Because...Pancakes

A friend of mine from the gym posted a pancake recipe yesterday. She's all about strong, all about eating right and not messing up her training, so I was guessing that if she posted a recipe for a pancake it couldn't bad for you. It consisted of two eggs, a cup of oats, a banana and some vanilla.

I called my son and said, "I'm going to make you a guinea pig."
"Why? I'd rather have it as a pet than breakfast," was his smart reply.
"I mean, you're the guinea pig. I'm making you a pancake."
"Oh! Cool!"

I tried it. It worked, sorta. Didn't overwhelm us with goodness, but meh...But I really. Wanted. Pancakes. Now...since she posted that and I was post-workout and hungry.

I decided that round one of her pancake "recipe" didn't quite cut it, so I tweaked it, and round two was perfect. Pancake perfection. I am sharing it with you. I'm nice that way.

I give you "Guinea Pig 2.0" (Gluten Free pancakes)

In a powerful blender (I used a Vita Mix, but any conventional blender on liquefy will probably do) add the following ingredients:

4 eggs
1 banana
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup coconut milk, almond milk or milk
a few drops of liquid stevia or a little honey
1/2 cup gluten free rolled oats
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking soda

Blend until liquid
Pour into a hot well-seasoned cast iron skillet or griddle, wait for bubbles to pop, etc...Makes 10-12 pancakes, depending on how big you make them.

These pancakes are thicker and fluffier than crepes but not super thick and dense like some other GF pancakes that I have tried. They are a perfect texture and lightly sweet. My whole family loves them. I'd love to know how they work out for you, so, leave a comment!
Enjoy!

* I have since doubled this recipe a couple of times, with good success.

Gluten-Free Pancakes

Gluten-Free Buckwheat Pancakes

Makes about 12 pancakes

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 TBS honey
1 tsp vanilla

6 TBS melted coconut oil

coconut milk or whole milk (approx. 1 cup)

1/2 cup buckwheat
 flour

1/4 cup almond flour

6 TBS coconut flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder



Instructions:
1. Using a wire whisk, mix together eggs, melted coconut oil, milk, honey, and sea salt.

2. Continuing to whisk, add the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed.
 (I found that I needed to add extra coconut milk because the batter was too stiff.)
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter (or coconut oil) in a skillet on a medium flame.

4. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet making pancakes about 3-4 inches in diameter.

5. Serve with lots of butter and real maple syrup, or honey! Yum!

This was my first foray into grain-free cooking. I started with a basic coconut flour recipe for reference, and by the time I was done I had made my own completely different concoction, and (perhaps it's beginner's luck) it turned out perfectly! I have at times found there to be a sort of bitter aftertaste to many gluten / grain - free baked things, but I think this may be due to garbanzo flour, so I did not include any garbanzos. There was absolutely no bitter taste at all. The pancakes were denser, of course than nutrition-free buttermilk pancakes, but they still turned out fluffy due to the baking powder, and the flavor was nutty, buttery, and very filling. Everyone gave it a big thumbs-up!

A New Take on Oatmeal

I have one oatmeal lover and one who is not so big on it, but in the fall and winter when a hearty, warm breakfast is called for, there aren't too many things that satisfy quite as much. I've been feeling inspired to try some new things by the food network, so in an attempt to make oatmeal more appealing, I gave it a new twist. I think it's the best oatmeal I've ever tasted! I'm sharing the recipe, but if you try it, give credit to my little ol' blog here, please.

2 cups water boiled with a pinch of salt
1 cup oats
8 oz. pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
maple syrup to taste
vanilla stevia (to reduce the amount of maple syrup needed)

Cook until oats are tender, serve topped with butter and milk. YUM!

Week 20 : It's All About Discipline, Really

What a great week this has been. It has been full of school work and lessons and even a milestone, and we have learned so much! The big news of this week is that my little girl, no longer a baby by any means, had her first piano lesson this week!

These photos speak for themselves--she is taking this very seriously. She has been wanting to begin lessons for at least a year, but we were simply waiting for maturity to catch up with desire. She simply was unable to sit for a full lesson before, and now, she's plugged in the whole time! We're very excited, and "Miss Steph" was excited to get to teach Molly her first lesson, as well.

Molly also began her new language arts curriculum, Phonics Road this week. Hopefully this will be our last for a while. She really likes it so far, and it is designed to take them all the way through grammar and Latin. Hopefully it's a keeper.

Mom learned a lot this week, too. Giving up sugar and grains for the week and eating only vegetables, fruit and minimal protein was an exercise in self-discipline, but also of personal enlightenment. It's a little too personal to go into on my blog, but the discipline of fasting is one that never fails to bring about big revelations in my heart and spirit, even if I think I'm fasting for purely personal reasons. God showed me at the end that He had a higher purpose in mind for this week, and I long to walk in the things He taught me in the process. I have written before that the fruit of the spirit called self-control is the one we must climb highest to claim. This week I made that climb...

Even so, I thought I'd share one photo one of the foods that I was free to eat this week. What is that stuff in the pot? It really was as green as it looks at first, but I failed to take photos of the final product, so don't be scared. Even my kids eat it and love it. I made the recipe up and haven't named it yet. I'm open for suggestions:

1 med onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, diced
saute above ingredients in olive oil until tender, then add
about 8 oz. fresh spinach, pureed
2-4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
one bag lentils
1 can kidney beans
one 28oz can tomato sauce or puree
one dried Thai chili pepper finely chopped (could use red pepper flakes)
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup half and half, or 2/3 cup full cream, or 1 1/2 cups whole or reduced fat, though you may need more with 1% (Do not use skim. Anyway, what's the point?) Note: I don't exactly measure the milk / cream. I watch to see the color change from a dark, reddish brown to a creamy brown color. These are estimates of how much I have used.
Simmer for approximately one hour.
serve with a dollop of sour cream (optional)
(c) Kelly Mine 2011

 My family ate this over qinuoa, but it also very nice over basmati rice, couscous, or just plain in a bowl with a dollop of sour cream. My kids love it--and I am telling you the honest truth. It is very filling, nutrient packed, and very lean, and makes enough for two days for a family of 4. It turns a nice reddish-brown--don't worry. It doesn't stay this green.

Baby, It's Cold Outside, or Time to Make Soup!

Cold weather and post-holiday diets require soup.  My absolute favorite is my own family's particular vegetable soup made from the bones of the Christmas roast!  Here is the soup I make.  If this shows up in any cookbook published by anyone other than myself, ever, you're a pinhead, and I'll come to pinch your head off as soon as I possibly can find you.  In other words, I hold the copyright to the following soup instructions.  It's a work of art.  Oh, and no, I have no intention of emulating the Pioneer Woman.  I just happen to think that this was a particularly pretty pot of soup.

Saute one onion and 1-2 cloves garlic in the olive oil in the bottom of a pan until translucent.

Add beef bones (hopefully with some meat still on them, so it can cook off into the soup), a carton of beef stock, 1/2 a head of cabbage (chopped), 2-3 carrots, about 3-4 stalks of chopped celery  with leaves, 1 can red kidney beans, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, one bag of frozen soup vegetables or mixed vegetables, this time I added 1/2 a bag of shelled edamame for giggles, 1/2 cup of barley, 1-2 potatoes depending on how large. 

I add all the vegetables to the stock first to see how much water I need to add.  I like a nice balance between broth and hearty spoonfuls of vegetables.

To the liquid I add a dash of worchestershire sauce, about a glass worth of dry red wine, a dash of red wine vinegar (if needed.  sometimes it already has enough "sour."  I didn't need it this time.)  I season with salt and pepper to taste, two cupped palms full of dried thyme, one cupped palm full of dried rosemary, one cupped palm full of herbes de provence (optional), 2-3 bay leaves.

This sounds like a lot of stuff, and it takes about 30-45 minutes to prep, but I start it early in the day and let it simmer on low heat for most of the day (like a crock pot meal--so conceivably you could do it in the crock pot), and the flavor is amazing.  This is how my mom taught me to make vegetable soup and how her mom taught her.  So far no one has felt the need to change it.  We practically survive on this kind of soup through the winter.  Get some crusty whole grain rolls to go with it and you are set!