Griddle cakes VS Pancakes

There is a distinction in these two wonderful breakfast options that I've been trying to figure out. So far I'm finding all griddle cake recipes make very thick, hearty cakes. They tend to puff up and take much longer to cook. I love them, but they can be tricky to cook all the way through. They are doughy and almost feel like a cross between a biscuit and a pancake. Pancakes are a thinner and softer, generally quicker to make. I haven't done as much research as I think I want to on this, I'm certainly open to advice.

Oatmeal Pancakes & Apple oatmeal alternative

These are my favorite Sunday morning pancakes. I always have greek yogurt in the house, and mixing it with milk this way replaces using buttermilk with a slightly healthier alternative. 

1 cup Flour
1 cup Oatmeal - quick oats
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cup Milk w/ enough plain greek yogurt to equal 2 cups
1/4 cup Oil
2 Eggs

Combine dry ingredients set aside.
Mix wet ingredients, making sure the yogurt and milk mix is smooth. Add to dry ingredients and let sit at least 20 minutes to soften the oats.
Pour pancakes onto hot griddle and cook until edges are dry before flipping. These pancakes will take a little longer then most to cook.

These are great the day after as well.

After a fall trip to an apple orchard a had a few pounds of apples sitting around and decided to experiment with them a little. What came out was delicious! 

Apple Variation -
Add 1 tsp Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 2 tsp vanilla w/ 1-2 chopped apples. I used cortland because they are nice and soft and cook fast. 

Sundays are good days in my kitchen & Blueberry peach compote

I love days where I have plenty of time to experiment, and that's exactly what I got the last couple of Sunday. Last week I made the chili from my last post, one of my favorite random pots of stuff meals in a long time. Once I realized it was going to be a chili I through together a corn bread to go with it. I adapted a recipe that used chedder, corn kernels and bacon. I left the bacon out and added cumin and cayenne. I wasn't as happy with it though. It came out a little dry, I went light on the cheese to lighten to fat content but I didn't make up for the moisture it was missing from the bacon. I'll be trying it again and increasing the liquids to see what happens.

I had to run to the store for buttermilk and eggs, and low and behold beautiful blueberries were on sale as well. So I grabbed two pints. And then I sat at home with chili on the stove and cornbread in the oven and two pints of blueberries and buttermilk staring at me. I started a search for something I could make that would use them both. And then realized I didn't have vegetable oil. Well I do, but its garlic flavored and that just wouldn't work. I ended up making a crumb cake from Every Day Food. I subbed some of the flour in the topping for oatmeal to give it a bit more texture. I was very happy with the outcome and took it to work where my coworkers happily did away with it for me. Sadly I didn't even get a picture of it.

A week later I still had blueberries in my fridge. I know its a sin, my only excuse is that I wasn't home very much. Saturday morning I made a smoothie with fresh blueberries, frozen peaches, mango juice, greek yogurt and protein powder. Easily one of the best I've made in a long time. It kept me going for hours.

Sunday at noon I wanted pancakes. I remembered reading a recipe that used sour cream for pancakes, and I knew I still had a lot of greek yogurt so I decided to give it a try. You don't get the recipe yet. The final product was easily some of the best breakfast I've made but there was a lot of tweeking along the way so until I get it just right I wont publish it. But I'll give you the blueberry peach compote I made to use up the rest of my berries.

1 pint blueberries
5 slices frozen peaches - frozen will hold up better but fresh would work fine, add them after 10 minutes of cooking time
1/4 cup sugar
Enough cold water to cover

Toss berries and peaches in small sauce pan with sugar to coat.
Add the water
Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer for 30 minutes until syrup is as thick as you like it.
I like mine very thick. It was that easy, and the flavor is amazing.