Oatmeal Pancakes

Yum!  That’s where I’m going start this recipe post. Yum!  My kids love pancakes, who doesn’t? They love fluffy pancakes made from all purpose flour; again, who doesn’t?  In an effort to increase my family’s fibre intake, however, I have been playing with alternative flours.  I have to be honest, whole wheat flour doesn’t appeal to my kids palate, also, if I’m changing out my flour, I’d like to reduce the amount of gluten we’re consuming.  No one in my family struggles with gluten, except for me, but there have been so many documented health problems related to mass wheat production and gluten issues in today’s society, I feel like a reduction is not going to hurt anyone in my household.  They can still have their Mac N’ Cheese but they don’t need to be consuming gluten three times a day.  I’m a firm believer in the old mantra “Moderation is the key.”

Oat flour is delicious, made from a whole grain; higher in protein and healthy fats and lower in carbs than many other grains. Oats also contain more soluble fibre than other grains.  Plus, they’re gluten free.  Not convinced yet?  Oats contain Beta-glucans which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  Also, diets high in fibre show an increase in the appetite controlling substance, Peptide Y-Y.  This chemical sends a message to the brain to tell it when the stomach is full and encourages the body to stop eating.  I researched this flour, which is easily converted to complete many of your favourite all purpose flour recipes and decided that it should find a home in my pancake recipe.  I do find oat flour requires extra liquid in baking, than its wheat counterparts, it’s certainly not a straight conversion with wheat flour but there are many resources on line to assist you in this process.

Back to pancakes!! I have been mixing up my dry ingredients ahead of time to reduce my kitchen time and maximize my sleep time, on weekend mornings.  Sundays have become very busy for us, we often have kids in two different directions by 10am.  A Bit of Convenience goes a long way for me…unfortunately, I trust almost no food manufacturing companies, pre-made muffins and waffles are not an option in my household.  I had to figure something out because I hate feeling stressed on Sunday morning. I have always thrived in slow-playing Sunday.  This relaxing morning sets me up for the busy week ahead.  On meal prep days, I now take a few moments to throw together a mix or a special seasoning blend in a mason jar to be used later in the week.  My pancake mix is always stocked and has a permanent home on my shelf.

I often mix the dry ingredients into the same mason jar that I just dumped into my mixer, as I clean my kitchen.  It takes moments, but moments, when I have them.  The idea of getting up on Sunday and pulling out my flour and baking powder makes me want to throw a piece of toast into the toaster.

Dry Ingredients

2 cups of oatmeal flour

1 tsp of sea salt

2 tbsps of cane sugar

4 tsps of baking powder

I dump all of those ingredients into a mason jar, twist the lid on and shake. That mason jar finds a place on my shelf until the next time I feel ambitious enough to make some high fibre, satiating pancakes.  When I’m ready to make my pancakes, I add the entire jar of mix along with 2 eggs, 1.5 cups of milk or milk substitute (coconut milk is my personal fave) and one tsp of vanilla to my mixer. As soon as the pancakes are ready, I use a ladle to drop pancakes onto a non-stick pan.