Pizza Pain Perdu (GF)

It happens way more often than we want to admit. We go to some GF restaurant, pay an extra $4 for our pizza to be on a gluten free crust, and when served, we realize that we have just been served cardboard with a smattering of cheese and meat.

Not wanting to be wasteful, we bring that miserable excuse for pizza home, and try to feed it to our dog.  He snubs it.  We try to compost it, but even the worms won't touch it.

Never fear, you can stop using that leftover pizza for a doorstop and turn it into an easy, yummy breakfast. It's easy.  (Not fast, but definitely easy.)

Pizza Pain Perdu

Ingredients

For each serving, you will need:

2 small slices of leftover GF pizza
1 egg
Scant 1/2 cup goat milk or unsweetened milk alternative
dash of salt or smoked salt
dash of pepper
pinch or two of Italian herb blend (Penzey's Frozen Pizza seasoning is perfect)

Directions

 

1. Lightly oil or spray a 3-cup rectangular Pyrex dish.
2. Place pizza slices in dish, alternating directions.
3. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the pizza and let set for about 15 to 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes, until all is baked through.

Alternating pizzza slices in a Pyrex dish

Savory custard mixture: Egg, goat milk, seasonings

Pizza soaking in the custard mixture

 

The finished product

Close-up of the finished product: No more cardboard

Savory Garbanzo Bread

Once upon a time, I had most of the ingredients for Chickpea and Chives Waffles, but no waffle iron.  No problem: Waffles and pancakes are sort of the same thing.  So, I decided to make pancakes.

Got part way into the process, and wondered: What would it take to make chickpea and chives bread?

Waffles get some oil from the waffle iron and some from whatever you put on the waffle. So, bread needs more oil.  And, bread probably needs more binder than waffles. So, maybe an extra egg.

I didn't have chives, but that's OK.  I had other things to provide flavor.

And, I really prefer to call them garbanzos.   So, that's how chickpea and chives waffles turned into...

Savory Garbanzo Bread

Ingredients

90 grams garbanzo flour
8 ounces warm water (about 120 degrees f.)
1.5 tsp Italian herb blend
1.5 tsp dehydrated minced onion
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper (Really, I have no idea.  Just grind a bunch in.)
12 grams honey or agave syrup
45 grams oil
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
3 eggs
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
60 g. gluten-free flour blend (Trader Joe's blend is fine.)
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
Optional: Smoked paprika and/or pecorino romano cheese

Directions

1. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together water and garbanzo flour.  Let sit for about 20 minutes.
2. Grease a 9" square baking pan.  Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350.
3. Add herbs and spices, honey, and oil.
4. Add eggs and whisk until well-combined.
5. Whisk in xanthan gum.
6. Whisk in flour blend.
7. Add baking powder and soda, then whisk thoroughly.
8. Top with paprika and/or pecorino romano if desired.
9. Bake at 350 for 12-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Play with the seasoning.  The photos below are of the bread sans topping and seasoned with dill, onion, parsley, and garlic.

Pesto and Goat Cheese Muffins

I don't usually buy mixes.   But, when a local discount store had Hodgson Mill GF pancake mix with flaxseed for an astoundingly good price... well... there are some bargains one just can't resist.

So, I took the mix on a recent trip and made Spouse 1.0 some pancakes in the hotel's kitchenette. They were good. He liked them.

Fast forward a month, and it's a busy weekday morning. I'm out of paleo bread and don't have much time. I open the cupboard, and there's the mix. Yeah.  I'll make him pancakes. But, pancakes require more babysitting than muffins. Well, why not use pancake mix to make muffins?  After all, that's what Bisquick was: Pancake mix that could be used for anything.

Hmmm. What to put in them?  I open the fridge, and there's some pesto that needs to be used up.  And,  there's some of that lovely roasted red pepper goat cheese that's getting really close to its use by date.

Yeah. Pesto and Goat Cheese Muffins.

Ingredients

160 grams GF pancake mix with flaxseed. (Or any other GF cake mix)
2 medium eggs (about 1.9 ounces each)
8 ounces goat milk
1-2 tsp sugar (to taste)
1 ounce avocado oil or olive oil
A big spoonful of extra thick pesto (maybe ~2 Tbsp?)
Leftover goat cheese crumbles (maybe about 1.5 ounces?)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 (f)
2. Prepare 9 muffin cups by lining with baking papers then spraying with olive oil.
3. Mix all ingredients together.   
4. Fill the prepared muffin cups to about 2/3 full. 
5. If desired, sprinkle the tops of a few of the muffins with a little extra pesto.
6. Bake until they smell good and a toothpick tests done. Probably about 12-20 minutes.

They weren't really this golden.  I'm not sure what my camera was thinking.

Tips

• Due to variations in egg weight or moisture content of the pesto or cheese, you may have to adjust the batter. Add a drizzle of goat milk if it looks too thick or a bit more mix if it seems too thin.
• Use a 6 cup muffin tin and 3 custard cups.  If you have too much batter, grab another custard cup.  The muffins made in the custard cups aren't as pretty as those made in the muffin tins, but they get the job done.
• I don't bake by time.  No matter how long a recipe says to bake, it's never ever that for me.  It's always a bit less or quite a bit more. So, mostly, I bake by smell and by toothpick.  When baked goods smell good, they're probably done or close to it. 
• To make extra thick pesto: Take about 1.5 to 2 cups of basil leaves and coarsely chop.  Put them in a mini-food processor and add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese, 1/4 to 1/2 cup pine nuts, a few cloves of garlic, and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Maybe a little sea salt if desired. Lightly pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped but not emulsified.  Add more oil as need, but keep the mixture thick, like streusel.

Applecado Bread (Gluten free, of course)

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Roben Ryberg's books, especially You Won't Believe It's Gluten-Free.  And, a sane person might wonder, "Well, if you love Ryberg's recipes so much, why do you keep changing them???"

Good question.  All I can say is, there's something in me that must explore. Experiment. Try new (aka, "weird") things.  I just must.

Ask my sister. She's the one who was traumatized by a chocolate mint birthday cake when she was a child.  She recalls it being very minty.  It might explain why neither of us is much of a fan of mint these days.  It was not a successful experiment.

But, some experiments are.  Take, for instance, applecado bread.  This one is based heavily on a Ryberg recipe, so you know I'm starting with something good. And, I'm including avocado.  Also something good. And goat milk, ginger, cloves, bourbon vanilla, and more cinnamon.  All very good things.  As my sister-in-law says, "When you put good things together, you get a good thing."

Applecado bread: It's a good thing.

Wet ingredients:

• 6 ounces organic, unsweetened applesauce
• 100 grams organic sugar
• 2.6 ounces avocado (a little less than one small one)
• 1 ounce goat milk
• 2 organic eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Dry ingredients:

• 150 grams brown rice flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon plus an extra shake or two
• 1/8 tsp ginger, slightly rounded
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Topping:

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Spray an 8" baking pan with coconut oil spray, then sprinkle a little almond meal on the bottom.  Or, line the pan with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 (f)
2. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until everything is nice and fluffy and uniformly green. I used my stick blender.
3. Whisk dry ingredients together thoroughly in a small mixing bowl.
4. Gently fold the dry into the wet until everything is nicely incorporated.  The batter will be fluffy and beautiful -- in a green sort of way.
5. Pour batter into the baking pan, smooth out a little, and top with pecans.  Gently press the pecans in so they'll stay put.  
6. Bake at 350 (f) for about 30 minutes, until the house smells lovely and a toothpick test tells you the bread done.

Cheese Toast a la Jared

A recipe for cheese toast? Really??  Who needs a recipe for cheese toast???

Well, it's not about the recipe, kids. It's about the ingredients.

And, no. Jared isn't an ingredient.

But, his delightful farm (http://jaredsrealfood.com/ ) produces delightful ingredients.

So, back to the ingredients....

You'll need a couple of slices of reasonably decent gluten-free bread.  Ramona Family Naturals and Windmill Farms sell a locally-made sourdough that toasts up nicely.  And, of course, Canyon Bakehouse rocks.  But, today, I had T-Jo's multigrain, so T-Jo multigrain it is.

Next, you'll need a couple of Jared's small golden tomatoes. These cute little guys are low acid, vine ripe, organic, heirloom, flavorful... And did I mention they're just so cuuuute!  Slice them up and place them on the bread.

Next, grab one of Jared's Marconi peppers.  Lovely sweet red pods of joy, they look like they should be hot, but they're not. Slice a few paper-thin slices and sprinkle over the golden tomatoes. 

Top all that with a few transparent slices of one of Jared's onions.  These bad boys are pungent, aromatic, and utterly onionicious!

Bake in the toaster oven at about 375 until the kitchen smells amazing.  In other words, until the onions have started to brown at the edges and the tomatoes are hot. Maybe 5 minutes or so?

Now add some raw pepper jack cheese.  Good luck finding it.  I got mine in Ramona.  If you can't find it, then just use your favorite goat cheese.  Pop it back in the toaster oven and continue baking just until the cheese warms enough to melt.  Probably another 3-5 minutes.

And, there you have it: Cheese toast a la Jared.

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Hot Fried Corn: The Taste of Summer

Summer in Modesto in the late '70's.  Cornstalks tall and tasseled in platinum silk, tomatoes rich and tangy: Hot fried corn season.  Breakfast of champions -- or at least those of us lucky enough to have Kentucky mothers.

Cathy brought us a couple of ears of her neighbor's fresh corn. A bounty of Jared's tomatoes at hand. Creole garlic from the RSD Farmer's Market.  The only thing missing was a fresh jalapeno.  But this is a hot fried corn emergency.  Freeze dried in a jar will have to do.

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp butter
2 small cloves creole garlic - or one large clove of regular
1 small jalapeno, chopped -- or about a tsp of freeze dried
2 ears of fresh corn
3/4 to 1 cup largely chopped fresh organic tomato
Salt & pepper
Dash of cayenne (optional)

Directions:

1. Shuck the corn and rinse off the silk
2. Use a sharp, flat butcher knife to cut the corn off the cob. Reserve the cobs.
3. Heat the butter in a skillet
4. Add the crushed garlic and the jalapeno & give it a stir.
5. Add the corn and tomatoes & give it all another stir.
6. Use the knife to scrape the rest of the goodness off the corn cobs into the skillet.
7. Stir in a little freshly ground salt & pepper.
8. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup water.
9. Stir and cover, then cook for another minute or two until the corn is barely done.
10. Taste and add a dash of cayenne if needed.

Options:
Hot fried corn is amazing all by itself.  For a killer breakfast, crack an egg or two into the corn as it's cooking and cook until the egg is poached to perfection.  Alternatively, sprinkle some shredded raw jack or crumble some goat cheese on top of the hot fried corn and let it melt a bit before you eat it.

The Great Speckled Herb Biscuits

Mother's Day weekend I went on a baking frenzy. Friday's zucchini muffins brought back memories of Mom. Saturday's nut butter cookies and Sunday's cornmeal lemon cookies were in memory of two of my other mothers who have passed on.

And, it's only reasonable that the Mother's Day baking frenzy should segue to thoughts of my grandmothers for this weekend's baking project.

I remember (step) Grandma Harris as a devout Pentecostal lady. Like many fundamentalist women of her generation, she never, ever wore pants. She'd borne 11 children, lost one, and had been a widow many years. She was terribly proud of the fact that she could still span her waist with three hands. She loved the Roy Acuff song "The Great Speckled Bird", and she'd sing it as she went about her chores.  I don't remember her being much of a cook. 

My baby sister remembers Grandma Harris as a hottie who wore mini skirts and go-go boots. (My sister and I remember a lot of things differently.)

My maternal grandmother was also of a fundamentalist persuasion. She, too, did not wear pants. And there any resemblance to Grandma Harris ends. Granny was heavy and buxom, her waist unfindable beneath the sagging weight of glands that had fed her 7 babies. Granny never sang. But, she could make biscuits.  Granny's biscuits were a thing of joy and beauty. Tender small morsels, comprised of perfectly proportioned but unmeasured ingredients, baked in a hot iron skillet to golden perfection.

Those were some biscuits.

Great Speckled Herb Biscuits: Gluten Free

Today I made biscuits. Yet another variation off of Roben Ryberg's. This time heavily laced with herbs from my happy place, Grebar Farms. Sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and chives. Little patties of Thanksgiving in May.  I think both of my grandmothers would have liked them, in spite that new-fangled Gluten Free thing.

Great Speckled Herb Biscuits

Ingredients:

3.5 ounces grapeseed oil

Thyme, chives, rosemary, and sage

150 grams brown rice flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
5/8 tsp sea salt
1/4  tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp onion powder
Freshly ground pepper
1.5  Tbsp minced fresh sage
1.5 tsp fresh thyme
1.5 tsp fresh minced rosemary
1 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
6.1 ounces whole goat milk
1 1/2 Tbsp organic sugar

I have no idea how much pepper I use.
About 8 to 12 grinds, maybe.

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 (f) and liberally grease a big iron skillet or a cookie sheet.
2. Mix dry ingredients together with a wire whisk.
3. Whisk in the herbs.
4. Mix wet ingredients together.
5. Mix liquid stuff into the dry stuff until well combined.
   When it's just about right, I usually hear little crackly sounds.
6. Drop the biscuits onto prepared skillet or cookie sheet, then gently shape a little with well-oiled fingers. 
7. Bake at 375 (f) for about 12-18 minutes. A toothpick will come out clean, and tops will spring back a little when pressed. 

I love weighing my ingredients.
So much less mess to clean up!

How mixed is mixed enough?
The dough will hold together and look like this.
Listen for little crackly sounds.
 



Granny always baked her biscuits in a big iron skillet.
It probably hearkened back to a time when people didn't have a variety of baking pans.
It's hard to get smooth iron nowadays. But if you can find it, it really is the best.

Breakfast Lasagna (Gluten Free)

I'm pretty sure that if you googled up "gluten free breakfast lasagna recipe" you'd get a hundred hits.  And, if you've cooked gluten free for more than 20 minutes, you know that all you have to do to turn normal breakfast lasagna into gluten free is use GF lasagna noodles -- thus giving you about 42,382 recipes to choose from.  (I made that number up, but I bet it's not far off.)

And, nevertheless, I'm inordinately proud of myself for inventing a gluten free, cow free breakfast lasagna.  It's still in the toaster oven, baking away, so I have no idea whether my pride is warranted.  But, here I am, posting about it anyway, as if it were already a huge success.  If it turns out OK, I may have found a decent GF alternative for strata.

It started with last night's Mexzagna, and about 2.5 leftover De Bolles lasagna noodles.  Grab a Pyrex loaf pan... and... start tossing stuff in.

Breakfast Lasagna

2 to 3 dry GF lasagna noodles 
2 to 4 ounces sheep cheese
2 to 4 ounces goat cheese
1 pre-cooked MSG-free, nitrite-free chicken sausage, sliced (about 3 oz.) (e.g., Trader Joe's basil pesto chicken sausage)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach (more or less)
1/2 cup frozen bell peppers (more or less)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups goat milk (or milk sub of choice)
Salt, pepper, and seasonings of choice
Olive oil

1. Oil a loaf-sized glass baking dish, and cover the bottom with 1 lasagna noodle -- plus a few bits of another if the one noodle doesn't cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Place half the cheeses, half the sausage, and half the vegies over the first noodle.
3. Repeat the layers. 
4. If you have a few extra bits of lasagna noodle, break them up and tuck them around the edges. (Waste not, want not.)
5. Mix the eggs, goat milk, and seasonings together in a bowl, then pour over the stuff in the loaf pan.  If the wet stuff doesn't cover the noodles, mix up 1 more egg with 1/2 cup more goat milk and a bit more seasonings.
6. Sprinkle paprika or smoked paprika on top if you'd like a splash of color.
7. Bake 350 (f) for about an hour.

Notes:

• For seasonings, I used some onion powder, turmeric, garlic powder, and mushroom seasoning.
• This is something that fits nicely into a toaster oven, so you can have a baked breakfast without overheating your kitchen.

Molitos: Mole-inspired Black Bean Pancakes

Some leftover black beans were in the fridge, in grave danger of becoming green and gray beans if I didn't do something with them soon.

It was 7:20 AM, first cup of Via down, and time to think about the Spouse's breakfast.

Ages ago I made green pea biscuits and had been thinking of making some black bean biscuits.  Wouldn't that be just the thing for October?

On Tuesday a friend had sent a link to a recipe for socca -- a chickpea pancake.  I'd love to make some of those for Spouse.

But, I have leftover black beans on hand. And I can't find my garbanzo flour.

What if I made black bean pancakes?  What would you put in them?

Spouse loves, loves, loves mole.  And, it's hard or impossible to find gluten free mole. So, the black bean pancakes have to contain mole-like stuff.

Here's what I came up with... all measurements approximate, since I really just dumped things in a bowl and mixed.

About 1.5 cups of overcooked black beans, undrained
1 lg egg
2Tbsp flax meal
3Tbsp cocoa powder
1-2 Tbsp pecorino romano
1 Tbsp almond butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground ancho chili
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp dry chopped onion
1/2 tsp dried cilantro
pinch of nutmeg
pinch cayenne
pinch of salt

1. Smoosh the black beans with a potato smasher. Dump everything else in, to taste. Mix it up.
2. Heat a little more olive oil in a nonstick pan.
3. Spoon pancake-sized amounts of the black bean goo into the pan.
4. Cook until it's almost dry on top.
5. Flip to brown the other side.
6. Remove to plate and garnish with a little more pecorino romano and a dollop of salsa.

Results:  Spouse like 'em, but I think they could be improved. Maybe more egg and flax for better binding, more almond butter, and more of just about all the seasonings.

Goat Cheese Quiche

Imagine, if you can, a vegetarian dish so very good that Mr. Carnivore Himself, AKA The Spouse, would eat it for dinner without requesting a side of animal.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not really a vegetarian.  Though three or four days a week you might think I was.

But, nothing says "Girly lunch" like a vegetarian entree or two. So, when I had the girls over for lunch yesterday, I had to do a goat cheese quiche.

The Crust

I adapted the crust from a recipe in Jacqueline Mallorca's book, The Wheat Free Cook.  She has a recipe for cornmeal pie crust.  I used blue cornmeal and substituted a mix of tapioca and potato starch for the cornstarch.  My other major modification: I pressed the dough into the pie pan instead of rolling it. It makes for a less even crust, but it's a lot less aggravation.

Wish I could give the recipe here, but that would be a copyright thing. 

The crust turned out OK, but next time, I may try a hash brown crust. Those are fun.

The Filling

The filling... ah, the filling.  I had more than my 10" pie pan could hold, so I made a couple of custard cups full.  Next time, I may skip the crust entirely, because the filling is that good.

1 unbaked pie crust
1 lb fresh organic spinach
8 oz organic mushrooms
2 Tbsp pecorino romano
5 eggs
1/2 C Greek yogurt (I used Fage nonfat)
1/2 C soy creamer
1/2 C almond milk
1 or 2 cubes Dorot frozen garlic - or 1-2 cloves of the real stuff
pinch of cayenne
pinch of paprika
pinch of thyme
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
4 oz goat feta

1. Rinse spinach, discard stems. Do not dry the spinach.  
2. Place spinach in a pan and cook on low heat until wilted.  Remove from pan with slotted spoon, and drain in collander.  You may have to cook the spinach in batches. Do not discard cooking liquid.
3. Wash & slice mushrooms, then cook in the spinach liquid until done. Drain.
4. Cool the spinach and mushrooms, then squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Chop coarsely.
5. Mix eggs, yogurt, almond milk, creamer, garlic, and other seasonings.
6. Bake pie crust 10 minutes, then remove from oven.
7. Sprinkle romano on bottom of pie crust.
8. Sprinkle most of the spinach and mushrooms in pie crust.
9. Pour most of the custard mixture over.
10. Sprinkle in most of the feta, then mix slightly to combine.
11. Bake at 350 for about 40 or 50 minutes.

You can bake the left-over filling in greased custard cups for about 20 minutes.

Alas, we devoured most of the quiche before I could take a picture. Here's a photo of the last bits.

Green Pea Biscuits For St. Pat's

Alas, the green pea flour I’d ordered had not arrived yet, and I needed to make a green breakfast for The Spouse. Not that he expects, or wants, a green breakfast for St. Pat’s day – or ever. It’s just something I like to do for him.

In years past, green breakfast was easy. Just add copious amounts of green food coloring to … well… just about anything. (Green rice is lovely. Green oatmeal is kind of gross.)

But, in this brave, healthy new world of ours, green food coloring is just not appealing. (Spouse says that it never was, but that’s beside the point.)

So, green breakfast has to be naturally green, and there’s no green flour with which to make it. Luckily, I had a bag of frozen peas on hand, and some frozen chopped spinach. And, I had some gluten free Bisquick a dear friend had sent me.

Reading the ingredients on the Bisquick, the only thing that is expressly forbidden to us is the white processed sugar. But, desperate times call for desperate measures, and a little sugar once a year won't kill him.

So, I started with the basic biscuit recipe from the box, but at 2/3 quantity.  Substituted blenderized peas for some of the milk. Added some shredded white cheddar for flavor and for extra binding ability.   Drained chopped spinach for a little green-on-green effect.

Oops on the liquid. 2/3 of 2/3 is not ... 2/3. The batter was a bit wet and sticky. And, sampling the batter, it was just to pea-ey. Blech.

The second problem was easy to fix: Just add a bunch of dry chopped onion, dry garlic, and ground pepper.  Alas, the dry onion didn't soak up too much of the liquid, so I had to squish in some extra bisquick. 

The green-on-green sure did turn out pretty, even when baked. But, the real question is, would they elicit the official St. Pat's Day Look of Dread on The Spouse's face? Er, I mean, the real question is, would they taste good?

Lucky for me, the answer to both questions was a resounding "Yes!"

Green Pea Biscuits

1 1/3 C Gluten-free Bisquick

1/4 C butter or shortening

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 C whirled peas – or a little more

1/3 C almond milk, soy milk, or dairy milk.

About 1/2 C thawed frozen chopped spinach

1 C shredded white cheddar cheese

Dehydrated chopped onion, garlic granules, and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 (F) and lightly grease 2 cookie sheets or iron skillets.
2. Prepare the peas by heating about ½ bag of frozen peas in water until they’re thawed, but not cooked. Drain and whirl in the blender. Measure about 1/3 C or a little more into a glass measuring cup.
3. Add enough almond milk to bring the level up to 2/3 C.
4. Cut the butter or shortening into the GF Bisquick.
5. Add the pea mixture and eggs into the Bisquick mixture and stir in.
6. Add the cheese and the seasonings, and mix well.
7. If the dough seems a little to soft and sticky, mix a little more Bisquick in. (Use your hands.)
8. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet. You can gently smooth the biscuits with your fingers, or just leave them rough.
9. Bake about 13 to 17 minutes, until bottoms are brown and tops/sides are just beginning to brown.
10. Enjoy plain or with butter.

Note: Even if you can eat gluten, I'd stick with the GF Bisquick.  All the mixing in this recipe would make gluteney biscuits tough.  But, GF flours stay nice and fluffy and light. 

Millet and Scraps Pancakes

It all started with a bowl of leftover 7-minute coffee icing.

The 7-minute coffee icing is just like a normal 7-minute icing, except it was made with organic cage-free egg whites, organic evaporated sugar, organic vanilla, and some Christmas blend Via. 

The cake turned out pretty well, but it left me with a lot of leftovers:

• One bowl of leftover icing
• 3 left over organic cage-free egg yolks
• A smattering of toasted almond slices

Expensive stuff. You don't want to just throw it out.  I started wondering what to do with the leftover icing, and figured it might make a nice alternative to maple or agave syrup on some pancakes.

So, I got the jar of Bob's Red Mill baking mix from the freezer.  The directions called for 1.5 cups to make 18 pancakes.  Spouse 1.0 didn't need 18 pancakes, so I decided to halve the recipe -- at least that was the plan.  After measuring out about 1/4 cup, I realized I'd be lucky if all the dregs in the jar added up to 1/3 cup.

OK, so the Spouse doesn't need 9 pancakes, either. Just do the recipe in sixths instead of halves. That should be plenty for one person.

The directions called for 2 eggs -- or, in this case, 1/6 of 2 eggs. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to use up some some of the cage-free organic yolks left over from making the icing.  Back when I bought normal eggs, I might have just thrown out the yolks. But, when you're paying nearly $.30 per egg, you start treating leftovers with more respect.  I used 2 of the three yolks, figuring that a little extra eggy protein would be good.

Next, the oil.  1/6 of 1/4 cup equals 2 tsp, which approximately equals 1 small drizzle.

And water... I did the math and decided that it'd be better to just drizzle in water until the mess looked like pancake batter.

And, it wasn't very much batter at all. Perhaps not enough for one person, after all.

So, what would happen if I mixed in a little leftover millet?  There was about a fist full in the fridge. I just used it all.  The fridge also contained some chopped walnuts. I added a little of those, too. And, a bit more water.

The tiny test pancake came out OK, but not wonderful. So, I added a tsp of raw sugar and a tiny bit more olive oil. But, what the pancakes really needed was more loftiness, like you might get from egg whites....

Egg whites...

As in, 7-minute icing....

So, I stirred in a big spoonful of 7-minute icing. 

The next test pancake was just right.  The millet gave the pancakes an interesting texture, and they were just pleasantly sweet. 

So, I cooked up the pancakes, then topped them with a little 7-minute coffee icing and some leftover toasted almonds.

And, I still have what seems like gallons of leftover 7-minute icing.

The pancakes and ingredients

Recipe:

Ingredients

1/3 C Bob's Red Mill GF baking mix, or your favorite

1 Tbsp olive oil



2 egg yolks

1 Tbsp chopped walnuts

1/3 to 1/2 C leftover cooked millet

leftover 7-minute icing (coffee, citrus, or vanilla)

water

toasted almond slices

Directions

1. Mix the baking mix, olive oil, and eggs with a fork.
2. Add walnuts, millet, and enough water to make a nice batter consistency.
3. Stir in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of leftover 7-minute icing
4. Cook on an oiled griddle or skillet
5. Top pancakes with additional leftover icing
6. Garnish with toasted sliced almonds