Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. I am sure you’ve heard this time and time again but I know for most people that breakfast just isn’t all that important.  I see people at work or friends tell me all about how famished they are by lunch time or I see them eat McDonalds or Tim Horton’s at work. Why people don’t eat breakfast will always amaze me.

I hope that everyone who doesn’t eat a regular breakfast at least has  yummy homemade breakfasts for weekends especially since it’s so easy and inexpensive to make. One thing I love making, which fills us up, is pancakes. Pancakes can sometimes be heavy but if you add fruit to them it makes the lighter and more refreshing. This is a recipe for apple pancakes that J and I re-heated in the toaster all week, delicious!!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• Zest and juice of half a lemon or orange (I used lemon)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• Dash of cinnamon
• 3 medium apples, peeled and grated (try for a tart variety like green)

Vegetable oil for frying

Mix the eggs with milk in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.

Combine add the apples to the wet ingredients and mix in dry ingredients. The batter should be thick and lumpy, do not over stir. Add in citrus juice and zest, mix to just incorporate.

Heat a thin layer of oil or butter in skillet over medium to medium low heat. Drop a spoonful of batter into hot oil and flatten it out, otherwise it won’t cook in the middle. Wait until pancake has lots of bubbly holes and is golden brown underneath and flip, cooking for another 3-5 min until browned.

I love pancakes! They remind me of being a kid and getting a special breakfast home cooked by my parents. I can just imagine myself as a kid waiting, sometimes not so patiently, smelling the aroma of the fluffy little cakes cooking over the stove. Then I got to smother them with sticky maple syrup which seemed way too sweet to be allowed, almost like candy for breakfast! My mom was more of the banana or blueberry pancake maker but these apple pancakes will have to be on my pancake rotation when I have kids. They’re just too delicious not to.