Toddler Approved Hidden Veg Pancakes

I have become the 007 of hiding vegetables in food

I never expected vegetables to be a problem for Lena. I had been forewarned by many a mother before we embarked on our journey of solids that I should prepare for a picky eater. She consumed her sprout puree with such gusto that I just assumed all would be fine. I was wrong. 

Not only does she struggle with the often slippery texture of vegetables she just simply shows no interest. We had a brief moment of excitement munching on 'trees' aka broccoli, but she soon realised that we weren't exactly telling her the truth and she responded with appropriate disdain. Disdain is in fact her main reaction whenever I offer her a vegetable. Luckily she adores fruit so I'm not in a total panic about her not eating her five a day. However, I am determined to feed her a range of food and as such I am now extremely skilled at finding ways of sneaking in some greens to her meals. 

These little pancakes are a wonderful quick dinner for her. Often she will have these with some homemade baked chicken nuggets... and our version of ketchup (steamed carrots, baked beans, chopped tomatoes, Worcester Sauce all blended) or houmous for dipping. Dipping makes her especially happy at dinner time. 

What you need:

1/2 cup plain flour. They taste equally as yummy with spelt flour.

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup defrosted frozen peas

1/2 cup defrosted frozen sweetcorn

a dash of paprika

1 medium free range egg

2 tbsp broccoli and cream cheese puree 

3 tbsp whole milk 

What to do:

Firstly make the broccoli puree. I usually do this when I'm making a broccoli pasta sauce. Boil a head of 'tree' and once cooked blend using a hand blender. Add a tablespoon of cream cheese and a little of the cooking water too loosen the mixture. These pancakes are just as nice without this but I enjoy packing them with as many vegetables as possible. 

Then combine all of the other ingredients together including the two tablespoons of the puree. 

Add a drizzle of vegetable oil to a frying pan over a medium heat.

Once hot add tablespoon size dollops of the mix to the pan.

When you start seeing little bubbles forming on the surface the pancakes they are ready to be flipped over and cooked on the other side. 

The peas and sweetcorn can hold quite a bit of heat so I usually cut them open and allow them to cool before serving to the little one.