Complete Wheat Pancakes

So we all know that implementing fiber into our diets is essentially for a healthy GI tract. Fiber is properly known as cellulose, the insoluble carbohydrate found in plant cell walls. We as humans, and most mammals for that matter, are unable to digest this little guy. However, this makes it excellent in our foods. Fiber makes you feel fuller so you eat less and it adds bulk which makes things move through smoother. The only down side is the added flatulence you may experience. This is much more likely if fiber is something you're newly increasing in your everyday scheme. You see, we all have lots of little microbes in our gut to help us digest. These bacteria have the proper enzymes in their cell walls to break down cellulose and as a result they release nitrogen gas, which is translated as a FART to the human world. Furthermore, we have billions of these guys living in our body at any given moment. So when they go at a new found smorgasbord of cellulose they go a little over the top and cause more gas than you may like....

But if you start to eat plenty of fiber daily this affect will begin to wear off and you will poot more normally... Not sure how to put it any nicer.

On that note, I've been trying more and more ways to incorporate fiber into my family's diet in yummy and creative ways. My 1st goal was to do something with wheat. We all use it (save those that are Gluten-intolerant for obvious reasons) and I did a little research. The flour that we commonly use in our meals is actually only the milled 1/3 part of wheat. The wheat berry (the pretty little round things you see growing off a wheat stalk in the field) is composed of 3 parts: the germ, the bran, and the endosperm. For most flours the endosperm is the only part ground up. What happens is much of the fiber and nutrient dense part of wheat is thrown out. This is true for many other grains such as oats, because we typically only eat 1/3 of those little guys as well.

On different trips to the grocery store I purchased some wheat germ, its in the fridge at the health food store and I also got some wheat bran, on the shelf this time. The germ tends to go rancid if its not kept cold. Now I have plenty of wheat flour in my home: whole wheat pastry, white whole wheat, stone ground whole wheat, and unbleached enriched white wheat. None of these are truly "whole" because again they are only the endosperm. Now my meals started turning and I wanted to create a mixture of all 3 and see what taste I came up with. Boy am I glad I did.

Oddly enough I could find a recipe anywhere online that used all three, in fact if a bran was used with the flour and wheat germ it was almost always oat bran. So I finagled (spelling) and few ideas together and came up with my own concoction. Zacchaeus gobbled these pancakes down, something he almost never does before for finishing his oranges first. Made me smile a bit.

Feel free to also experiment with this recipe, but I promise it is wonderful, nutty, and delicious as is.

Ingredients:                            Makes 5 pancakes

Dry

• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
•  2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 heaping Tbsp. brown sugar

Wet

• 1 Flax Egg (1 Tbsp. ground flax seed (or flax meal that is already ground) + 3 Tbs. water)
• 1 cup non-dairy milk, unsweetened
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce (this replaces oil but you can sub it in if you're not worried about the added fat)
• 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

 Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Make flax egg (I use my cheap and awesome coffee grinder to break mine down)
3. Mix all wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined
5. Heat a skillet or griddle and lightly grease
6. Pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the griddle about 2 inches apart and push down slightly with cup
7. Heat about 2 minutes on one side til you see bubbles in the center
8. Flip and heat about 2-3 minutes on the other side
9. Plate and top with what you like
10. Enjoy!

I decided to not use syrup this morning. Instead I put a little Strawberry jam, Almond Greek-style yogurt, pomengranate seeds, and golden raisins on mine. It was so yummy and filled me way up plus gave me lots of energy this morning.