Consider this my gift to you!

Kiel is the worst eater I have ever known. If the boy could get away with just drinking milk and juice with an occasional yogurt thrown in there he would.

The only fruit he will eat is an occasional banana, and the only vegetable is pees.

I've started trying to hide pureed vegetables in what little he will eat, like mac and cheese, but with mixed success.

One thing he will always eat though is pancakes, so a few weeks ago I had a brilliant idea of throwing some pumpkin in with a new recipe I had tried a few times that also included ricotta.

I played around with it a few times and this is what I've come up with. Both my boys like them and they are the tenderest pancakes I've ever had. With the ricotta and soy milk they are packed with protein and calcium. The pumpkin is full of all kinds of good stuff including fiber and lots of vitamins.  I don't worry too much about the fat content with my skinny boys, but you can trim the fat down by using low or no fat ricotta) This may be one of the healthier meals I can count on both of my kids eating.

 MNT's Sneaky Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups high fiber pancake mix (I've used both Krusteaz wheat and honey and Fiber One's buttermilk      mixes with good results)
1 cup ricotta
1 cup pumpkin (I've also used 1/2 c butternut squash and 1/2 c pumpkin)
1 egg (optional but I like to push the protein as much as I can)
1/4 cup (plus or minus) sugar or honey (also optional, I like a sweeter pancake)
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk (I use soy milk because that is what my kids drink)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix everything together and add milk until it is the consistency you prefer. Cook on a griddle like any other pancake. It makes somewhere around 24 two to three inch pancakes. Maybe I'll actually count next time I make them.

I use sugar free syrup for the boys (Rich and I save the real stuff for ourselves - we told Noah it had beer in it so he never asks for it).

I imagine if I took some time to search I'd find a similar recipe out there, so I know I'm probably not as brilliant as I'd like to think, but I can pretend.