Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa with Cumin Lime Dressing

I'll still eat it, even though I know it's healthy.

I remember the first time I ever tried quinoa. Years ago before I ever went gluten free, I read a story in a magazine about this “new” super grain that we all should be eating on a daily basis. I found some instant quinoa breakfast cereal at a grocery store and gave it a shot. EW. I think it was more like quinoa powder with sugar and artificial apple cinnamon flavor. It was an uninspiring bowl of brown mush. No thank you.

I finally tried it again after going gluten free. Here and there, I would encounter it at friend’s houses when they tried to figure out something to feed me that was gluten free. I didn’t want to be rude and say “NOOOOO anything but quinoa!” so I shut up and ate it. And it was great (for the most part!). I enjoyed the various fruited, veggied, stuffed-in-things varieties I had, prepared by my loving and understanding friends.

Did you know that quinoa isn’t really a grain at all, but is related most closely to leafy greens like beets, spinach and tumbleweed? Weird. It is also what nutritionists refer to as a “complete protein”, meaning that it contains a balance of amino acids, which is rare in a plant. Oh quinoa. You amazingly weird plant, you.

So I am finally giving you all a basic quinoa recipe. Finally. I am trying to branch out a little here from baked goods (although I have a KILLER lemon tea bread for you all tomorrow…oops). My mom has really been cooking most of my meals since I’ve been living at home, so I haven’t had as much of a chance to share any new recipes.

Next time I make this really great dish (and I will for the next potluck I go to!), I would tweak the dressing a little more  with some extra lime juice and add some cotilljo cheese to pump it up! Also loved the idea in the comments to include avocado or some spicy chicken or sausage to this. I enjoy this dish as a side or as a main course (the beans give it a ton of protein), and I really like it at room temp or warm, it loosens up all the flavors and the textures!

New best friend, quinoa

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa with Cumin Lime Dressing
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Dressing:
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 tsp ground red chipotle
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup quinoa
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium tomatoes, diced( NOTE: it’s so important to use really REALLY good tomatoes for this. If you’re making this out of tomato season, I would use canned diced tomatoes)
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk together lime zest and juice, butter, oil, sugar, cumin, pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.

Wash quinoa in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a sieve each time.

Cook quinoa in a medium pot of boiling salted water (1 tablespoon salt for 2 quarts water), uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in sieve with very very small holes or a larger one lined with cheesecloth.

Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. You can top this with cheese, salsa, extra lime juice, meats…anything at all! or just eat as is 🙂

 

I hear even Boston beans do it!

So I went to Boston a few weeks ago. LOVE it there. Last time I went up about a year and a half ago, I had some of the best gluten free food I’ve tasted in ages. My favorite spot was Zing Pizza in Cambridge…holy moly. It actually had the consistency and taste of real pizza. Not crispy, not too thin; it was insanely good. I didn’t make it there this time because I mostly stuck around Medford, a burb of Boston that also has some tasty treats. I am obsessed with the Danish Pastry House, an awesome little pastry and coffee spot right around the block from where I was staying. They have several gluten free treats that are worth the stop. The staff is fairly knowledgeable and when in doubt, they’ll pull out laminated lists of ingredients for you to scrutinize. I triple checked that their french macaroons were gluten free and got an amaaaazing maple one…for breakfast. Oops. I mean, it was maple flavored, I figured it wasn’t that far off from a danish or something. Right? Right.

So before that mind numbing justification of my breakfast macaroon, I really should have informed my reading audience that I’ve decided to uproot to Boston fairly soon and that’s why I went up to visit 🙂 I’m really excited, not only for my personal life to pick up some steam, not only for the opportunity to again be in a metropolitan foodtropolis (Real? Doesn’t matter. Still awesome), but to live in an area with real culture, real identity as a city. Boston is a vibrant, young, cool place, ya’ll. 🙂 I’m psyched. So I had a job interview that went really well, and I’m crossing my fingers that it pulls through so that I can move up for this fall! I can’t wait for New England autumn; pumpkins, apple pickin’, leaf peeping, wahoo!!

YAY 🙂

So, the weekend was great. We hit Haru, a ridiculously beautiful sushi joint near the Prudential Center, for Scorpion Bowls and sushi. The light fixtures alone were worth the trip. Although to be fair, I was wonderfully drunk by the time I noticed the floating twine ball above our table, which might have enhanced its beauty a bit. I had three (count em, three) shrimp and avocado rolls. AND. They had gluten free soy sauce. Which is nice if you don’t want to be a dork and smuggle in your gf soy sauce in your tiny purse…

At least one scorpion bowl in...go team!

I also had lunch at Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, which was a really great gluten free dining experience. We had a wonderful waiter who checked with the chef on every single aspect of my meal to make sure it was gluten free.  Go responsible restaurants! You make me happy.

So today for your dining pleasure and to celebrate what I just realized is my 100th post (wow…only took me way too many years to hit that milestone!), I have some amazing AMAZING gluten free cinnamon raisin bread. This is something that I have to admit spending way too much money on at Whole Foods way too many times. I wish that I could say that it was super hard and thank goodness I waited to try it…but it would be a lie. This super easy recipe came courtesy of The Baking Beauties and it was seriously way better than any commercially made gluten free cinnamon raisin bread I’ve had. It was soft, delicious out of the oven with salted butter, not at all crumbly, and amazing even 3 days later without ever going into the fridge. Pretty amazing. I also think Jeanine is inspired for including oatmeal in this bread, which gives it more fiber, more moisture, and I’m pretty sure it mimics some gluten-like qualities. Ever seen cooked oatmeal? Just sayin. Nice recipe, Jeanine! 🙂

Cinnaraisingasm

Oatmeal Cinnamon Raisin Bread

From The Baking Beauties

9×5-inch loaf pan, greased or silicone (Note: I actually bake bread in loaf pans with parchment paper now. It makes it super super easy to lift out of the pan, you don’t have to worry about it sticking ever! try it!)

1/2 cup certified gluten free rolled oats
1 cup raisins

Place oats & raisins in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside and let soak for 10 minutes. Drain water using a sieve or strainer. It is Ok if it is still wet, you just don’t want any puddles in the mixture.

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 – 1 cup warm water (start with 3/4 cup and add up to 1/4 cup if necessary)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp instant yeast
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 egg whites

Combine water, sugar & yeast. Stir and let sit until foamy on top. Then add the cider vinegar, vegetable oil, eggs and egg whites.

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup milk powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt

Combine all dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer until well mixed.

Add the soaked oats & raisins to the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer (with the paddle attachment) on low speed, and slowly add the wet ingredients. Once combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Turn the mixer on medium, beat for 4 minutes.

Spoon dough into prepared bread pan. Let rise, uncovered, in a warm, draft-free place for 25 minutes, or until it has reached the top of the bread pan.

Place bread in preheated 350 degrees F oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until nicely browned & the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the top.

Remove loaf from oven, and leave in the bread pan for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan & cool on wire cooling racks (I like to cool loaf on its side). When the loaf is completely cool, store in airtight bag. Can be left on the counter for 3 days, or frozen (wrap in additional plastic wrap if freezing).

The BEST gluten free Banana Bread!

Well folks, I have finally crossed over to baking by weight. This post by Gluten Free Girl convinced me that this would be an easier way to convert recipes to gluten free and have them turn out, you know, amazing! All it took was a $20 investment for a new kitchen scale (really super basic digital one from Wally World) and my world is completely changed! Woo!

I successfully converted this recipe, which is for Cook’s Illustrated Banana Bread. My mom was the one who told me about the recipe, which involves extracting the liquor from bananas, reducing it to a syrup, and then baking it all up into an orgasmic banana treat. I hope that’s not over stating it. No wait…it’s totally not. This is the best damn banana bread ever.

Damn girl. That's some banana bread you got there.

I am so happy that I finally found something that tastes like ACTUAL banana bread. I made this one a while back and, while good at the time for my gluten craving body, just wasn’t the right texture. I’m a big texture person, and that has been the worst thing for me since going gluten free. There are some super strange textures that accompany gluten free baked goods when you don’t know what you’re doing. Dense, chalky, dry….bleck. This bread is none of those things. Moist, fluffy, decent crumb…RIDIC. Plus, you can eat it WARM. Right out of the oven. It won’t fall apart and you will be SO HAPPY 🙂

I’m including the recipe with my modifications so that you can see how this works. I highly recommend reading this post by Gluten Free Girl for specifics 🙂

WARMMMMMM 🙂

The Best GF Banana Bread

8 3/4 oz unbleached all purpose flour (I used a gf baking mix, bean based)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
5 large very ripe bananas, peeled and frozen
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
5 1/4 oz light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp granulated sugar

Thaw frozen bananas FIRST . You will notice a brown liquid coming out of the bananas as they thaw! Hooray! That is the magical ingredient that makes this recipe the bomb diggity.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, walnuts and salt in a large bowl.

Place the bananas in a mesh strainer over a large bowl and wait for them to release their liquid (about 15 mins when they’re thawed out). You should have about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of liquid. Transfer the liquid to a small sauce pan and cook over medium high heat until reduced to about 1/4 cup.  Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas and mash with fork or potato masher until fairly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.

Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over loaf. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool bread in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool.

Another edition of a few of my favorite things!

Well! It’s been a while since I’ve done a round of “these are the things i’m crushing on right now”! Let’s jump right in. These aren’t all strictly food related, but it’s a nice little mental snapshot of my life right now 🙂

So first of all, I’m a little crazy about the book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. If you’ve never read it, it’s a beautiful story about the Kingsolver family’s journey toward self reliance and closing the gap between the farm and the dinner table. On grander level, Barbara discusses some of the global food issues facing us all and what they mean for future generations. I LOVE THIS BOOK. I couldn’t put it down the first time I read it a few years ago and I’ve read it probably 5 times since then 🙂

Another thing I’m obsessed with is this super eco friendly idea for a beautiful, chic and elegant wedding for under $100!! I bet you thought it couldn’t be done. In the era of $50,000 and $100,000 birthday parties for 6 year old girls, and million dollar mega weddings, I found this idea to be exceptional and personal. Not that I’m such an expert on these things, but I find so many weddings to be about, well, stuff. Not so much about the people actually getting married. It becomes about the dress and the shoes and the bridesmaids dresses (note to my friends: you will NOT have to buy a dress you’ll never wear again, k?) Just saying. This is sweet. And I looooove the idea of a simple breakfast beforehand so that the guests can get to know each other, because frankly I am tired of wandering around awkwardly looking for a pal to hang out with!

For your canning porn supplies, you might want to take a look at these spectacularly cool labels on Zazzle.com by user NostalgicJourney. I LOVE THESE. I am going to get a few sheets for my mom, who goes absolutely crazy canning homemade applesauce, tomatoes and pears every year. This year I hope to can my own produce in these jars, which as far as I am aware are only available in the US through Lehman’s Hardware. Before I knew that Lehman’s is a famous locale for these hard to find jars, it was just a fantastic stop in Kidron, OH on the way to my gramma’s house! Who knew that canning mavens everywhere would give their eyeteeth to visit the actual store 🙂 Anyway, I know these just look like glass jars, but they are topped with a glass lid and sealed with a rubber seal. They are a more sustainable way to can your goodies, since you don’t have to buy new lids each year! Plus, they’re super cute and European looking.

Check out this article about GMO alfalfa from SlashFood! I am as against GMO’s as I could possibly be, considering that in the US we have absolutely no alternative if we want to buy our food at a grocery store. It is a frustrating issue to people like me who feel that we have walked down a path now without knowing the consequences first. Sigh. I will continue to contact my legislators about this, for all the good it will do me. Sometimes it feels like screaming into the face of a howling gale.

GMO Alfalfa has been officially approved by the USDA. Stupid Monsanto.

Finally, a new favorite gluten free blog, just for you! I am in love with The Baking Beauties and I can’t believe that I hadn’t found this site before now! You’ll love Jeanine’s easy to follow directions and delicious recipes. I also appreciate the fact that she is clearly a cook and not a food stylist. I am not terribly food style-y with my pictures and I appreciate another real live person who has delicious food and what looks like a real live kitchen 😉 Go check her out!

 

I hope you guys enjoy the new goodies! Let me know what you think with some comments on the actual blog once in a while, I get lots of comments on facebook but not a ton here! let me know how i’m doing!

Harrisonburg Is Gluten Free!!

Hey folks! I’m writing to you from my house sitting gig from beautiful Ottobine, VA. It’s been such a great time to relax, unwind from all the pressures and worries that I had been going through the last 6 months, and just take a moment to breathe.

After moving to Harrisonburg, VA I found that my dining options, although by no means non-existent, were definitely more limited than being in Northern VA. I am definitely excited though, by just how much I still have access to! In Harrisonburg, there is a great Thai restaurant called Taste of Thai that is VERY familiar with the gluten free diet. I have successfully eaten there multiple times with no problems at all. Just make sure, as always, to be VERY firm about being terribly allergic 😉

Another great place that I recently tried with my parents is Vito’s Italian Kitchen, formerly L’Italia. I was a little hesitant to try it, but it turns out that Vito’s makes a HUGE gluten free pizza! The only option is to get a 12″, but that is so much bigger than most other places that serve pizza! Their toppings were all incredible, very fresh and not terribly salty. The crust was thin and cracker-like, not the best I’ve tasted but certainly not the worst. The waitress was very confident, asked all the right questions, and I didn’t even feel like I needed to talk to a manager (which I so often do when trying a new restaurant for the first time!). It was a great experience, I will definitely go back!

One of my standby cool places to go when here, Clementine’s, has a lot of great seasonal dishes that they can modify for gluten intolerant diners. I went a few days ago with my friend Jenna and had an Oh My Darlin’ cocktail…amazzzzing. I also managed to get a delicious Shrimp and Grits dish with huge plump shrimp, bacon, and lobster cream sauce!!! The sauce was thickened with cornstarch. I was in heaven. The waitress didn’t mind asking questions in the kitchen for me, although it sounded like the chef wasn’t 100% sure what he was talking about, insisting that corn wasn’t gluten free. Um….yes. It is. There is such a thing as corn gluten, but unless you have a corn allergy, it doesn’t effect gluten-intolerant diners. I understand the confusion though 😉

Finally, my life wouldn’t be complete without Sharp Shopper! Sharp Shopper is a FANTASTIC Mennonite-run grocery outlet. The best part about it is that the woman who orders the dry ingredients sold in bulk knows (and loves) my mother, and has started carrying bulk gluten free oats, rice flour, sorghum flour, potato and corn starches, xanthan gum, and tapioca starch. It’s so great! I feel like I can actually afford to feed myself when I buy ingredients here! If you need ANYTHING, ask for Caroline. She is always open to taking requests for new products and will actually let you know when she gets a good deal on something you might like!

Amazingly, Harrisonburg has a lot of great places to eat gluten free! Feel free to post anywhere in town that you know of that has any other great places to eat! 🙂

Thank you, Martha

Wow. It’s been an age! Sorry, readers.
So SO many things have happened since I last posted. Rather than catch up on literally everything, I’ll do a bulleted list to sum up.

• Quit the bakery. Started dog walking.
• Went to Florida for Christmas. Gained weight from too many amazing meals from Janet Hayden.
• Came back and immediately had a blizzard. Taking weight back off by walking my ass off in the snow. Minimum 10 walks per day.
• Roommate drama-rama. Moved. Again.

That sums it up. In no way have I been doing any cooking more complicated than Trader Joes boxed Mac and Cheese recently, since I a) can’t cook in the gluten filled kitchen and b) am poor.
However. I am still stalking recipe sites like nobody’s business, planning for a day when I again have a safe environment to cook real food. I can’t wait. Here’s a couple of great new lists of gluten free recipes for your enjoyment. I can’t wait to try a few!

Martha Stewart has a nice list of about 35 recipes. I especially like this idea of subbing in crushed rice cereal for panko breadcrumbs; it’s a substitution that I’ve been wondering about lately.

Land O Lakes has an AMAZING collection of gluten free recipes. I stumbled across this over the Christmas break and there are so many great reviews of the recipes, I figured it was worth sharing!

Elizabeth Barbonne’s website GlutenFreeBaking.com is a subscription based site, but there are tons of free gluten free baking recipes that you don’t have to pay for! Check it out 🙂 I can’t wait to try her recipe for gluten free Pannetone….thank you Elizabeth 🙂

Food Blog Mania

I’ve been doing much more reading of food blogs recently than writing my own. Unfortunately my new living situation isn’t lending itself well to cooking, but what I do have right now is an internet connection and my boyfriend’s kitchen on loan. Not to mention his patience and understanding (except for my alleged loud typing while we watch TV.  He has no patience for that, lemme tell ya). Keith understands as well as I do how important safely feeding my body and mind are, and has been more than generous by lending his kitchen to me, as long as he gets to taste whatever I am making 🙂

Today, his house had the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through it. Even with the windows open, the damp air seemed to cling to the smell instead of the other way around. It was heavenly, and I was (and am) so grateful that I can prepare food there! If you’ve never tried Bob’s Red Mill Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix, that is my go to. I am trying to save some money at the moment and baking my own bread is a great way to do that. At $7 per loaf, Whole Foods will not be getting any more of my bread  money until I am working full time again. Sorry, Whole Foods. Much love.

One thing that is helping my creative itch while my hands are figuratively tied in the kitchen is Foodgawker! Holy moly, how did I not know about this gem of a site before now? I think I’d run across it once or twice, but friends…if you love food porn as much as I do, this should be your first stop. It’s a great way to drool over new ideas and discover new bloggers who all love beautifully styled and well cooked food. I have found and linked several new blogs in the last few days, so check out the side menu and visit the others!  One of my new favorites is Tartelette. WOW. She has amazing gluten free recipes. I really do not notice that it is specifically gluten free, the food is gorgeous and unpretentious. I am just so impressed!  Yum. Check it out!

 

Triumph Gluten Free Dining Out Guide

I received an email recently from Triumph Dining about the release of their 5th edition dining out guide (my blog is a member of their affiliate program, to be up front with my audience :)). Keith’s mom Janet has the 4th edition and it has been really helpful to Keith and I in the past when trying to figure out where to eat out when we’re traveling or when we’re in a new part of town. These guides are seriously cool! They break down each state by area and town and list restaurants that have gluten free menus or are gluten free friendly. The entries also include notes from the restaurants about procedures and precautions to diners, ie “This restaurants grill is shared with gluten containing ingredients.”

I highly recommend this guide to anyone looking for new places to eat in their area, or for folks who travel a lot. It’s so much easier than trying to google on your smart phone at the airport!

The only downside to the guide is that of course, since it is a hard copy, it is instantly out of date or inaccurate to some degree as soon as it’s printed. Make sure you call restaurants ahead of time and check the facts in the guide before going in to enjoy a meal 🙂

Check out Triumph Dining through the ads on my blog to purchase the guide and check out their other great products like their dining out cards and their grocery guides. You’ll love how thorough they are! 🙂 Let me know what you all think once you’ve taken a look!

Dulce De Leche with Strawberries

Hello all! Sorry for the extended absence. Things are changing fast in my little world right now and I felt like I needed to take a hiatus from blogging to really focus on everything going on.

So, two things:

1) I decided to quit my full time job! I wasn’t happy where I was and I was constantly stressed out. My health was rapidly deteriorating because of the constant stress I was under. That is no way to live your life at the ripe old age of 25, so I decided while on a trip to Atlanta to take the plunge and quit my job. I never would have been able to do this without having my Mary Kay business to rely on, so thank goodness I have really developed a deep love for that part of my life. Gotta love a recession proof job!

2) Since I am now without a salaried job, I decided that I would be foolish not to do something with my life that I’ve always wanted to do. So, starting next Monday, I will be working full time for my friend Justin, owner of BakeShop in Arlington VA. 🙂 No, he doesn’t have gluten free goodies yet, but I told him that if I had to work all day around things I couldn’t eat, this was going to be a short term of employment 😉 So he will be rolling out some gluten free treats soon thankfully and I will become blissfully chubby at work, most likely.

Anyway, now you know what’s going on in my world.  I’m excited and nervous to begin this new phase of life!

So a while back, I made an epic discovery. I know others have made homemade dulce de leche before, but I never had. Oh sure, my friend Aaron told me about his method of boiling a can of condensed milk….but honestly that scared me. How does it not explode?! So i went searching for a different method because I was seriously craving some yummy creamy gooey dulce de leche! And lo and behold: David Lebovitz had a solution, as he so often does.

For those of you that don’t know, dulce de leche is essentially caramelized condensed milk. It is delicious stirred into ice cream, brownie batter, as a layer of filling on a cake or tart, or directly out of the jar on strawberries (my chosen method usually!).  It is one of my favorite flavors and after making it this way, I found myself saying “why don’t I make this more often?!” And honestly, you will too. Try out this low maintenance and naturally gluten free recipe and let me know what you think! I have included David’s instructions word for word because they worked so well, I really didn’t want to mess up the process.

Dulce De Leche! YUM!

Dulce De Leche ala David Lebovitz

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).

Pour one can (400 gr/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.

Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.

Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).

Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.

Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using.

Coconut Pancakes with Cinnamon Mango Sauce

Well hello readers. My apologies for the extended absence, I needed some time to refresh and recharge. I have been cooking a little less recently purely due to a busy schedule, but I’m happy to report that despite the busyness, I feel ready to cook some meals now 🙂

Part of the busy schedule is due to attending several Zumba classes weekly. In case you haven’t gotten to your gym for a class yet and are wondering what all the fuss is about, Zumba is a super fun, high energy exercise class that consists of moves from salsa, hip hop, aerobics and I’m sure lots of other things (most of which I can’t spell!). Here’s a video of my class (I wasn’t in this one). My instructor, Azuka, is a freakin Zumba maverick! Here she is teaching the Kazaxe (Ka-za-shay) class that I go to:

So it might not look hard if you just watch the video….but try doing it in a basement room with no AC for an hour with approximately 120 other people.  AN HOUR, PEOPLE! My friend Emily (who introduced me to this class) told me that you can burn up to 1000 calories per class if you really work. And I definitely believe that!

Anyway, my class is at 7:40 PM and that hasn’t left much time for cooking lately. However, I did have one evening where I wanted something delish but realized that, due to Zumba, I had been eating out or frozen EVERY NIGHT and hadn’t bother to buy anything beyond mac and cheese in a box. wow. I checked out my pantry and threw these lovely pancakes together because…it’s all I had on hand. What a happy accident! I love these!

I found the coconut oil at Whole Foods a while back after reading about its benefits at The Spunky Coconut. (While you’re there, check out Kelly’s gluten free, dairy free, sugar free recipes. She has some amazing looking ones over there and a cookbook that looks fantastic!) If you can’t find it at your local store, she has a link on her page to a company that sells it online! Please let me know what you think by commenting on the blog, I love to get feedback on my recipes! 🙂

No touch the mango!

Coconut Pancakes with Cinnamon Mango Sauce
Makes about 6 medium pancakes

Pancakes:
1 cup Gluten Free Pantry Brown Rice Pancake and Waffle Mix
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 egg
1 c. milk (next time I am going to try 1/2 regular milk, 1/2 coconut milk!)
3 Tbsp. liquid coconut oil
1 cup shredded toasted coconut
1 Tbsp. Agave Nectar

Combine all ingredients and then set batter aside to rest while you make the sauce. When the sauce is finished, melt a few tablespoons of coconut oil on a hot nonstick griddle. Ladle pancake batter onto hot griddle and cook until golden brown on each side.

Cinnamon Mango Sauce:

2 cups fresh or frozen mango chunks
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup sugar or agave nectar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pot. Stir over medium high heat until the mixture has softened and thickened to a syrupy consistency.  Serve over pancakes hot!