Pancakes: Dessert or Part of a Balanced Breakfast?

This Mother's Day I asked for a griddle. When time permits, my family enjoys a homemade batch of pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes traditionally are made with white flour, eggs, butter, milk, salt and sugar. Traditional toppings include maple syrup, table syrup or whipped cream. Sounds like dessert! With a few ingredient modifications and the right toppings, pancakes can be a part of a balanced breakfast.

Our family has tried a few "from scratch" recipes. One our family enjoys is Michael Smith's Whole Grain Pancakes from The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today's Kitchen. What I like about this recipe is its flexibility and what I like about these pancakes is their heartiness.

You can find the recipe online at chefmichaelsmith.com/Recipe/country-inn-pancakes. To increase the nutritional value of this recipe I recommend making the following modifications.  Use water instead of milk (at minimum use skim milk), use canola oil instead of butter and limit the eggs to 2. I use 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup quick oats. 

Based on a batch of 16 pancakes, the nutritional content of each pancake (based on my revised recipe) is approximately 93kcal, 1g fat, 3.4g protein, 18.4g carbohydrates, 2g fibre, 81.5mg sodium. (Nutritional content may vary depending on brand of ingredients used).

Break tradition and try alternative toppings such as spreading a teaspoon natural peanut butter on a pancake or eating a side of reduced-sodium cottage cheese or a side of scrambled egg (see the "cutting fat losing flavour blog). Add a serving of sliced fresh fruit or berries to balance the meal.

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Leftover pancakes can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap, sealed in a freezer bag and frozen. To thaw, just pop one into the toaster and enjoy them any day of the week.