Whole Wheat Cinnamon Pancakes

Who doesn't love a pancake breakfast? Surprisingly pancakes can actually be made really healthy, especially when topped with fruit or yogurt instead of butter and syrup.

Original Recipe

1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup milk

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

My recipe

1 egg

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup milk

1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

I traded the all purpose flour for whole wheat to add the nutrients and fibre that whole wheat flour provides, omitted the oil, reduced the sugar and added cinnamon.

Cinnamon has some surprising health benefits. Studies have shown that it has a regulatory effect on blood pressure, an anti clotting effect on the blood, it boosts brain function and also contains calcium and fibre. Not bad for a spice!

Last week I was looking at different food groups and thought it would be interesting to see what this recipe provided:

For half the recipe there is

2 servings whole grains

1/2 serving of milk/ alternatives

Back at it

I have now started unit 2 which is looking at canadas food guide and the different requirements needed for different ages/ periods of life. I've also looked at different countries food guides and have found that they are all pretty much the same with a big emphasis on fruits/ veggies, whole grains and smaller amounts of dairy and meat/ alternatives.

Next week I will be looking at where different nutrients come from, although I feel that I did a lot of that in the last unit.

Ready for the Break

This week I worked on my Unit 1 project and completed it this morning. I learned a lot through this unit and focused my project more on fats, proteins and carbohydrates which is what I was interested in. Completing this project means I am right on schedule, and I don't have to work on it over spring break. My only goal for spring break is to get another recipe modification up.

Hope everyone has a good break! Hoping for sun!

Breakfast Bars

I did my first recipe modification yesterday. I wasn't really sure what to make and since my families goes through a ton of granola bars that I would make something a bit healthier to replace them.

the Original recipe looked like this:

2 egg whites

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup chopped nuts (any)

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

My recipe looked like this:

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

The original recipe called for egg whites but that seemed like a waste to me. What would I do with the yolk? Besides, an eggs yolk is where all the nutrients is! It is filled with fat soluble vitamins and essentially fatty acids. Why throw away this nutritional powerhouse?

Because I wanted this to be more of a breakfast/ granola bar, instead of a dessert like snack the original one was, I halved the sugar and added in 1/2 cup of oats. Oats have been known to lower cholesterol levels, contain antioxidants that may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and are a good source of fiber (among many other things!).

For the flour I replaced 1/2 the amount with whole wheat flour. Whole wheat flour hasn't been as processed as all purpose flour so it contains more nutrients.

I used pecans and sliced almonds for the nuts because they were what I had on hand. Nuts are a good source of healthy fat and other nutrients. I only used half the amount of nuts that the original recipe called for because I ran out (oops!) and I improvised by adding in 1/2 a cup of raisins. Raisins are a good source of antioxidants and the trace mineral boron. Boron is especially important to women health and is related to bone development and can help prevent osteoporosis.

The result? The were actually pretty good considering the amount of alterations I made. These were a heartier bar and weren't as sweet as the original would have been. They would make a perfect snack or quick breakfast.

The nice thing about these bars is that I think you could do a lot of different variations of them using what ever you had on hand. They would be really good with things like coconut, dried crandberries or chocolate chips (antioxidants!).

My brothers comment? "They tasted like marshmellow"

....um what?! haha