Banana Almond Pancakes - Vegan and Gluten Free

Yay! I made these babies up, from a combination of several recipes, and what I had in the fridge...and they turned out yummy! REALLY yummy! So I am motivated to blog again :)

I've been trying to avoid wheat per my doctor's orders, and am finding that I feel ALOT better, and it's not that hard! I didn't realize just how much wheat I had in my diet everyday, it was a lot. If you eat too much of one thing, you can develop an allergy to it, and if you cut it out for awhile, you may be able to add it back in in moderation later. So for now, I am avoiding it, and we are getting a better variety of whole grains, and more vegetables in our diet after cutting out some of the breads and wheat fillers. There are a lot of delicious alternatives to wheat products out there too. Some of my current faves are:

-Food for Life gluten-free bread, Millet

-Edward and Sons crackers, Brown Rice Snaps in Tamari Sesame

-Bionaturae pasta (pasta! it's really good too!) Organic Gluten Free made with rice, potato and soy

Oh yeah, back to the pancakes!

Here's the recipe:

Almond Banana Pancakes – Vegan and Gluten Free

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free All Purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Sucanat, or any granulated sugar
• 1 tsp ground flax 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups Almond Milk
• 1 tbsp Safflower oil
• 1/2 cup almond butter (i used home-made)
• 1 medium sized banana- thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp Braggs Apple Cider vinegar
• coconut oil or vegan margarine for cooking

Directions:

Mix flours, sugar, ground flax, baking powder and salt together in large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup almond milk, almond butter and safflower oil and stir until well combined. Stir in sliced banana pieces, sort of smashing them into the batter as you stir. I left quite a few chunks in mine. Next add your vinegar and about 1/3 cup more almond milk until a batter consistency is reached. You may need more or less milk depending on how thick your almond butter is… and on your preference for batter thickness. I don't like too-thick pancakes, I like them so thin they form a crispy edge!
I use an electric griddle on about 325 F, and ladle the batter out to make sure each pancake has banana in it. Enjoy!

Note: To make your own delicious almond butter, just put a couple of cups of organic almonds into a food processor and process until smooth. It will take around 12 minutes, but it is so easy and you only have to scrape the sides a few times during the process. Make sure you process until the oil is released, you will know when it gets really creamy and looks like a butter! Store in airtight container in the fridge. Some people soak and re-hydrate the almonds first, and I think I read that it is healthier to do this...but I need to research this some more. In the mean time, it's still fresher and cheaper than store-bought almond butter.