Best Pancakes Ever…and Gluten Free If You Want Them to Be.

When in need of a great tasting, nutritious, and easy to prepare batch of pancakes, go to your pantry, not the grocery store.

Whipping together your own ‘cakes from scratch is better for both your physical and mental health: You get to choose exactly what’s going into them (I bet you’ll pass on including stabilizers and preservatives!) and you’ll feel accomplished having created terrific food that nourishes and delights you.

You get to decide whether to:

• Add berries (or not) and which kind.  Blueberries?  Blackberries?  Raspberries?
• Shall I use fresh eggs or egg replacer?
• Oat flour, wheat flour or a gluten-free blend?

More importantly, you’ll be skipping the added chemicals and preservatives found in commercial pancake mixes

Here’s my go-to recipe for whole grain goodness loaded with flavor-bursting berries.

Customize to your heart’s (and palate’s) content:

OATMEAL PANCAKES

1-1/2 cups quick oats

2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour, any grain variety; I use oat.  (Click link for directions on making your own oat flour in an instant.)

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup blueberries or blackberries, frozen is fine

Mix oats and buttermilk together in a large bowl, making sure that all of the oats are coated with buttermilk.  Let rest 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

Add eggs to bowl; beat them into the batter to break up the yolks and incorporate.

Stir in dry ingredients until well blended, but do not overmix.

Fold in berries.

Cook on hot griddle* or cast iron pan until lightly browned on the bottom and slightly bubbly on top.  Flip over and cook until the flipped side is golden.

Serve with your choice of toppings:

• Butter and cinnamon sugar is one of my faves
• Homemade applesauce
• Pure maple syrup is excellent as well.  Make sure it’s Grade B vs. Grade A, to maximize the amount of minerals & nutrients in this yummy, plant-derived food.

Equity for ALL Diners

*To ensure equality for all diners, bring that griddle to the table and cook up the ‘cakes right there: nobody’s stuck in the kitchen missing out on the conversation and fun, then left to eat cold food.  Do this with your waffles too!

Thank you to Tatiana Rodriguez on Unsplash for the featured image.