Green Pancakes!

So I know I'm a few weeks late to the pancake party, but hear me out. Pancake day came and went and I didn't eat a single pancake, I used to be known as some what of a pancake queen so this was really disappointing for me. I had also been lusting over crepes ever since I went to Paris. In Paris there is a creperie on almost every corner, I watched the chefs carefully craft mammoth crepes stuffed with either nutella or savoury choices in awe. Unfortunately I didn't find any vegan crepes. A few days after pancake day I said fuck it! Who needs a particular day or the french to eat pancakes. I decided to go off the beaten path, and make pancakes a week or so after pancake day and I don't care about instagram algothirims or SEO traffic. I wanted to eat pancakes and so I did. Thing was these pancakes were absolutely banging and so I made them again and again, until I had perfected my pancake making skills and now I'm ready to share them with you all. By the way what's the difference between a crepe and a pancake? Is a crepe just a french pancake, or is it something more? Also what are your opinions on savoury pancakes, cos I know a lot of people won't be happy that these pancakes/crepes are savoury, but I'm a savoury kinda girl. Jamie always tells me my middle name should be savoury, because I often moan to him I'm hungry and he'll suggest eating something like chocolate spread on toast, and then I give him this look of absolute contempt and say "no, I want savoury".That's just how I roll people!

So despite my complete lack or organisational skills, remembering food days exist etc. I realised these pancakes are literally perfect for Saint Patrick's day which is this Sunday. Because they're green, Duh! So someone how I managed to make this post totally topical without even trying, y'all can thank me later. And to all my Irish friends Happy Saint Paddy's!

This recipe is for the pancakes, I've given you some top notch filling suggestions, but you really can feel free to stuff with whatever takes your fancy. I would suggest some kinda vegan cheese, cos it goes all gooey and melty, and who don't want that. I used violife tzatziki, which I really loved, the cucumber and herbs complimented the pancakes super well. I also stuffed mine with tomatoes, mushrooms, rocket, toasted pine nuts, and a pinch of fresh chilli. Yeh my combo rocked, but I'm sure your combo will too!

These pancakes also stuff a lot of dark greens into the meal. Great for sneaking veggies past picky kids. I used a mixture of spinach, rocket, fresh parsley and fresh coriander To make them, but you could play around with other greens like kale, and other herbs, just keep the quantities the same to get the right consistency.

So here's a little bit of mental health chat, if you can't be arsed to read this bit skip to the recipe, I get it. But I'm basically masking a mental health blog with pretty food pictures to get you listening. I've recently been feeling a bit/lot (depending on the day) down. I've let old habits slip back, like waking up and scrolling on Instagram when I first get up (start my day comparing myself to others), picking fights (because I want help dealing with my emotions, but won't ask for that help), letting anxiety win and staying in bed all day (currently reading the Game Of Thrones series and I am actually hooked so this one is sorta justified!). Last weekend I went to Vegan Life Live, which was really fun, but I found myself getting really anxious, I didn't want to approach people, and I wondered around for a while on the verge of tears. I got over it a bit but then I felt disappointed in myself for wasting time that I could have been using to have fun. I got some video footage and I'm not sure how much of it will be good, but I'm going to try and make a short video of the day so keep your eyes peeled for that. I also brought a few fancy pants ingredients for real cheap so watch out for recipes too. Despite my disappointment I feel like the end of this week has been a bit of a turning point for me. I spoke to my therapist yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks, and I got a blog post photographed, got it written today, have done adult things like cleaning, basically I've smashed life.Sometimes I get really impatient with myself, I want to feel better, I want to be doing life better, but that's just more negative self talk. Heeling takes time and it's not straightforward. But I've got to keep trying because the alternative is everything I hate.

Makes 4-5 pancakes

Ingredients

For the pancakes

50g spinach

40g rocket

15g coriander

15 g parsley

1 teaspoon garlic granules

1 teaspoon onion granules

1 teaspoon dried coriander

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

2 cup gram flour

3 cup water

Fillings (optional)

cherry tomatoes

chestnut mushrooms

rocket

fresh chilli (diced small)

Violife tzatziki or vegan cheese

toasted pinenuts

Method

1) Place the rocket, spinach, fresh herbs, spices and water into a blender and blend until smooth.

2) Sieve the gram flour in a mixing bowl. Add the green water slowly, whisking it in into the flour so you don't get any lumps.

3) In a large non-stick add a small amount of oil (if you cook with no oil you can leave it out as you are using a non-stick pan). Once the oil is hot, add a ladle of pancake mix and tilt the frying pan so that the mix makes a nice round pancake.

4) Add your filling ingredients in a line down the middle of the pancake. If you are using tzatziki/cheese place this at the bottom so it melts.

5) Lift the edges of your pancake with a spatula. The pancake needs to fry for at least 5 mins or so. Once the underside has browned all over fold the pancake over so that both sides meet in the middle.

6) Serve and enjoy!