Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Pumpkin Almond Pancakes & Maple Breakfast Sausage

We love breakfast for dinner.  Almost once a week, it's what's for dinner at our house.  Sometimes it's eggs and potatoes, sometimes pancakes, but always a favorite.  

I was supposed to be making coconut flour pancakes, but I've been doing alot of experimenting with Coconut products lately, and I discovered I didn't have enough coconut flour left.  So - Plan B!  (AND STAY TUNED!  Cuckoo For Coconut post coming soon!)

Tonight, I experimented with an oatmeal pancake recipe that we love, but without using oatmeal.  Instead of the oatmeal and the oat flour, I used almond flour and quinoa flakes.   Quinoa is a seed that can be used in place of rice, or in place of oats, and it also can be purchased as a flour. (read more here Quinoa)  For the recipe tonight, I used the flakes.  By using the almond flour, and the quinoa flakes, I was able to make fluffy, flavorful, and healthy pancakes! 













The sausage is a recipe I'm so very proud of...I even surprised myself with how good it is!   We LOVE sausage at our house,  but our favorite name brand is full of all kinds of crap that I refuse to bring into my house any more.   I wasn't sure how to break it to the little guy that we wouldn't be having maple sausage any more, so I set out to re-create the one he loves.   I scoured the internet, and read through cookbooks, and took a little piece from so many recipes...plus added a couple touches of my own.   It got two thumbs up from the little guy, and also two thumbs up from the big guy, who said that he likes it better than the national brand!   Now, does it taste just like the boughten sausage?  No - but it's so good, we don't even care that it doesn't!
 I've used ground turkey, ground pork, and a mixture or turkey and pork - and all have been delicious!
Sausage is a very personal thing though - so I would encourage you to take my recipe, and tweak it for your own tastes.  THAT is the beauty of sausage - you can make a signature blend very easily...and who can resist saying they have a special recipe that's all their own?   



Pumpkin Almond Pancakes (grain free!)
 Wet Ingredients
   4 eggs**
   1 cup pumpkin puree
   1/4 cup milk (I used coconut milk)
   2 Tbls. honey
   1/4 cup palm sugar
   2 Tbls.  melted butter, coconut oil, or olive oil
   2 teas. vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients
  1/2 cup Quinoa flakes
   2 cups Almond Flour
   2 tsp. cinnamon
   2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
   1/2 tsp. celtic sea salt
   1/2 tsp. baking powder
   1/2 tsp. baking soda

** I have Jumbo sized eggs that I get at the health food store - if you are using large eggs, you might want to use 5 eggs.

Mix together wet ingredients with a hand mixer until blended well.  Add in dry ingredients and keep mixing until it's all blended together well.     Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes to half an hour to thicken up a bit, then pour onto a skillet or frying pan that has been oiled, and heated.  Flip when bubbles form over the surface.
Serve with maple syrup, honey butter, or applesauce.

Maple Breakfast Sausage

2 pounds ground pork
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. Frontier Maple Flavor Alcohol-Free, 2-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 3) (I get this at Harvest Health Foods)

I mix this all together (with my hands - it's the best way to get the spices distributed evenly) , and then scoop it out with a 2 tbls. cookie scoop, flatten it into patties, and place on parchment on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Then, once frozen, I put them in a freezer bag.   These are actually better if you wait a few days before cooking them.  The flavors meld together into deliciousness.


This post is linked to http://www.simplysugarandglutenfree.com/   as part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.   Check it out for all kinds of great recipes!

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to try these recipes eventually. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. You're welcome. It's my pleasure. :-)

    ReplyDelete