Crepes

I am always pleased when I find a food that my whole family enjoys. This definitely fits the bill. I brought these to a non-GAPS brunch recently and was told that they are better than regular crepes. I think they are virtually indistinguishable. The key seems to be generous amounts of vanilla, plus delicious fillings of course.

A lovely lady named Millie, from the GAPSHelp group, posted this recipe http://www.tiana-coconut.com/coconut_flour_recipes.htm recently. I modified it slightly to work for GAPS and my taste buds

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons coconut flour

Method

Blend together butter, eggs, honey, vanilla and salt. Stir in coconut milk. Thoroughly mix in coconut flour. Heat 1/2 teaspoon butter in a small skillet. Pour one tablespoon of the batter into the skillet; immediately rotate skillet until there is a thin even layer of batter. Crepe should be about 4 inches in diameter. Cook until batter is bubbly and cooked (I find it easier to flip if they are slightly browned) around the edges. Turn and cook the other side for a moment. Cover one side of crepes with your choice of chopped fruits, nuts, honey lemon curd, apple butter or homemade jam. Roll up and serve.

I usually double this recipe and keep them warm in the oven until serving time. Leftovers refrigerate well. I'm going to experiment with freezing too.

Makes 6 or more crepes.

Pancake "bread"

I created this recipe while experimenting to find ways of using the nut pulp left over from making nut milk and was surprised by how much the texture reminds me of wheat bread. The flavor and texture will vary quite a bit depending on which nuts the pulp was made from. We eat these either hot off the griddle with butter and honey (in which case they remind me of toast), or let them cool and use them to make round sandwiches. If the sandwiches are to be savory, you can add herbs to the batter, if they are to be sweet (say nut butter and fruit) they taste good with honey added and maybe a little cinnamon.

INGREDIENTS:

5 eggs, separated
1 cup nut butter
1 cup nut pulp
1/2 cup nut milk (or other liquid)
pinch of salt (for savory)
1 T honey (for sweet)

METHOD:

Mix all ingredients except egg whites. Beat egg whites with mixer until they form soft peaks, then fold them into the other ingredients. If the other ingredients are very stiff and it is hard to mix, you can either add more liquid or just keep stirring- even if you lose some of the fluffiness of the egg whites the pancakes will still turn out well.

Cook on hot greased griddle.

Tracy's Fabulous Nut Pancakes

We would like to welcome our newest Grain-Free Foodie, Tracy. This recipe looks delicious and I know we are going to see many more great things from her. Please note that this recipe is unsweetened for those people needing to avoid or restrict honey intake.

Nut Pancakes with Wild Blueberry Topping

2 ½ cups ground nuts and seeds. (Grind nuts first, then measure)

¼ cup COLD butter or Ghee straight from the fridge – it is important that the butter be cold

½ teaspoon baking soda

(note- while baking soda is not technically GAPS-legal, it is neutralized in the cooking process so it shouldn't affect stomach acid)

Juice of 1 large lemon

¼ teaspoon of salt

3 eggs (separated)

1 cup coconut milk, well-chilled

Oil for frying

Topping:

1 cup blueberries (we use Trader Joe’s frozen Organic Wild Blueberries)

Pats of butter

Method:

For this recipe, I use a coffee grinder, food processor, and KitchenAid mixer. I find these very helpful for achieving the consistency and rise in the pancakes. I also tend to keep a can of shaken coconut milk in the fridge at all times, so it is cold when I am ready to use it.

First, grind the nuts. I mix up a combination of cashews, pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed, walnuts, and sunflower seeds, or any combination of the above. Usually, I keep a big bowl on the counter full of this mixture so that when I put a scoop into my coffee grinder, it’s a good combo. Extra ground nuts I keep in the fridge until I’m ready to use them.

Separate the eggs, and put the egg whites into the mixer, and beat them until soft peaks form. Transfer them gently into a large mixing bowl.

Put the nuts into the food processor and add the baking soda and salt. Pulse until combined. Add the very cold butter in chunks and pulse until well-combined. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice and the cold coconut milk, and pulse until well-combined. The batter should be thick but not stiff, closer to cake batter than cookie dough; add more coconut milk if necessary. Gently transfer the batter into the mixing bowl and fold the egg whites into the batter.

Fry immediately in a heated frying pan with a generous coating of oil. Pancakes are best eaten hot right off the griddle, but you can also keep them in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Topping:

We like to heat the frozen blueberries in a small saucepan with a little water (maybe 1 or 2 Tbsp per cup of berries) until they release their juices and come to a boil. Use as little water as possible, as it diluted the wonderful juices released.

Serve pancakes hot with pats of butter and scoops of hot blueberries and juice.

Light and Fluffy Intro Diet Pancakes with Lemon Honey Syrup

When it came time to try the pancakes for the intro diet- the ones made with nut butter, squash, and eggs- I was not inspired. I couldn't find suggested proportions of each ingredient, and the first batch I made came out dense and very flat and not terribly appetizing. I played around with this recipe until I came up with this version, which are light and fluffy, look like regular pancakes, and taste pretty good.


Ingredients:
1 C pureed, cooked squash
1 C nut butter
5 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 T cinnamon
dash of cloves, nutmeg, and any other "pumpkin pie" type spice

Method:
Separate the eggs, and beat the whites until fluffy (soft peaks are fine). In a large bowl, mix together the 5 egg yolks, the squash, the nut butter, and the salt and spices. Blend thoroughly. Fold the egg whites into this mixture gently, so that the resulting batter is airy and light.

Cook on a well-greased griddle on a somewhat low heat, as they do burn easily. Flip them gently as they do not stay together as well as regular pancakes.

NOTE- Pancake batter provides a great opportunity to "hide" healthy ingredients. This morning, I blended in 2 T of beef marrow and about 1/4 of pureed mushroom soup, and the pancakes looked and tasted fine.

For the syrup, you will need:
1/4 C honey
juice of half a lemon
vanilla (optional)

Combine the first two ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. They will heat up and become much thinner very quickly. Turn off heat, and add vanilla, if using. At this point you can further thin the syrup by adding in some filtered water.

This would also be good with a different fruit juice, such as pomegranate or cherry. The Knudsen's Just Juice line is supposed to be acceptable for GAPS, and this could offer some welcome variation.

Pancakes

My personal preference for posting recipes here is that they be "company-worthy". That is to say that someone who is not on a special diet would eat the dish, and say "Wow, this is good!" and not even think that it's part of some unusual regimen. (Other posters here may have a different standard, and that's OK!)

These pancakes are an exception to my "rule". I don't think regular eaters would enjoy them very much, but for us...they're pretty darn good. My toddler can't get enough of them, and it's a good way to get eggs into him.

Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

1 very ripe banana, mashed

2 Tbsp. salted peanut butter

3 eggs

Method

Blend all of the ingredients together with a whisk or hand mixer. Pour onto a greased (I use ghee) griddle that's been preheated to "medium". Cook until done on one side, flip and watch carefully as second side seems to cook more quickly.

I serve these with butter and honey mixed with fresh lemon juice. I also had them with a quick raspberry syrup made from heated frozen raspberries and honey. That was good too.