My children range from 8 to 19 years old. I have been making pancakes at least every weekend for the last 19 years. There are 52 weekends in a year. 52 x 19 equals 988 weekends that I have been making pancakes. Each time I make pancakes, it yields a minimum of 10 pancakes. So according to my calculations that adds up to a minimum of 9,880 pancakes for one day out of the weekend. Accounting for Sunday as well, I have mixed, poured and baked at least 19,760 pancakes. This doesn’t even allow for holidays and snow days! I can make pancakes in my sleep – literally.
Anyone from my generation might remember the commercial of the Dunkin Donuts guy groggily rolling out of bed at 5:00 a.m., shuffling sleepily into the Dunkin Donuts kitchen, all the while mumbling repeatedly “Time to make the donuts”. That’s me, just with pancakes. So here’s how my “Time to make the pancakes” began and where it stands now.
Pancakes: An Evolutionary Art
Over the years, I have been perfecting my recipe. While I usually don’t make anything with more than 5 ingredients, my super powerhouse pancakes are an exception. In my beginner days, I started with Trader Joe’s multigrain pancake mix and followed the recipe varying only with some added cinnamon and chocolate chips. On my journey towards improved health, I modified that recipe by substituting 1 cup of Trader Joe’s multigrain flour for 1/2 cup almond flour and 1/2 cup sprouted wheat or spelt flour. Then I would power it up with some super foods. My recipe, as it stands now, is a gluten free, grain free pancake that satisfies my children and fuels any of my runs.
Adina’s Grain Free Powerhouse Pancakes:
Ingredients:
1 cup almond meal
1 cup garbanzo bean flour
2 organic eggs
2 tablespoons hojiblanca olive oil
2 tablespoons Chia seeds (can use hemp seeds as well)
2 tablespoons organic maca powder
2 tablespoons raw organic cacao powder
a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon (or if I let the kids do it, a dousing of cinnamon)
1 + cups almond milk
Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and whisk. There is no sugar in these pancakes because I add semi sweet chocolate chips for my kids and a darker 57% cacao chip for myself. Sometimes I add, for an extra antioxidant crunch, cacao nibs to my mixture along with fresh or frozen fruit. I spoon my batter onto a flat griddle/panini maker and flip when golden brown.
As you can see, anything goes with these pancakes and you can experiment with the addition or deletion of many ingredients depending on your personal preferences. You can also play around with the types of flour you use. For example, when I mixed amaranth flour with the almond meal, the pancake turned out much lighter. The flour you use will influence the amount of liquid you need.
Experiment and add new ingredients one at a time so you know exactly what you like or don’t like and enjoy!
a life in balance 