Blueberry Pancakes

Meatless Monday has rolled around again, and while looking for this week's recipe, I wanted something different. My son is too picky about vegetables at the moment to make something like a vegetable stir fry or curry and I feel like half the vegetarian recipes out there are for pasta. So in trying to think outside of the box, I opted for blueberry pancakes.

Originally, I had suggested apple spice pancakes. We went apple picking on Sunday and loaded up on those crunchy and juicy gems. But because it's getting late in the season and we're unsure if we'll get to go again, Noyan suggested we hold off on using our bounty for cooking and just snack on them for the time being. I agree--the apples this year are wonderful. We all ate two today; one for breakfast with slices of cheddar and an apple cider donut, and one for an afternoon snack. Heavenly.

Anyway, that prompted the request for blueberry pancakes. I couldn't find any local ones today, so I opted for a bag of frozen. I say to use between a cup and two cups for this recipe, but really, it's whatever your blueberry mood is. We went for all-out berry explosion.

Blueberry Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 stick butter, melted

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk milk, butter, eggs and vanilla together. Whisk wet ingredients into dry, until just combined.

2. Ladle 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot skillet that's been sprayed with cooking spray until bubbly. Just before turning, sprinkle with blueberries. Flip and cook until golden at the bottom. Adjust heat so that the pan is hot but not burning pancakes. Keep warm on a cookie sheet in a 250 degree oven if making many pancakes, if desired.

The Verdict: An easy recipe that produces fluffy pancakes that have just a hint of sweet.

At first, Amir ate just the blueberries rolling free on his plate, but soon discovered that each bite contained warm, oozing blueberries as well. So they were a hit with the toddler. Noyan asked if they were from a mix. What!? He meant that they tasted good, and pancakes that fluffy and smooth couldn't have been homemade. But they were. And speaking of homemade, when you make them yourself they are just bursting with berries (whereas in restaurants they tend to be stingy with the fruit) and you can be assured the berries are cooked inside of the pancake, not dumped on top when the pancake is finished. I hate that, don't you?

I was going to serve them with veggie sausages, however, I'd lost my patience at the grocery store by that point and figured pancakes alone would be plenty for dinner. They were; this recipe makes about 8 good-sized cakes.