Stealth Way to Make Pancakes Healthier

My kids are pretty picky too. Costco sells whole grain pancake mix, its pretty healthy, and I put blueberries on them and they love it.

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Make whole grain pancakes instead. You can easily substitute 50% whole wheat flour without an obvious change in the pancake. Most recipes will work with more, but you are probably better using a recipe designed for whole grains. Making your own pancakes is healthier than the boxes (and way cheaper). You can substitute home made apple sauce (boil cored whole apples for about 5-10 minutes, then put though food mill or in processor) for most if not all the oil in pancake batter (if your recipe does not include the substitution, try it with 1/2 apple sauce the first time).

If you only keep healthy foods in the house and continue to eat healthy foods yourself (I am assuming he eats meals with you), he will simply learn to eat them. There is some data that 'sneaking' healthy items into his food does NOT expand his willingness to try and eat new foods. Only trying and eating new foods does that. Also, rewarding him for eating a food actually decreases his likelihood of eating it again (I did not make this up, it is real research) so it is not a good approach.

I don't use a box mix, so I'm not sure how helpful this will be if you use a just add water variety. My son loves things added to his pancakes, like blueberries, bananas, apple sauce, raisins, etc, but if your son won't eat them if they look different then that might not work. You can also replace the eggs or milk with pureed fruit or veggies like applesauce, pureed peaches, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash, etc.

I also agree that most of the bad stuff comes with the syrup. Usually my son eats syrup, but he likes to dip a lot. If we put the syrup on the side and he dips the pieces in then he eats a lot less of it. He also likes to dip pancake in yogurt or applesauce sometimes.

You can put drops of anything in the batter - DHA, flax seed oil, Omega-3 and an assortment of vitamins. You can find bottles of this in any natural/whole foods stores or the natural/wf aisles in your regular grocery store.

A blender is your friend

I think you are raising my child's clone! I added whole wheat flour, wheat germ, ground flax seed, extra eggs or milk (whatever liquid you are using), protein powder, and mashed bananas. I also added oats - he could never taste them but you could grind them up first if you felt it was important. The quantities don't matter much - just add enough liquid so that you have the same consistency pancakes as before. Or go to any cooking website for a recipe for whole wheat pancakes. You can start gradually by adding little bits at a time, and increasing the quantities.

I'm not sure the boxed mixes are so great, although Bisquik now makes a "heart healthy" mix - not sure if there's anything not-so-good in it, but you could read the list of ingredients.

I made a whole batch and then froze them between layers of wax paper. Then I just popped out what I needed and heated them quickly.

I only used real maple syrup, and very little of it. Put a small dish on the plate and let him dip, or serve it on one of those appetizer plates with an attached container for dip. That way there are no spills, and it's fun for him to eat it!

Another thing you could try is buying some of those pancake molds that control the shape of the batter - they have animals and Mickey Mouse ears. he might think that was cool enough to try.

If you picky boy likes chicken nuggets, try making your own with cut-up chicken tenderloins, dipping in beaten egg, and then rolling in a mix of whole wheat bread crumbs and wheat germ, then quick frying them in canola or olive oil, and finishing them in the oven. They get a nice crispy coating but don't cook all the way through in the oil.

This is the recipe I use:
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
(adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com)

These are lower in carbs & higher in protein than regular pancakes.

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
* 4 eggs
* 1.5 T honey
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
* 2 T unsweetened applesauce or 2 T vegetable oil

1. In a blender or food processor, blend cottage cheese & app. sauce till smooth.
2. In a bowl, beat eggs lightly.
3. Add all other ingredients, including cottage cheese mixture, to eggs and stir to blend well.
4. Spoon about 1/4 cup per pancake onto skillet & cook as you would regular pancakes, flipping when you see bubbles & cook on other side.
5. Serve warm with flavored unsweetened applesauce or jam or preserves or syrup.

I remember a while back a mom posted about "cheap meals" and one mom responded with a natural way to make up the batter. Let me see if I can go back and find it.

Good luck

Edited - Sorry, I thought the mom put the recipe on there but I copied and pasted her response. Maybe it will help in the right direction?

"I don't buy pre-packaged pancake mixes. They are easy to make from real oats ground fine and whole grain flours. Make one huge batch and it will last almost all year. And we use real Maple Syrup - spendy but worth the real vitamins and minerals."

I make mine from scratch and use whole wheat flour. I also add a little extra baking powder (make them more fluffy) and some vanilla and nutmeg. They taste like cake and are still healthy!

we are our pancakes with peanut butter on them, the normal toppings are really unhealthy.

Use applesauce instead of the oil and eliminate the added sugar to the recipe. You can also grind oats in a coffee grinder or food processor and substitute up to half of the flour. Use real maple syrup, you will need less. You could top them with bananas or fruit as well.

Good suggestions.. We love the Costco pancake mix, Quaker also makes a multi grain mix.. We love sliced bananas in ours..

You could add some powdered flax-seed or fiber to your box mix. However, I'd scrap the box pancakes alltogether if you want to feed him healthier. Use whole wheat flour instead of white bleached flour and some of the other ideas the other moms had. He'll adjust eventually and probably like them more in the end.

I make my waffle and pancake batter from scratch and use whole wheat flour, applesauce instead of oil and then I always add some sort of fruit on top.

Good luck!

i use whole grains (i grind 'em in the blend-tec) but you can buy whole grain pancake mix. add fruit puree, which will sweeten them naturally so they won't need sugary syrup!
:) khairete
S.

I'm so glad you asked this, because I'm a pancake ADDICT ;)