Sweet Potato Pancakes

You know what is the worst part of my day every day? That moment when I realize “ugh, I have to make dinner.” It’s not that I hate cooking or don’t care about my family’s healthy eating habits. It’s just that I wish cooking healthy food was easier and that it wasn’t so time consuming and that if you are going to work that hard, it should take a lot longer to annihilate the fruits of your labors. How awesome would it be if you could go in the backyard to the healthy meal tree and pull off a leaf of healthy, wholesome, delicious, already prepared goodness, slap it on a plate, and serve it up hot. Quick and easy.

Since I have yet to plant this magical meal-preparing tree, I have to cook. And don't get me started on meal planning (which may actually be worse than the actual cooking in my opinion). My favorite means of meal planning is opening the freezer and seeing which delicious thing I have prepared previously and heating it. Of course, in order for those things to land in my freezer, I actually have to make them.

Enter Pinterest. The rabbit hole of all that is good and labor intensive and makes you feel like a subpar human. If you look up “homemade baby food”, you can instantly find 37 posts showing you how you are doing it wrong, your child is going to stop growing immediately (other than that third arm thanks to all of the preservatives), and will certainly never get a scholarship to college. Occasionally you can find something on there that isn’t too ridiculous, is actually healthy, and, gasp, tasty!

A year ago I found this recipe and it sounded right up my alley. I changed a few things to make it work a bit better for us and have made it about a hundred times since – each time changing things slightly until I think I may have finally gotten it how I (and mainly the little one) want it. I present to you:

SWEET POTATO PANCAKES

4 medium sized sweet potatoes

2 eggs

2 cups self-rising flour

2 apples

½ cup-ish applesauce

1-2 healthy dashes of cinnamon

1-2 healthy dashes of sage

1 cup finely chopped spinach

In case you aren't sure what those ingredients look like.

Prep time – 30 min

Cook time – 30 min

1. Start boiling water while peeling and chopping sweet potatoes. Stop part of the way through peeling to put your toddler down for a nap. Forget water is boiling. Return to kitchen to find water has boiled over and left a lovely mess for yourself. Turn off stove. Continue peeling and chopping. Realize that the water was boiling for a reason. Boil water again.

2. While sweet potatoes are boiling, chop spinach and grate apples. Drain excess liquid from apples.

I suggest using Calphalon knives because, well, it's what we have. This one and I have been inseparable since it sliced my finger the very first time I used it. We're like blood brothers. Is that still a thing? Also, I have no knife skills.

This is a grater. This is an apple. This is my hand.

3. Haphazardly throw the remaining ingredients together into a bowl.

4. Preheat oven to 350.

5. Mash sweet potatoes.

6. Thoroughly mix ingredients until well mixed. Concoction should be sufficiently gloppy and resemble... well let's just leave it at "it should look completely unappealing".

Mmmm...

7. Using a random utensil (I prefer the slotted spoon which I just used to painstakingly and inconsistently mash the sweet potatoes and poorly mix the ingredients), plop a large spoonful of disgusting looking mix onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper (I don’t know what size baking sheet but I know you have one and that’s the one you should use). Expert tip: flatten said plop of goo with the aforementioned utensil in order for the “pancakes” to cook more evenly.

Parchment paper makes everything better. It's science. I saw it on Pinterest.

8. Bake the pancakes for 20 min or so, then flip and bake for an additional 10ish minutes.

9. Place pancakes on rack to cool before serving or freezing.

Casually place a dozen roses next to the food. Presentation is everything, after all. And your toddler will definitely appreciate it.

And there you have it! A random number of oddly sized sweet potato pancakes you and your family are sure to enjoy. And best of all – you now have something healthy and tasty sitting in your freezer for the next time you don’t feel like cooking!