Jordan and I are set to close on our first house early next month =). When we were deciding what price range we were looking at, Jordan we sat down and made a budget. Anyone who knows Jordan knows how thorough he is, so naturally he analyzed every transaction we had made in the last 2 years! He had all these different scenarios for paying it off early, IRAs, 401Ks, etc. There weren’t any major surprises but I was surprised at how much we spend on groceries each month! Seriously?? There are only two of us! I didn’t believe it, but the numbers don’t lie. So at first I was all like, “We’ve got to cut back on our grocery bill”… and that lasted for about 2 weeks. I bargain shopped and didn’t buy any “exotic ingredients” but then yesterday I was all like, “I’m buying this quinoa flour I don’t care if it’s $8!”. I’d been seeing lots of recipes with quinoa flour that I wanted to try and finally agreed with Jordan that maybe I was being a little ridiculous and I needed to keep buying whatever groceries I wanted =p.
This was my first time using quinoa flour and I admit that when I first opened the bag I was a little scared. It has a strong smell…and not necessarily a good smell. If you’ve worked with quinoa before you know the smell is from saponin (a toxic glycoside) that coats the outer layer of the quinoa seed. Usually this is removed before you buy it but sometimes trace amounts remain and that’s why you wash the seeds again before you cook them. But what do you do when you buy the seeds already ground (aka quinoa flour)? You toast the flour before you use it. It takes about 5 minutes but unless you want your pancakes to taste like grass and soap, don’t skip this step! Toasting the flour also brings out the nutty flavor of the quinoa – yum! These pancakes had a delicious, unique flavor that I loved – a perfect introduction to quinoa flour. Enjoy!
Vanilla Cinnamon Quinoa Pancakes {Gluten-Free}
1 cup quinoa flour*
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup skim milk
1 large egg
1/2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1. Place a medium, non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Stir and cook until quinoa starts to brown and smokes a little. Remove from heat and transfer flour to a plate to cool.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the quinoa flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil and vanilla. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir well. Batter should be creamy and smooth (not thick and puffy). If not, add a little bit more milk.
3. Heat a griddle to 375 degrees F or a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. For each pancake pour 3 tbsp (#20 scoop) of batter onto griddle. Flip when bubbles break on the surface. Cook until golden brown on the other side. Makes 10.
*adapted from Delicious as it Looks
Notes: I used Bob’s Red Mill quinoa flour that I found at Kroger. If your store doesn’t carry quinoa flour, you can make your own by grinding quinoa seeds into a powder in a clean coffee grinder.
Nutritional Info (per pancake): 71 calories; 1.8 g fat; 10.4 g carbohydrates; 1.1 g fiber; 2.9 g protein
