Berry Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes

David and I took a luxurious spring break last week.

Actually, we just had Friday off — but we looked forward to it with zeal and enjoyed it so much.

We slept in a bit.  I went for a run/walk around town.  I listened to a few of my favorite songs.

I don’t consider myself a runner at all, but I take advantage when inspiration hits. (I have a similar wait-for-inspiration approach to cleaning the house.)

I have a few songs that I love for exercising so I decided to share a running playlist I made on Spotify.

Two things about the playlist above:

• Spotify rocks —  I downloaded the app a while ago but didn’t do anything with it.  I could only listen to their radio stations from my iPad – felt like another Pandora.  But now the mobile app lets you listen to any of your playlists on shuffle.  I am loving putting together playlists without having to buy any music.  I may be sharing more here.
• If you have never run to Mulan’s “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” you need to do it — SOON.

Other highlights from our day off – chicken sandwich lunch at Chik-Fil-A, going to the movie theater to see Monuments Men (feeling slightly strange that I recognized some fellow movie-goers as Iowa Girl Eat’s parents), cupcakes from Scratch cupcakery, relaxing at home, and trying out Adel’s new Mexican restaurant.  Whoa, that was a lot of food.

Also — I  made these pancakes!  I decided on the recipe before my walk/run so I could dream about the breakfast I was working up an appetite for.

The pancakes did not disappoint — they are hearty and a little grainy from the cornmeal but lightly flavored by the fresh lemon and berries.

I learned while getting the ingredients ready that you can make buttermilk with almond milk.  I mixed a teaspoon of white vinegar with a cup of almond milk and let set for five minutes.

Action shot!  I almost feel like a real food blogger when I do things like this.

Berry Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes
Adapted from Eat, Live, Run
Makes about a dozen pancakes

3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used vanilla almond milk + 1 tsp white vinegar)
2 T canola oil
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (I used 1/2 cup white whole wheat and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour)
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 T sugar
1/2 cup frozen berries

Add eggs, buttermilk, and oil to large bowl and whisk until well blended.
Mix cornmeal, flour, lemon zest, salt, baking soda, baking powder and sugar in separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just combined.
Fold in the berries.
Melt butter on hot skillet or griddle and drop 1/4 cup of batter.  Cook both sides and watch carefully so the pancakes don’t brown too quickly.

These pancakes are great!  So fresh with the lemon zest and berries.  The cornmeal makes them much more sturdy and filling.  These made great leftovers and would freeze really well.

Have a great week!