Seedy Pancakes & Chamomile Maple Syrup

I love spring. I love flowers. I love pancakes!!!!

I'm so pleased to say that all the flowers, herbs and berries pictured are from my garden. This is my favourite time of year.

I have a ridiculous amount of chamomile coming out of my garden, which is how it ended up in my maple syrup—it's everything I make these days. 

Chamomile Maple Syrup
(makes about a 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup water (optional)
• 1 tbs dried chamomile

Instructions:

1. Combine syrup, water and chamomile in a pan.

2. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for a few minutes.

3. Strain and store in refrigerator.

Notes:

• I only add the water because I have a tendency to forget things on the stove...woops.
• The chamomile measurement is a guideline...add as much or as little as you'd like.
• I like to use the left over, maple soaked chamomile to make a super sweet tea afterwards.

I've made these pancakes countless times, but never the same way. The recipe started off as basically just oil, eggs, syrup and flour, but my habit is to keep adding ingredients to any recipe, whether for fun or health or both, usually until it reaches the point of becoming unpalatable. And then I stop making it altogether.

Fortunately! I have yet to reach that point with these pancakes, and I was particularly fond of this batch. They have a nutty taste, and I like the texture of the the seeds.

I'm excited to keep fiddling with the recipe—I'd like to get to a point where I'm making them without any chemical leaveners...maybe whipping the eggs?

This is my second summer in the same garden. I'm looking forward to recording its progress, and making more garden inspired recipes. I'm going to try my best to record any good ones.

So, hopefully see you soon! I know I say that everytime...

Pancakes
(serves 2 people)

Ingredients:

• 200 grams milk, any kind (I use Green Hemp Milk)
• 75 grams coconut oil or butter (melted)
• 25 grams maple syrup
• 2 eggs (I usually use extra large, but large is a-ok)
• 50 grams whole wheat or spelt flour (I like to use sprouted)
• 50 grams almond flour, or any nut flour
• 50 grams rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• up to 25 grams mixed seeds
• I use hemp, chia and quinoa. Sesame seeds are also nice.

Instructions:

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk milk, oil, syrup, eggs and seeds together. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients.

3. Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix until just combined—it should be a bit lumpy...like muffin batter.

4. In a well-oiled pan, over medium heat, pour 1/4 cup-ish of batter and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip. Repeat.

Notes:

• For the milk, I typically use Green Hemp Milk which makes the pancakes pretty hempy. I've tried hazelnut, almond and rice milk...I also used water once when my fridge was particularly bare.
• For thinner pancakes, use more milk in the batter....for thicker pancakes, use less.
• I've changed the dry ingredients for these every which way—both amounts and types. This recipe is just the most recent variation.
• I've also used this recipe to make waffles, by the way. In that case, I usually swap the milk for yogurt, and up the oil a bit.

Hearty Scones

Unfortunately, I don't get to do very much baking at my new job here in Toronto. Since I don't get my fix there, and I really have aspirations of becoming a great baker, I've started baking and experimenting a lot at home again. I've also taken out this book from my local library—trying to keep some sense of instructed learning.

Cashew Yogurt

I know I had previously wished for winter's early demise, but 24C in March is unsettling. I tried to take advantage though—I went for my first run of the season yesterday(!), turned soil and de-pooped my garden, and planted a few flats of seeds. Hopefully my garden will be more successful than last year...chicken wire is definitely going up before my dogs have a chance to pee my plants to death.

Mmmm...Muesli

While I was in Europe, we stayed at a few hostels that served free breakfast...consisting mostly of strore bought bread with sugary spreads. I could never take advantage, and it sucked. However, in France, we stayed a couple of nights at a hostel that served something I could actually eat—muesli. They even included the list of ingredients—how thoughtful.

Cocoa & Almond No-Bake Granola Bars

I'm back to the granola bars...

This time it's my mom I'm trying to please. She's been on her own quest for the perfect granola bar—crunchy and chewy, but low in fat. After at least 4 different recipes, she still couldn't find one she liked, so I thought I'd try my hand at the old granola bar game...again.

Frittata For Mama and Papa

I have been struggling to find things to bake lately....I have already posted most of the recipes I use regularly, and I just don't have enough mouths in my house to consume a new baked good every second day.

So, last night I decided to try something different...cooking (well, half cooking...).

Perks of Owning a Dehydrator: Making Yogurt

I was inspired to finally make my own yogurt when my mom bought a yogurt maker from a second hard store...although that yogurt maker is at home, I took the instructional booklet and little containers to Guelph. I knew I could just use my dehydrator.

Part of the reason I wanted to make my own yogurt is because it's cheaper. Organic yogurt is pricey and never seems to go on sale (ironically, the week I wrote this, it went on sale...but only by 50 cents), so instead I now buy the big 4 litre thing of organic milk and use one of the bags for yogurt making. I think James worked it out to be about half the price.

Whole Wheat Crêpes

James came to visit this past week and, on Friday, we decided to have a big breakfast, since it was the only day I didn't have to rush off to class first thing in the morning. We...I...wanted crêpes. I love crêpes...adore them, I think they're my favourite breakfast food, and I seem to exclusively eat them with sweet fillings, but you can fill these any way you like.