Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

One of my favourite things to do in the morning is make pancakes with Audra.  I get out a all the ingredients, a big bowl, measuring cups, and two spoons.  While the pan is heating I help Audra to the table.  I measure out the ingredients.  Audra tells me what they are as she pours them into the bowl.  She's great at mixing.  Mommy adds the eggs and makes sure everything is well-combined.  Then Audra climbs into her high chair to continue narrating while I cook.

Everyone in our house enjoys pancakes.  Daddy likes to eat them with butter and syrup.  Audra likes hers with "abutter" which is sometimes peanut butter, sometimes cashew butter, and sometimes almond butter.  She doesn't really care what kind of butter it is, but it must be butter.  Eleanor and I usually have ours with fresh fruit or berry compote (which Audra also enjoys with her butter).

The leftovers go in the freezer.  Any time Audra wants a pancake (which is often), I just pop one in the toaster.  It works well for us...that is it did until I had to switch to a gluten-free diet.

It has been difficult finding gluten-free pancake recipes that the my whole family likes.  I've made several that I like and Randall doesn't.  Others Randall and I both like but Audra and Eleanor don't care for.

I spend a lot of time looking at recipes.  Thursday afternoon I was looking at cornbread and polenta recipes and was inspired.  So I got up early Friday morning to make blueberry corn meal pancakes.

For the best pancakes, make sure you get the finest ground corn meal/flour.  I chose to add the blueberries to each pancake individually.  This prevents the blueberries bleeding and turning your pancakes blue, and you can control how many blueberries are in each pancake.  I served ours with fresh honey butter.

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
  2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted plus more for pan
  1 1/2 cups cornmeal, finely ground
  3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  1 teaspoon salt
  2 eggs, lightly beaten
  2 to 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
  1 pint blueberries

In a bowl combine cornmeal, baking soda and salt.  Add eggs, butter, and 2 cups of buttermilk.  The amount of buttermilk needed will depend on the the texture of the cornmeal.  Add more if needed until the mixture is the consistency of pancake batter.

Ladle 1/4 cup of batter onto hot pan or griddle.  While the batter begins to cook add a few blueberries to the pancake.  When bubbles rise to the top of the batter flip gently.  Cook on second side until golden brown and firm.

Makes about 20 small pancakes.  Enjoy!

Orange Peel Vegetables

One of the first outings I went on with my husband was to P.F. Chang's.  We had been at a coffee shop all afternoon.  He finally convinced me that I needed a study break, we got in his little red rally car, and headed across midtown in the snow.  He had Orange Peel Chicken, one of his favourites.

Several months later, when we were dating, I decided to try to copy their recipe and make Orange Peel Chicken at home.  It was good, and I modified the recipe several times.  I also gave myself several second-degree burns (let's just say there are two reasons I don't fry food).  I had taken what was a pretty good copy of P.F. Chang's recipe and turned it into something that suited both of our tastes a little bit better.  Then we became vegetarians.

I modified the recipe a little bit more today to make it gluten-free and sugar-free.  Now I can't imagine why it needed either to begin with.

Orange Peel Vegetable Stir-Fry
    Sauce:
    1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    1/2 onion, sliced
    2 green onions, sliced
    1 cup tomato sauce
    1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
    juice of one orange (about 1/4 cup)
    1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
    1 tablespoon gluten-free soy sauce
    1 tablespoon corn starch

    Stir Fry:
    1 bell pepper, chopped
    1 carrot, julienned
    1 head broccoli, cut
    1/2 cup edamame
    1/2 cup mushroom, sliced
    peel from 1/4 orange, julienned

Prepare sauce by heating 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and onions.  Quickly add the tomato sauce and 1/2 cup water (before garlic browns).  Add orange juice, chili flakes, and soy sauce.  Combine corn starch with 1 tablespoon of water.  Slowly stir in to sauce.  Bring sauce to a boil and simmer until the sauce thickens.  Turn off heat.

In a wok heat 1 tablespoon oil.  Add mushrooms.  Cook until lightly browned on one side.  Add bell peppers and cook lightly.  Add carrots, broccoli, and edamame.  When everything is cooked through, add orange peel.  Cook for 20-30 seconds.  Add sauce to the pan and stir until heated and combined.

Serve over brown rice.

*I only put mushrooms on my husbands serving.  This dish would also be good with tofu, but my family does not like it.  Feel free to use whatever vegetables your family likes.  This is what I had on hand today.