Sweet Potato Pancakes with Blueberries

So this is the first of many pancake recipes I have tried lately.  I've been on a pancake kick.  And of course, when I say "recipe," I mean something made up from the ingredients I already have in my fridge.  That's my usual m.o. for cooking; buy healthy ingredients first, figure out what to do with it later.  In this case I had some small sweet potatoes and fresh blueberries.

I made the blueberries into a syrup, but to be honest I cheated.  Instead of boiling them down all the way, I let the blueberries cook for a few minutes, then added a tablespoon of maple syrup and put it on the pancakes as soon as the syrup was heated through.  In the past, I once reduced some blueberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar to the hard-ball stage and made some weird-ass vinegar candy.  Loved it.  Anyway, I did not have the patience to reduce the blueberries so this was the next best thing.  Here is my recipe.

1 small sweet potato
1 small container of Greek yogurt (I used Chobani plain 0%)
1 egg (free range and organic if possible!)
2 TBSP ground flax seeds
pinch of baking powder
pinch of salt
milk (I used plain almond milk) as needed

for the topping:
2 tablespoons of toasted walnuts (optional, but delicious!)
1/2 cup blueberries, rinsed
1 to 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (let me know if someone tries this with agave!)

butter/nonstick spray/oil for the pan

You can also throw in a pinch of cinnamon, turmeric, even black pepper to up the nutrition of these pancakes.  Since we're dealing in approximates here (wtf is a small potato, anyway?) you may need to increase the amount of eggs or flax seeds.  If you need extra egg, use one whole egg and one egg white.

To make:

Poke some holes in the sweet potato with a fork and microwave it for approximately 5 minutes, or until soft.  Cut it lengthwise and scoop the inside into a bowl.  You can discard the skin for the purpose of this recipe, but of course I recommend saving it for stuffed potato skins.  Or compost it.

To the sweet potato insides, add the Greek yogurt first, then the egg (to avoid cooking the egg prematurely), then the next 3 ingredients, then slowly incorporate the milk until the mixture resembles normal pancake batter.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a hot, greased (I used unrefined coconut oil but if I'd had some good butter I'd've used that) griddle.  Usually with pancakes you wait until bubbles form before turning them, but with this recipe I found that it didn't really bubble, so keep checking to make sure the bottom doesn't burn.  Flip them only once; otherwise they get tough.  When the pancakes are done, stack them on a plate and use the skillet to make the sauce.  If you used a real griddle for the pancakes, break out your skillet at this point.

Throw the blueberries right onto the hot skillet, adding some extra coconut oil or butter if you'd like (It seems I'm always looking for ways to add fat to my recipes).  When the blueberries have begun to release their juice, reduce the heat and let them continue to simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the maple syrup.  Immediately pour the mixture over the pancakes, throw some walnuts on top, and enjoy!

Nutrition Info:
Whole batch of pancakes, with walnuts and 2 TBSP maple syrup:
calories: 581, protein 30 grams, fat 25 grams, carbs 85 grams
10 grams of fiber, over 700% of your daily value of vitamin A, about 25% of your daily iron, and a hefty dose of good fats!