The Joy of Allergies: Coconut Oat Pancakes

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Coconut Oat Pancakes

It never fails. I am up, showered, ready for the day, and my kids sleep in...forever. I hit the gym at 5am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I love my early morning runs/workouts. Not only does it free up time during the day with my kids, but it really gets me moving and energized for the day. I love that I am home, and usually back in bed reading, before my husband leaves the house. This month I started Rachel Wojnarowski's Read Your Bible in a Year Challenge. Today is Day 16, but because everyone was snoozing this morning, I read ahead a couple of chapters. Woohoo! After the hubs left, I took my time getting ready, and couldn't believe my girls were still sound asleep after a shower, load of laundry, 2nd cup of coffee, and two wardrobe changes. I decided I would lure them out of bed with the delicious aroma of coconut pancakes. Delicious indeed!

Not only is coconut super healthy for you (full of fiber, low glycemic index, and gluten-free to name a few benefits), it is very tasty too! In our house, we drink coconut milk, eat coconut yogurt, cook with coconut oil, and bake with coconut flour. Moisturizing with coconut oil or lotion is fabulous, too! This morning I mixed coconut flour with oat flour (which is super fancy - throw some gluten-free oats in a blender and process til it's flour) and whipped up some pancakes. Tropical paradise on an icy morning, can't beat it! And yes, they did come running for breakfast. Well, at least the one that wasn't trapped in her crib did.

Coconut Oat Pancakes

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 cup oat flour

2 teaspoons egg replacer mixed with 4 tablespoons rice milk

2 1/2 cups coconut milk, possibly more if your batter sits for awhile

2 tablespoon melted coconut oil

optional - a couple teaspoons of sugar or agave, frozen berries, chocolate chips

1. Whisk flours together thoroughly to break up any clumps.

2. Add 2 cups of coconut milk, egg replacer mixture, and melted coconut oil. If batter is too thick, add more coconut milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

3. Using a ladle, pour batter onto a slightly greased griddle. Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side.

I always find that the longer coconut flour sits, the more moisture it soaks up. Duh. So, I end up using a lot of moisture when baking with coconut flour. If you feel like your batter is too runny, just let it sit for a couple minutes, it won't be runny for long! I think these pancakes could benefit from some sweetness, and so did my sweet-toothed 3-year old. The next time I try these, I may add a tablespoon or two of agave nectar. Or just use extra syrup :)

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Welcome to the Joy of Allergies!

You may think I’m off my rocker with a name like "Joy of Allergies," but living with food allergies doesn’t have to be an unhappy battle with illness. In fact, discovering allergies, specifically food allergies in my case, has been a blessing in disguise in our family.

As a kid, I don’t remember hearing too much about allergies. I am pretty sure I was affected by the typical seasonal crud, but nothing food-wise really bothered my friends or me. Or did it? When most people think of allergies, they think of hives, feeling itchy, congestion and nasal symptoms, and in extreme cases anaphylaxis. Well, food never caused any of those for me. However, I did have headaches a lot as a kid, and constant tummy troubles, and come to think of it I was constantly congested and did have some patches of itchy skin. As an adult I have discovered I am allergic to wheat and dairy. Since removing those from my diet, I am symptom-free! Every now and then, often by mistake, I consume one or both of these and can immediately feel the effects.

When my oldest daughter, Grace, was one, I fed her peanut butter in an attempt to get some much-needed protein in her diet. Instantly she broke out in welts, was itching like crazy, and was swelling up every place the peanut butter had touched. She even rubbed her eyes, which caused her eyeballs to swell. I did not know this was possible, but my poor girl’s eyes were literally bulging out of her head. It was crazy! She has since had some reactions when she has been in the same room as peanuts, or even if someone has just had it on their breath. We carry an epipen and avoid peanuts like the plague. In the past year I suspected there must be something else in her diet that was causing her trouble. She complained of tummy aches, frequently got bumps on her shoulders, was often itchy, and had some strange behavioral issues. We had some further testing done and discovered in addition to the peanuts, she is also allergic to wheat, dairy, soy, and eggs. Upon removing them from her diet we have seen a dramatic difference.

On to my youngest, who was the driving force to getting us all tested in the first place. Emma was six months old when she developed a persistent dry cough that didn’t go away for about four months. She was finally diagnosed with asthma, and when put on a couple of steroid inhalers, stopped coughing. Then she started getting ear infections….one after the other. She eventually had tubes put in, and we were hopeful that would be the end of the misery. Only it wasn’t. Much to our surprise, Emma continued to wake up all night pulling at her ears, itching at her hands (which along with her cheeks and legs were covered in eczema), and grabbing at her nose. I took her in for an allergy test, which confirmed she too was allergic to many things including wheat, dairy, eggs, and banana (of all things!). The very day we eliminated these foods from her diet, her personality seemed to shift from a grumpy, tired baby to one that had a little more life and great big smile. But the biggest blessing (at least to Mommy and Daddy) was that she slept through the night, and even woke up singing the next morning. Now that she has been on an allergy-free diet for almost six months, Emma no longer uses an inhaler on a daily basis, has not needed antibiotics, does not use any sort of cream nor does she have any sign of eczema, and doesn’t require the use of antihistamines. She is also a great sleeper so long as she doesn’t have any teeth cutting through!

My husband recently discovered he is allergic to yeast and eggs. It's a little soon to determine whether avoidance is making much of a difference (and just how strict he is on that avoidance is a little fuzzy to me). But, I am looking forward to seeing how it might affect his Rheumatoid Arthritis and overall inflammation.

Yes, I would say that discovering allergies in our family has been a huge blessing. I was overwhelmed at first, I’ll be honest! One of my favorite hobbies is baking. How on earth does a person bake without wheat, dairy, soy, and eggs? Well, it is possible, and can actually be quite tasty. And I’m here to say that baking is still one of my favorite hobbies, so it is true that it can still be fun! My hope is that this blog will help others discover some yummy allergy-friendly recipes, get some guidance on allergy topics, and also help me keep myself organized and log my own experience as I walk this journey with my family.

Feel free to contact me

joyofallergies@gmail.com

facebook.com/JoyOfAllergies

- Stephanie