Saturday, March 28, 2009

An IBS breakfast...start the day off right!


I know this is not a sexy title for a post, but it's sometimes key for when your stomach and digestive system just won't settle down. It makes good sense to start off the day with a breakfast high in soluble fiber to provide a stable base for the rest of the day, but of course it needs to be tasty! However, with my food allergy restrictions, some of the soluble fiber foods recommended for those with IBS (French bread, rice and oatmeal) are off the list. When combing through the cookbook Eating for IBS by Heather Van Vorous, which has been EXTREMELY helpful in figuring out how to reconfigure my diet, I found this recipe for Banana Cornmeal Pancakes. This is made in a blender so is fast and easy.

Banana Cornmeal Pancakes
4-6 Servings

3/4 c. soy or rice milk (I used almond milk)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 ripe-black large bananas
1/2 c. plus 1 TBS all-purpose unbleached white flour (I used 1/4 c cornstarch, 1/4 c potato starch)
1 TBS baking powder (gluten-free if necessary)
2 TBS brown sugar
1/3 c. cornmeal
2 organic egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 TBS finely chopped nuts (optional)

In a bowl, add vinegar to soy milk and stir well. Let sit a few minutes (you're making sour milk) the pour into a blender and add all remaining ingredients except nuts (if using). Pour batter into a bowl or large measuring cup with a spout. Heat a non-stick frying pan or griddle over medium heat and spray with cooking oil. Pour about 1/4 c. of batter at a time onto griddle to form pancakes.

Cook until surface bubbles, about 1 minute, and flip pancakes over. Cook until undersides are golden brown and pancakes are cooked through, about 1 minute. Serve immediately with maple syrup.

The verdict? These were hearty and tasty, if a little heavy. I used a few of the leftover pancakes later to make a ham sandwich for lunch, but they were much better when served hot.

4 comments:

Kai said...

It was fun seeing you yesterday! Thai Nakorn...yummmmy. I feel like eating your fake pho now. Or maybe the pancakes. Or both. (If people could see the size of your kitchen and the great food that comes out of it they'd be amazed).

j.cro said...

Hi!
I read your comment on the BabycakesNYC blog about the new cook book... I too am bummed about recipes containing spelt, esp. for the Red Velvet cupcakes and all the biscuits.
Please let me know if you happen to come up with an alternatives while baking, I'd love to hear about it.
I am self diagnosed with my food allergies, but I just know in my gut, literally and figuratively, that I cannot eat wheat and gluten. Spelt just won't do...

Also, do you think it's possible to use sesame seeds or almond meal in place of the flax?

You might want to look at Karina Allrich's site glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ for some other references.

Thanks!!
J.Cro

PS - I'm going to add you to my blog list. Take care!

Food Allergy Queen said...

Hi J. Cro, thanks for your comment. I'm looking at some other cupcake recipes to get around the spelt, but that's further on down my list. :)

As far as replacing the flaxseed, you can't replace those with sesane seeds or almonds because flaxseed is replacing the egg as a binder. You could try another vegan binding choice such as applesauce, bananas, prunes or Ener-G egg replacer. Depends a lot on the quantity you're going to replace and the water content.

Hope that helps!

The FAQ

j.cro said...

Hi! Thanks for your response and answers!
I checked back at the babycakes website today and apparently a LOT of people are having a hard time with the cookbook so they made an email address to send questions to.
They already wrote back with suggestions, etc.
Happy baking - I'll be checking back to see how you're coming with it all.
Take care!