Power Pancakes

Hello! Today is a guest posting by my wonderful mother Nora (who does excellent web design, incidentally, if you're needing some!)

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I’m going to share one of my most important, even crucial, self-developed recipes:
Practical Power Pancakes. As you may have heard by way of Rue, I often get to spend extended time in Mexico, San Miguel de Allende to be specific. And yippee for that! Anyway, I’m a practical and yes, a cheap person. Also, I love to cook and use the fantastic fresh veggies and fruits that are available her almost all year round. (Heave a sigh at this point for the mango, who sadly is out of season). So I eat pretty much like I eat at home -- except there’s a whole new set of ingredients. Power Pancakes solve a big problem for me. When I’m desperately hungry, about five times a day, I will grab and eat anything portable. If these are around, I can have a nutritious, tummy-filling meal with staying power instead of the tasty but short-lived pleasure of junk food.

Just about everything is stretchable in this recipe. Use whatever fruit you have around. I’ve used shredded apple, mashed banana, mangos, prunes cut up, dried apples and I almost always put in nuts, apple and craisins. You’ll know what you like (and have in the fridge rotting away, perhaps). Which reminds me, this would be a good recipe to use frozen bananas. The prunes I also consider essential. Once they’re cut up (wet your knife), they’re imperceptible and add a nice sweetness. If you don’t use prunes, I’d add 1/2 C of some kind of sweetener.



1 lb cottage cheese (I use low fat)
1 apple, shredded
1 C walnuts, cut up
1 C craisins
1 C prunes cut up small
2/3 C whole wheat flour
1/3 C oatmeal
1 T cinnamon (depending on strength & freshness of your cinnamon)
1/4 C milk
1 T vanilla
4 eggs


In a large bowl combine everything up to the eggs:


Separate eggs. Add yolks to large bowl and beat the whites till stiff:


Fold in a small amount of the egg whites — then add the rest and fold till smooth:

I hope you have a griddle or something better than this very mature little gas stove. I only have settings of “burning” and “burning more” so my pancakes are not as beautiful as yours will be. Luckily I’m in this for the eating and not the appearance. Anyway heat the pan, put some butter in and when it sizzles, you flop a big spoonful of the batter down to make each pancake. They are a bit fiddly to turn, but let the first side go a bit longer and you’ll get the hang of it.



How to serve??? Tonight I had them with granular sugar sprinkled on top and some limon juice (a small mexican lime, less acidic than large limes).
You could use lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar.
Or, mash up some nice soft fruit like peaches ....or mashed berries and why not a dollop of whipped cream?
And there are always the syrup options.
Go wild. Hope you enjoy.

One last note — These freeze really well. Separate sets of three with plastic wrap and stuff into a ziplock. Or put one layer on a cookie sheet and freeze till hard then throw them all in the bag.
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Alright everyone, savor it!
I'll see you on Friday with another recipe!
love, rue