We know the importance of breakfast – of heading out into the world with a belly satiated and content. We’ve been told this since childhood. Yet many of us hit the road running on empty, leaving just enough time to pop into the nearest coffee shop (where the line is long, making us late which adds stress) to grab a coffee and croissant. Continue reading “Start right!”
I like nothing better than to bastardise recipes that uses ‘traditional’ ingredients. Sugar? Raw honey or maple syrup will often do. White flour? Buckwheat, einkorn (not strictly gluten-free but tends to be more tolerable than regular white wheat flour) or almond flour will often do the trick. Cow’s milk? Almond, coconut or soy milk can be great alternatives. If using cow’s milk I’d go for full fat, organic and ideally non-homogenised. The less tampering the better.
So the other morning I decided to experiment with fresh ideas for puddings (that’s dessert for you non-UK readers) that ticked all the boxes yet tasted sweet. Lovely assignment and the fun bit of writing a food blog – you get to try, taste and eat a lot of different things. Which is great as I love food! Pancakes are a big hit in my family and always have been. Which is both good and bad. Good, because I know my children love the prospect of eating pancakes. Bad, when it tastes in any way different from the ‘normal’ ones.
The key to making tasty pancakes, I think, is to cook them with butter. I’ve tried coconut oil but it simply doesn’t taste right. So I use organic butter and a lot of it. As a filling, I mashed a banana and grated one of the gazillion apples I got in my weekly Abel&Cole juice box. I don’t quite know what to do with them all so this was an excellent way of diminishing my supplies. I topped it off with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey. Although not the best looking things (big, fat sausages springs to mind) they tasted delicious and the children really liked them. I didn’t mention the bit about gluten-free to them either 🙂 Here is what went into them:
Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancakes
Pancakes:
3 tbsp almond flour (ground almonds)
3 tbsp buckwheat flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut cream
Butter for cooking
Filling:
1 apple, grated
1 banana, mashed
sprinkle of cinnamon
honey to drizzle
lime
Mix ingredients for pancakes together until you have a smooth batter. You may have to add a bit of flour or cream depending on consistency. Make pancakes in a pan, cooked in butter, as per normal until you have a few stacked up. Mash up the fruit, add cinnamon and honey and fill each pancake with the mixture and roll up. Drizzle with lime and serve. If you have soft fruit you can substitute the apple for strawberries/raspberries or blueberries mixed with banana.
As much as a holiday is needed, giving you that well-earned break from the daily grind, it can also put a great fat spanner in the works of your good intentions. Away from the gym, the juicer, blender, familiar super markets and supplements, it can feel like things are going downhill fast. But beating ourselves up about what we are NOT doing is hardly the way to go, instead tread gently and enjoy the moment without judging. Our bodies can adapt and adjust. I don’t travel with many supplements nor do I eat on holiday the way I do at home – not by a long shot – and that’s okay. I always try to stick to good water, fruit and as many vegetables as is humanly possible and the rest will take care of itself. Relax and try to find what is good where you are. Here in Spain there is some amazing olive oil, juicy tomatoes and flat, ripe peaches – not to mention some great red wines. That can take you a long way. They even do the organic and free range eggs that I love and crave on a daily basis.
By embracing what we can’t change we let ourselves off the hook, which is the whole point of a holiday. Sleep, love, eat and enjoy, people! With love from Spain. x
