When attempting to feed toddlers one should prepare themselves for war. My weapon of choice – the veggie pancake. As a necessity of survival (for everyone involved!) its necessary to have a recipe in your arsenal that you know your kids will eat and you feel good feeding it to them.
This has always been my most asked-for recipe from my mom friends. I have always made the boys food from scratch and it has been fun (and exasperating!) coming up with meals that they will eat but also ones that I feel good about feeding them. This recipe falls into that category. The best thing about it is you can use almost any combination of vegetables you have in your fridge. Great combinations are broccoli and cheese, apple and spinach, pumpkin and sweet potato…the list goes on… but the method remains the same. Don’t be afraid to try out different combinations – its pretty hard to make these taste bad.
Veggie Pancakes
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 apple
- 1/3 courgette (zucchini)
- 1 carrot
- 1 handful of spinach
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup/250ml milk
Peel and chop your vegetable and place carrots and sweet potatoes in a pot with a inch of water, cover and steam. When they begin to soften, add in apple and courgette.
While your vegetables are cooking, make your pancake batter by combining your dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat eggs together and the milk separately and then combine with the dry ingredients. Whisk until a batter forms. Its ok if there are still small lumps. It doesn’t have to be completely smooth. Put aside.
When the vegetables are soft and the water has evaporated, turn the heat off stir in your spinach. Puree your vegetables either with a food processor, hand blender or potato masher. Let them cool slightly and then fold in the vegetables into the prepared batter. Once combined you’re ready to fry them up. Put a frying pan on medium heat. I do not add butter or oil to fry these as I don’t think they need it but you can add if you like or you’re afraid they might stick.
Flip when they start to form big bubbles on the top. Cook until they are brown on both sides. Set on a metal cooling rack to cool. When cool, serve up alone or with maple syrup or as a “sandwich” with cream cheese in the middle.
This recipe makes a huge amount of pancakes (I am feeding two toddlers!) So you can either put the leftover batter into the fridge and use the next day, or you can add a couple tablespoons of melted butter then pour the remaining batter into muffin tins and bake at 180C for 23-30 minutes. Enjoy!!!
A Lot of Things 