Greek yogurt blueberry pancakes

I hope everyone had a great July 4th holiday! Ours was spent with friends and family, lounging poolside with yummy food, cold beers and lots of laughter. We missed out on seeing any fireworks this year as a lot of cities had cancelled their festivities due to the economy. It wasn't a big deal to us, but it occurred to me how sad it must be for the kids whose parents don't have the ability to drive them to another city to see the fireworks. Fireworks were always a big deal for me as kid. I remember every fourth was spent at a cook-out and around sunset we would group up for the half-mile walk to the park to watch the fireworks. We would sit on an old blanket and light sparklers until the big show started; then we'd ooh and ahh at the bursts of color, calling out which style of firework was our favorite. What are some of your favorite fourth of July memories?

Saturday we were in search of breakfast. J had suggested heading to one of my favorite breakfast spots, The Original Pancake House but I was worried about the wait for seating due to the holiday weekend. Instead I turned to my favorite pancake recipe - greek yogurt pancakes by Macheesmo, which he adapted from a recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

I love what the greek yogurt does to these pancakes. It elevates them to a new level with addition of the subtle tang and the oomph (technical-term, there) of the added body. I added in some fresh blueberries from CSA share bag and I cross-my-heart that these are some of the best pancakes I've ever had. Heaven on a fork.

Greek Yogurt Blueberry Pancakes
(Adapted from Macheesemo's adaptation of PWC)

1/2 cup AP flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup greek yogurt, vanilla or plain
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract (skip this if you used vanilla yogurt)
2 large eggs
1-1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir to mix.
2. Add greek yogurt and stir until well incorporated into dry mix.
3. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix well. If your mix looks a little on the dry side you can slowly add a bit of milk to moisten.
4. Grease your griddle/pan with a bit of butter or non-stick spray (if you are low on butter, as I was!) and portion out your pancake batter. I use a #16 disher, but a 1/4 cup measuring cup works well too. I prefer slightly smaller pancakes so I can have more and stack them tall!
5. Dot your freshly griddled pancakes with blueberries. Yes, you can just add them to the batter, but adding them now allows you to control the cake-to-berry ratio and also helps you maintain the whole berry rather than broken berry mess.
6. You'll want to cook the first side until the edges just start to set and the center of the pancake is bubbling. It's tempting to crank up the heat to achieve this faster, but you'll just end up with a burnt side and that doesn't make pretty pancakes.
7. Flip and allow the second side to cook for 3-4 minutes and transfer to a waiting plate.
8. Top with butter, real maple syrup, fresh whipped cream or whatever else you like!