Protein Pancakes Children Love

No, this is not a food blog now. But September 26 is National Pancake Day, and after the fundraising push with the Big Give last week, we want to take a break with a half stack covered in melting butter and maple syrup.

Any parent will tell you children can be picky: their favorite nuggies one day are anathema another day. Multiply that by an unknown but wildly high factor with foster children. Foster children come from hard places and often have food insecurities. It can be quite the herculean feat to get them to eat enough real food and protein. 

That is why I want to share this pancake recipe with you. They are my favorite, go-to pancakes, with the bonus benefit that my toddler loves them too. We eat them with peanut butter, butter and syrup, or even just hot and plain right off the griddle (and dipped in my coffee). The secret is the cottage cheese and eggs. It’s blended so there isn’t an issue with weird textures, adds good protein and fats, and replaces the amount of flour you would normally need.

ingredients:

• 4 eggs

• 1.5 cups small curd cottage cheese

• 3 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• .75 cups all-purpose flour

• .5 tbsp baking powder

• .25 tsp salt

Blend your cottage cheese with a stick blender. Then add the other ingredients and whisk together. When you get all the dry bits incorporated, grease up a griddle and get to pouring. This makes about 12-15 pancakes roughly the size of a drink coaster (3-4 inches across). Here is the full recipe, instructions, and commentary from A Couple of Cooks. 

It is also a fun way to get the kiddos involved. According to The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, cooking with kids is a great way to develop healthy habits and skills.

For those who like to track their calories, here is the nutritional breakdown taken from MyFitnessPal. (Note: the recipe from A Couple of Cooks makes 10 pancakes which will then alter the nutritional info below.)