Pancake Tuesday 2021

Online Interviews turn to Pancake Tuesday 2021

Food glorious food! After all it is one day to go to Pancake Tuesday……..yum…. I live in East Cork in a town called Cobh situated directly alongside the headquarters of the Irish Naval Service on Haulbowline Island. As a Naval Town we regularly hear stories about when the ships go on their trips to sea and what keeps the “troops” going literally! Food becomes a critical part of the daily experience and the Chefs possibly have one of the most important jobs on board to keep the troops motivated.

In some ways our COVID Voyage shall we say might mirror one of these journeys as for in my own experience with not many other “distractions” lots of the day becomes about food. Put this into the content of my professional work and it comes up when I am interviewing people on behalf of companies. Of course, these interviews are online at the moment but inevitably we will at some point end up chatting about FOOD once again. It comes up in terms of any plans for the weekend? I’d say it will probably be a trip to my local SuperValu or what do you like to do in your free time, any hobbies? “Well, with not much else going on at the moment I have started cooking more”.

It only makes sense now to draw on the fantastic yet deeply practical expertise of local Nutritionist Mary Carmody for some inspiration to guide us on this food journey…

Human Reasons took a break from zoom interviewing to ask Mary for her top pancake tips for some mouth watering treats this Pancake Tuesday. This is what she said…

Mary Carmody “I love pancakes Avril and we have them every Sunday in our house.  It’s like with any foods that I eat, I always try my best to follow these tips↓

TOP TIPS

• Use good natural ingredients   – wholemeal spelt flour (spelt is easy to digest, has lots of b vitamins), cinnamon good to keep body fuel up and blood sugars balanced, real lemons for vitamin C and local Cork honey and some milled flaxseeds packed with protein for growth and repair and omegas to dampen down inflammation and to help with skin health, concentration and good for brain health
• Use a blender or a bowl with a whisk!
• My favourite toppings are – freshly squeezed lemon on pancakes with a little brown sugar (a ½ tsp per pancake)
•                                                     My homemade Nutella recipe (melt a tablespoon of almond or peanut butter in a saucepan with ½ square of dark chocolate 60% cocoa) for a minute or two (no longer as may burn)
• a tablespoon of natural soya yogurt or Glenilen or Glenisk natural yogurt with ½ tsp of vanilla essence
• Savoury – poached eggs (2) and smashed avocado (1/2)
• Goats cheese (a tablespoon) and toasted pecans (4 nuts) and 1 tsp of honey

RECIPE – Spelt Pancakes

140 g wholemeal spelt flour

½ tsp of baking powder

1 tsp. of cinnamon

¼ tsp of Himalayan or sea salt

1 free range egg

2 tbsps. of milled linseeds

180ml of milk (use dairy free if you need to)

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1 tbsp of coconut oil melted for frying pan

INSTRUCTIONS

Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add cinnamon and salt and mix well

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, honey, milk, honey, vanilla together and add to dry ingredients bowl and whisk well to avoid any lumps.  You may need to add a little more milk if mixture feels too dry.

Place a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat and add coconut oil.

When pan is hot, add 2-3 spoons of batter into pan and depending on the size of your pan, you may be able to add another 1 or two pancakes to your pan.

Cook for 90 seconds to 2 minutes on each side until golden and take off pan and place on a plate

Serve with your toppings

Final tip from Mary – pancake mix keep for up to 3 days in the fridge and both children and adults feel so much joy and happiness eating these lovely pancakes at any time of the day”.

Link to Mary’s website with lots of recipes and videos

Recipes & Videos | Nutrition Cork Mary Carmody Nutrition Clinic Cork

Readers we hope you enjoyed as much as we did taking a break from ZOOM and talking about some healthy and most importantly DELICIOUS food ideas to power us up for the week ahead…