My sister visited a couple of weeks ago for my mom’s birthday. She is very health conscious and loves good quality food! She is very lucky to work in a high-end grocery store, where the owners truly care about the quality of the products they sell. Needless to say, when she is here, our conversations always veer toward food, recipes, and health. When she comes, she always brings some health magazines – you know the freebies that are available in the better grocers. This morning, I was looking through one and came across this interesting recipe for sweet potato pancakes with a pineapple salsa. It looked fairly simple, and I had many of the ingredients. Of course, I tweaked it a little bit…chestnut flour in place of whole wheat flour, coconut palm sugar instead of regular sugar, and I added jalapeno to the pineapple salsa. In the end, this was an amazing breakfast and super simple to prepare! Melissa, this is something you could definitely make on a Saturday or Sunday morning. I haven’t tried, but if you make them ahead, they will probably freeze well.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

1/2 sweet potato peeled and grated

1 egg (beaten)

2 tablespoons of chestnut flour

1teaspoon of coconut palm sugar

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon or to taste

1/8 teaspoon of cardamom or to taste

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

dash of salt

Put grated sweet potato in bowl, add egg and stir. Add in the remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended. Heat coconut oil in skillet and drop in batter. Brown on one side and flip to brown the other.  Remove pancakes, plate, and put a dollop of pineapple salsa on top. This recipe should yield 3 medium or 5 small pancakes.

Pineapple Salsa

1/2 pineapple sliced

1/4 of a small jalapeno pepper seeded

1/2 fresh lime

handful of fresh parsley

pinch of salt

Place sliced pineapple and jalapeno on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Broil until edges are browned and fruit begins to caramelize. Remove from oven. Let cool a few minutes. Put pineapple, jalapeno, juice of the lime, and a handful of parsley or cilantro in a blender (I use my Nutribullet), and blend just until chopped. Store leftover in an airtight container.