Nutrisystem taught me portion control. Gluten-free diet taught me the art of substitution and clean eating. Organic products continue to teach me how important it is to treat our bodies like temples. All of that together keeps me on the right path not only for weight management, but encourages cooking fresh and healthy meals for my family.

Granted, I still get talked into cheat days from time to time and that is fine too. My young kids are doing great with being active and eating healthy, so Saturday morning pancakes can be a little fatter than I would like. I still use the best ingredients I can possible find and always emphasize portion control, as I learned myself from Nutrisystem.

This Saturday it was perfect time for everybody’s favorite buttermilk pancakes with apples. They can be made with regular flour, but I always enjoy substituting it with gluten-free flour. This is up to you though. This recipe makes about 24 medium size pancakes and feeds our family of four. Sometimes we even have a few left over. They are very easy to make. You will need a hand held or stand mixer and approximately 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 organic eggs
• 2 table spoons of raw sugar or organic honey
• A pinch of salt
• 1 cup of organic buttermilk or kefir
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 7 table spoons of flour
• 2 small or 1 large apple, peeled
• Cinnamon
• Coconut oil for cooking

To start, put eggs in the mixer, add sugar and salt, and mix on high speed for a couple of minutes, until it becomes a bit foamy.

While the mixer is working, pour buttermilk into a medium bowl and add baking soda, stir.

While you stir, the mixture will bubble and expand, so make sure your bowl has some room for that.

When your egg and sugar mixture starts foaming, add buttermilk with baking soda and continue mixing for about a minute.

After everything gets combined, pause the mixer and add a little bit of cinnamon and 7 heaping table spoons of flour of your choice.

Let the mixer combine everything again.

While your batter is finishing in the mixer, take 1-2 apples, wash, and peel them.

I always use organic Honeycrisp apples.

You can slice them very thinly or use a grater or shredder.

I use the grater most of the time because sliced apples need more time cooking inside the pancake than shredded ones.

Next step is to stop the mixer, add shredded apples, and finish combining everything by hand with a spoon. Your batter is done!

I like organic coconut oil for cooking, but you can use whatever you like. Preheat the oven with oil on medium heat before pouring the first batch of pancakes.

Keep in mind that these pancakes will use quite a bit of oil. Once the skillet is ready, pour about 6 spoon-fulls of batter into the frying pan or skillet.

Make sure you flip them very soon because the first side tends to cook faster than the other one. It might just be my cook top though.

The pancakes will be fluffy and thick because of baking soda. I serve them with sour cream and various jams. Enjoy and treat yourself!