** The first stack in the picture above is from the oven – the ones behind are from the stovetop.
Hot off the presses: Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Healthy Pancakes
(Vegan Option too!)
I have deemed the last couple of days as “sleep as long as you want” days. That is the first order of celebration after turning in my second book in one year. And it gave me a chance to rest my word-addled brain 🙂
For me, there are two food items that feel festive: ice cream and pancakes. Whenever one of my clients comes to me with a food allergy and is mourning not being able to eat something, I find a way to make a delicious substitute. I do this because when I was healing every digestive organ in my body about 15 years ago, I went through many phases of having to leave beloved foods out of my diet (even healthy ones — sometime I’ll tell about how leaving vegetables out of my diet for 6 months allowed me to heal the root cause of small intestine/SIBO symptoms).
We all deserve to have a delicious diet, no matter how we are coaxing our body back into good health. The good news is that once the root cause is resolved, we can bring foods back into our diet. By the time you do this, if you’ve had delicious alternatives, you may find that you no longer crave those old foods — because you are so in love with what you are doing. You will also have a clean slate, where you can trust your body’s cravings. it will ask for more real food and you will find more satisfaction and grounding with real food.
This morning, I decided I wanted to make pancakes as part of my “completed another book” celebration. These are grain-free, nut-free and alternative flour-free. I will give you some vegan adjustments.
While I must admit to liking the pancake recipe in Louise’s and my new book even better, this one is still quite special. The spices bring balance. They are easy to digest. There is no nut flour, which will be a relief for those of you avoiding nuts. Oh, and my husband, Joel, really liked them too. He’s a health food tourist, which means he eats healthy food most of the time, but he’s been known to stop at Schlotsky’s for a giant sandwich at times. And he has a penchant for Bronx Pizza, an award-winning hole of a pizza place in San Diego (go New York pizza!). In other words, he’s picky about the taste of healthy food, which makes him an ideal taste tester.
Without further ado, here is the Sunny Good Pancake Recipe:
Sunny Good Pancakes
(Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Flour-Free)
These are delicious pancakes. Even your not-healthy-eater friends will love them! They are not sweet on their own because sunflower butter is not sweet and the dates only give them a lighter taste. The spices are very grounding. They are balanced across the 6 tastes in Ayurvedic medicine, so you will be satisfied with just a couple of pancakes. The spices aid digestion and detoxification, reduce inflammation, and are great for regulating blood sugar and boosting the health of your eyes, heart and moods!
The gelatin or bone broth (for the non-vegan option of this recipe) is great for healing, sealing and protecting your intestines. It helps other foods absorb better.
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
- 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 6 strands saffron
- 3 juniper berries, ground
- 5 dates, pitted
- 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups hot water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups sunflower butter
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 2 eggs (can make this vegan by using flax/chia egg: 2 tablespoons ground flax or chia seeds with 6 tablespoons warm water, mix together and allow to sit for 5 minutes to soak before adding to the batter)
- 1/2 cup bone broth (must be flavorless/neutral in flavor or instead, put 1 teaspoon Vital Proteins or Great Lakes gelatin in with the water and spice mixture — see instructions below) – for Vegan pancakes, double the flax or chia eggs and skip this.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F if doing in oven. Or you can do this in skillet on your stovetop too. If you want crispy edges, you will want to do this on the skillet. The oven method will most often result in a more soft-baked pancake.
- Mix hot water, dates, spices, vanilla and sea salt in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes so that the dates can soften and the mixture can marinate the dates. (For the non-vegan recipe: If you are using gelatin instead of bone broth, add the gelatin into this mixture. For the vegan version: make your flax eggs in a separate bowl).
- After 5 minutes, put the date water mixture in your food processor (with S-blade) and blend thoroughly. You can do this with a fork or mixer if you wait until the dates are very soft and dissolve a bit into the water (could take about 20 – 30 minutes).
- Add sunflower butter, eggs (or flax/chia eggs), coconut oil and bone broth (or extra flax/chia eggs) in the food processor with the water, date and spice mixture. Blend thoroughly.
- Blend in food processor until you have a nice, smooth batter of medium thickness. If you want it thinner, add a little warm water until you have the consistency you like for pancake batter. It should be fine with the water in this recipe though.
Cooking the Pancakes
- Stovetop method: melt butter or coconut oil in your skillet and then set your burner to a medium-low temperature. Pour out a small amount of batter for the size of pancake you want. Stay on the smaller side so that it’s easier to flip. As the top starts to look drier (still a little moist looking), check the edges with your spatula to see if they come up easily, if so, slide the spatula gently under the pancake, it should come up very easily, meaning it’s ready to flip. They are done very quickly once you flip them.
- Oven method: I like to line a cookie tray with a greased silicone baking mat on top because the silicone mat makes removing the pancakes super easy. If you don’t have one, just grease your cookie tray with coconut oil or butter and pour a little batter onto the tray, flatten out the rounds of batter you poured and put the tray in the oven to bake until the pancakes look dry and start to come up at the edges. Check at the 5 minute and 10 minute mark. They should be done in 10 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve with butter or coconut oil.
- Add cut or pureed berries or baked or steamed apples (or applesauce).
- Drizzle with a little organic maple syrup or raw honey.
- Eat as is for an on the go snack or a “piece of bread” with a meal.
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