Friday, March 21, 2008
A healthy dose of spinach and blueberries in pancakes
One of my exciting finds in the past few months is "The Sneaky Chef" cookbook by Missy Chase Lapine. I also own "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld's wife). My kids have no idea what I sneak into their foods these days. Although my middle child will eat just about anything you give her, my two boys have never been as accepting of vegetables. So I turned to The Sneaky Chef for a little bit of help. The basic concept is to spend a little bit of time each week pureeing foods which you will later put into your main recipe.
One of the purees which I seem to use up quite quickly is the PURPLE PUREE. Basically, you take 3 cups of raw baby spinach leaves, wash them up and boil them in a medium pot. I make sure and cram my measuring cup full instead of loosely putting the spinach leaves in there. After the water comes to a boil, you turn the heat on low and simmer for 10 minutes. Then, fill the bowl of your food processor with 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries (rinse them off in cold water to thaw a little). Once the blueberries are in your food processor, add the cooked spinach, 1 tsp. of lemon juice and around 3 tablespoons of water. Puree away! You can keep the puree in your fridge for up to two days, but I usually place 1/4 cup portions in my freezer in sealed plastic baggies to use at a later time.
So here is one of my kids' FAVORITE breakfast meals!
Cocoa Chocolate Chip Pancakes
3/4 cups flour blend (1 c. all purpose flour, 1 c. whole wheat flour, & 1 c. wheat germ)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 c. milk (I use whole milk)
1 large egg
1/4 c. Purple Puree
2 tablespoons honey or pure maple syrup
1/4 c. chocolate chips
Mix together flour blend, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the vanilla, milk, egg, Purple Puree, honey (or maple syrup). Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones until just blended. Add a little milk if batter is too thick. Add the chocolate chips and mix lightly.
Well, there you have it! If you don't have "The Sneaky Chef" cookbook, I would highly recommend it (and no, I'm not being paid to advertise). I just love it and so do my kids!
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1 comment:
Your recipe sounds really yummy! I think I'll try this out on my little one.
Good luck with your blog. You're doing a great job so far.
Lesley from WAHM.
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