Breakfast of Champions

I know it's overly festive, but I'll do anything to get my kid to eat breakfast. 

My husband thinks that the only thing one needs for a well-rounded breakfast is a cup of coffee and twenty uninterrupted minutes to respond to emails.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he would be happy if breakfast was entirely discontinued throughout the world.  While I respect his decision to forgo the "most important meal of the day", I can't feed my kids coffee and screen time without tempting a visit from Child Protective Services.  Unfortunately, the Muffin Man seems to have inherited Chris' propensity for skipping breakfast, because it is a daily struggle to get the kid to sit down and eat something every morning.  Everything that he used to enjoy - eggs, oatmeal, yogurt - he now patently refuses to eat.  He's so excited to play and dance and just get his day started that he doesn't want to take the time out of his busy schedule to chow down on breakfast.

There is, however, one thing I make that I can almost always get him to consume: Buckwheat Pancakes.

In my search for the perfect pancake recipe, I tried so many different recipes, and while I found a few that I liked (and quite a few that I didn't), they all seemed to be really complicated.  Discouraged, I went in search of a gluten-free buckwheat pancake mix, but came up empty.  Finally, after much consulting with Dr. Google, I found an easy, super tasty recipe that everyone in our family loves.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Adapted from Food.com

1 cup buckwheat flour 

2 Tblsp. coconut sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. clove

1 egg

1 cup almond milk (or buttermilk for a richer flavor)

1 Tblsp. coconut oil, melted

1 cup blueberries (optional)

Heat up your griddle.  If using cast-iron, lightly spray with cooking oil.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk egg, milk, and coconut oil together, and stir into dry mixture until combined.  The batter will be thicker than one made with regular flour.

Fold in blueberries.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto preheated griddle.  If you're feeling Super Mom-ish, use cookie cutters and make festive pancake shapes.  

Turn pancakes when bubbles form around the edges, and cook until second side is golden brown.

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Serve to your children and enjoy watching them eat something that isn't a Goldfish cracker or plain pasta.  

Mommy Tip: mix up several batches of the dry ingredients and keep them in the pantry so that when your offspring are demanding pancakes at 6:30AM the only thing you have to add is the egg, coconut oil, and milk.

Chances are your kids will like these enough to ensure that you (and your spouse) get twenty minutes of uninterrupted email time.