Coconut Flour Pancakes

Pancakes are always a favorite for not only breakfast, but dinner time as well. Whether it's due to an allergy, not liking the bloated feeling afterwards or just wanting to experiment with different ingredients; these pancakes are perfect for the whole family!

Regardless of your own particular food beliefs, flour isn't what it used to be. Our society eats a mostly high carbohydrate and processed food diet, and it's just not good. But, that's honestly for a whole 'nother discussion.

I have tried many recipes for grain free and healthier pancakes, and I have finally found the perfect recipe I want to include in my own family's rotation going forward. You know those banana/egg/oat pancakes that everyone was going crazy for not long ago? Yeah, those have nothing on these.

These are a closer consistency and texture to your standard all purpose flour pancake, and they do not taste strongly of coconut. I won't lie, there's a hint of taste, but it's not overpowering. Especially, if you were to slather these in butter and enjoy with some syrup (real maple, please!), homemade jam or almond butter as I did.

Try them, see what you think. They are not complicated at all and use wholesome ingredients. Ingredients which will help keep you feeling satiated much longer than your typical American pancake recipe.


Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon Swerve sugar substitute (or honey)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
Butter

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together eggs, cream, vanilla and Swerve. In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Add wet ingredients into the dry, and stir together.

Melt about 1 tablespoon of butter onto a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Pour batter into the skillet to form pancakes. Be careful not to make too big, they can be difficult to flip the bigger they are. Cook on each side for 2 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 6-7 pancakes. Top pancakes with desired syrup or toppings.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Breakfast around here hasn't been too exciting this summer. Lots of toast, eggs and smoothies. As much as I love to cook, mom gets tired of preparing a full on meal three times a day plus all of those dishes that go along with it. I've only made muffins once and pancakes maybe a few times. With the weather cooling down just a tad this week, I thought I'd treat the kiddos to pancakes.

They're not your typical hot cake. I like experimenting with new ingredients, and flour being one of them. Unlike some, buckwheat flour is one that can easily be adaptable to most recipes that call for regular flour. It definitely has a unique flavor, offering a bit of a nutty taste to your baked goods. Buckwheat is actually a fruit that is similar to wild rhubarb,so although it's treated as a grain, it's actually gluten free. As far as baking entirely gluten free with it, I'm not familiar with it at all. I do however, love how it amps up the nutritional value in our foods, so for that I will keep a small supply on hand at all times.

When I first started making these for the girls, they were a little unsure of the dark color, which I honestly expected. I like keeping the recipe with half all-purpose flour, mainly to not turn them away. Maybe someday we'll try whole wheat and see what we think. The cinnamon adds a wonderful flavor, they smell like a gingersnap or molasses cookie almost. After the first bite, each girl said they taste just like our "normal" pancakes. Sometimes I'll sprinkle in a few mini chocolate chips while I'm cooking them over the stove top. I prefer mine with a bit of homemade jam smeared over top.

It won't be long and I'll be in back to school mode again, only one more month to be exact. I anticipate filling the freezer with a couple batches of these to help ease back into our morning routine. I know these, along with some fresh fruit will be what my girls need to keep their bellies full until lunch.


Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add in oil, eggs and milk and whisk until well combined.

Heat a skillet on the stove over medium heat. Spoon batter onto skillet and let cook until small bubbles form around the edges, flip pancake and let cook until browned. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining batter.

Serve pancakes warm with maple syrup or jam. Makes 8 big pancakes

Stuffed Pancakes

I didn't have a very good plan for dinner as we were heading out the door this morning. I quickly pulled out a package of sausage from the freezer to thaw and decided it was a breakfast for dinner kind of evening. It's one of my favorite nights and I don't think anyone else complained.

We had some fun with our traditional pancakes. I decided to add some of our favorite spreads to the inside and make them sort of like dessert pancakes. Some had a warm, gooey Nutella filling, we tried peanut butter and also Biscoff cookie spread. Almond or any other nut butter would be good, as well as jam. Then lightly dusted with powdered sugar, there's no need for maple syrup here!

Give these a try next time you've got pancakes on your menu, whether it be for breakfast or in the evening like we decided. The kids will love helping and picking out their desired fillings. Feel free to use your own favorite pancake recipe or my go-to version listed below.


Stuffed Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil {canola, coconut, etc}
1-1/2 cups milk
Filling options: Nutella, nut butters, Biscoff, jam

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, combine together all dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients and mix together well using a whisk.

Preheat a griddle or small pan over the stove. Ladle a small amount of pancake batter onto the pan, place a large dollop of desired filling directly onto pancake. You can try to sort of spread it out a bit, but it's not necessary. Add another small amount of pancake batter on top to cover the filling. Let cook as usual, until browned and pancake is cooked through.

Repeat with remaining batter.  Before serving, lightly dust pancakes with powdered sugar if desired.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancake Bites

These mini pancake bites are probably one of our favorites to have on hand for rushed mornings. The kids just love them, they're small for their little hands and can be easily dunked into syrup. I posted about them almost two years ago here. We love the ones with sausage inside, I think most everyone will agree, the sausage/syrup combo is just great.

But this time around, I wanted to try something a little different. Banana and chocolate chip are always a great combination and wouldn't necessarily require the use of maple syrup. So that's the route we took.

They turned out to be a hit. I was right, they're definitely sweet enough we didn't miss the syrup. I made some without chocolate chips as well, just in case anyone wanted them plain.

You can substitute half whole wheat flour if you'd like, I do that quite often and no one can tell. If there's one item you should definitely make for easy breakfast, I recommend pancake bites. They're so fun for the kids and you can add just about any sort of fruit inside. Older kids can even handle preparing their own plates, just nook in the microwave for a minute or so. Easy peasy!

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancake Bites

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
mini chocolate chips

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, combine mashed banana, egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Add in sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk together. Gradually add in flour and whisk until batter is pretty smooth.

Into the wells of a greased mini muffin pan, drop batter in until 3/4 full. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips into each muffin well. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Using a butter knife, remove each pancake bite and set onto a wire rack to cool completely. When all cooled, line them onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Put into the freezer for one hour. Then transfer to a freezer bag that has been dated and labeled.

Place into the freezer until ready to use. When ready to enjoy, remove desired pancakes from bag, either heat in the microwave for a minute or two OR place on a baking sheet and heat in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Serve warm with maple syrup if desired.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Garden Veggie Pancakes

This is how I spent my weekend! The girls and I went up to Harper's Ferry with my parents for the weekend; they have a place up there and try to make it up every weekend throughout the summer and fall.

It was relaxing, we had perfect weather and enjoyed a full day out on the water. The girls got to fish, played on the beach, went tubing and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.

It's back to the grind today and even after going to bed early I'm still tired! They wear me out.

Last Thursday before we left I made up these veggie pancakes using some of our produce box. They made for a  nice little appetizer to our meal and something that most of us really enjoyed.

Before I forget, this is a glimpse of what we received for last week. Lots of cucumbers! I've also been starting to get some in my own garden. I think we'll be eating cucumbers at every. single. meal! The kids immediately ate through the carrots. I did make a small batch of pickles that night, they're pretty good but a little sweet. I prefer dill pickles, so I'll have to tinker around and see if I can come up with a good recipe.

You can incorporate any sort of veggies you have on hand, but I used carrots, zucchini, potatoes and corn. These were so good! The hubby loves hot sauce with just about anything so that's what he topped his with. I enjoyed mine with just a touch of sour cream and salsa. We added just a little bit of cheddar cheese in the batter and they were perfect. I never thought I'd be one to enjoy vegetables this much, but I really do have fun each week creating new dishes that are healthy and good for us.


Garden Veggie Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 zucchini, grated
1 medium potato, grated (I used 2 small new potatoes)
1 medium carrot, grated
2 eggs
1/4 whole wheat flour
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
Olive oil, for frying

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, combine eggs, flour and seasonings. Add in grated vegetables and stir to combine. Sprinkle in corn and cheese and combine well.

In a skillet, heat 1-2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. When skillet is ready, drop batter onto skillet and let cook for a few minutes and then flip to other side. Let cook until each side is golden brown, remove to a plate lined with paper towels.  Serve immediately with desired toppings such as sour cream and salsa.

Makes about 12 pancakes. These are best served warm.

Homemade McGriddles

 

 

Yesterday morning we experimented a little bit with our breakfast. Have you ever had a McGriddle sandwich? I think I have once a long time ago, but I try not to eat much for fast food because one, it's not good for you and two, cooking at home always tastes so much better!

 

 

The kids always want pancakes and the such for breakfast, while my hubby likes his eggs and meat. To satisfy everyone I decided we'd try making our own version of these sandwiches. Everyone pitched in with the prep work and they were pretty darn good. The kids mostly picked theirs apart as I expected. I think if I could get the pancakes to be a little bit thicker we would have liked them even more, but overall they were something different for breakfast and very easy to put together. I even tried swirling some syrup in the pancake batter while they were cooking. You should definitely give these a try, I think you'll like them!

 

 

Homemade McGriddle Sandwiches

 

Ingredients:

Pancake batter:

2 c flour

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 c milk

1/2 c oil

 

Sausage patties, cooked (bacon would work well too)

Scrambled or fried egg

Cheese, if desired

Syrup

 

Directions:

Combine all ingredients for pancake batter in a medium sized bowl and mix together. Over a heated griddle, drop small amounts of batter to make silver dollar sized pancakes. Immediately pour a small amount of syrup onto batter, once bubbles form flip over and cook until other side is done.

 

To assemble: Taking 2 pancakes, sandwich an egg, sausage patty and slice of cheese between them. You add a small amount of syrup inside or just serve extra alongside the plate for dipping.  Simple as that....enjoy!

 

Look what's sitting on my table waiting to be used up?! I've got 14 lbs. of pears that I picked up this weekend. I'm waiting for them to ripen just a little bit more before I get to work. I'm planning on making some pear sauce but other than I'm not sure yet.  Any ideas? I'm definitely open for suggestions!

 

 

 

 

 



Mini Pancake Bites

Summer's coming to an end soon and next week I'll be sending the oldest 2 girls back to school (at least I'll have one home with me still). We've had a great summer and I hope I've done a good job in helping them to create some awesome memories!

Part of those memories include food, what can I say? Some days I think my life revolves around it but I wouldn't have it any other way. They've enjoyed our little hand-held breakfast dishes just as much as I have, from the mini omelets to the pumpkin donut holes.  And just the other day we made these adorable pancake bites.

I had these in mind to add to my freezer stash, right before school starts I try to start adding lots of pancakes, waffles, muffins and anything else that might make our mornings a little bit easier. I used my go-to pancake recipe for the base and added in different mixings. The kids even had fun helping to prepare these, I let them drop the blueberries and sausage into the muffin wells. We ended up with about 2 dozen blueberry and 2 dozen sausage pancake bites. Served with a little bit of maple syrup, these were amazing! Perfect for their tiny hands and I was able to put away a good amount for the freezer. They'll come in handy in the next few weeks, that's for sure!

Mini Pancake Bites

Ingredients:
2 c flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c oil
Fillings such as blueberries, sausage or bacon
Maple syrup to serve with

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease or butter 2 mini muffin tins and set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in eggs, milk and oil and mix well. With a small cookie scoop, drop batter into muffin wells, about 3/4 full. Drop in desired fillings, I used 2 blueberries for each one or just a couple chopped pieces of sausage for the others. Bake for 8-9 mins. Serve with syrup on the side. Makes 48 pancake bites, store your extras in the freezer.

Apple Pancakes with Cider Syrup

Welcome to one of my favorite breakfasts to prepare for my family! My house smelt amazing this morning as the pancakes were cooking on the griddle and the syrup was simmering on the stove.  I first came across this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine, the original uses a pancake mix as the base; but it's so easy and much cheaper to use your favorite pancake recipe so that's what I've done here. These also freeze beautifully, I like to make a double batch and put the extras in the freezer for mornings when we're running short on time. The next time you're not feeling so rushed in the morning; think of these pancakes, your family will thank you!

Apple Pancakes with Cider Syrup

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (I used buttermilk today since I had some to use up)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large apple, grated

Syrup:

1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup apple cider or juice
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and grated apple and stir until just combined.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle, turn when bubbles form on top. Cook until second side is golden brown.

Meanwhile, for syrup, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in cider until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly., about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Serve with pancakes.

Makes 12 pancakes