Whole Wheat Pancakes

When I was a much younger woman, I had an organic garden plot in my back yard. I dug the whole garden by myself...20ftx30ft with a spade and a rake. It was the most grounding wonderful experience a 25 year old farmgirl in the city could ask for. I raised beans, peas, pumpkins, corn, tomatoes and watched my toddler son walk between the rows of plump veggies and pluck sweet peas right off of the vine, pop them open and gobble the sweet little nuggets right there in the garden. (never could get him to eat them cooked at his highchair). We had early spring lettuce soup, steamed sweet peas, lucious buttery corn on the cob. I even dug a hole in the back yard and made a cooking pit. I squatted over it like I imagined my native american ancestors did. Over the years I look back at that time in my life as an earthy, nature girl time. Me with my Rodale Organic Gardening book in hand, a babe on my hip and my long hair in braids, feeling in tune with the earth and the wind and the sun and all parts of nature around me. There was no better feeling than my spade slicing through the moist earth, the feel of soil in my hand, the sound of the morning doves in the distance and children laughing in my yard...where did it all go?

I went to college and learned how to function in the "real" world. I chased after some societal dream of having more and buying more and doing less for myself. Along with that, I left that Earth girl behind. I never mourned her passing in my 30's and early 40's. As I near 50, I am looking back in retrospect and wanting to regain a little of that part of who I really am, deep inside of me. I want to regain the whole foods, the whole life the joy of earth between my toes and fingers.

Anyway, I digress.....if you are still here with me, Wow, you are pretty tough....the point of my blogging today is to share a recipe with you that I got from a dear LDS friend of mine. She gave me a bag of whole wheat and a card with this recipe. I made them years ago and loved them and then lost the card. My DH found this recipe online for me on the Utah Wheat Board site. I had purchased a small bag of whole wheat kernels this week and wanted to make these pancakes this weekend....so here is a photo of the results. They are delicious and are easy to make. So if you would like to capture a little bit of the whole foods foodie, I highly recommend these. I guess the making of these and the taste of them brough back my memories of my organic garden and that feeling of wholeness in my life. I hope you enjoy them:
Whole Wheat Kernel Blender Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat kernels
1 egg
2 T. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Place 1 cup wheat kernels and 1 cup milk in blender. Blend for 3 minutes. Then add rest of milk and blend for another 1 minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend. Bake on hot griddle until bubbles begin to pop, turn and bake other side until golden brown. Serve hot with butter and honey or maple syrup.

Enjoy.....thanks for blogging with me today.
G