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Join My Readable Feast over at Pancake Recipes for his Carnival of the Recipes salute to Pancake Day - also known as Shrove Tuesday - on February 5th.

The Denver Post ran a wonderful healthy pancake recipe created by their food editor Kristen Browning-Blas. What I like about it is that you can prepare the dry ingredients ahead of time to keep in the freezer so you always have them on hand - all you need to do is add buttermilk and an egg.

If you’re allergic to eggs like my daughter Lucie, then you can use a blend of milk, sour cream, and yogurt instead. To make it even healthier you could try no-fat milk and plain no-fat yogurt (which is kind of sour like buttermilk). Also, instead of vegetable oil, try some grapeseed or flax oil for extra Omega-3 fatty acids.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups raw quick or old-fashioned oats
2. 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3. 2 cups whole wheat flour
4. 1/4 cup each: flax meal, wheat germ
5. 6 tablespoons brown sugar
6. 2 tablespoons baking powder
7. 1 tablespoon baking soda
8. 1 tablespoon salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients. Store in a resealable bag in the freezer.

To make about 12 medium pancakes:

1. Blend 1 cup dry mix with 1 egg and 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or a blend of milk, sour cream, yogurt) and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Stir to remove lumps but do not over beat. Let sit at least 10 minutes to soften oats.
2. Pour by half-cups onto hot buttered griddle.
3. Serve with butter, syrup or honey, jelly, whipped cream and/or powdered sugar.

Pancake Inspired Books

We all know If You Give a Pig a Pancake, but there are lots of other wonderful children’s books with a pancake theme:

• Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle
• Pancakes for Breakfastby Tomie dePaola
• Mama Panya’s Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary Chamberlin, Rich Cahmberlin, and Julia Cairns
• Curious George Makes Pancakes by H.A. and Margret Rey
• Marsupial Sue Presents “The Runaway Pancake” (Book and CD) by John Lithgow and Jack E. Davis
• The Runaway Pancake by Mairi Mackinnon, Lesley Sims, and Silvia Provantini from Usborne Books
• Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes by by Jan Fearnley
• Round Is a Pancake by Joan Sullivan Baranski and Yu-Mei Han
• Hey, Pancakes!by Tamson Weston and Stephen Gammell
• Pancakes For Supper by Anne Isaacs  

Do you have a favorite pancake book or recipe? Share below!

Usually I’m not thrilled about famous people like Madonna or Jamie Lee Curtis writing children’s books. They become best sellers because of the person writing them, not because they’re any good. In fact, sometimes they’re downright awful.
An exception to this is John Lithgow. He’s done some terrific books like The Poets’ Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family, which I reviewed last month.

Here he’s interviewed by a young lady for SoCal.com about Mahalia Mouse Goes to College: Book and CD. I’ll have to look for it because I like any children’s book that encourages kids of all ages to be into learning, to go to college, and especially for girls to study science.

What cracks me up about his appearances is that Lithgow does as much acting and singing as he does reading his books. It something that appeals to his audience - both young and old - for sure.

I was a judge for the 2006 Cybils and they’re continuing the tradition this year with the 2007 Cybils awards. Once again, a terrific selection of books.(The widget below from SmartLinks shows just the nonfiction picture books. The other categories are Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Fiction, Non-fiction: Middle Grade and Young Adult, Poetry, and Young Adult Fiction.) Can’t wait until February 14 for them to announce the winners.

Welcome to My Readable Feast, the new version of A Readable Feast, my former blog on ClubMom.

Here’s the deal. It’s a mess. I haven’t decided on my blog’s theme (look) yet. And I don’t have enough time to fix things up. But be patient…I’m working on it and hope to have everything cleaned up by the end of the month.

Until then, come by and see me at A Mama’s Rant, This Mama Cooks! or at The Write Spot.