Carrot & Sweet Potato Pancakes

It’s that time again and this month for Secret Recipe Club I was assigned Shannon’s wonderful blog, Searching for Dessert.  Shannon’s blog is filled with just hundreds of gorgeous recipes for breads, brownies, cookies, cakes, pies and other delicious looking and sounding sweet treats.  I was totally drooling over her Lime Meringue Bars, Flourless Fudge Cookies and her Light Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies but I really couldn’t make any of them because Maisie has her allergies to wheat, egg and dairy and I’ve been avoiding gluten, wheat, sugar, sweeteners both natural and artificial, and a whole host of other items and Eammon, well he just doesn’t really need any sweets so I didn’t want anyone tempted...boohoo… So after all my drooling over forbidden sweets, I checked out Shannon’s Meatless Monday recipes and found her recipe for Carrot & Potato Pancakes and I knew that I could easily adapt it to fit all our dietary restrictions.  I will say that I was being strong and really, really good by not baking any of her sweet and delicious treats and I totally admit that I did wallowed in self pity for a while but after making my version of her Carrot & Potato Pancakes, not once, not twice, but three times, I was crying no more and was a very happy camper. 

 

I really just made some small changes to the original recipe, I swapped out the white potato with a sweet potato, l left out the flour and increased the egg in the version that Eammon and I enjoyed and used chia seed gel in place of the egg in the ones I made for Maisie.  Also because I used sweet potatoes I decided to add a bit of roasted cinnamon because it just goes so perfectly with both sweet potatoes and carrots.

 

I served these Carrot & Sweet Potato Pancakes as a side dish with dinner and I also enjoyed snacking on them cold but my favorite way to enjoy them was nice and hot with a perfectly cooked over-easy egg on top which added just a wonderful creamy richness to the already delicious pancakes.  Check out Shannon’s blog for the original recipe. 

 

Carrot & Sweet Potato Pancakes (adapted from here)

• 1 3/4 cups shredded sweet potato
• 3 TBS. shredded carrot
• 2 TBS. minced onion
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt  
• 1/8 tsp. roasted cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 2 eggs, (or 2 TBS. chia seed in 6 TBS. warm water)
• coconut oil

In a medium bowl, stir together the sweet potato, carrot, onion, salt, roasted cinnamon and black pepper.  Stir in the eggs until the mixture is evenly combined.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and add just enough coconut oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.  Using about a 1/4 cup measure place the sweet potato mixture into the pan and flatten patties to about 1/4-inch thick.  Cook until first side is golden brown and then carefully flip and cook the second side until golden.

Serve hot or cold. 

Enjoy!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts:

Chicken Burgers with Spinach and Mushrooms,

Paradise Mango Curried Shrimp

Laura Goodenough’s Apple Coffee Cake

Loaded Potato Soup

Lemon Almond Biscotti

Creamy Mints

Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken

Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings

Fried Green Tomatoes ‘

Chicken Satay Noodle Salad

Double Chocolate Mousse Cake

Candied Popcorn

Fruit, Nut & Poppy Seed Chicken Salad

Broiled Sushi

Health(ier) Peanut Brittle Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites

Texas Chicken with Lime Butter

Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens

Thin Mint Irish Coffee

Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Welsh Cakes

Nutella Crêpes

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Holy Guacamole

and

Home Style Chicken Curry

 

Maisie “Safe” Bacon & “Cheese” Zucchini Fritters (gluten, egg & dairy free)

Maisie has been gobbling these fritters down like crazy and I’m thrilled that she loves them so much.  Recently I made Bacon & Cheese Zucchini Fritters which were crazy good and they tasted more like loaded potatoes then zucchini and I knew that Maisie would love them but because of her allergies she couldn’t have any.  Well as I stated in that recipe, our garden is producing a lot of zucchini so I figured that I’d give this recipe another go but make it safe for my girl to eat…and am I ever glad that I did because she’s eating lots of zucchini, not knowing it and loving it.

Maisie “Safe” Bacon & “Cheese” Zucchini Fritters (gluten, egg & dairy free)

• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 1 medium sweet onion, grated
• 1 cup hot water
• 3 TBS. Chia Seeds 
• 1 cup potato flakes  
• 1 8oz. bag Daiya Cheddar style shredded "cheese” 
• 1/2 cup bacon bits
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• peanut oil or oil of your choice

Add the grated zucchini and grated onion to a cheesecloth lined sieve and squeeze & press out as much of the water as possible.  In a small bowl mix together the hot water and Chia seeds and allow a gel to form.  In a large bowl add the squeezed out zucchini & onion, Chia seed gel, potato flakes, Daiya “cheese” shreds, bacon bits, salt & pepper.  Stir to combine well.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Using a large cookie scoop portion out the zucchini mixture into the hot pan, being careful not to over crowd the pan.  Press and spread the zucchini mixture just a little.  Cook until the bottom side is golden and then carefully flip to cook the other side.  Once both sides are golden remove to a paper towel lined cooling rack.  Serve hot, room temperature or chilled.

Enjoy!

Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie

For this month’s Crazy Cooking Challenge the participating bloggers were challenged by our hostess Tina, of Moms Crazy Cooking to find the ultimate smoothie recipe.  The way that the Crazy Cooking Challenge works is that each month there is a dish that our hostess Tina challenges the participating bloggers to make.  We all go out searching non-celebrity blogs looking for what we think is the ultimate recipe for that dish and once we find it, we make it and then all on the same day we do our post featuring the recipe and the blog where it was found.  As I said, this month the challenge was to find the ultimate smoothie recipe and in our home Eammon is the big smoothie lover.  One of his favorite flavors is mango so when I came across Chaya’s Mango Melon Smoothie on her blog My Sweet and Savory I knew that I had found my recipe.  I only made two little additions to Chaya’s recipe in that I added 1/2 of a frozen banana which thickened up the smoothie a bit more and added another flavor and I also put in a tablespoon of chia seed gel just because I love adding it to our diet anyway that I can.  Eammon really loved his smoothie and I loved that I got some fruit into him.

Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie 

• 1/4 mango, cut into chunks
• 1 slice of melon, cut into chunks
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 TBS. chia seed gel
• 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

Place all ingredients into a blender and process until it’s the consistency you desire.

Enjoy!

My previous Crazy Cooking Challenge entries:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Challenge: Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich 
Blueberry Muffins Challenge:  Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins 
Spaghetti with Red Sauce Challenge:  Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter 
Chocolate Cake Challenge:  Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake 
Chicken Noodle Soup Challenge: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup 
Fudge Challenge: Biscoff Fudge 
Mashed Potato Challenge: Aloo Tikki 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge: Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps 
Mac & Cheese Challenge: Velvety Mac & Cheese

Apple Pancakes

Do you ever see a recipe on a blog and have to instantaneously check your pantry to see if you have the ingredients on hand to make it…immediately?  Well that’s what happened last Sunday night when I saw Chaya’s recipe for Apple Fritters on her My Sweet and Savory blog.  Something about her recipe called to me and all I could think was that I had to make it…well my version of it.  I took great liberties with her recipe as I had to adapt the recipe based on what I had on hand in the pantry and also to make it Maisie “safe” as the original recipe called for an egg which Maisie can’t eat and then I didn’t want it too sweet so I omitted all the sugar…and the salt…and the nutmeg, but what a perfect quick Sunday night dinner.  I’ll bet that Chaya’s were wonderful and these were wonderful so make either one as these were easy and delicious.  We all really enjoyed the flavor, the texture and sweetness of the pancakes and honestly, had I not known these were wheat, egg & dairy free, I never would have guessed it.  Another wonderful thing about this recipe is that the pancakes stayed well wrapped in the refrigerator and then reheated beautifully in the microwave so Maisie was able to enjoy the leftovers a couple of mornings for breakfast. 

Apple Pancakes (Adapted from here)

1 cup gluten-free pancake & waffle mix
1 TBS chia seeds
2 TBS boiling water
2/3 cup Almond Breeze original
1 small apple, peeled, cored and grated
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 TBS. vegetable oil, plus more for pan

maple syrup

In a medium bowl mix together the chia seeds and boiling water, stir well and allow to sit for five minutes.  Then add the Almond Breeze, grated apple, applesauce, cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon oil and stir to mix well.  Add the pancake mix and stir to combine.  Heat a large cast iron skillet and lightly coat with vegetable oil.  Using a large cookie scoop measure out the batter into the pan.  Cook until golden brown and then flip to brown the second side.  Serve with maple syrup or additional applesauce.

Enjoy!