It’s harder and harder these days to promote good nutrition at home, since so many of the products that kids and other family members are exposed to are full of complete and total crap.  Don’t even get me started on school lunches.  (More on that some other time.)  So there are times when it’s useful to sneak in some nutritious foods without your kids (or others ) noticing. 

My son is pretty adventurous in his eating habits. He loves sushi, eats bean-spread sandwiches with relish (enjoyment, not pickles) and demands chicken livers at New Years.  My daughter, on the other hand, is a completely different story.  If she could live exclusively on cheese-flavored wheat flour paste, she would. 

One of the areas that I always seem to get into conflict with the rest of the family is pancakes.  I like “weird” pancakes.  Whole wheat, cornmeal, buckwheat, barley flour, you name it.  And I tend to throw in things like flax seed meal, wheat germ, soy flour, and other (IMHO) interesting ingredients.  Since I took up the low-glycemic lifestyle 2 years ago, the last thing I’m down with is pasty white pancakes. 

This doesn’t go down well with the rest of the gang.  My wife asks for “regular” pancakes, and my son begs for no more “healthy” pancakes. 

I’ve discovered, however, that crepes are apparently exempt from these restrictions.  I make what my wife calls crepes, and I grew up calling “roll-ups” with all the weird ingredients I want.  Bring on the flax seed, bran, soy protein, you name it, and no one seems to be too bothered.  Of course, when you roll said crepe around enough butter and applesauce, there’s only so bad it can be.  I continue on the path of pancake experimentation, but for now at least I have an out.

I’ve been meaning to try some yeast-risen pancakes or waffles.  I used to do that fairly often, but haven’t in ages.  I noticed that in this months Cooks Illustrated, there’s an article on yeast-risen waffles, so I’m feeling re-inspired.