole grains:

These pancakes tasted so good that my eleven month-old devoured them, even WITHOUT syrup!

Posted in Breakfast | 5 Comments »

Tags: baking, Breakfast, cooking, deceptively delicious, health, healthy breakfast, healthy recipes, pancakes, recipe, recipes, squash recipe, whole grain, zucchini recipes

August 9, 2009

Sugar Free Summer Squash Muffins

With fresh vegetables and whole grain flour, these muffins are healthy enough to serve for breakfast, but yummy enough to taste like dessert!

DSCN1451

I invented these muffins last night, because my garden has produced quite the bumper crop of summer squash this year:

DSCN1446 The resulting recipe turned out some very healthy, yet delicious muffins! In my pictures, you are seeing mini-muffins with mini chocolate chips (smaller muffins=less mess). But you could easily make them as regular-sized muffins with regular-sized chocolate chips, too!

Here’s the recipe:

Sugar Free Summer Squash Muffins

3 cups grated/shredded summer squash

1 cup honey

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

Slice the summer squash and remove their seeded centers. Shred the squash on the fine setting of your cheese grater or food processor. Place the zucchini on a finely woven cotton towel like this:

Next, close the towel around the squash and squeeze out excess liquid, like this:

You should end up with a play-doughy ball of summer squash pulp that looks like this:

Next, add honey, eggs, vanilla, and oil to the squash in a medium-sized bowl and stir to combine.

In a separate, larger bowl, combine the following:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped nuts (or mini semi-sweet chocolate chips–which I use because otherwise my kids won’t eat muffins this healthy). Can also add chopped dates, craisins, or raisins.

Combine dry ingredients, then stir in the squash mixture. Next add:

1 egg white, beaten until thick and foamy

(Note: this egg white is optional, but I like to add it because it makes the muffins lighter, fluffier, and they puff out more in the pan when I add it).

Drop muffins into tins sprayed with canola oil cooking spray, using an ice cream scoop to ensure uniform sizes (or use a large cookie scoop for regular-sized muffin tins, since in this picture, I was using mini muffin tins)

Bake them at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (remember: this is for mini muffins. You want 15-20 minutes for regular-sized). These tasty muffins hide the vegetables so well, that all you see is a hint of gold on the inside (unlike zucchini, which leaves green tints in baked goods, thereby alerting my children to their healthy content!)

I made these muffins last night. Now that we have early church, I don’t have time to cook on Sunday mornings, so once the kids are up and dressed, I hand them each a baggie with 3 or 4 mini-muffins on our way out to the car. By the time we get to church, they eat them all gone! What a great way to have a quick–yet healthy!–breakfast.