Dairy Free Yogurt Pancakes

Joanne's Dairy-Free Yogurt Pancakes

Currently I'm fasting from dairy products. I used to have dairy only rarely, but somehow I'd fallen into having it pretty regularly. Goat cheese, Greek yogurt in smoothies, feta cheese on my salads - it seemed like I was having dairy everyday. The final straw was when someone gave me a container of Lactaid chocolate ice cream and I ate the whole thing in one day. Ugh. I was full of mucous afterwards. I know better. I make "nice cream" from frozen bananas and it's delicious. I don't even need to eat ice cream.

My last published post was about Greek yogurt pancakes, and today I made a dairy-free version. BTW I've got a million posts in drafts, so pray I'll publish them soon.

I'm not quite doing a vegan fast, because I'm still having eggs (occasionally) and honey. But I am avoiding dairy and meat. That's an Ovo Vegetarian. If you are looking for vegan pancakes, I have some recipes on my Pinterest Bread, Pancakes, & Pastries board.

Plain yogurt pictured here, but I used vanilla yogurt.

The only real difference in this recipe from my Greek yogurt pancake recipe is the yogurt. Instead of Greek yogurt I used vanilla almond yogurt. The pancakes were still fluffy and delicious.

Vegan veggie sausage from Lightlife

While my pancake batter was setting, I made some veggie sausage from Lightlife Foods. I found it at Whole Foods in the refrigerated section. The Schaumburg, Illinois store didn't have the frozen 365 sausage, but that worked out because I discovered this wonderful company. Lightlife aspires to make delicious plant based proteins without sacrificing the enjoyment people usually get from meat. I look forward to trying more of their products. The veggie sausage was good.

LightLife veggie sausage and almond yogurt pancakes

Ready to dig in to those pancakes

That's a big dab of vegan butter on top of those pancakes.

With food this good why would anyone miss dairy or meat?

Yummy!

My mother isn't a big pancake fan, but she couldn't stop raving about them.

Dairy free pancakes going quickly

Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup organic pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-2 packets Stevia in the Raw (or 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar)
Pinch of salt (I like to use sea salt from a grinder)
Dash of Cinnamon (to taste)

Wet Ingredients
1 egg (beaten)
3/8 cup Vanilla Almond yogurt (6 tablespoons or 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3/8 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tablespoon oil (coconut oil or grapeseed oil is great).

Instructions

Sift/combine dry ingredients in one bowl.

In another bowl mix the wet ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, a little at a time, mixing after each addition.

Once combined let the batter sit for at least 5 minutes. This is a good time to prepare sides and heat the skillet.

Pour the batter in a nonstick or greased griddle to form pancakes.

Cook each side for about 2 minutes.

I served my pancakes with warm pure maple syrup and vegan butter. Please feel free to share your feedback, recipes, and questions.

ENJOY!!

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

So it's been a while since I shared a post here. Since I last shared, I moved from Houston, Texas back to Chicago, Illinois. I'm glad to be back, and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. I'd like to think that I brought some of that with me from the deep south. Even though I haven't shared recipes here, I do post on Tumblr at Consult Joanne About Food (http://consultjoanneaboutfood.tumblr.com/) and on Instagram @ConsultJoanne (https://instagram.com/consultjoanne/).

A warm, mild October in Chicago

When I started this post it was warm, but it's been in drafts for at least a couple of months. Shame on me.

I always seem to find time for Pinterest, which is loaded with great recipes and more; and I came across a great recipe for Greek yogurt pancakes.

Greek Yogurt from Aldi

I love Greek yogurt, which is easier to digest than many dairy products, and it has the added benefit of containing probiotics, So I was inspired by this recipe from Creme de la Crumb.

CREME de la CRUMB

INGREDIENTS

• 1½ cups all purpose flour (or whole wheat flour)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar (optional, I like the extra touch of sweetness but they're healthier if you leave it out)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (or ½ teaspoon almond extract)
• ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt (or vanilla Greek yogurt)
• ¾ cup milk (I used fat free half & half)
• topping suggestions: syrup, powdered sugar, honey, fruit, etc

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat a pan or griddle to 325 (medium heat). Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, mix oil, eggs, vanilla, and greek yogurt.
2. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir. Stir in milk until all ingredients are combined - don't over mix, there should still be a few lumps.
3. Grease griddle and pour ¼ - ⅓ cup batter onto the griddle. Allow to cook for about 2 minutes or until edges begin to look "dry" and bubbles form in the batter. Use a thin spatula to flip the pancake over and allow to cook for a mother minute. Transfer to a platter and continue with remaining batter.
4. Top pancakes with desired toppings such as syrup, powdered sugar, honey, and fruit.

Fluffy Greek Yogurt Pancakes from Eating Made Easy

I found another recipe that inspired me. Like many others, I like to study other recipes and come up with my own. Here's the recipe for Fluffy Greek Yogurt Pancakes from Eating Made Easy:
http://eating-made-easy.com/fluffy-greek-yogurt-pancakes/ 

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp melted butter (or oil)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ¾ cup organic milk, kefir or buttermilk
• Organic butter for the griddle & for serving

Instructions

1. Whisk dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, gently whisk together the oil, eggs, vanilla, yogurt and milk.
3. At this point, begin to heat a griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-low heat.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, ½ cup at a time, stirring gently with a spatula until just combined. (it might be a little lumpy, which is OK). Let batter sit 5 minutes.
5. Rub your griddle with butter, then use a ladle or small measuring cup to pour out the pancakes.
6. Cook cakes for 2-3 minutes or until tiny bubbles begin to form, then flip and cook another 1-2 minutes.
7. Serve immediately, or keep pancakes in a baking dish in a low oven (200 degrees).
8. Best served with butter, syrup, jam, fresh fruit, a dollop of Greek yogurt and/or whipped cream.

MY GREEK YOGURT PANCAKES RECIPE:

Joanne's Greek Yogurt Pancakes

I made half the amount of the original recipe I came across. My recipe yields about 6 fluffy pancakes, and that's usually enough for my needs. I love using pastry flour, as it is so light and airy. I get organic pastry flour in bulk from Whole Foods. When I first made these pancakes I used coconut palm sugar. Now I use Stevia. It's natural and plenty sweet.

Like many others, I mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately.

Aldi's Almond Milk
from Smith Family Resources

Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup organic pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-2 packets Stevia in the Raw (or 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar)
Pinch of salt (I like to use sea salt from a grinder)
Dash of Cinnamon (to taste)

Wet Ingredients
1 egg (beaten)
3/8 cup Low Fat Vanilla Greek yogurt (6 tablespoons or 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3/8 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tablespoon oil (coconut oil or grapeseed oil is great).


After mixing the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another, I slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, a little at a time. Once everything has been combined, the batter should sit for at least 5 minutes. This is a good time to prepare vegetarian bacon or sausage. :) Also the griddle should be hot. I discovered these pancakes cook rather quickly as long as the griddle is ready. Use medium heat and watch the pancakes closely. Mine didn't really bubble like traditional pancakes, so the first one got browner than I preferred. But I quickly got the hang of it, and flipped the pancakes within a couple of minutes. The rest of the pancakes were perfect.

The 1st pancake cooked faster than I expected, and was almost burned, but it was still delicious.

Trying to modest, I ate 2 large pancakes, but of course I went back and ate another.

I went back for the last pancake. So good...

Greek yogurt pancakes are my new favorite thing. I am so pleased with the taste and texture; so fluffy and delicious. I'm glad to know I have a relatively healthy alternative I can make at home - when I'm not at The Original Pancake House.

If you have a pancake recipe, or try this one, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by.

ENJOY!!

Healthier Comfort Food - Silky Organic Mac & Cheese

I came home late after attending the Saturday night service at church. There was heavy traffic (not unusual in Houston) so it delayed me quite a bit. I was tired and hungry. I did enjoy a healthy salad — complete with Russian Kale, Green Chard, black olives and more, but I wanted something warm and comforting.

I had a couple of boxes of Whole Foods 365 brand macaroni and cheese in the cabinet I'd purchased on sale so why not? I chose the 365 Organic Shells and White Cheddar Cheese over the regular mac and cheese. Great choice. The shells and cheese were voted best macaroni and cheese by Epicurious.com.

I followed the package instructions (boil pasta, drain, add prepared powder and milk), except I used Silk Cashew milk and I added a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast for both flavor and nutrition. The cashew milk needed to be used soon and I saved it because I thought it would go well with mac and cheese. I was right.

Oh my goodness it was so delicious I don't even have a picture of the finished product to show you. I ate it all up. I think the Silk Cashew milk made it even creamier, as that's part of their claim to fame. I will definitely be making this again, and next time I'll try to pause long enough to take a picture for you.

Check out the links below if you want nutritional information on the products.

Shells & Cheese

Fooducate

Silk Creamy Cashew Milk

Nutritional Yeast

Dark Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Oat Bars

I love cranberries, I eat them all year round. Craisins in my salad almost everyday, cranberry sauce pretty often, cranberry juice on occasion (I drink mostly water)
 — I love cranberries.

I also love oat bars. Oat bars are delicious baked treats usually made with rolled oats and flour. You can use any kind of jelly/preserves you like to flavor the oat bars. Lingonberries are another favorite of mine. They're extremely high in anti-oxidants and taste similar to cranberries. Lingonberry preserves are for sale at Ikea for less than $4 a jar.

I like to be creative so I've made oat bars with a variety of fruit (blueberry, lingonberry, raspberry, apricot, and cranberry). I prefer to use All Fruit, sugar-free type preserves. I've also made oat bars with banana and peanut butter and chocolate. I've added ingredients like sunflower seeds and nuts for crunch, taste, and protein.

Anyway, I had a coupon for fresh cranberries, and I confess that as much as I love cranberries I'd never bought fresh cranberries before.

Navy Bean Veggie Burgers

Recently I made bean pie and I had extra beans left over [Read the bean pie recipe]. I decided to make veggie burgers and hummus.

Navy bean burger cooking in iron skillet

For the veggie burgers I originally planned to add black rice and chopped veggies, but when I saw how much it looked like "white meat" I decided to keep it pure and simple and light in color. Plus I like to know what I'm working with before I make too many modifications.

2 cups navy beans in large bowl

White Navy Bean Pie

This past Thanksgiving I went to Dallas with a friend to visit her relatives. We had a great time, but somehow the subject of bean pie came up. Some of her younger relatives were horrified. Bean pie?

Bean Pie

I know, it does sound kind of nasty, beans in pie? But it's delicious. Hailing from Chicago I've enjoyed bean pie pretty much my whole life. It doesn't seem to be popular in the south, and I haven't seen it in the Houston grocery stores - and trust me I looked.

My friend's relatives were both disgusted and intrigued by the thought of bean pie, so they asked a lot of questions. What does it taste like? It's a lot like sweet potato pie or pumpkin pie in flavor and texture. What kind of beans are in it? Hmm. We searched the internet and discovered it's navy beans. They were created as a healthier alternative to traditional pies, but I'd never tried to make one. After all the discussion and learning the ingredients are so simple (beans, milk, sugar, spices) I decided to make one. In part to bless my friend's family & others who haven't been exposed to bean pie, and partly so I can make bean pies whenever I want.

Corn Pudding

Corn pudding is a delicious dish, often a holiday favorite. It's one of those foods people bring to parties and family gatherings. It's a big hit and easy to make so I prepare it fairly often. Like cranberry sauce, I eat it all year round. It's vegetarian, yet hearty and very filling. You can have lots of variety depending upon how you prepare it.

I got the recipe from my mother, so I'm sharing her basic recipe first:

MOM’S CORN PUDDING

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter (melted)
8 oz. pkg. of sour cream or substitute
1 box of corn muffin mix (of your choice) (8.5 ounces)
1 can of creamed corn
1 can of corn kernels (drained)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of sugar