Polenta Pancakes

Pancakes are truly a beautiful thing. There are so many different things to do with them, at various levels of healthiness, and you can eat them at legitimately any time of the day. Ranging from breakfast to dessert, these little guys are unstoppable. Have you ever watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri? Which is on every Friday night, ALL Friday night. Not that that is all I do on Friday nights, I mean, it just happens sometimes. You sit down to watch one episode while you're waiting for your friend to come over and then they get there and sit down on the couch with you and next thing you know you're five episodes in and going strong. ANYWAYS. On DDD, Guy went to this one place where the guy (Not Guy, just some chef guy) turned pancakes into art!! He would put some batter down on the griddle and let it cook, then fill the pancake in with more batter so that part of it was darker than the other and it would make a picture just with the difference in cook times! IT WAS SO COOL!!!!!!! I totally tried it once and not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. I'll do it again and take a picture to show you, because I know you don't believe that I did it once. But seriously. It happened.

So anyways, I have this book "Boost Your Metabolism" which has recipes designed to kick start your body to burn more calories than it normally does using ingredients that are good for you like almonds, polenta, berries, etc. And let me tell you, the recipes in this book are not only healthy, but phenomenal tasting. I made the polenta pancakes on page 31 a few times before and they were super yummy but today I decided to make them even a little healthier, eliminating some of the fat and cutting down on some sugar. 

I'll give you both recipes (the original and what I did instead) and you can decide which one you would like to use but if we're being honest here, I really couldn't tell a different in taste OR texture, which does not happen often when you substitute ingredients for healthier ingredients. I would opt for the healthier version, or just try both and see for yourself! But I'll tell you what, with either recipe, you would not be needing any of this stuff right here:

Original Recipe from "Boost Your Metabolism Cookbook" by Susan Irby:

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup blueberries

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Separately, whisk together eggs, butter, and buttermilk. Gradually stir egg mixture into flour mixture until combined. Be careful not to over mix, acknowledging that there will be some lumps.
2. Heat griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat. Pour about 1/2 cup batter for each pancake onto heated griddle. Scatter a few blueberries over batter. When bubbles have formed in the center and edges are slightly firm, flip pancakes. Cook other side for about 1 minute. Serve with hot maple syrup or fruit sauce.

Edited Version of Recipe as Made by Jessica McDermott

1/2 cup white all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 1/2 teaspoons Splenda baking mix
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups fat free milk mixed with about 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

From here just follow the instructions the same as you would the original recipe, just make sure that the first thing you do is mix the lemon juice and milk to make your own buttermilk so that by the time you get to adding it to the batter all of the chemical reactions have occurred that you want to. Also, I don't add blueberries, because I do not like them because I do not like fruit, except for bananas, but that's a whole other story that I will get to some other time about how I'm weird but obviously feel free to put blueberries in your pancakes. By all means but anything you want in your pancakes. Add some blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, any other type of berry you'd like! Just don't make me eat them.

Have at it kiddies!!!!