Thursday, January 28, 2010

Zucchini in the AM


I've been putting much thought into ways in which I can expand my toddler's diet. See, he doesn't (not yet) eat hot dogs, cheese, grilled cheese, any kind of meat, mac & cheese..... you know-- stuff that one would expect a toddler to LOVE. Instead his diet consists of any fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese, any type of cereal, muffins, waffles, eggs (sometimes), pancakes, PB sandwiches, and most vegetables, for which I am very grateful. It's just the CHEESE and MEAT thing that is killing me! Plus, his mother LOVES LOVES LOVES cheese of any shape or form. Who bore this child???

Anyway, like I say.... most vegetables he'll try, pick at, or devour, but zucchini is NOT one of them. If we're being honest, I'm not a crazy zucchini fan either, but Ina Garten has this recipe in her pink cookbook and it seemed enticing enough.

So, this morning we gave it a whirl because, obviously, it's loaded with zucchini BUT it also has egg, which, if the kid won't eat cheese or meat, is a great protein supplement.

To my delight, Henry seemed to thoroughly enjoy it and ate three big ones! Okay okay, I drizzled a teensy tiny itty bit of maple syrup on them but hey, whatever gets the kid to eat it.

I enjoyed my portion of the pancakes with ketchup. And being super easy, it's a recipe I'll keep handy during the summer months when zucchini is coming out of everyone's ears.

I personally enjoy how they look like an image out of Dr. Suess's books too. Bright green perfect breakfast for upcoming St. Patty's day.

Zucchini Pancakes

2 medium zucchini, grated (keep peel on)
2 Tbsp minced red onion
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp baking powder
6-8 tsp flour
Salt
Pepper
Butter and Olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine the zucchini and onion. Add the lightly beaten eggs and stir. Begin heating a large griddle or pan to high heat with equal parts butter and oil, but don't let it burn. Add baking powder, flour, and seasonings, stir, and using a soup spoon, pour two spoon's worth of batter onto hot griddle, making a 3 -inch or so pancake... Turn the heat down to medium and flip once once each side is golden brown.

Makes about 10, 3 inch pancakes.

2 comments:

Egan Metcalf said...

Oh I love these. I pretty much eat them all summer, but for dinner. I don't include red onion tho. Also, yours are way prettier.

Courtney said...

Yum! Those look scrumptious! And oh do I hear ya on the getting your toddler to eat thing. I thought little J was an awesome eater but all of the sudden he's turned picky on me! I think it's actually pretty awesome that Henry goes for the healthy stuff over the normal "kid" food. I've also found that the more times you try something (and I'm not talking 2 or 3, but 10+) they are more likely to give it a go. I also find Johnny will eat certain foods only when they're prepared a certain way (he likes cold cheese but not melted, he'll eat cooked carrots, zucchini, squash, etc but NEVER cold or raw, he won't touch a mushroom for the life of him but when it's cooked in pasta sauce he doesn't figure out what he's eating :), etc). Oh, the joys of finding food your children (and husband) will eat that you like too!