I love pancakes. My husband used to love pancakes. I don’t know what happened. I think I made him too many pancakes. I’m pretty sure my baby will love pancakes. So I decided to make her some and test the waters. I’m totally feeding her way too many eggs so something else had to come into the breakfast routine.I’ve been avoiding wheat for her diet until she is a little older, not because I’m worried about allergies, but I don’t feel like it holds much nutritional value for her right now, and she gets constipated quite easily. So oat pancakes it was. Pancake sticks for her. Fluffly blueberry pancakes with loads of maple syrup for me. She has yet to learn to love berries. I’m guessing as the summer progresses and they get sweeter she will be more interested.These pancakes do double duty(possibly even triple). If you also happen to be a momma breastfeeding a babe, oats are wonderful for helping your milk supply. If you’re anything like me, you simply can not eat oats more then 1 or 2 days in a row or you will be overflowing with milk. Oh and guess what else, these pancakes are gluten free! Totally unintentionally, but hey, my first gluten free recipe!Did you know that oats grind up into flour incredibly well? So easy. I’ve used this flour in cookies before, to give them a bit of that oaty flavor without the texture of oats. It works great. Depending on how much you grind the oats, you are left with a bit of bite in the flour(which I quite liked). This batter would be suitable for a waffle iron as well, it puffs quite nicely. To grind the oats, I simply measured out the amount of flour I would need and it translated perfectly. I put 1 1/2 cups of oats into my magic bullet(yes I have one and seriously use it constantly) and ground into a fine powder. You could probably use your blender for this, but you may need to make a larger batch of oat flour depending on the size of your blender. To make the pancake sticks for my litte monster, I simply put the batter into a squeeze bottle and piped little sticks perfect for grabbing into the pan.Days like today I relish being able to work part time. Do I wish I stayed home all the time? Well yes, but having those hours in the morning and early afternoon with her, to cook her breakfast, to take a walk, to snuggle up for a nap. These are memories I want to have forever. I know someday all too soon, she will be standing and walking and then helping me in the kitchen. These things I can not wait for, but desperately want them to hold off just a little bit longer. I find myself wishing lately we had recorded more video of her when she was so small. I see other newborn babies and I literally do not remember her being that way. Maybe it was the haze of living in the hospital for a month that erased those memories for me. Or maybe I simply never allowed myself to see her that helpless, because I needed her to be strong and fight like hell to get home. To come home so that I could be the cooking and baking momma I was meant to be.

Blueberry Oat Pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups oat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
blueberries

Directions

1. In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder and sugar. Stir to combine. Add milk, egg, vanilla and oil. Whisk until no lumps remain. Let rest. Heat up a griddle over medium heat. Add a bit of butter or oil to grease the pan a bit. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter into pan. Drop blueberries onto surface of pancake. You could mix them in to the batter if you prefer, but I like how they almost caramelize when their skins are exposed to the pan. Once bubbles form on the surface and pop, pancake is ready to be flipped. Cook until golden brown on blueberry side. Serve with a hearty drizzle of maple syrup.