Savory Pancakes and TMI...

     I'm the type of person who has to tell the story of a gift when a person opens it.  People receiving gifts from me have to sit patiently though a long and winding tale of how the gift came to be in their possession.  I regale the receivers of my gifts with harrowing yarns of brave treks to Target surrounded by temptations of every shape and size or long and rambling quests through the jungles of Amazon.  My Mom did it.  I don't know why she did it, but because of her it's how I feel gift giving needs to be done.  The person can't fully appreciate the gift if they don't understand why I chose it for them and how it arrived.  Each gift has a birth story.

Christmas takes a long time.

    Food blogging is a little bit like that.  Each recipe has a story.  Sometimes I don't have the time to flesh it out the way I'd like, especially recently with all the upheaval in the living room.  (Maybe someday I'll tell you that arduous tale.) But today I have a moment.  It's raining outside and my boy's bellies are full.  The dishes are piled in the sink.  I've got my apron on and this is why:

     This year, to mix it up a bit in the garden I decided to plant nasturtiums and zucchini.  The poor zucchini has never zuked a single zuke, but it has made tons of blossoms!  Until this year I've never really eaten a good one.  I tried stuffed squash blossoms recipes which were inevitably full of cheese and way too greasy, and decided I liked them chopped up in salad best.  The nasturtiums were to save the kale from insect invaders.  They worked rather well and had the added benefit of being pretty and fragrant.  (I had no idea what a nice scent they had!)

      Besides the unexpected bounty of flowers in my garden, I had also made some homemade cashew milk.  The boys had some friends over this weekend who have special dietary needs and I don't like all the chemicals in the nut milks available in stores.  And anyway, it's super simple:

Cashew Milk
1/2 C raw cashews
2C water, plus more for soaking
1 tsp honey, or to taste (opt)
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste (opt)

Soak raw cashews in water for one hour, then drain and rinse.  Add 2 Cups of water to a blender along with the cashews and blend until liquified.  Strain it if you want and you can add a little honey or salt if you like.  I didn't do any of that for my version.

     I had been toying with the idea of savory pancakes for a while.  There's not much sugar in a pancake except what you pour over it.  They aught to make a great base for a savory breakfast.  To test my theory, I decided to combine all my weird ingredients and see what happened.

Savory Pancakes
1 C Whole wheat flour
1 C White flour
3 t Baking powder
1/2 t Salt
1/4 C Coconut sugar
2 Eggs*
2 T Oil
1 3/4 C Cashew milk
2 Leaves Sage
1/2 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp Thyme
3 or 4 Nasturtium blossoms, chopped
2 Squash blossoms, chopped (pistils and stamens removed)
1/4 C Spring onions for garnish
*You could make this vegan by substituting 1 mashed banana for the eggs.

Combine the dry ingredients, then add the wet ones.  Mix until well incorporated.  Grease a frying pan with butter or oil and preheat.  Spoon batter into pan.  Cook pancakes until done in the middle, flipping once. 

Yield is entirely dependent on how big you make your pancakes.  It usually yields around 12-14 of my small "silver dollar" size pancakes.  Top them with raw, fresh Spring onions and a pat of butter, no syrup necessary!

     If you're wondering about that funky coconut sugar up there especially after I wrote a post about processed sugars for October Unprocessed last year, coconut sugar, as far as I can tell, is one of the least processed sugars there is.  I found this article describing the process of making coconut sugar and Wikipedia backs it up.  I'm sure as soon as it catches on, manufacturers will figure out a way to process the snot out of it, but for now, it seems pretty safe.

Review:
I'm really grateful my husband is open to trying new things.  The kids wouldn't have it.  I think if I had come up with another name for them besides "pancake" they would have been on board.  My husband and I both liked them.  I think next time I'll try a little goat cheese or feta on there, too.