Serves 2-3
Oatmeal is one of my favorite grains to cook with! It has so many great benefits for your body including lowering your blood sugar levels, reducing your risk of heart disease, lowering cholesterol, and even weight loss. Oatmeal is gluten-free, however, sometimes it can be produced in the same place as other grains that have gluten such as wheat, barley, and rye. If you have Celiac Disease, make sure to buy oatmeal that says gluten-free on the label, however, if you don’t have Celiac Disease any oatmeal will do. You don’t want to take the risk of the oatmeal being contaminated with other products that contain gluten when it could cause you to become sick. Oatmeal in Costa Rica is sold at a reasonable price and is easy to find at any of your local grocery stores. I love to start my day with carbohydrates from oatmeal to boost my energy. You will see many other recipes of mine including oatmeal centered around breakfast for that reason.
Ingredients:
· ½ cup gluten-free flour
· ½ cup oats
· 1 Tbsp honey
· 1 tsp baking powder
· ½ tsp baking soda
· ½ tsp salt
· ¾ cup oat milk
· 1 tsp vanilla
· 2 tsp coconut oil
· 1 flax seed egg
· pure maple syrup
Instructions For Pancakes
1. First make the flax egg. Put 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed into a bowl and add 3 Tbsp of lukewarm water. Mix and let it sit until it gets the consistency of a real egg.
2. Place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl including gluten-free flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Place all of the wet ingredients into the bowl including honey, oat milk, vanilla, coconut oil, and the flax seed egg.
4. Stir all ingredients until the batter is smooth and shows minimal lumps.
5. Place ¼ cup of the batter on a lightly oiled frying pan or griddle. Make sure to brown on both sides.
6. Top with pure maple syrup or fresh fruit. See below if you would like to use a fruit topping as an alternative to syrup.
7. Serve hot or cool.
Additional Notes –
These oatmeal pancakes are perfect for freezing. I usually meal prep these pancakes and place them into the freezer for the week. When doing so, I tend to double my batch to ensure 8 days of pancakes. Oatmeal pancakes will usually keep for a full month. Whenever I would like them for breakfast, I just pop them in the microwave. Breakfast is ready in less than 1 minute and 30 seconds! That’s my kind of breakfast!
Just remember to use pure maple syrup when you are eating these pancakes. I’m not saying maple syrup is a healthy food, but it is a healthier alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. I always use maple syrup or honey in place of any sugar when baking. Aunt Jemima might look sweet and nice on the label, but she is filled with high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup can lead to weight gain, diabetes, high cholesterol, and increased inflammation. In comparison, maple syrup does contain essential nutrients such as vitamin B, manganese, calcium, potassium, and zinc. This helps make maple syrup a healthier alternative.
At times, pure maple syrup can be difficult to find in Costa Rica. Instead of buying syrup that contains high-fructose corn syrup, I make a fruit-based topping. Most often I will use blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries. I heat the fruit over the stove and squeeze a lime into the pan, so the fruit does not burn. After the fruit has cooked down, I add ¼ cup of honey and ½ tsp of cassava starch. You can add more honey if you desire your fruit topping to be a bit sweeter. One can also use corn starch which is more readily available in the United States than cassava starch.
To add protein to my breakfast, I will add some nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter) to the top of my pancakes. This will aid in keeping your hunger minimal until your next meal. An important element of the anti-inflammatory diet is to consume Omega 3 fatty acids which are mainly found in fatty fish, chia seeds, and flax seeds. For the people that don’t enjoy fatty fish, did you know that omega-3 fatty acids are also found in walnuts? If you can get your hands on walnut butter, not only will you have your protein, but also your omega-3 fatty acids. Unfortunately, here in Costa Rica walnut butter is sold in select stores. If you can find it, a small 8 oz jar costs $18 USD or more. Any kind of nut butter in Costa Rica is very expensive. It is not a breakfast staple like it is in the United States.
I use the brand Jinca in Costa Rica for all of my gluten-free products. For this specific recipe, I used Jinca’s Gluten Free Bakery Flour Mix which consists of rice flour, corn starch, cassava flour, and xanthan gum. This brand is fabulous and can be found all over the country. They make many other products including a variety of flours, cookies, bread, crackers, seasonings, breading, cereals, and more! Click HERE if you would like to look at the brand online.
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