Pancakes With Jarred Baby Food - Simple and Very Tasty

Mama Wendy's Note:

It is a trick to get my kids to eat veggies, so I started using jars of baby food in pancakes to boost the nutritional value. I prefer the orange vegetables such and carrots, sweet potatoes, and corn and sweet potatoes. The pureed consistency mixes easily into the pancakes and the flavor I have found can be quite tasty. It isn't just for the kids, either. This is so flexible I have used jars of fruit too, but since the veggies are the hardest thing for me to get my kids to eat, I usually use those. You can add wheat germ for an added nutritional boost. I like to use the Log Cabin Lite syrup - there is no high fructose corn syrup and the reduced sugar does not seems to reduce the taste at all. These can be frozen or refrigerated after being made for easy make ahead breakfasts. You could also use pancake mix as your dry ingredient base, I suppose. Have fun!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 3

Yield: 9.0 pancakes

• 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (white is fine too)
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar (white works too)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon , optional but I like the added flavor
• 1 egg , beaten
• 1 tablespoon oil (optional but I think improves consistency esp if you use whole wheat flour)
• 1 (4 ounce) jar baby food (I use Natures Garden stage two which are 4 oz each)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla (optional)
• ½ cup milk (or as much as is needed to reach desired consistency)

Directions:

1. Combine all dry ingredients and mix together well with fork or whisk. Add beaten egg, oil, vanilla if using, baby food, and mix. Add enough milk to give the batter the consistency you like; about a half cup should be right. The thicker the batter, the thicker your pancakes, the thinner, obviously, the thinner the pancakes will be. Heat a griddle or skillet to medium heat. When tiny droplets of water sizzle and evaporate the griddle is hot enough. You can either lightly oil the griddle or use non stick cooking spray. Drop a little less than 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle at a time. Note: using baby food makes the batter a little more dense than regular pancakes, so they will need a little longer to cook to avoid being soggy in the middle, so either reduce the heat and cook them longer or make smaller pancakes. Enjoy!