I don’t know if you are like me but my body just will not tolerate flour products for breakfast, especially those perennial favorites: pancakes and waffles, even when made with grains other than wheat. This has posed quite a problem for me because I love making brunch on Sunday mornings, and one thing my family likes to eat best for brunch is pancakes. I was beginning to mourn the loss of this pleasure when I stumbled upon a fabulous pancake recipe: Norwegian Pancakes, and yes, it actually is a recipe from "Kitchen of Light" by Andreas Viestad mentioned in my previous blog.



What makes this recipe friendly for my body I can only guess but my sense is that firstly, it is mainly eggs and milk with very little flour, and secondly, it has no leavening which I really think is the key. As I get older I have noticed that food made with baking soda and baking powder just don’t seem to metabolize well in my body. I, of course, modify the recipe so as to make it friendly for B’s. The ingredients are:

3 large eggs

1&1/2 cups milk (I use cow’s milk)

2/3 cup flour (I use white spelt)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar or honey (sugar mixes better)

1&1/2 tablespoons melted butter

Blueberries or strawberries for serving

This recipe is quite easy to make: beat the eggs with a whisk and add the milk; beat well. Add the flour, salt, and sugar and whisk until the batter is smooth without lumps. The batter will be thin, somewhat like crepe batter. Mix in the melted butter after all the other ingredients are well combined. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes. While the batter is resting, make yourself a nice pot of herb tea, red raspberry leaf is my current fave. Take a minute to tune into your body and see what it needs this morning; perhaps putting on some music and doing gentle stretching exercises or maybe dancing around the room in delightful abandon. Next, go find a family member and tell them how much you love them and appreciate their presence in your life, it’s part of the recipe. And before the 30 minutes is up do remember to preheat a cast-iron or other heavy skillet.



When the skillet is heated to medium heat, add about a third of a cup of batter and tilt the skillet so that the batter covers the entire pan. If you do not have a lefse spatula (who does?), then leave a space near the edge of one side of the skillet for sliding a spatula under. The pancake will be ready to flip when the top is shiny and mostly dry, and there are small pinpricks from bubbles. You will not need extra butter for the skillet if your skillet is well seasoned.



Now for the flipping: without the lefse spatula it can be a little tricky. Lefse is a Norwegian staple, a flat bread made from potatoes and flour, similar to a tortilla. My family and I helped to make lefse with my husband’s family this past Thanksgiving, and without that spatula, lefse would be difficult to cook properly. But do not despair, the pancake batter is quite resilient and is easily flipped with a regular spatula. Insert the spatula under the reserved edge and loosen the entire pancake before flipping over in a rolling motion. See, that wasn’t so bad. It will get better with practice.



Serve the pancakes with berries and a little sugar or other sweetener, if desired. I like to eat them like a crepe, with berries down the middle and the sides folded over. My sons roll them up burrito style. Add some yogurt or a dollop of ricotta cheese for more protein heft. You just might enjoy them as much as I do.