Well, it’s Day 18 of the Whole 30, and I haven’t had a drink. It feels annoyingly awesome, actually, and strangely I’m only really craving white wine, which I rarely drink. I thought that by now I’d be at the point of punching someone for a martini, but I’m surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Which is good, but I’m kind of worried about the fact that this healthy living sh*t works, you know? Clear thinking, more energy, clear skin, no allergies, losing weight…Sigh.
So, on to a delicious recipe that I’m not allowed to have until I’m off the Whole 30. And I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been craving these bad boys. Nothing like a nice stack of pancakes with a side of bacon, am I right? (Okay, vegetarians/vegans out there, you can sub tempeh bacon, and I hope you do.)
I saw this recipe for lemon-raspberry pancakes on PaleOMG‘s website (so go check out her blog—she’s super funny and has awesome recipes!) and the thing I liked about it was that it didn’t have almond flour in it. Almond flour is great, but they say you shouldn’t heat it up because it can oxidize the fats which is bad. (Here’s a good article talking about both sides, if you care to read it.) But these seemed light and fluffy, which seemed hard to achieve with paleo pancakes, so I was eager to give them a try.
But I thought that the lemon-raspberry combo was a bit too fruity for me in the morning, and there were a few bananas looking at me eagerly from the fruit bowl. So I mangled Juli’s wonderful recipe and it turned out just fine for The Husband and I.
My usual trick with pancakes is to cook the bacon in the oven on parchment paper to save all the bacon fat. Then I use that fat to cook the pancakes with. Why? Because it’s delicious. And why not—you’re going to eat bacon with the pancakes, making it a little hard to pretend that it will be less fattening if you cook them in coconut or other oil.
So grab those ripe bananas and get cooking:
Paleo Banana Pancakes
3 eggs, whisked
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup coconut flour
½ cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
Dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1-2 ripe bananas
Mix the eggs, almond milk, honey and vanilla extract together in a small bowl or, better yet, the Vitamix. Mix the dry ingredients together in a larger bowl with a whisk, and then add the wet ingredients mixture slowly into the dry ingredients, whisking well as you go.
Slice the bananas on the diagonal in 1/4-inch thick slices. Heat the bacon fat or other oil in a large skillet—I use Scanpans from Sur la Table, and I love them. Keep them handy as you ladle in the batter to the hot pan. Once you’ve poured out three pancakes, add at least three banana slices to each pancake. Cook these babies low and slow, as they won’t bubble up like normal pancakes. When the bottom is brown, flip carefully. (If you don’t they’ll look like this…)
Keep the cooked ones warm in the oven while you finish the whole batch. Serve with bacon and maple syrup. If you really are hungry or hungover, add a fried egg on top. You’ll thank me for it.
These keep well in the freezer, just make sure to wrap them with parchment paper in between each before putting them in a ziplock.
I want to thank Juli for creating this amazing pancake recipe so that I can eat pancakes again, which I only do a few times a year. To be honest, I think this recipe is so good, I don’t crave regular ones any more! So check out her blog because she’s got a whole site full of awesome recipes, and even a cookbook for sale.
