Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Gladiator Pancakes


Last weekend we flew from Rome to the UK for a weekend trip to Richmond Upon Thames, outside London. We spent the weekend walking along the Thames, playing on the green and visiting with friends for P's birthday. It was a much needed change of air and scenery. I realized that feeding a toddler can be challenging while on the road, and I have spent the last two days since we returned home making sure he gets salmon, broccoli, kiwi and what has evolved into "the Breakfast of Gladiators."


When I was pregnant with Roman, my enormous belly got a lot of attention and Romans around the city center would say he must be a campeone or gladiatore, which always made me smile. Since I am the sole "provider" in the kitchen, I take our meals very seriously, and even more so since I'm raising a gladiator.

Enter the pancake. In its "pure" form of white flour and butter, it's not the healthiest choice for breakfast. But with a whole lot of tinkering in the form of cooked oatmeal, spelt flour, grated apple and cottage cheese, it makes for a complete meal, not to mention one that is portable and stroller (or shall I say "buggy") friendly.

Gladiator Pancakes

All winter long I have been making some form of this pancake. When I started I would use the homemade fruit purees that Roman never ate. The pancakes in the photo above have coconut oil and pumpkin puree. There was also a version with pureed prunes and apricots. You can also add ricotta instead of the cottage cheese.

1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cooked oatmeal (3/4 cup uncooked oats and 1 cup water, prepared in microwave or on stove top)
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 apple or pear, grated

In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon with a whisk. Add the milk and beaten eggs. Stir in the cottage cheese, cooked oatmeal and grated apple or pear. Cook on a skillet with butter for several minutes each side and serve hot with pure maple syrup. Freeze any leftovers and reheat in the toaster oven.


5 comments:

  1. Thanks for all the variations on the recipe. I wanna make some pumpkin spelt!

    I totally messed up your cecina recipe. I think I made them too thick and they are staying watery. They're in the oven for the second time now, trying to dry out ;)

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  2. I might try with ricotta. I don't think I'll be able to get my Italian to eat cottage cheese—even if it is cooked in.

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  3. The cecina was still a little soggy and thick, but really, it reminded me of polenta a lot! I actually think I might start using it as polenta. I think what happened is I got my measurements wrong. I needed to convert to cups.

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  4. a true breakfast of champs! i like your unusual additions. I am going to try adding cooked oatmeal. and i just happen to have some spelt flour around which I bought to make a bread starter. Roman is definitively going to be a great gladiator!

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  5. Hello,

    Its awesome!

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    ReplyDelete

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