My kids love pancakes.  But pancake mix (especially the whole-wheat variety) can cost quite a bit, and for what? A little flour! Give me a break.  It kills me to spend money on mixes when it only saves a few steps.  However, I’ve long been a fan of the book “Make a Mix Cookery”, where you make your own mixes. My copy old, pages falling out, but I love it!  So my pancake mix recipe is 2 cups whole wheat flour, 3 cups white flour, 1 1/4 cup powdered milk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/8 Cup baking powder, and 1 TBLS salt. I store it in an airtight container, and write the recipe to make pancakes right on the box. 

These are the best pancakes we have ever had!  Cereal Boy ate 4 huge ones!  Then he tried to eat everyone else’s.   I have some “lite” syrup with half the sugar, yet no fake sugar.  And they are truly divine. 

Here are some add-in ideas for pancakes:

• Berries mixed into the batter prior to cooking
• cinnamon and apple chunks
• finely chopped nuts
• poppyseeds and lemon zest
• chocolate chips
• coconut and bananas

I always top my own pancakes with yogurt.  What’s your family’s favorite way for pancakes?

According to my idol, Dr. Oz from Oprah, Fiber is THE most important thing in our diet.  Children over five should be consuming 5grams of fiber, plus their age.  So my 9 year old would need 14 grams of fiber a day.

So, they wanted pancakes for breakfast.  Sometimes I buy whole wheat pancake mix, sometimes I just buy what’s on sale.  Currently, I only have regular store brand buttermilk pancake mix.  So to up the fiber intake, I added 3 TBLS of Wheat germ, 2 TBL of flax meal, and ¾ C of frozen raspberries to 1 cup of the pancake mix.  Unfortunately, all this work only netted an extra 2 Grams of fiber per serving.  Nevertheless, it was better than none.  So I cooked them, and served them.  

Did they eat it?  I loved them actually, but then again, I love most food.  I would make them again for myself definitely.  The kids reaction; Erica, “EWWWW, what did you put in the pancakes?”

Me, “raspberries, you’ll like it.” 

Erica, “no I won’t, I hate raspberries.” 

Me, “you like raspberries,”

Erica, “not in pancakes I don’t”.

Me, “you have to try it anyway.” 

Erica, “only with syrup I’ll TRY it.” 

She took one bite and said, “I don’t like them” and walked away from the table “full”.

I guess I would have been better off serving a pear.  With the skin on I would have 4 grams of fiber and I know they like them.