Here’s a simple, very low oxalate recipe that could easily become your family’s go-to meal. I’ve gotten so busy this fall with my dissertation and the boy’s activities that we often get home late and hungry with nothing ready in the fridge. At least twice a week this month my solution has been to make Paleo pancakes (or waffles). They are very low oxalate, gluten-free, dairy-free, and very low on the glycemic index. They have some good fiber (from the coconut flour) and are pretty versatile if you want to experiment with add-ins. When we have these for dinner, I usually serve them with sliced fresh fruit or butternut squash on the side. Very easy, very quick and oh, so yummy!
Aidan stirs a batch of pancakes while I make a second batch in the blender.
Paleo Pancakes
4 eggs
1 tablespoon coconut milk or water
1/2 dropper of liquid stevia or a teaspoon honey (optional)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (optional)
1/4 cup coconut flour
Coconut oil or butter for cooking (we use pastured butter)
Put all ingredients (except the oil) in the blender and blend until smooth (make sure you put the coconut flour in last or in will turn into cement in the bottom of your blender!). Let sit for two or three minutes to thicken up (A fun property of coconut flour is all the fiber which slowly absorbs liquid as it sits. If it gets too thick add a little more water). Pour pancakes onto a hot, oiled griddle or skillet and cook until edges are brown and you start to see bubbles (smaller pancakes are much easier to flip). Flip pancake and continue cooking until golden brown on both sides. Serve hot with fresh fruit, low oxalate spreadable fruit (we love these with home-made apple butter), maple syrup, sunflower butter*, butter or plain yogurt (if you do dairy). You can also make a yummy fruit syrup by simply pureeing blueberries or strawberries in the blender with a little liquid stevia. These pancakes are great cold as a snack or lunchbox stuffer the next day– plain or with sunflower butter*, butter, or low oxalate spreadable fruit. This recipe also works as a waffle recipe!
Makes 6-8 pancakes. Recipe doubles easily if you have a large blender!
Note: If you are cooking for a crowd, set your oven to 150 degrees and put a cookie sheet on the top rack which you’ve set in the middle of the oven to make it easy to reach in. Put pancakes on the cookie sheet as they come off the griddle to keep them warm and yummy until you have enough to serve.
Add-ins for your experimenting pleasure:
Stir these in at the end of the recipe, but don’t blend: ½ cup shredded or chopped apple; a handful of blueberries or sliced strawberries*; a handful of raisins, dried cherries* or banana chips; some chopped roasted chestnuts or pumpkin seeds
Blend these into the batter and omit the coconut milk: ½ cup cottage cheese (or see cottage cheese pancakes); ½ cup pumpkin or butternut squash with ½ teaspoon nutmeg; a small banana* or a few strawberries*. Be careful not to add to0 much of a blended ingredient or the pancakes won’t hold together very well.
Halloween Pancakes: Add 1/2 cup pumpkin to the basic recipe and pour the batter slowly so you can get a pumpkin shape (you could use a pumpkin cookie cutter as a guide). Decorate with raisins for the eyes and mouth.
Oxalate Note: All ingredients in Paleo pancakes are low oxalate or very low oxalate (Add-ins and toppings marked with an asterisk are lower medium oxalate). Each pancake has about 0.5 -1 mg. oxalate depending on how much oil you use and how big you make them. Yay! Add-ins will increase the oxalate content a little depending on what and how much you use, as will your toppings.
Where to find coconut products: Most large chain grocery stores sell coconut products in their natural foods section or gluten-free section. You can also find them at most natural foods stores. Lately, I have begun buying my coconut products in bulk on-line because its a lot cheaper! (Make sure you buy enough to get free shipping-usually around 25$ for most on-line companies.) I have to admit I thought it was bizarre to buy groceries on-line at first and balked at this for awhile. I like to hold the product in my hand and really look at before I buy it. But after I’ve bought the product once and know I like it, I really love the convenience of on-line specialty item shopping! For organic coconut flours I like Bob’s Red Mill, Coconut Secret and Tropical Traditions. All three are high quality and work well in my recipes. I usually buy whichever is the best deal at the time. For coconut oils, I am very partial to Nutiva Organic Coconut Oil. This is really a fabulous product! Spectrum also makes a quality product which is occasionally a lot cheaper than Nutiva and would be worth purchasing if you catch a super sale. For coconut milk, I often stick with Chaokoh since we know it has zero oxalates, but usually for about half the price you can buy Natural Value Coconut Milk (which has the same ingredients as Chaokoh, pure coconut extract and water, minus the preservatives. I feel comfortable using this brand and considering it zero oxalate also). Note: if you click on any of these links, you can scroll down a little and look at the ingredient list for most products, which is a nice feature of Amazon. Oh! And while we are talking about coconut products check out Coconut Manna by Nutiva. You will thank me forever if you try this product. I just sit and eat it with a spoon . . .
Picky Eater Pleaser: Make happy faces with raisins or pieces of banana or apple! You can also pour the pancake batter out slowly into the shape of a letter, a teddy bear face, a snake etc. Sometimes kids are more willing to try a new food if they’ve helped to cook the pancakes (see cottage cheese pancakes for tips on cooking pancakes with kids).
One of my boys doesn’t like the subtle flavor of the coconut flour. If I’m making two batches (one for the boys and one for me), I substitute ½ cup sweet rice flour for the ¼ cup coconut flour in one batch. This raises the oxalate content (still low oxalate) and keeps them from being Paleo, but my sons enjoy them a lot more, so I sometimes make this compromise.
Other diets: Paleo pancakes may be suitable for gluten-free, dairy-free, low carbohydrate, carbohydrate controlled, vegetarian, SCD, GAPs, Primal and Paleo diets.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }