Whole wheat pear pancakes

I have been enjoying cooking and baking again since we've started eating healthier over these last few months. I have been regularly using ingredients like flax meal, chia seeds, agave nectar, and nutritional yeast in our foods. It is fun trying new things and seeing if we can incorporate them into our daily diets. Since the beginning of June I have lost almost 20 lbs. by exercising and eating better and Dave has lost 15 simply b/c of the diet change. My kids are also reaping the benefits of whole grains, lentils, and good role models. Archie will stretch with me before my workouts and he knows that we I leave with my tennis shoes on that I am going to exercise.

Many of the recipes I make are found online and I just modify them to make them better. This morning, however, as I was looking for a whole wheat pear pancake recipe I couldn't find one that I liked so I made one up. I enjoy making pancakes on the weekends b/c there are infinite possibilities and it is really easy to make them healthier. Of course once Dave douses them with maple syrup they become slightly less healthy, but I try. Anyway, my recipe for whole wheat pear pancakes is as follows.

Whole Wheat Pear Pancakes

Dry Ingredients

• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup flax meal
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp brown sugar (I may use agave nectar next time though)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt (I use King Arthur bread salt for all my bread goodies)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• cinnamon to taste or 1/2 tsp

Wet Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
• 2 heaping tbsp of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 ripe pear, grated

Instructions

1. In a medium sized bowl beat together egg and soy milk. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well.
2. In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Make a well in center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Stir until just mixed and let sit for 10 minutes while griddle is heating. This will give the chia seeds times to gel. 
4. Fry em up like you would any ol' pancake. I use our Cuisinart griddle with a little bit of Pam when making pancakes. Makes 9-10 pancakes.

Nutritional Information per serving (I gathered this info from Spark Recipes and it is based off making 9 pancakes)

• calories: 98
• fat: 2.7 g
• cholesterol: 20.6 mg
• carbohydrates: 16.7 g
• sodium: 236.4 mg
• fiber: 3.3 g
• sugar: 3.6 g
• protein: 4.1 g

This is what my counter looks like when I am cooking complete with monster trucks and coffee.

I wish my pear would have been more ripe.

Collection of utensils that help make wonderful food. 

This is what Fletcher thinks of my creative process.

The greatest wedding gift we didn't register for. The surface can flip to become a grill.