A Real Food Recipe: Buckwheat Pancakes

It has been almost seven months since I began the graded transformation towards becoming a healthy organic being. Along the way I have gradually cut out processed 'fake' foods, refined sugars and I no longer eat grains. Yes, I loosely follow the Paleo diet (more on that later!) however I HATE the word 'diet'! I tend to think of my current eating patterns as a lifestyle. I eat the foods that I know help my body, not hinder it. And since grains fall in the 'hinderance' category, bye bye cereals, toast, pasta, cakes, pastries...sigh.


Breakfast has been the biggest challenge for me. I'm the girl that had Vegemite on toast everyday, guaranteed. Since I don't eat grains anymore, that's clearly out of the picture. So what could I possibly have for breakfast that isn't toast or cereal!? And is considered real food?! I love eggs and bacon but not every morning! I came across buckwheat flour (and no, its not a grain despite its devious name!) and I heard along the grapevine that this glorious flour makes even more glorious pancakes. Hoorah! Pancakes are back on the menu! Check out my recipe below, it tastes great. Better than the white flour version in my humble opinion!

Buckwheat Pancakes

(grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Organic Buckwheat Flour 
• 1 T Raw Coconut Sugar (or Stevia)
• 3 tsp Baking Soda
• Big pinch of Pink Himalayan Rock Salt
• 350ml Homemade Almond Milk (or unsweetened Organic store-bought versions)
• 2 Organic or Free Range Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Organic Coconut Oil/Butter for cooking
• Topping of your choice (for example raw honey, banana, chia seed jam, berries or butter)

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and all wet ingredients in another. Combine wet and dry mixes and stir well. The mixture should be runny like 'normal' pancakes. Grease up the fry pan with coconut butter or oil and make yourself a delicious breakfast feast! I am terrible at making my pancakes perfectly round so if you know how, holler! I love to top mine with raw honey, cacao nibs and bananas, yummy.

The great thing about this recipe is that it is open for variations! Experiment yourself but here are a few of my favourite variations:

• 'Choc-Banana' - add a little Raw Organic Cacao Powder and mashed up banana to the original recipe. You might need to add more almond milk to keep it runny - my all time favourite! (see photo below)
• 'Bucky Banana' - add a combination of mashed up banana and sliced banana to original recipe. I love big chunks of bananas in my pancake as it reminds me of my Nan's amazing banana pancakes!
• 'Buckleberry' - add a bunch of cut up berries (fresh or thawed) to the original mix, perfect for a warm morning.

 Choc-Banana Buckwheat Pancakes - ah-may-zing.