Damn good pancakes

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2003 Copyright 2002

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups low-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
Cooking spray I fried them in a bit of Promise margarine
¾ cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons butter

1. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, oil, egg, and egg white, stirring with a whisk; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist.
2. Heat a nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Spoon about ¼ cup batter for each pancake onto griddle. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve with syrup and butter.

Yield: 6 servings Per serving: 351 calories, 10 gms fat, 7.6 gms protein, 59.7 gms carbs, 2.3 gms fiber, 55 mg cholesterol, 2.1 mg iron, 570 mg sodium, 176 mg calcium

One of the best things the internet has brought me is Pancake Day, the Tuesday before Lent. I never knew about this holiday before hearing about it online. This isn't traditionally celebrated in my area. We celebrate Fasnacht Day. Fasnachts are fried donuts, usually with potatoes in the dough. They are delicious if you have a good source but unfortunately I don't have a good source so no fasnachts for me this year. Which is just as well because as much as I love donuts, they really aren't a good nutritional start to my day. Neither are pancakes really (too starchy), which is why I rarely eat them. But I love pancakes, and I've totally embraced Pancake Day since it's a great excuse to have pancakes for dinner.

Usually I use a boxed whole wheat pancake mix and I even had an unopened box in the pantry but I opted to make this recipe instead and I can tell you right now, that box of pancake mix just lost it's job. These were so fluffy and flavorful. Mmmmmm. I wish I had another one right now.

This recipe is a prime example of why I like Cooking Light. These aren't the lowest calorie pancakes you could make, but they are lighter and healthier than traditional pancakes yet still incredibly delicious. They don't tell you to use reduced-calorie syrup and margarine on these beauties - they know pancakes as good as these deserve real maple syrup and real butter.

This book of annual recipes is exciting me a lot more than the Best of Cooking Light. You'll be seeing many more recipes from this book.

Question of the Day: Do you ever eat breakfast for dinner?