New Recipes 4-5-20: Gluten Free Pancakes and Red Lentil Soup
Another week of self-quarantining at home means more recipes from our kitchen! This week we challenged ourselves to use up ALL of our items before heading back to the grocery store, which led us to some less conventional recipes like gluten free pancakes and an easy lentil soup with few ingredients. These pancakes were a last minute creation and did not disappoint! Despite being gluten free, they were light and fluffy yet crispy on the edges. For a healthy soup that has a creamy consistency without the dairy, I added chickpeas to my favorite red lentil soup recipe. This red lentil soup is great to make in bulk and freeze for weeks to come!
Gluten Free Pancakes
Dry Ingredients
1 2/3 cup gluten free flour
3 teaspoons sugar of your choice (granulated white, maple or coconut will work)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 dash cinnamon
Wet Ingredients
1/4 cup canola coconut oil blend (Whole Foods makes a blend linked here)
1 large egg beaten
1 cup buttermilk (for dairy free buttermilk mix your dairy free milk of choice with 1 teaspoon of white vinegar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*for thinner/lighter pancakes add 1/2 cup water
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Then mix wet ingredients and add dry ingredients to wet gently mixing until just combined. Heat a griddle skillet to medium heat then add butter or olive oil spray so pancakes don’t stick. Ladle 1/4 cup of batter to skillet and cook 2-3 minutes, or until bubbles form and edges start to turn golden. Flip and continue until cooked through.
The Do’s and Dont’s of Pancake Cooking
Always mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately before combing. While it may seem easy to skip this short cut it will change the consistency of the batter
If you don’t have buttermilk another 1/2 cup of water is fine, but prepare for a more runny batter!
Let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking.
Using a griddle is key. For the BEST pancakes they need to be cooked on hot and even heat, which can be best achieved with a griddle.
Before flipping your pancakes check for bubbles and peak at the bottom to see that they’re browning. Since I didn’t have a griddle and the gluten free nature of this recipe changes their ability to get super crisp, I did make sure my edges were cooking before flipping.
Always test out your first pancake (this is a great way to see if your griddle is hot enough yet). It’s also important to note the first pancake is always the worst!
Adding cinnamon and vanilla extract to your pancakes brings out extra flavors. So, if you don’t have these don’t sweat it but if you do I highly recommend adding them.
Heat up your syrup and cut fresh fruit and nuts before serving.
Easy Red Lentil Soup
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic glove, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 qt vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 cup red lentils
2-3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
16 ounce can of chickpeas
1/2 lemon
Heat olive oil on high heat until simmering, then add onion and garlic and sauté until golden for about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste, ground cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne and sauté for 2 minutes more. Add broth, water, lentils, carrots, celery and chickpeas and bring to a simmer, then partially cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Cook for 30-45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes or so. Using a blender or food processor blend 2/3 of soup, add it back to the pot and stir. Finally add lemon juice and serve!