[Eating Rainbow | Red | Oatmeal Pancakes with RED Berries
Some people refer to the Tuesday before the beginning of the Christian period of Lent as “Mardi Gras,” others call it “Shrove Tuesday,” and still others see it as Pancake Day — a day to to use up rich ingredients like eggs, milk, and sugar, before the lean, mean fasting season of Lent.
Now, we’re not necessarily religious peeps here in the TasteSpotting Kitchen, but we most certainly must recognize a day that is entirely dedicated to pancakes.
(We will, however, refuse to acknowledge “Fat Tuesday,” as that’s just mean.)
We cooked up pancakes, but to boost the health factor of pancakes, we added oatmeal, and of course, the no-brainer food when it comes to red for this week, ellagic acid.
Oh, we mean strawberries and raspberries. Both red berries are high in vitamin C and antioxidants, one of which is ellagic acid. This phytonutrient might fight cancer from a number of angles: deactivating cancer causing substances to begin with, and slowing the growth of cancer cells.
Naturally, we piled fresh berries atop a stack of pancakes, but we went for a double whammy, throwing thinly sliced berries into the pancake batter.
Oatmeal Pancakes with Strawberries and Raspberries
adapted from Good to the Grain via Smitten Kitchen
makes about ten 4 to 5-inch pancakes
Ingredients
¾ cup oat flour (make it yourself!)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1¼ cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked oatmeal (we used steel cut oats, which made for a super interestingly textured pancake, but use regular oats if you’d like)
optional: ½ cup thinly sliced strawberries
fresh strawberries and raspberries
Directions
Whisk oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the butter, milk, and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Stir in cooked oatmeal.
Fold butter/milk/eggs mixture into flour mixture with only a few strokes of a large spoon or spatula.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat until hot (throw a couple of drops of water onto the pan – if they sizzle away, the pan is hot). Melt about ½ tablespoon of butter in the hot pan, swirl to coat, then ladle 2-3 ¼-cup mounds of batter onto the pan.
** If you’re adding sliced strawberries IN the pancakes: Place sliced strawberries in a single layer with at least ½-inch of space between berries, on the top side of each pancake, and gently press into the batter. The batter will not cover the strawberries, but you do want the batter to get a good “grip” around the berries.
Cook the pancakes on one side until air bubbles form and edges are dry, about 2 minutes. Turn the pancakes over. Cook the other side of the pancakes about 1-2 minutes, remove from pan.
Wipe pan with a damp paper towel (to pick up the browned pancake bits), and repeat cooking pancakes.
Serve warm, topped with fresh berries and a tiny drizzle of pure maple syrup.
