Pancakes and Maple Syrup

I love maple syrup. I think it's the ideal topping for pancakes and waffles, and a delicious dipping choice for sausage and scrambled eggs. Yes, I dip my scrambled eggs. Sometimes.

But once again, it's like I've been living in la-la land all these years, and never realized how syrup is pretty much straight-up sugar. Holy schmoley! I'm extremely interested in trying pure maple syrup, but I've heard it's very expensive. Someday...

I love this. Check out the ingredient list on Richard's favorite "blueberry" syrup.

So, as you may have guessed, tonight's dinner was pancakes. Initially, I pulled out a pancake mix from my pantry, and then checked the label. Much to my surprise I noticed sugar as an ingredient! I was fairly close to going over my sugar count for the day, and I knew syrup would push me right to the edge, so I put away the box and pulled out Aunt Lisa's buttermilk pancake recipe instead (they taste better anyway).

For the syrup I had to carefully calculate how many teaspoons I could give myself so I wouldn't go over my goal. I'm not exactly sure, but I guessed my homemade maple syrup is about 44g of sugar in 1/4C. My brother helped me with the math (cuz that ain't my forte) and I gave myself 4 tsp of sugar which is about 14.6g. I also slathered my pancake with a tablespoon of peanut butter (1.5g).

I know all this measuring seems petty, but it's not all that difficult and I'm feeling much better about my food choices already.

I would just love to congratulate myself on meeting my goal...but just as I was writing this post, I remembered I ate a snack that included a lot of sweetened coconut, that I completely forgot to record. So, I went over. Bummer.

Alright, now to the good stuff. I adapted Aunt Lisa's recipe a bit and hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Richard was super pleased with them and said he never wants to taste that box-pancake-stuff again. (Yay for happy husband!)

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

1 c. sifted white flour
1 c. sifted whole wheat flour
A spoonful of wheat germ
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
2 c. buttermilk (I use powdered milk--with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar)
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. melted butter, cooled
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 banana, mashed

Sift dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients and stir lightly just to moisten dry ingredients. Cook 'em up, and enjoy!