Gluten-Free Apple Cinamon Quinoa Pancakes

I love lazy Sundays!  Lounging in pajamas, surfing the web, drinking coffee and making a BIG breakfast!

Don’t tell anyone, but recently I discovered that Big Lots has Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free products at a HUGE discount!!!  I recently loaded up on gluten-free: pancake mix, pizza dough and corn muffin mix. So one Sunday morning I thought I would get creative with my Sunday morning breakfast and make a huge batch of pancakes.

Lately I have been having fun trying new things in my pancakes to add some additional nutritional value. I had some quinoa in my pantry and because of its high protein content and versatility I thought I would add some to my pancakes.

To Prepare Quinoa
Prepare quinoa as directed on the box.  Boil 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup water, let simmer until water disappears.  Add 2 tbsp agave (or honey, brown sugar) and 2 tsp of cinnamon. After fully cooked set aside and allow to cool just a bit.

To prepare pancakes

Pancakes

1 ½ cups of Bob’s Red Mill ®Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
1 large egg
¾ cup milk (cow, soy, rice,almond)
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Combine Bob’s Red Mill ® Gluten-Free Pancake Mix, egg, milk and vegetable oil. Blend all ingredients in blender, mixer or whisk vigorously in bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add quinoa, blend until distributed evenly throughout the batter. Let batter stand and pre-heat nonstick griddle to medium high temperature. Lightly oil or spray griddle with cooking or baking spray. For test pancake, pour scant ¼ cup batter onto griddle and cook until top is bubbly. Turn and cook until golden brown. Adjust the temperature as needed. If necessary adjust batter by adding more pancake mix or milk one tbsp. at a time. Continue with remaining batter. Makes eight 4-ince pancakes. Serves four (2 4-inch pancakes per serving).

I made the entire package which means you just need to double all of the measurements that are on the package. I used almond milk instead of regular milk.

To prepare apple compote:
I noticed on the side of the package a very, very easy recipe for an apple compote. I had the ingredients so I thought I would make it. Sometimes it is nice to add something other than syrup to your pancakes.

2 medium apples, diced
¼ cup of sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tbsp cornstarch
Dash of sea salt
½ tsp lemon juice
1 cup water

Place the diced apples in a saucepan. Add the other ingredients, except the water, and stir over medium heat. Cook until the mixture becomes thick and the apples are soft. Slowly add in the water a littleat a time, allowing the mixture to thicken. Add enough of the water to make sauce the consistency that will run over the edge of pancakes.

Instead of sugar I added agave nectar and instead of cornmeal I added rice flour. It did the trick, however, the agave and water made it a little runny so I may have had to add a little more rice flour than the recipe called for.

Everything was delicious! The pancakes were thick and hearty and VERY filling while the compote was light and perfectly sweet. One thing, I may peel the apples next time. I made a huge batch of these and was able to freeze them in individual serving size zip lock bags. I grabbed a bag each morning this week to warm up when I got to work. Because of the protein in the quinoa it held me over until right at lunch time.

What is your favorite Sunday tradition?