"The best pancakes I've ever had. EVER."

That's what my husband said about our pancakes this morning.

This is a man who for over 40 years had his pancakes made with eggs, dairy milk and wheat flour from the supermarket, lathered up with butter, and smothered in maple syrup. Times sure have changed! (Except for the maple syrup. Lucky it's vegan!)

Our pancakes are different now, we're different now, but the beautiful thing is,

our pancakes are still delicious.

Actually, they're more delicious.
(Is there a word for MORE delicious? Delicious-er? Mega-Delicious? Uber-Yummy?)

It's like we took the ordinary pancake and magicked it up, gave it superpowers…
and if it had any sense, it would take over the world.

Enough raving? Here's the recipe:

Helena’s Divine Gluten-Free Vegan Pancakes

Whisk up 4 teaspoons of egg replacer with 8 tablespoons of warm water. Whisk it 'til it's all frothy, like it wants to leap out of the bowl and go salsa dancing.

not my photo—I got it from here

Then you add two cups of gluten-free self-raising flour

and half a cup of almond meal

I found this image here

(I take raw almonds and grind them up in the food processor 'til they're mostly powder. But be careful—if you process them too long, they become oily and start becoming Almond Butter. If you don't have a food processor, or don't feel like making your own, just buy almond meal at the shops. Buy meal if you can, rather than almond flour, as it has the almond skin in it, and isn't as processed).

Add non-dairy milk (we use a combination of rice, almond and a little bit of soy) and mix until the pancake batter is smooth, and is the thickness that you like. I think we probably use somewhere between 1 and 1.5 cups of non-dairy milk. 

To cook it up, put about a teaspoon of non-dairy spread in your frypan (I use Nuttelex—made from all sorts of plant oils). I find it helps to put a little bit of spread in with each new pancake, otherwise it can stick a bit. 

Put some batter in the frypan (this seems kind of obvious, but seeing as I'm writing all the steps, I didn't want to leave one out! This one's kind of a crucial step, really). 

Wait 'til your pancake gets bubbly, then flip it.

When both sides are done, put it on your plate and serve it with:

anything you like!

We use agave syrup, maple syrup, sugar and lemon, jams, and vegan chocolate spread. Today we tried home-made cinnamon sugar. The kids gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

You can also make the batter a bit thicker and make banana fritters. Now those are divine.

And voila!

This photo is mine! (But the pancakes are my husband's)

Note: the mix makes enough to feed a regular family of four, or three really hungry kids. It's so easy to make more, especially as you don't run out of eggs! (A box of egg replacer goes a long, long way) :) 

a beginning

Here we go,

a blog about our journey as vegans!

It feels just right to be here. To talk about the things we've learned as a family, and are learning. To be advocates. To speak out. To try and give some voice to the voiceless.

 

We've been vegan now since October 2011. We're doing great, feeling healthy. The kids love being vegan and feel completely passionate about it. We're eating so, so well. I can't wait to post recipes, and share some of the yummy goodness we've been having.

I'll also be posting information about veganism, about animal welfare, and the health and environmental benefits of not eating or using animal products. Plus I'll be telling my own vegan stories. I love telling stories :)

Some people might say this is me going all "Vegangelical " (what a wild and beautiful term!). But I believe you can only change the world by living your truth and speaking up for what you believe in. Otherwise… are you truly living?

There are so many reasons we're vegan. If I try to sum it up, I suppose it comes down to this: we don't want to contribute to the suffering of animals. We want to avoid being part of an industry that makes animals experience sorrow, discomfort, pain, fear, and death, all to provide food that we simply do not need to eat.

A few days ago, I watched a 2010 interview with Ellen DeGeneres. From 15:30 to 20:00, she talks about why she is vegan. The kids watched it with me, and at some point, my girl turned to me and said, "Wow, Mum. Is she us?"

Everything she said, especially about the welfare of factory-farmed animals, is what we feel. Deeply.

http://youtu.be/loZJpWEMJAE

Let the stories begin.

credit