Mint and courgette fritters for a stressful day

Nobody really warns you that being off ill is a full time job - there's so much to organise in preparation for surgery.  Diet is suddenly far more important than it's been before, not only do I have to make sure everything I eat is easy on the stomach, I also have to try and gain as much weight as I can (quite a challenge when high fat foods are off the list). 

But it's more than that, it's the monotony of making good choices each day, pacing yourself, keeping up to date with appointments, filling in family.  It's not the lifestyle I would select for a 25 year old and it's not one I'm very comfortable with adopting.  What happened to going out until 3am and being reckless?  It's barely an option when you're trying to get yourself well. 

So I made these little pancakes to cheer me up a bit and give me an easier lunch.  I make these a lot and they're very versatile - you can pretty much fling in anything you fancy, particularly spices and herbs.

Mint and courgette fritters 

Ingredients 

1 Courgette (peeled and grated)

1 egg

3-4 tablespoons self raising gluten free flour

1 tsp baking powder

1-2 spring onions (finely sliced/cut)

a few mint leaves (finely chopped)

feta cheese (optional)

What you do

1. Basically all you need to do is chuck all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Be quite liberal with the spring onions to make sure the flavour is strong enough at the end and be a bit easier on the mint (it can be slightly overpowering). Mix the ingredients together well.  Season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and wait for the pan to get hot.  Once the pan is ready, take a spoon and add a large dollop of your mixture into the pan (the way you would for drop scones or small pancakes). You should be able to fit about 3 pancakes into the frying pan at a time. 
3. Cook each pancake for a few minutes on each side, flipping with a spatula halfway through.  When they're done they should be golden on the outside and cooked through.  The baking powder makes these pancakes very light and fluffly - expect them to rise a little as they cook. 

And that's all there is to it - it's a very simple recipe and the pancakes can be made in bulk and eaten over a few days.  I don't know if they entirely fixed my bad mood, but they did make me feel quite pleased with myself when I sat down to enjoy them over a long (and restful) lunch.