Tonight for dinner... I made a mess!!

Most of the time when I research, build a recipe and finally create a meal it turns out fairly impeccably. We all have our talents. I believe that is one of mine. I'm not a chef, I have no real formal training, just a passion for food and nutrition and a good sense for what tastes good with what. Tonight... I made a $&-/ing mess.

That said: sometimes the most beautiful things are born from chaos. Tonight, in addition to a mess, I also made something beautiful (spoiler alert: this story has a happy, delicious ending!)! With less than a week to go on my vegan diet, there were a few things left that I had wanted to try. Tonight I had planned to make vegan pancakes, but I got cocky... I was going to make vegan pancakes out of coconut flour.

All the articles I'd read about coconut flour warned me that it's fickle to work with and not for the faint hearted. But as I mentioned, I was feeling cocky....... And I thought I'd researched enough to be able to muddle my way through this recipe I made up my very first time ever messing with coconut flour. Boy, was I wrong. Coconut flour, chia, banana, baking powder, vanilla almond milk, honey... In the pan... Disaster... Scratch that, try again, this time more flour/less almond milk... Disaster... Now, my stomach is growling angrily, and eating itself and I am growing impatient with now 3 failed attempts at the perfect coconut flour pancake and still no meal!!! What is going on?! More banana? No. More chia? No. More baking powder? No. Baking soda instead? No. What am I doing wrong? There are only so many ingredients and only so many ways to manipulate the combination. I finally relented and tweaked the formula: half conventional flour/half coconut flour. Jackpot!!!!! Moist, delicious... Happy stomach, happy taste buds, everybody wins! Maybe I'll try 100% coconut flour again with eggs next month... I don't like to admit defeat..........

Recipe:
1 tsp chia seeds
2 tsp water
3/4 banana
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp raw honey
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Combine water and chia seeds and let soak for 15 minutes. Mash banana.

Combine all ingredients and soaked chia seeds mix thoroughly. Use a hand mixer if you're having trouble coaxing out the clumps. Pour desired amount in a pan cook on each side for two minutes. Top with fruits, nuts, maple syrup... Whatever suits your mood!! Enjoy!

Bon appétit!
Talia