sweet potato pancakes

I bought Jessica Seinfeld's book, Deceptively Delicious, almost 4 years ago (before Ryan made her grand entrance) and practiced for quite some time on Grant (my first child).  Grant can be slightly anti-veggie so in preparation for having kids, I would puree my veggies, freeze them and then sneak them into his food.  He would approach his eggs with the skill of a trained investigator and I was often asked "do these have cauliflower in them or not".... Fast forward 4 years and I got the book back out last week, bought an assortment of veggies and spent an afternoon pureeing.  This method is very much hit and miss.  Eggs mixed with pureed cauliflower worked fine for Reese (she gobbled them right up) but Ryan, with her keen sense of odor, could smell the difference and thus refused to eat them.  The other morning I thought I'd try her sweet potato pancake recipe:

Servings: Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sweet potato puree (steam your sweet potatoes for about 40 minutes, the skin will pretty much fall off, put the potatoes in a food processor and blend till creamy, adding a little of the steamed water if needed, then divide into 1/2 cup portions and put in freezer bags and freeze)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (optional) - I used cinnamon
• 1 cup pancake mix
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
• Pure maple syrup , for serving

In a large bowl, mix the water, sweet potato puree, and cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, if using. Add the pancake mix and stir just to combine—the batter should be lumpy.
Coat a griddle or large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil, and spoon the batter onto the griddle or pan, using 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.
Cook until bubbles form on top of the pancakes and the batter is set, 2 to 3 minutes. Then use a spatula to flip the pancakes and cook them until golden brown on the other side, 2 to 3 minutes.

The girls ate them up - Ryan even said "mmmmmmm" (her ringing endorsement).  Now, will you love them?  Probably not but let's be honest, we moms really only survive on coffee in the morning anyway.