Month: August 2014

Your family won’t believe these pancakes are vegan, gluten and oil free

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Here’s the story of how these pancakes came about.  I have been tweaking my pancake recipe for a few years to get them just right.  I rarely eat them but my fiancé loves my pancakes and this is one of the few vegan, gf foods I make that he will eat.  The challenges of gluten free and vegan baking are:

  • Finding binders that are not artificial and overly processed to replace eggs
  • Getting gluten free goods to be stretchy, pliable and not crumbly, grainy or brittle

I did not have my regular set of ingredients this time around and I knew my fiancé was patiently awaiting pancakes since I had been away on vacation the past two weekends.  I kept telling him I could not make panackes because I didn’t have the usual ingredients.  He repeatedly encouraged me to just make them with whatever I had because he would eat them anyway.  So I listened and to my surprise, this is the best version yet.

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1 cup garbanzo bean flour

1 cup Trader Joe’s all purpose gluten free flour

1/4 cup potato starch (helps with texture)

3 tbsp flaxseed meal (replaces eggs as a binder and has vitamin E and omega 3)

2 tbsp baking powder

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2-1 cup water (depends on how runny the mixture gets)

1 1/2 tbsp brown rice syrup (makes them brown nicely)

1 /2 tsp sea salt

Preheat non-stick pan on medium heat.  

Combine dry ingredients and mix them.  

Add milk, water and syrup and mix just until lumps are out and mixture is smooth.  Batter should be runny enough to pour but stiff enough to keep it’s form in the hot pan and not run all over the pan.  Batter may thicken while it sits waiting to be scooped.  Add small amounts of water to thin it out a bit if needed.

Use a 1/3 cup or 1/2 cup to scoop up batter and pour into hot pan.  Flip pancake when bubbles start to appear on the uncooked side.  This will be anywhere from 1-2 minutes.  Pancakes should be medium brown on each side.  Makes about 14 4″ cakes.

This is perfect if your family does not eat a vegan or gluten free diet.  I promise,they won’t be able to tell.  They are best when eaten promptly.  Gluten free pancakes do harden a bit when refrigerated.  They are fine once warmed up but not as chewy and soft.

 

 

Oil-free spring rolls: So easy, healthy and satisfying

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Are you in the mood for Asian food, particularly Vietnamese? These cuisines are inherently healthy. I love the idea of spring rolls but they are usually fried or wrapped in white rice paper at a restaurant.  I made my own with brown rice paper from Whole Foods (in the Asian food aisle). I got the idea from Kimberly Snyder CN but I switched up the ingredients a bit: brown rice paper wraps, organic red leaf lettuce, organic tempeh, sprouts, red onion, avocado, organic scallions, sea salt , hot sauce, organic shiitake mushrooms, organic Worcestershire sauce.  You can put whatever you like in the wraps.  Feel free to switch up the ingredients. 
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Method:

  1. Cut tempeh length-wise into eight strips.
  2. Saute strips in a  mixture of water and Worcestershire sauce for about 3 minutes on each side.
  3. Add shiitake mushrooms to pan with tempeh and cover for last 3 mines of cooking.
  4. Slice onions and avocado and chop scallions finely.
  5. Dip each wrap in a bowl of war waterm to soften it.
  6. Lay wrap on a flat surface and place a small amount of lettuce, sprouts, onions, scallions and mushrooms in the center.
  7. Sprinkle with sea salt.
  8.  Add one strip of tempeh and sprinkle hot sauce on everything.
  9. Gently roll the wrap burrito-style securing the edges if possible.  
  10. If you overstuff the wrap it will be harder to fold and may tear.  The wrap will stick easily once rolled.

 I made a simple salad with the left over ingredients.  I still have to work on the aesthetics but they are really good and there’s no need for added oil.

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