Mom's Delectable Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan Pancake Recipe

When I was little I loved pancakes. What kid doesn't? However, over the years I developed an aversion to this once favoured breakfast treat. Little did I know that this aversion, was actually the result of a gluten intolerance. When I (and most of my siblings/family members) were diagnosed with terrible wheat allergies, my mother made it her mission to make allergen friendly pancakes. After quite a few years she has come up with an absolutely delectable, airy, scrumptious pancake! I just had to share it with you! The great thing about these? Even people who are terrible at making pancakes will have very little difficulty mastering these!

Mom's Delectable Gluten-Free, Soy-Free Pancake Recipe!

Ingredients:

-About 1/2 cup brown (or white) rice flour
-About 1/2 cup sorghum flour (or quinoa or even garbanzo) if using garbanzo, use a little less and add a few more tablespoons of brown rice flour unless you like the flavor of garbanzo.
-About 1/2 cup potato starch (not quite)
-2 flax eggs (2 generous tablespoons flax meal mixed with 6 tablespoons warm water)
-2 fairly generous tablespoons baking powder
-1 tablespoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
-1/4 teaspoon baking soda
-1 to 2 cups non-dairy milk (I used almond) If it's too thin, don't worry...you can just add equal parts of more gf mix...it's very forgiving.
-1 level teaspoon salt
-2 teaspoons vanilla
-About 1/2 cup oil ( I use corn oil) plus more for coating griddle
-Your choice of mix ins...fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, etc. ( I mixed in 1/2 cup blueberries!)

1.  Mix your flax eggs together first so they can get nice and gelatinous.

2. Next in a big bowl, combine all the dry ingredients(except baking soda) and stir with a whisk til all are combined nicely.

3. Then, mix all the wet ingredients (except the lemon juice) along with the flax eggs and milk into another bowl. Then add to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
(You may want to add more or less milk depending on how thick or thin you like your batter)

4. Next put a small amount of baking soda on top of your batter and the lemon juice on top of that.  Let it bubble and mix it in. If you are adding chocolate chips or blueberries mix them in now.

5. Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet on medium high heat. With a basting brush grease cooking surface (you may want to re-grease as you go along, once after every couple of pancakes). Test a little batter to see if it is hot enough, it should harden around the edges rather swiftly. Add batter (about a scant 1/4 cup at a time to the griddle) flip when edges look solid and middle is beginning to solidify but still looks mushy, about 30-60 sec. Cook for another 30-60 seconds on the other side. I always test this first pancake to see if I cooked it long enough/too long. The inside should not taste like uncooked batter! Voila! I hope you enjoy, I know I did!

Note: I always have a clean tea towel on top of a plate ready on the side to put my pancakes after each one is done. Keeps them nice and toasty!

Let the Rawvolution begin!

Alright folks, sorry for the hiatus! While I have done nothing it seems but cook and experiment with new recipes these past few months, I havent managed to write any of them down! So here is my first of a long over due series of new things to love and new recipes to try that'll knock your socks off! I promise to try and be good and write more often now, but I cant promise anything. My dad wants me to come work for him part time as a secretary, I teach gradeschoolers science in the afternoons, spend my weekends cashiering and to top it off my brother really wants to start up an online vegan-gf-sf-cookie line with him! Phew...just thinking about it all makes me tired, dont worry though, I wont keep all my cookie recipes a secret ;p.

Lately, I have been more than a little obsessed with raw food! Hold on don't run away just yet! No worries, I was scared too. My sister gave me a book recently with a bunch of recipes, claiming they were just “too complicated.” I ignored it for awhile, that's all I needed, more complication in my life. But then one day in a fit of boredom I decided to crack the cover. Inside were some intriguing sounding recipes made from super simple ingredients that I could get at my local farmers market every Sunday. And the best part was, all you really have to do to many raw recipes is prep work! No waiting for something to bake or cook or rise! Just rinse, chop, assemble! Bryan has been especially obsessed with the various nut cheeses! Some sadly you need a dehydrator for (Saving my pennies, thinking ill buy one as a christmas present to myself :p), but many are super yummy left in their uncooked state! The following recipe is a pizza topped with a pumpkin seed cheese/pesto that I modified to suit my tastes better from a raw cookbook I have. I cheat and it does end up getting cooked but believe me, its the best pizza topping i've ever had! (Note that the picture below only has half a pizza in it...its that good I was too impatient to not eat some before snapping a photo) Hope you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Cheese Super Green Pizza!

Crust:

1 Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free pizza crust mix (or any gf pizza dough you prefer, this is just my fav, and you get 2 doughs in one mix!)

2tbsp flax meal

Fresh herbs from your garden! (optional)

Cheese:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 handful fresh basil leaves

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

2tsp minced garlic

1tsp minced jalapeno

1tsp minced ginger

salt and pepper

Toppings:

4 Kale leaves chopped into small pieces or strips

1 handful spinach leaves chopped

¼ cup sundried tomatoes packed in oil

¼ of a red onion sliced into thin strips

(also feel free to add mushrooms and asparagus or whatever else your little heart desires!!! I like to pile all my end of the week veggies on my pizza before I go get fresh stuff at the weekend farmers market!)

1) Make the pizza dough (making sure to use the flax seed to substitute the eggs), mix the fresh herbs into the dough, and let rise. Preheat oven to 425. At the same time as the dough is rising you should be,soaking the pumpkin seeds in water for 15mins. During this time I would chop up all my veggies for the pizza!!

2) Once seeds are ready drain them of the water and add to a food processor. Add in basil, lemon juice, garlic, jalapeno, ginger and seasonings. Keep pulsing and scraping down the sides until you have a very smooth paste.

3)Now roll half your dough out onto a well oiled cookie sheet (save the other half for another pizza night, or some breadsticks!!!) It helps to have very wet hands when handling the dough to get it to stretch out further. Pre-bake crust 7 minutes.

4)Once crust is half baked spread on all of cheese with a spatula until nicely coated with green goodness! Cover with toppings and cook an additional 10-15minutes or until crust is fully baked!!

I hope you enjoy this pizza as much as I do, its become a staple around here now! The cheese is also good as just a spread, and uncooked pumpkin seeds are actually super beneficial for brain function! Ummm brain food.....