Zucchini Pancakes

Happy September!  Today is the kiddos first day of school.  My daughter starts 4th grade and my son starts 2nd grade.  We had such a great summer and they were NOT looking forward to heading back to school.  They were looking forward to seeing their friends and meeting their new teachers.  They were not looking forward to early bedtimes and homework.  However, with Labor Day and the Jewish holidays, I don’t believe they have a full week of school in September, so they have some time to adjust to this whole back-to-school thing.  Hopefully I will be able to adjust as well.  Returning from our Disney trip and then getting thrown right into the whole school/activity schedules and routines has me a little stressed.

I have mentioned before how much my kids love breakfast for dinner.  And while I wasn’t able to grow any of my own zucchini, (even though I tried!) they are always cheap enough at the grocery store.  For those of you lucky enough to have a garden full of zucchini, I am jealous!  This pancake recipe is a great way to use some of them up and sneak some additional veggies into your child’s breakfast, or in our case, dinner.  When my son heard what I was making for dinner, I of course got a response of “but I don’t like zucchini pancakes!”  He then proceeded to eat 4 of these pancakes at dinner.  This was a winning recipe at our house!

Zucchini Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoon granulated white sugar
2 cups almond milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini, squeezed dry
Maple syrup and butter, for serving

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon brown sugar and white sugar.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour liquid ingredients over dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Fold in the zucchini.

3. Heat a large pan or griddle to medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour about a 1/2 cup of batter onto heated skillet. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles approximately 3 minutes. Flip carefully with a spatula, and cook the other side until lightly browned, an additional 2 -3 minutes. Continue making pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve pancakes with butter and maple syrup, if desired.