Half term breakfast pancakes

It's half term this week for our region of the UK, a welcome break in the normal routine of chasing teenagers up out of bed, prompting, reminding and miraculously getting them out of the door vaguely on time and conscious! When the kids were little, I loved just spending some relaxing time with them, going out on little excursions and generally chilling out together; now they just enjoy chilling out with their friends and I don't get much of a look in, apart from in the food producing department!
Breakfast on a school day is usually a case of getting something quick and nutritious inside of them; the holidays allow a little more time. This week I made these great wholesome pancakes; they are easy to prepare, but tend to be saved as a weekend or holiday treat as pancakes just seem to take longer to cook than I expect them too. My giant boy teenager, who had already consumed one breakfast, polished off four and said they were the best dairy free pancakes he'd tasted!
What's great about these pancakes is that apart from being dairy free, they're also gluten free, contain no refined sugar or oil and are packed with fibre and nutrients. I've used buckwheat flour which in itself is a fabulous source of plant based protein as well as fibre, manganese and magnesium. Flaxseed, which I've used as an egg replacer, is a fabulous source of omega 3 and cinnamon is just an all round fabulous anti-inflammatory that can help reduce cholesterol, maintain good blood sugar control and just tastes wonderful! And if you use almond milk as your non-dairy milk, you get fantastic amounts of calcium and vitamin E thrown in for good measure.
I've used maple syrup as the sweetening agent which is one of the least refined sugars you can get your hands on; you could use agave syrup or just normal sugar if you don't have any maple syrup to hand, but that reduces the overall favourable nutritional profile of these pancakes. Having said that, the superb amount of fibre in these pancakes should negate the negativities of a little added sugar (unless you are on a specific disease reversing programme). If you don't have buckwheat flour to hand, use wholemeal wheat flour, but add a little less milk as it shouldn't need as much.
Give these a go one lazy morning and see how great a nutrient packed pancake can taste.
Apple and maple pancakes

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
2 1/2 tablespoons water
1 apple grated
125g buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
300mls non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon maple syrup
First of all, soak the ground flaxseed in the water for a few minutes - it will become thick and gloopy. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. In another bowl, mix together the milk, apple and maple syrup, then add in the gloopy flaxseed mix, stirring well. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix well. It should be very thick; add a little extra non-dairy milk if it seems too thick to come off the spoon.
Heat a non-stick frying pan and wipe over with oil.  Add a spoonful of mixture into the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until brown. Keep warm until the whole batch is cooked, then serve with additional maple syrup, fruit or whatever you like to add to your pancakes. Enjoy!

Amazingly tasty lentil and walnut paté

Life has been so busy over the last month, The Sensitive Foodie blog has been somewhat abandoned and forlorn. However, there's been lots of activity in the kitchen so there's plenty of new recipes and ideas to share - I just need to find more time to write about them!
Now I may have mentioned before (once or twice!) that I do love a bit of hummus - it makes a fantastic dairy free lunch option, is easy to make, even easier to buy. But no matter how much I like it, there is only so much hummus that one girl can eat! It's time for a new lunch time option that's equally enjoyable and flavoursome.
One of the objections people have when it comes to dairy free or plant based food is that it lacks flavour and depth. As The Sensitive Foodie, it's my mission to prove them wrong, and I can definitely say that this paté hits the mark with both of these. On top of that, it's packed with essential omega 3 fatty acids, tonnes of fibre and protein as well as fabulous amounts of magnesium, folate, manganese and iron.
When I used to eat meat, I did enjoy eating paté but did have my concerns about what exactly was in it - especially those with a course texture that had chewy bits in! Checking on the ingredients list, an ardenne pate, for example contains pork liver, pork, pork fat as well as pork rind with some dextrose (sugar), salt, herbs and preservatives added in. Hmmm, not really sounding too tasty now. Flavoursome, maybe, but packed full of saturated fat and cholesterol and no fibre, it's a combination of toxins heading straight for the belly.
This lentil and walnut paté, however, is packed full of fibre, as the whole food has been included, and no cholesterol or preservatives. Texture wise, it's pretty similar to a smooth meat paté, only softer due to the lower fat levels. It will last in the fridge for about 5 days. Oh and don't forget that this is not only dairy free but gluten free too.
Personally, I cook my own lentils from the dried pulse, usually preparing a big batch to use in more than one dish. If you just haven't got the time, or the lentils to hand, then used tinned, but don't forget to drain and rinse really well under running water to wash away the salty fluid from the tin.
Everyone who has tasted this has been impressed - even my father in law - so give it a go and give your tongue, and body, a tasty lunch time treat.
Lentil and walnut pate

3/4 cup walnuts
1 cup cooked green lentils
1 onion diced
2 cloves roasted garlic (optional)
2 tablespoons tamari*
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
First, heat the oven to 160oC and toast your walnuts for a few minutes so they're lightly browned. Take out and cool. Heat a little olive oil or water in a small pan and sauté the onion and bay leaf together until it's lightly browned and soft. Leave to cool and remove the bay leaf. Once the onion and walnuts are cool, pop the walnuts, lentils, onion, garlic, tamari and lemon juice into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Taste and add extra tamari, lemon juice and salt and pepper as required.
Serve as you would any paté and enjoy!

*tamari is a wheat free, gluten free soya sauce, made from whole soya beans and brewed in wooden kegs. I buy mine in Holland and Barrett.