I hate letting food go to waste.  Yesterday’s zucchini was starting to mold and the bok choy was turning yellow but I still used them.

I have a sizable container of ricotta leftover from my Eggplant Parmesan.  I don’t want it to go bad, so I’m trying to figure out ways to incorporate it.  On Friday, I spread some on my sandwich… delicious.  Today, I thought… pancakes… It’s Sunday, why not?  Thus…

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

adapted from Bobby Flay’s Recipe

1/3 cup, heaping of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder, optional
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of ricotta
1/3 cup milk
zest + juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp agave
coconut oil

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Add some coconut oil to a skillet/griddle/pan, melt on low heat.  Add 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake, cover with a lid/foil.  Once you see the pancakes get “holey” on one side, flip them over and cook for a few more minutes (maybe 2).  These pancakes are pretty delicate so low heat is essential.  These are the varying degrees of heat I used… low is best 🙂

I got 8 pancakes out of this recipe.  I immediately froze 4 to be reheated in the toaster oven on a rainy day!

I topped my pancakes with some extra lemon zest, shredded coconut and a mixture of greek yogurt and maple syrup (1/4 cup yogurt + 1 tbsp real maple syrup).  DELICIOUS!

O.M.G.

Make these.  Now!

While I say the cardamom is optional on there (Bobby Flay used nutmeg but I thought lemon and cardamom sounded great together), it really makes the recipe that much better.  Cardamom is one of those underused spices in the US that is just amazing in my opinion.  Best ice cream I ever had was Cardamom Ice Cream at Ici in Berkeley. I might venture to say that cardamom is my favorite spice…

Now I’m stuffed and ready to conquer my pile of reading and methods problem set!

Any suggestions on what else to do with my ricotta?

See you next time for Sunday baking!  I’m making a vegan treat tonight!

Have a great Sunday!!