oatmeal yogurt pancakes

I love pancakes and am always looking for new, delicious recipes to try.  I recently found a recipe for oatmeal yogurt pancakes, spiced it up a little bit, and voila! These pancakes are a little on the denser side because of the oatmeal, but are super moist and delicious. They use plain greek yogurt, which gives them a buttermilk pancake taste without the buttermilk calories. 😉

Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes w/ Blueberries and Chocolate chips (makes ~6 4″ pancakes)

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1 egg

2 tbsp oil (whatever’s your favorite- olive oil, grapeseed)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup flour

2-3 tablespoons sugar

• if you’re adding fruit or chocolate use 2 tbsp; if you’re making plain pancakes use 3 tbsp

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup blueberries (optional, I used fresh, but frozen would work, too)

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces for cooking pancakes

– Whisk together egg, yogurt, oil, and vanilla

– Add oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and stir well

– Fold in blueberries and chocolate chips

– Heat non-stick griddle or pan over medium-low heat with butter

– Using ~1/2 cup spoon batter onto pan and cook ~5 minutes until you can see small bubble burst through on the top side of the pancake

– Flip pancakes and cook for another 4-5 minutes. If you need to cook the pancakes in batches, keep them warm in the oven at 150-200 degrees

If you’ve added fruit and/or chocolate chips these pancakes are delicious on their own no butter or syrup needed!

Variations:

– Substitute the blueberries for chopped bananas

– Make the pancakes plain and garnish with fresh strawberries and whipped cream

– Cook peaches, apricots, apples, pear, or strawberries with a little bit of sugar and orange juice over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until fruit is just tender and serve over plain pancakes

– Use frozen mixed berries

corned beef and irish potato cakes

Corned beef tends to get associated with St. Patrick’s day, but in reality it’s an easy anytime meal, just throw it in a slow cooker or a dutch oven. I remember eating corned beef as a kid, always with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, and I can’t say I was really fond of all the boiled stuff, so here I made Irish potato cakes, a cross between a hash brown and mashed potatoes, to substitute the boiled potatoes, and just sauteed up some local kale rabe

Slow Cooker Corned Beef (~6 servings)

1 3-4# corned beef and spice packet
1 12 oz bottle guinness
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1/2 onion, slicedwater to cover corned beef

-If you’re using a slow cooker combine all ingredients in the slow cooker, adding a little water or stock if more than 1/2 an inch of the corned beef is sticking out of the liquid, and cook corned beef on high till tender, depending on the size, about 4-5 hours. If in doubt, just cook it longer; rather have it be falling apart than chewy. My corned beef barely fit in my small slow cooker so I turned it over halfway through cooking it to make sure it cooked evenly

Irish Potato Pancakes (makes ~16 pancakes)

3# yukon gold potatoes (just round to the nearest whole potato)
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
butter
pepper
salt

– Peel potatoes. Cut 2/3 of the potatoes into quarters and place in a pot of water. Bring potatoes up to a boil, and then simmer until tender
– Grate the remaining potatoes on the large side of a box grater. Sprinkle with 1 tsp kosher salt and place in a strainer
– When potatoes are tender, drain water and add 1/4 cup milk and mash till smooth. Season with salt and pepper
– Press grated potatoes to get out extra moisture and then add to mashed potatoes. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup milk, egg, and flour till smooth and then add to mashed potatoes. Mix well and then add cheddar cheese
– Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 tbsp butter. Scoop 1/4 cupfuls of batter into pan and spread to desired thickness

• Spread batter thinner for crispier pancakes, or leave them fatter for more mashed potatoey ones

– Cook pancakes about 4-5 minutes per side, or until nice and browned. Remove pancakes from pan and place on a baking sheet in the oven at 150 degrees to keep warm. Melt another tablespoon of butter in the pan before cooking the next batch

 

 

* Experiment with the ratio of mashed potato to shredded to potatoes to get different textures and try out other types of cheese to find your favorite. You can also add bacon, green onions/chives.