My 14 year old daughter is a competitive athlete, and one of the best things about sports is it makes young people aware of the value of nutrition and taking care of their bodies instead of opting for heroin-chic beloved of the fashion industry and unthinking women, or eating junk food.

Georgina has a small frame that is packed solid with muscles. With her high metabolic rate, she burns a lot of calories. Thus, we have to be careful that she meets her nutritional requirements plus more. I don’t want her to go down the path of supplements and vitamins, because a happy and balanced view of food and a healthy approach to eating is a lifelong state of mind. I don’t want my daughter to grow up dependent on pills and chemicals.

Thus, we have one simple principle in our kitchen: we ask ourselves, “Is it nutritionally empty?”

Pancakes, for example. It is mainly flour, egg and some milk. Flour is a filler, nothing else. Is it worth eating it, apart from the pleasure of the taste? Do you want to fill your stomach up with white flour?

But we love pancakes!!!

Here’s our super-version of the classic pancake, it’s full of goodness:

Ingredients for the batter:

120g unbleached white flour

2 heaped tablespoons maca

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

140ml milk

1 large egg (please read about safe eggs here)

2 tablespoons of melted butter

More butter for frying

 

The garnishing:

1 banana, sliced

Udo oil

Wild honey

Nuts and seeds

Bee pollen

Method:

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. Cook the batter until light gold in colour.

With the remaining butter, caramelise the banana slices. Pour over the pancake, drizzle Udo oil and honey on it and sprinkle with bee pollen, nuts and seeds.

 

She had green smoothie and the super pancakes, and off she went for an activity-filled day with a big smile on her face and bags of energy. It’s a super energy-charged breakfast, that’s for sure!