Yes, you read it right… vegan!
I’ve been really conflicted about meat these days. Not because of animal cruelty or anything like that but more for health reasons. And the more I read about how animals are fed and treated prior to slaughter the more I get freaked out. No matter how you look at it unless you are buying crazy priced organic grass fed or other idyllic meat the meat we’re eating comes from animals that aren’t fed right. The last straw for me was when I read that they feed salmon food pellets with pin/orange dye in them so that their flesh looks more appealing to consumers! Seriously! DYE PELLETS. That’s just crazy.
So I decided to take a break from animal products for a while. I was going to do it for the month of February but then realized that Lent was around the corner so I decided to give up animal products for Lent. So for 40 days no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey etc.
So far things have been good and I’ve been very strict about it. With mild exceptions. I used margarine on a bagel the other day that had 1.4% whey powder. I figured 1.4% of a teaspoon or two of margarine wouldn’t kill me. Also, if I’m eating out I’m not that concerned about the minute details of the dish. If to the naked eye the dish seems vegan then I’m cool with it. If the sauce on my stirfry contains an ingredient that has a trace of dairy somewhere down the chain I’m ok with it. But generally I’m adhering to things strictly. Particularly while cooking at home.
The lack of dairy leaves a huge whole in one BIG ritual for me… weekend breakfast! Seriously, what do vegans eat for breakfast? I eat steel cut oats monday through friday and can’t do it on the weekend. Usually on the weekend I’ll have a bagel (surprisingly naturally vegan.. thanks What A Bagel!) and then on Sunday do bacon and eggs or pancakes. When the weekend rolled around I knew I could compromise so after some seriously googling I came across this recipe .
Easy enough. I wasn’t too sure about the chemistry of the whole thing but figured that mixing the soy milk with vinegar probably initiated a suitable chemical reaction and left it at that. Totally a good call! These pancakes were DELICIOUS. Maybe the best pancakes ever. I know, a bold statement, but they were great!
I sauteed some bananas with brown sugar and cinnamon and then poured some maple syrup over top. FABULOUS. Seriously, you don’t even miss the dairy!
BANANA WALNUT PANCAKES
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups soymilk + 1 teaspoon vinegar (let sit for 5 minutes)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 small-med bananas, mashed really well with a fork or blended in a blender
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Directions
Sift together first 5 (dry) ingredients.
In a seperate bowl, mix bananas and other wet ingredients until pretty smooth. Poor wet into dry and mix but do not overmix. Fold in the walnuts.
Brush a large nonstick skillet with canola oil or non stick cooking spray and heat over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 3, pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake into hot skillet and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a large plate and loosely cover with foil to keep warm, then make more pancakes, brushing skillet with oil or spray for each batch.
Serve with sliced bananas and maple syrup.
From Post Punk Kitchen
