Fluffy Sour Chia Pancakes

It would be just like me to make the best pancakes ever and not take a single picture.

But these were so good, I had to snap a few post-bite pics and share the recipe.

I was craving sourdough pancakes. Though these aren't as sour as sourdough, they have the right sweetness and tang, combined with goodness of oat, whole wheat, and chia.

Fluffy Sour Chia Pancakes

makes 8

Wet

1 medium banana, ripe

1/3 c. light coconut milk (from a can)

1/3 c. chopped fresh pineapple

1/2 c. unsweetened plain almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry

2/3 c. oat flour

1/3 c. whole wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp chia seeds

Blend together the wet ingredients.

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl.

Pour wet mixture into dry. Stir to combine. Let sit for 2-3 minutes to give chia seeds some time to gel.

Heat a pan over med-high heat and spray with coconut oil cooking spray (my new favorite for pancakes and stir fry's)

Scoop by 1/4 cups onto pan.

Flip once you start to see bubbles popping.

I served mine with cinnamon apples, but would be great with maple syrup, fresh berries, or raspberry jam. 

Biscuits and Country Gravy (Vegan)

I'm finding it very easy to veganize recipes.

Dangerously easy.

I bring you vegan biscuits and country gravy.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Whole Wheat Vegan Biscuits
16 biscuits

1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp whipped earth balance buttery spread
4 tbsp soy cream cheese spread (I use TJ's brand)
1 c. original unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used soy)

Preheat oven to 400F.
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder and salt.

Drop in earth balance and vegan cream cheese.

Using the tines of a fork, blend in the earth balance and cream cheeze. You could pulse in a large food processor if you have one big enough. But the fork method just takes a minute or so. Work on it until you get the following looking consistency:

Add in milk and mix just until combined.

Turn out onto a floured surface and need briefly - 2-4 times.

Roll out to about 1/2" using your finest kitchen equipment (a cup from ikea= rolling pin, right?)

Cut out even shapes (using more glassware, apparently). 

Place on a lightly sprayed baking sheet.

:

Bake 12-14 minutes, or until brown and puffed up:

Now, about that gravy.

Country Gravy
about  1 1/2 c. gravy

4 soy breakfast sausage links or 2 patties, or the precrumbled stuff, whatever you like
2 tbsp earth balance whipped buttery spread
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 c. original, unsweetened soy milk (warmed)
black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
cayenne and tabasco to taste

Crumble up sausage, set aside.

In a sauce pan over med-high heat, melt earth balance. Whisk in flour and create a vegan roux! This takes about 1 minute.  Whisk continuously, let it slightly toast.

Pour in warmed milk, whisking continuously.

Once thickened (about a minute), reduce heat to med-low and stir in sausage, salt, pepper, hot sauce, cayenne, whatevs.

To serve, split biscuits and top with a pouring of gravy.

Serve with copious amounts of tabasco and fruit because this, my friends, is health food.

Green Pancakes

I'VE GONE MAD!!!

I made another absurdly green recipe.

Today's green recipe comes from (never)homemaker. I shook it up a bit with oat flour, cause I like a hearty pancake. These taste great and are packed full of nutrition! Would be good for kids or St. Patrick's day. Or just me.

Green Pancake Mix

8-10 pancakes

1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. oat flour (oats pulsed into a flour consistency)

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp flax meal

2 c. fresh spinach

pinch salt

Pulse all ingredients in a large food processor, until it looks like green flour.

This can store in the fridge for up to 2 days. I recommend that you just make a ton of pancakes, then reheat for a few days.

To turn these into pancakes, first make the wet ingredients:

Wet Ingredients

1 large ripe banana, mashed

1 c. milk of choice - unsweetened, unflavored almond or soy are my choices

1 tbsp brown sugar for sweetness!

Stir in the green mix and then toss in 1/3 c. fresh blueberries and 1/4 c. chopped walnuts or whatever you like in your pancakes.

Cook on a skillet sprayed with cooking spray like you would any ol pancake.

I promise, these don't take like spinach. Stop looking at me weird.

Strawberry Poptarts

If you're on Pinterest, then you're well aware that you can make poptarts at home. Poptarts out of the box? Disgusting. Too sweet, filling is like sugar glue, and they are full of garbage ingredients. Poptarts at home? Talk to me.

I give Smitten Kitchen credit for this trend, but that's just because I kind of worship SK. You should too. 

Anywho, I took some shortcuts and bought pre-made pie crust. I'm not super proud of that, but I am also not gonna lie and pretend to be a baker. Also, half way into the process I realized that it was too much work and that I had a potsticker press that could do the work for me. The potsticker press makes mini pies that are perfect snacks, desserts, or breakfast items. And to top it all off, I added a cream cheese/yogurt frosting. You could fill your tarts with whatever you like - fruit, jam, nut butter, chocolate... or you could go bonkers and get savory. Hot pockets anyone?

Strawberry "Poptarts" 

1 package uncooked pie crust (or follow this recipe to make your own)

flour for rolling out crust

3/4 c. strawberry chia jam  (or filling of choice)

1 egg

1/4 c. milk 

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Whisk egg in a small bowl and set aside.

Flour a surface.

Roll out pie dough and use a ruler to cut 3" x 4" rectangles.

Brush egg on the surface of the dough. This will be the inside of the poptarts.

Spread jam on half of the pieces, leaving 1/2" on the perimeter.

Place jam-less piece eggy side down on a jammy piece. (Poor communication skills).  Use fork tines to seal edges.

Place tarts on a lightly greased baking sheet and prick several holes on the top. If you don't prick hole, the pie will puff up like a calzone.

If you'd rather go the potsticker route, cut circles in the dough to the right size.

Brush egg on the dough, place a teaspoon of jam, and press and seal.

Poke holes.

Brush all pies with milk, then bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on size. Bake until golden and edges are crispy.

So cute!

Cream Cheese Yogurt Frosting


2 tbsp light whipped cream cheese
2 tbsp nonfat plain greek yogurt
2 tsp agave syrup

Whip all ingredients together.

Put in a plastic bag and snip the corner.

Frost right before eating.

Hello.

Get in my mouth.

I'm five years old.

Yeah, I did eat all of those. What.

Another Strata ... but Wait!

That's not all!

This is a good one. One you can't pass up.

Like, good enough to make for your mother.

First step: Check your DSLR, smart phone, and point+shoot cameras. Are their batteries all dead? Ok. Then you're just like me!! (Congratulations!) Go borrow your mother's cell phone to take the photos for this blog post. Cause you're real professional and stuff.

Seriously, how do all devices go dead simultaneously like this? I honestly considered using my laptop's webcam for this blog post. Should have just made a video. But then you would see what a damn mess I make in the kitchen when I cook, and it's all about illusion up in here. Side note, did you know Adele wore four FOUR pairs of Spanx to the Grammy's? Ouchies. 


This one was Pioneer Woman's idea. But I made it healthier. Cause that's what good daughters do.

Mushroom and Kale Strata
serves 8 


cooking spray
6 slices whole wheat sourdough bread
1 bag sliced mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp EVOO
1 medium yellow onion, diced
6 cups kale
1 1/2 c. fancy pants gouda cheese (I used a Goat Gouda)
2 16 oz. cartons egg substitute
1/2 c. plain nonfat greek yogurt
2 dashes Tabasco
S & P

Note: This recipe starts either the night before, or several hours before (like if you're doing breakfast for dinner). 

Preheat oven to 425F. Spread mushrooms on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 tbsp EVOO, S & P.  Bake for 15 minutes.

In a large saute pan, heat 1 tsp of EVOO.

Toss in kale and saute for 3 minutes, or until lightly wilted. Remove from pan, then saute onion in the same pan for 5 minutes, or until softened.

Grate cheese. Pick out a good stinky cheese with lots of flavor and meltability. Gouda is really good-a for this. Yeah, I said it.  

Cube bread.

Layer bread in a large casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Spread kale and onions evenly.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

In a blender, whip up the egg whites/substitute with greek yogurt, tabasco, and S&P.

Pour over casserole. Cover with plastic wrap. Leave a nice note for whoever gets up first in the AM.

Remove plastic wrap and set out on counter (to come to room temp).
Preheat oven to 350F
Cover dish with foil
Bake for 60 minutes
Remove foil
Bake for additional 30, or until golden

When I exported the images for this blog, I named the files "Kala_Strata" instead of Kale Strata.  Kala is a dog. For the record, I don't eat dog. Very often.

www.kameronahler.com