Pancake Tuesday is around the corner....

Can you believe it's March already? Where has the time gone? It feels no length since the heady, alcohol glazed nights of Christmas. I'll admit, January was a long month, not that I went in for the detox, dry January crap. My moto is everything in moderation. Plus, if I deny myself stuff I tend to get grumpy. And you really don't need to see me grumpy. I basically don't abstain for the benefit of my family and friends. 

And so the slow crawl of January faded into February and we had to endure the card companies pushing the next ''holiday'' on us. No, not Valentines day..though that is an excuse for all the recently detoxed ladies to stuff chocolate into their faces.No, I'm talking about the SuperBowl. There is a determined effort to make us, on this side of the Atlantic give a crap about a game that is really rugby for wimps. (Yes it s a great tactical game, but cut the silly uniforms, padding and ridiculous length - THEN come back and we'll talk). 

Anyway, as they say around these parts (or the whole of Ireland really) there's a grand strech in the evenings now as we move into March. It's no longer dark in the mornings when I get up and the dappled baby blue sky lasts longer into the even. As I type, it's just after 6 o clock and its still bright. It's really the small things. 

And so we're faced with the next calender event.With many events or celebrations, food is a central pillar. This, historically would have been due to people saving up their food in order to throw a huge celebration at the end of periods of fasting or to mark a religious event. For example, in Tudor times, and up until relatively recently, it was expected that in the lead up to Christmas (Advent) everyone would be fasting. This would lead to a build up of food, which would be used in the 12 days of feasting and celebration following the 25th. This would mean that people would over-indulge following a period of deprivation. This would not only be for Christmas, as fasting was a common religious activity. Now, in a more secular world, and in this part of the developed world, fasting or deprivation is unheard of. People are faced with food at every turn and with sedentary lifestyles, this excess of food can only lead to one outcome. An overweight populace. 

Now I'm not going to rant. It's more than easy to eat when food is put in front of you. It's quite literally human nature. But in my opinion, big (and small business) and the general culture now trys to push food on us (usually high fat, high carb) at every dog fight (celebration). 

The superbowl is a case in point. I'd never eat food when I'm watching a GAA match or rugby match. I might have a drink if I'm in a pub watching, but never food. It just doesn't make sense to me. But in the lead up to the Superbowl, all around me, in newspaper supplements and on the internet, ''Superbowl snack ideas'' or Superbowl menus began to pop up. Why would you need to eat watching a TV programme? 

Or walk around a supermarket any time of the year in any country. Say in September. There will be the Halloween stuff out. This isn't just masks and costumes. Nope, its chocolate and sweets and any sort of snack, done up in black wrapping. The day after Halloween, the Christmas stuff will be out. This will be selection boxes, tins of Roses, Celebrations, Heros et. Day after Christmas (sometimes on Christmas Eve) the staff will be putting up the Valentines boxes of chocolates. Then at least here in Ireland it will be a mix of Paddy's Day leprechaun chocolate and Easter eggs. The push to eat is endless.

It kinda sounds like I'm against all this. And in a way I am. It seems a gratuitous consumption of food. And the message appears to be ''It only happens once a year - sure why not? and then it comes to summer time and you're regretting that extra box of After Eights at Christmas, the sneaky Cadbury's creme egg at Easter the large green weird coffee drink you down after a night of drinking. 
I'm not judging, been there, down that, been left wearing the T-shirt around the pool on holidays so as not to scar the other holiday makers. 

But life is TOO SHORT not to enjoy yourself. So, as we come up to the next calendar event, Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday I've decided to reinvent the pancake. I'm going to admit something that will probably earn me a few enemies. I used to hate pancakes..I mean they were batter...fried..it was so..weird. I did eventually get to like pancakes, but I'd only ever have the one. I always had to add to much topping for me to fully enjoy them. 
Then me and my friend had a drunken episode which lead me to have a new found love for the humble pancake. Because you see, my problem with them was that they were an essentially flavourless batter..and you needed to add flavour. 
On our last year in college myself and Aine had a pancake party. Our pancakes were filled with sweet onion marmalade, goats cheese, pesto ham, cheese..yummy savoury goodness. It ended up being one of these nights in college that you remember (well..after piecing it together the morning after) and it got me interested in elevating the pancake. 

This year, with pancake day fast approaching, I decided to combing healthy eating, pancakes and coconut together. This recipe makes 8 American style pancakes, at 148 cals each and are filling, so you don't really need to eat all of them yourself - perfect for a pancake party!

You will need:
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp caster sugar
40g desiccated coconut
2 eggs (separated)
125ml skimmed milk
125ml low fat coconut milk
25g low fat butter (melted)

for the syrup:
250g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
250ml water

1. Put the sugar and vanilla pod and seeds in a pan over a medium heat. Add the water and slowing bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 mins until reduced by half. Cool, the strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Chill

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the caster sugar and coconut

3. in a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolks, milk, coconut milk and melted butter, then whisk into the dry ingredients to make a batter.

4. in a clean bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks, then use a large metal spoon to carefully fold into the batter.

5/ Heat a large, non stick frying pan over a medium heat. Melt some coconut oil if you have it, or some butter. Drop tablespoons of the batter into the pan and cook for 1-2 mins on each side until golden.

6. Serve with the syrup.