Another day, another fruity breakfast of champions!  You are now free to delectate over the screen–just don’t bite it:

You cannot possibly imagine my excitement at coming home from Pricesmart the other day with a three pound sack of frozen blueberries.  The only thing that was more exciting about that trip to Pricesmart was the fact that I also bought a bra two-pack, right off the shelf, without trying it on–but that’s a story for another occasion.

Anyway, moving on from boobies to berries.

Because I refuse to pay the equivalent of a car down payment for rank, old berries, frozen berries are the best I can do here in Trinidad and I appreciate them like the fabulous little nuggets of vitamin C delight that they are.  Because I’m a food hoarder (and I’m too lazy to brave traffic into Port of Spain to get to Pricesmart on a regular basis), I also try to save them for special occasions.

Yesterday, I got to sleep in until 8 am and was celebrating Eat Yummy Things For Friday’s Long Run, so the blueberries came out.  Originally, I was going to use them to replace the bananas in my oatmeal banana pancakes, but I didn’t have enough baking powder for that, so I went for the cornmeal pancakes, which require less baking powder.

As for the berries?  You can add any kind you want, though I can tell you from experience that frozen strawberries don’t work, but maybe that’s just me not digging foods with slug-like textures.

So, to make these, you’ll need to combine these dry ingredients in a big bowl:

• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or 1/4 cup all-purpose and 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Then combine the wet ingredients in another (smaller) bowl:

• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter (I’m usually too lazy to dirty up another bowl, so I usually do the oil thang; however, the butter makes these even tastier)

And set aside:

• 1-2 tsp. butter (or vegetable oil) for the pan
• 1 cup or so of blueberries, or any other berry, still frozen

Now, make your pancakes:

• Add the wet ingredients to the combined dry ingredients and mix just to combine–don’t overmix or your pancakes will be tough as hockey pucks. If it’s looking a bit dry, add a spoonful or two of soy milk; don’t worry, they’ll be fine.
• While this is all going on, heat your pancake pan (griddle, skillet, or large frying pan) over medium heat.  When it’s hot, melt in the butter, then spoon about a 1/4 cup of mix  onto the pan. Sprinkle the berries onto the pancakes.
• When bubbles begin to form in the pancake surface, flip them over and cook for a couple minutes more.   (Don’t flip more than once or, again, you risk hockey pucks for breakfast).
• Remove to a pretty plate, top with fruit /syrup / toppings of your choice, and chomp–delicately–away.

I love these so much that I actually pay attention to the pan to avoid burning them (the berries make these particularly burn-prone).  Getting my undivided attention?  Now that’s a sign of drool-worthiness indeed.