If you've been reading this blog for long, you know that I'm a proponent of healthy school lunches and that I am appalled at the lack of quality available to most American elementary school students in their cafeterias. Also, it's my goal to reduce the amount of garbage my family produces, so I've decided to make all of their school lunches no waste meals.
When I came across this bento-themed meme at What's for Lunch at Our House, I knew I would participate. So here's what's for lunch at our house.
Main compartment: Romaine lettuce, carrot curls, cucumbers cut into butterflies, strawberries and white cheddar cheese cut into bunnies, and a hard-boiled egg molded into a bunny shape.
Sides: strawberries cut to fit compartment; sweet potato pancakes in leaf and tree shapes.
Not pictured: salad dressing and honey-cinnamon butter
Time invested: 20 minutes (plus boiling time for eggs---pancakes were leftovers)
Sweet Potato Pancakes with Honey-Cinnamon Butter
What You Need:
- 1 sweet potato, cooked, peeled, and mashed
- 1 large banana, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 2 cups milk (I used almond milk...feel free to use whatever milk you prefer)
- 1 2/3 cups flour (I used all unbleached white flour, but you can substitute whole wheat for even healthier pancakes)
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
- non-stick cooking spray for the pan
- Preheat your griddle or skillet on medium heat.
- In a food processor, or using a mixer, beat sweet potato with banana and applesauce. Add milk slowly and beat to combine.
- In a separate, large mixing bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking powder.
- Add liquid to dry ingredients, stirring only long enough to make sure all the dry ingredients are wet.
- Drop by 1/3 cupfuls onto a greased skillet and cook 3 minutes on first side, flip, and cook until done (about 3 more minutes).
- For the butter: In a food processor, combine 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter with 1/4 cup honey and 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon. Process until combined. Store in refrigerator.
14 comments:
Oh, man, those look good! I, too, use soy milk and whole grain flours and such when I make pancakes -- it's a great place to hide them. Who says you can't eat well and still have fun???
foodfloozie.blogspot.com
Your children are very lucky. That is a great looking lunch.
How did the texture of your sweet potato pancakes compare to regular pancakes made with eggs & oil?
good question :) the texture was identical. You'd never know the egg and oil and sugar were missing from these pancakes.
Very nice! How do you get the egg to look like that?
Thanks Lisa. I bought egg molds from Amazon marketplace. You stick a hot, peeled, hard-boiled egg in the mold, close it up and put the whole thing in cold water and leave it there for about 10 minutes. It shapes the egg. It's fun! :o)
following you back thanks for the follow and boy does that look good.
adventuresofthedomesticatedmama.blogspot.com
wow that looks really yummy! I need to make that recipe.
That looks so good! I need to try those pancakes for my kids, they love sweet potato.
Thanks so much for linking up this week! :o)
Stopping by What's For Lunch Weds. The recipe sounds delish and the box looks awesome. Love the bunny strawberries :)
what a creative idea! looks wonderful!
Thanks for sharing your school lunch ideas. Our school year is almost over here, but my goal for next year is to send good lunches with my kids because the school lunch is so bad. I need plenty of ideas!
Wow, so healthy and yummy! Thanks for the recipe.
The bento box looks so cute! And oh how I love sweet potato pancakes! Everything looks really tasty!
That lunch box looks so cute and yummy. Wow!
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