Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Savory Basil Pancakes

I'm back!

 

After a long hiatus, I'm ready to start making fun food again. For St. Patrick's day lunch today, I made "green" shamrock savory pancakes.  They aren't really green in color, but they COULD be, if the basil/spinach that they contain were pureed. I based the batter off of my standard waffle recipe proportions, and threw in the greens.  Here's how it worked:

THE RECIPE:

Combine in a 2c measuring cup:

1 egg   -----> beat with fork

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil   ---> beat into egg

1 cup almond milk      ------> add and stir

1 c fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 c baby spinach leaves, chopped

a few sprigs of lavender leaves, chopped  ---> add all chopped greens

1/8 tsp salt (or to taste- should taste a bit salty)

dash pepper

2 dash onion powder

dash garlic powder  ----> add all seasonings, stirr

1/2 c garbanzo bean flour

1/2 c amaranth flour       ---> combine and stir. (millet instead of amaranth would also work, or all garbanzo)

Cook on a non-stick frying pan. To make a shamrock shape, pour four small circles of batter in the pan, and let them blend together in the center. Spread with ghee or EarthBalance, and top with avocado slices.

International Waffle Day Update:  this recipe is also AWESOME as waffles!!!!!

Coconut Almond Golden Waffles

Version 1: ADVANCED.

I decided to get fancy with my breakfast batter. I used my usual waffle proportions, with the following awesome ingredients:

THE RECIPE:
1 egg
~1 tbs extra light olive oil           ----> stir together
~ 1 cup soymilk
~ 1/4 tsp almond extract
~ 15 drops stevia                      ----> stir together
~1/4 cup all purpose gluten free pancake mix (I used Trader Joe's brand)
~ 1/4 cup millet flour
~ 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
~ 1/4 cup flaxseed powder
~ 1/8 tsp salt
 shredded coconut
slivered almonds                     ----> stir together

So, I actually started out with this being pancake batter, and thus I made it thinner than waffle batter. (That's the only difference). I had half left over, which I ate later in the week. By this time it had thickened from being in the fridge, and thus was perfect to be cooked into the lovely waffles which you see above. These were pretty darn delicious, especially with extra almonds and coconut sprinkled on top.


Okay so then I made a simpler version, which basically was the same general result, except more versatile because the coconut and almond is only in the topping:

Golden delicious. (Waffle, not apple.)

VERSION 2: BASIC.

THE RECIPE:

1 egg
~1 tbs extra light olive oil           ----> stir together

~ 1 cup soymilk                        ----> stir together
~1/4 cup all purpose gluten free pancake mix (I used Trader Joe's brand)
~ 1/4 cup millet flour
~ 1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
~ 1/8 tsp salt                            ----> stir together

Yes, this produces a golden waffle with a natural hint of sweetness. It's a great universal substrate waffle, for either sweet or savory use. I opted for sweetness for my last two dinners, sprinkling on slivered almonds and coconut, and drizzling on agave nectar for syrup.

I'm a huge fan of this flour combination. I am a huge un-fan of commercial "All purpose gluten free flour mixes"-- each of the three I've tried is phenomenally gross. Trader Joe's and Namaste Food brands have the same chalky taste (Is that... the sorghum flour?? excessive tapioca flour?? no idea. ), and Bob's Red Mill uses way too much garbanzo bean flour. However, the sweetness of millet flour generally softens out the strangeness of any of these. Millet also contributes the yellowy gold color (garbanzo helps too) which makes these waffles look so appealing. As a general rule, combining many GF flours helps to mellow out each of their "unique" flavors-- and in this case, "all-purpose", millet, and garbanzo blend into a balanced harmony producing a neutral and pleasing flavor.