Oct 16, 2017, Updated Apr 26, 2021 This post is sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada. Today I’m sharing these delicious, protein-packed ricotta pancakes. Even though it’s been years since I’ve finished university, and my kids are not yet in school, September still feels like the start of a new year. It’s a mini-reset for me, maybe even more so than January. I get a new wave of energy to put into planning meals, cleaning up the pantry, stocking the fridge. As much as I love spontaneous summer dinners – mostly consisting of everything tossed on the grill – I relish a return to routine and eating intentionally, and putting actually forethought into what I’ll be eating for the other two meals on any given day. Breakfast is my hungriest meal, and tends to be the most neglected. I wake up starving and lightheaded. Mama needs to EAT. I need a balanced early-morning meal to have a good day. (If you invite me to brunch, I will have already had first breakfast.) I need carbohydrate, I need some fat, and I need protein to keep me going. If I skip out on the protein, I’m starving and snacky by ten o’clock. If otherwise lacking (lookin’ at you, blueberry muffin), it’s easy to make a latte and get my protein that way, or add a few pieces of cheese.
It’s no secret that milk products are one of my favourite ways to get protein. We go through about two 1.75 kg tubs of Greek-style Canadian yogurt and about eight litres of milk per week in our home every week, and I buy the giant, wholesale-sized blocks of cheddar. These pancakes are packed with muscle-building protein from Canadian ricotta and milk. They are like fluffy clouds. You watch them magically gain loft in the frying pan like lovely little soufflés. They definitely keep me going.
Theo and I stumbled on some blackberry bushes a few weeks ago when we were “hiking” (I don’t think you can say that without air quotes when half your party is stopping to pick up rocks and sticks every three seconds). We braved the spider webs and thorns and filled a massive container with the sweetest, plumpest berries – so ripe that a shake of the branch would send them tumbling to the ground. I love that Theo is getting interested in the things I love. I’m loving how life is evolving (slowly) into outdoor fun and activities we all actually enjoy (not that plastic dinosaurs aren’t a blast).
If you’ve never made ricotta pancakes, their texture is delicate but more substantial than the buttermilk variety. The golden exterior gives way to an airy, but almost custardy middle. I topped them with mashed (hand-picked!) blackberries (you can use thawed from frozen in off-season) and creamy, Greek-style Canadian yogurt for even more protein.
I always make more than I need on the weekend and freeze the extras to power busy weekdays. To freeze, spread in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze, then transfer to freezer bags or airtight containers to store in freezer up to 3 months. To serve, just pop them in the toaster. The kids loooove them, too.
More Must-Try Breakfast Recipes
Ham & Cheese Buttermilk Waffles Orange-Scented Vanilla Bean French Toast Gooey Cinnamon Buns with Cream Cheese Icing
