Could-be-local Buckwheat Pancakes, a.k.a. Stupid Human Tricks

Humans are strange animals. We have invented machines to take perfectly acceptable, edible veggies such as carrots and separate their liquid from their solid components. With the intention of consuming both.

I used one of those fancy machines this morning in the form of the Jack LaLane Power Juicer, which I still often find to be more trouble than it's worth, but it's much better than my cheap department store juicer that exploded ginger all over my kitchen and ended up in the trash.

This morning, I juiced three medium-sized organic local carrots and one inch of organic ginger (not local, cost-prohibitive at the moment). I mixed in one heaping tablespoon of Vitamineral Green, which I recognize is not at all local and does not generally have the potential to be. But man is it potent. This is my one "superfood" luxury besides chocolate. The stuff makes me feel like I've had about five cups of coffee, minus the jitteriness. I can't even drink it before bed. And it is entirely organic and natural. Okay, enough advertisement...mixing potent superfoods with fresh made carrot ginger juice is a good way to start the day.

I then took a heaping half cup of coarsely ground buckwheat flour and put it into a hand-blender cup. According to Cornell University, Buckwheat can be grown within decent proximity of Western Mass, but I haven't seen it available in any stores. I'll keep looking.

I cracked one very local egg into my non-local buckwheat flour and added the remainder of this week's milk delivery, about 1/3 cup. I blended them all together, sprinkled in a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, and then had an amazing brainstorm: why not add my juicer-fibers? In they went, two handfuls of carrot pulp with a smattering of ginger. All blended up into a thick paste and ready to go.



I covered the bottom of a cast iron pan in olive oil and tested my first pancake...then ended up with three ridiculously large ones and one small and reasonable one. Drizzled honey over the top in lieu of syrup and set to taste testing. Buckwheat typically leads to heavy results, so I was surprised by the relative lightness of these carrot-ginger-fiber cakes. I assume that the fiber, combined with thorough blending, gave them a little more breathing room. Still, were I to do it again, I would add a bit less flour and a bit more milk and possibly one more egg, going for a more crepe-like texture. The honey helped a lot. Another surprising thing: I was satisfied, but not heavily bloated, tired, or overly full after eating this theoretically heavy meal. Good combo.