March 20th 2011 Breakfast with a hint of Veggies

Sunday morning is always wonderful in our house.  Once we are all awake the kids love to help make breakfast.  Sunday is a great day for this because we actually have time to make and eat the breakfast as a family, its usually great fun.  This morning was no different than any other, the children are running around singing about pancakes, I am gathering ingredients for the usual coconut pancakes and I suddenly  stumbled upon a book I bought a few years back called "Deceptively Delicious", it's a cookbook written by Jessica Seinfeld and it focuses on getting your children to eat vegetables without even knowing that they are eating them.(amazing idea!!)  She basically purees veggies up puts them in with whatever she decides to cook that day and apparently you can't even taste that they are in whatever it is you may be eating.  So I'm looking at the cover of this book and I start thinking," why can't I do that?" Now if your reading this and you know my children or myself you will know that the three of us are the most pickiest vegetable eaters EVER! if you can get us to eat veggies at all. Knowing all this I start rummaging through the fridge looking for something that I may be able to add to the pancakes without anyone catching on.  I found a sweet potato, spinach, and a small butternut squash.  I decide the sweet potato is obviously slightly sweet , perfect for a pancake, and spinach....why not in eggs Jessica Seinfield does it why can't I. You should know...my kids love food coloring, they color their milk(coconut of course) thier yogurt, even their bath water if I let them.  So telling them that we are having green eggs for breakfast was quite the treat.It took a lil bit to soften the potato to puree the damn thing but it was well worth it, We all had green eggs, coconut/sweet potato pancakes, bacon and a few strawberries.  Breakfast Magnifique!


Coconut/Sweet Potato Pancakes

• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cocnut milk
• 1 teaspoon of  honey
• 11/2 tsp of vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup of cocnut flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2cup-3/4 cup of water
• 1 small sweet potato

Whisk together eggs, butter, cocnut milk, honey, and vanilla.  Peel and cube sweet potato, put in a bowl add a lil water and microwave for 4 or 5 minutes or until soft. Once its soft, use a blender or magic bullet to puree the sweet mush.(I had to add a little water to the mush in order to puree smoothly)add the mush to the mix of pancake ingredients.  Stir dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry and whisk until smooth(I personally prefer to mix it all in the blender)  Add the water to thin out the batter until it is to your desired consistancy. If you have any desire to add fruit, cinnamon, or my kiddos personal fav, chocolate chips, now would be the time to throw them in and stir them up.  Once thats done in a well greased pan or griddle cook pancakes on both sides until browned(not burned but brown, simple mistake I am notorious for)

A few tips...once the pancake is cooked on the first side and right after you flip it over I let it cook for about a minute then i smoosh it down with a spatula so it isn't as fluffy.  By doing this they stay together better and don't fall apart as soon as someone touches them.
Also smaller ones are easier to flip and have less of a chance of falling apart.


SalsaVerde Eggs
This is just a simple kick to regular scrambled eggs.

• desired amount of eggs, 7 or 8 is usually enough for our family of four
• 4 or 5 tablespoons of salsa(depending on how much you like salsa)
• 1/2 cup of pureed spinach
• salt and pepper 

add eggs and salsa to a bowl.  Cut stems off of spinach put in a pan with a lil butter and saute til soft.  place spinach in blender or magic bullet add a bit of water(not to much) and puree til smooth.  Add spinach to eggs and whisk until mixed well. Add butter or oil(preferably coconut or olive) to a pan and cook scrambled eggs as you normally would.

Like I said , the eggs and pancakes went along with bacon and a few strawberries.  The kids ate this dish like it was goin outta style! No complaints here