Chocolate Pancakes

It's no secret that my efforts to get Nikki to eat something I've made with my own hands can sometimes prove challenging. She's extremely picky. She likes eating rice and beans but I need to get the healthy stuff like greens, carrots and fiber rich foods in her. It can be an all around battle. Since having some health challenges almost 6 years ago I try really hard to cook healthy and cut back on some of the bad stuff. Not an easy task when you have a meat loving husband and a child who only likes pizza and In n' Out burgers.  I love these foods too but there is a limit. Lindsey is pretty open to just about anything and will eat anything I make for her. Bless her heart. Years ago after taking a cancer prevention cooking class I turned vegan for a short period and tried desperately to get my family to follow suit.  But I learned quick that you can't change people's eating habits over night. My intentions were good and they still are.  After a couple of months I switched to vegetarianism and stayed that way for three or four months then fell off the wagon completely...lol. Ernie and the kids were elated to say the least. Still, even though I'll eat chicken and fish and occasionally red meat, I keep it in moderation. There's cancer on both sides of my family as well as diabetes so this mama is determined to get the family eating right.

Now about those chocolate pancakes...lol. Nikki is not much of a breakfast eater unless of course we're going to IHOP or Polly's Pies. She doesn't like oatmeal unless I pack it with sugar which I refuse to do. She gets bored of cereal, scrambled eggs and pancakes. So this morning I asked her what SHE wanted (instead of trying to feed her what I wanted). I couldn't help but smile when she asked for chocolate pancakes. I'm thinking...okay..I can do this. I had some unsweetened cocoa powder from Trader Joes that I could mix in with the pancake batter. It came out pretty good.  Then I thought it'd be fun to "dress" it up a little and somehow get her to eat some fruit at the same time. This is what I came up with. I swear I heard the angels sing when I noticed she cleaned her plate...hahahaha. Oh the little things that make this proud mama jump for joy!