the year of the pancake

2013 was the year of the pancake over here!

Early on in the year, I found this recipe. It was very good. It was gluten free. I couldn't really tell it was gluten free--a high compliment because we're gluten fans around here.

Because we like the gluten, my wonderful husband added some gluten and created this recipe. OMG, I love it. I make it pretty much every weekend. I make enough left-overs to get us part way through the week--usually Wednesday. 

After not too long, I got a scan pan for the pancakes. I love it. I had one before, but it didn't last super well. I used oil in it. No added oil will be used in this scan pan. It is awesome. I look forward to seeing how long it lasts!

Then, for Thanksgiving, this recipe was going around the blogosphere. Super yum, but I changed it a little. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour 
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup flax
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1-2  tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3 cups of non-dairy milk (you may need more I can't remember how much I added… start slow and add until the right thickness. After I add 2 cups of non-dairy milk, I usually switch to water for the liquid, but that's just me. This may need 4 or 5 cups of liquid (or more), I can't remember!)
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (makes them lighter and fluffier!)
• 1 can (2 cups) pumpkin
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/3 cup maple syrup
• Chocolate chips (at least 1/3 cup, but as many as you want--add last!)

Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe: In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir very well. Add wet ingredients and non-dairy milk until the batter is the right thickness; then add chocolate chips.

Cook pancakes (I use a scan pan so I don't use any oil, but many pans need a little).  Cook over medium heat (make sure the pan is really hot and heated through first. (The test to see if the pan is hot is to drop a little drop of water; it should immediately start dancing around.  Pour small ladles of batter onto the skillet and spread out the batter so it doesn’t sit in the middle of each pancake if it's really thick. 

I think it took about 5-6 minutes each side for these pancakes. This makes less than my other  pancake recipes, but it will feed 5 people and give you leftovers for a day or two; the other recipes give leftover for 3-4 days.) 

For Christmas, my gluten-free niece came to visit and I made this with almond flour and oat flour and she liked it. If you make want to make this gluten free, cut the whole wheat, up the flax and oat, and add almond (or gf flour). I had to make the gluten-free pancakes really small 'cause they didn't hold together for the flip if I didn't. She liked them. I thought they were tasty, but since I had to make them so small I added whole wheat flour to 1/2 the batter so I could cook them bigger 'cause I didn't want to cook pancakes all day on Christmas.

What's your favorite pancake recipe?

Now it's really almost the end of the year...

Christmas is over. I got my syllabus done for my class. I still have some work to do for work, but it's okay if it doesn't happen until Thursday--work is officially "closed" right now.* So now, I can blog!

What to blog?!  I think I'll start with a review of the festive chickpea tart.

I made it pretty much like the recipe from that web page (no oil added) except I didn't make the topping. Next time I make the tart, I plan to layer a bunch of cranberries near the top layer. This was so good with cranberry sauce! Oh, and we used fresh kale not spinach in ours.

It is festive! Nick's comment was that it tasted like dressing. It's got all the dressing spices. It definitely could be a gluten-free dressing--and that's a compliment! I love dressing!

I made it in a pie shell, but I'm not a super big pie crust fan. Next time, I won't make it in one unless daughter #1 wants me to make it with a crust. She liked it. I liked it. Nick wasn't crazy about it. Guests liked it. It's a good addition to the repertoire!


Ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 tbsp olive oil - or water for oil-free

• 1 cup onion, diced

• 1/2 cup celery, diced

• 4-5 medium-large garlic cloves, minced

• 1⁄4 tsp sea salt

• Few pinches freshly ground black pepper

• 2 cups chickpeas

• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 tsp tamari

• 1/2 tsp ground sage

• 1/4 tsp sea salt

• 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted

• 1/3 cup rolled oats (optional, see note)

• 1 - 10 oz package of fresh kale (or as much as you want

Add water, onion, celery, garlic, salt and pepper in a skillet over medium-high heat. After a veggies and onions are softened and turning golden add the kale and cook it down.  In a food processor, add chickpeas (except reserved 1/3 cup), lemon juice, tamari, sage, salt, and sautéed mixture, and partially puree (not fully like hummus, but leaving some chunkier consistency). 

Add toasted walnuts and oats, and briefly pulse to lightly break up nuts. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in spinach, cranberries, parsley, thyme, and reserved chickpeas. Transfer most of the mixture to pie shell (or lightly oiled pie plate), smoothing to evenly distribute. Add a layer of cranberries and then cover with the mixture. (I'm going to do a THICK layer!). 

I don't have picture. Next time I will. I'll add it when I get one.





*I imagine I might think a little bit about it before then, but we'll see. I think so much that sometimes it's hard not to work/think. I get bored. I like my work! I know I need to take breaks, but I didn't work Monday-Friday last week.

Christmas Eve...so here's Thanksgiving!

Actually, the day after Thanksgiving.

Patti's pretty plate: from 6 o'clock (clock-wise) pumpkin kaddu, mashed potatoes, salad and berries, olives (at 1 o'clock), baked spiced tofu, festive chickpea tart and cranberry sauce, and finally, at 5 o'clock the lovely lentil tart with mango chutney! Peeking out in the bowl is orange-carrot soup. It was a wonderful day!

My friend Patti (in my kitchen) with her delightful lentil tart topped with mango chutney!

The whole gang (minus Larry who took the picture and Christine who is sitting to the right of me as you look at the photo.  (More pictures maybe if my brother sends them!) I was too busy eating to take pictures! I'm a bad blogger.

It's almost the end of the year...

And I'm too busy for blogging it seems. Still cooking a lot, and finding lots of good recipes, and WANTING to blog, but no time. Work is getting ready to "shut down" so everyone is trying to wrap things up. Hopefully I'll have a little time next week to get some posts in before the year ends.  (All I want for Christmas is some time to blog!) 

In the mean time, here are two articles that I want to hold on to...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/12/10/250007042/chowing-down-on-meat-and-dairy-alters-gut-bacteria-a-lot-and-quickly

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/13/250730968/this-docs-miracle-drug-exercise

I do believe that diet and exercise are extremely important, and always have. When I was a kid (probably about 6 or 7), I couldn't believe adults didn't like to run around. I couldn't believe they didn't see that if they ran around, they'd be better off. For me, when my back was in very bad shape in 2005 (after 3 babies in 4 years), I decided I needed to exercise more and get back into shape. People, even doctors, told me to slow down and be careful, but I'm so glad I chose the path of exercise. I also began to change the way I ate in 2006, cutting down dairy and adding more grains and veggies until I went vegan in 2009. It all "can't hurt and might help" and now we are learning why things, like exercise and a good diet, work. (The articles above point to 2 small, but important, clues.)

Oh, and a video

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/eggs-and-diabetes/


To all things green! 

Pizza with arugula

We went out to lunch in the city and Natalie (the vegan-kid who loves veggies) and I split this pizza.  I ate the side with the argula, plus the other veggies. She ate the zucchini and pepper side. We got this at a regular restaurant; they used their no-dairy crust and made our pizza no-cheese. Yum! (I like it when we can go to regular restaurants and get yummy food! Most restaurants, in our neck of the woods, will accommodate vegan needs.)

But first, Brownies!

I will get back to Thanksgiving Recipes, but I had a little left-over pumpkin puree and needed to use it up.  I found this recipe for chocolate pumpkin brownies and had to make it. I guess, I had to modify the recipe and then make it.  Here's what I did.

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup canned pumpkin (or pureed pumpkin or sweet potato)
1/4 cup flax
1/4 cup milk of choice
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips (not optional)

Combine dry ingredients, and mix well. Combine wet ingredients, then mix into dry. Pour into a silicone (or greased) pan. I used my 9x9, but an 8x8 would have been better. Cook for about 15-20 minutes at 350 F.  (You'll probably need to cook little longer if you use an 8x8 pan.)

Notes: 

Just a teeny bit of pumpkin flavor (I think sweet potato will be nice, too). I think I'll use cashew cream for fat (instead of flax or oil) so that I can get a smoother, less hearty tasting brownie.  With the flax, these are hearty brownies. I don't think brownies are traditionally hearty.

Thanksgiving review

We had friends over (vegan friends) and we had a lot of good food. Technically, on Thanksgiving, my brother and I made eggplant and red sauce (I'll share more soon about it) and then, on Friday, we did our Thanksgiving day feast. Here's what we had...

Lentil torte
Festive Chickpea Tart
Pumkin Kadu
Tofu Satay
Big Green Salad
Carrot Soup
Hummus
Berries
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Cake Roll (I'll post details about this!)
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade cranberry sauce (excellent with the festive chickpea tart)!

I didn't get a picture of the feast, but maybe my friend did!  I still feel full!  I'll post more about everything soon.