Monday, March 26, 2012

Strawberry, quinoa and oat pikelets

The bugs in my lungs still seem to be hanging on. (Gosh that is a disgusting phrase. I'm sorry.) I had a few coughing fits at work today that really can't have sounded good, and I'm not sure that my croaked "I'm not contagious! Honest!" phrases would have made up for them.

Fortunately, I can work from home tomorrow if needed - which probably means I'll make a full recovery and be fully fit to go in to work!

Also fortunately, some things don't need full health, or even a voice, to be enjoyable. Strawberry pikelets go in that category.


In fact, these strawberry pikelets might even help you feel better if you're not quite sitting at 100%. If nothing else, you'll get a warm snack with sweet chunks of fruit, and protein-containing, slow release carbohydrates to boot. Plus, you can make them in under 20 minutes.

They're a direct adaptation of the apple and sultana pikelets with quinoa I made the other week, and equally simple to make. I am really becoming quite pikelet obsessed. They're my new muffins, except they don't seem to last as long as a muffin batch does...

So light. So fluffy. So fruity. 


This batch also included a few chocolate strawberry pikelets, when I added a teaspoon or so of cocoa to the last bit of batter.


In truth, I preferred the non-chocolate ones (the chocolate sort of detracted from the strawberry) but the chocolate did pair well with almond butter.



So very well indeed.

Strawberry, quinoa and oat pikelets
Makes 16 small pikelets
Vegan and low fat


Ingredients
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 flax or chia egg, or 1 real egg
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
3/4 cup milk (I used soy)
1 small apple, peeled and diced
1/3 cup strawberries, chopped

Oil spray for pan

Optional:1 - 2 tsp cocoa powder

Method
Combine the flour, quinoa flakes, oats and bicarbonate soda in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, prepare your flax / chia egg or egg. Add to the dry mixture along with the milk, and stir well to combine. Mix through the diced apple and strawberries.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the pan. I did 3 pikelets at a time. Cook until bubbles start to appear (~1 minute) and then flip and repeat, so both sides are browned. Repeat for the other pikelets.

Optionally, add cocoa powder to the last quarter or so of batter, to make 4 or 5 chocolate pikelets.




Enjoy plain, spread with strawberry jam, or spread with nut butter.


Store out of sight, or they may disappear surprisingly quickly!

Do you have a favourite strawberry product? I dislike strawberry ice cream but enjoy most other strawberry things, especially when  fresh strawberries are involved.

19 comments:

  1. I promise I'll eat all the strawberry ice cream you don't want. :)

    Hope you feel better soon.

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    1. Thanks Maureen...and I'll happily donate my strawberry ice cream your way :)

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  2. chocolate pancakes with almond butter sounds amazing - though of course you want to taste the strawberries :-) Good luck with those bugs in the lungs - sounds like those bugs are having a party in your lungs - hope they get tired of it soon!

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    1. A party sounds about right :) But all good parties must come to an end and I sense this one finishing before too long!

      I think if I make chocolate ones again, I will make them wholeheartedly chocolate - more cocoa, no fruit, perhaps even some chocolate chips. They do pair beautifully with almond butter and with more chocolate I think would be quite divine!

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  3. I really never thought to pair strawberries with quinoa before, but this definitely looks so scrumptious and wonderful. Great post

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  4. Nice that these pancakes don't have any sugar - I wonder how reducing the flour would go - I can't seem to handle wheat/processed flour all that well these days :)

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    1. I think you could easily reduce the flour Liz - when I made the apple and sultana pikelets I had 3/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup quinoa, and reducing the flour to 1/2 cup here wasn't noticeable at all. I think using all oats and quinoa would come out fine, but be chunkier. Gluten-free flour would sub in well too!

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  5. yum! i've never used quinoa in a dish like this- what a great idea!

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  6. Even if you do wake up feeling better, work from home. That's an order! Getting better is the most important thing. My latest bout of illness (yay shingles) lingered longer because I kept trying to go to work and ending up exhausted. Plus working from home means baking breaks :) xo

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    1. I did stay home :) There was no baking involved and in truth not that much work in the end, but I'm very glad I did. Monday was such a horrible work day and I was keen not to have a repeat!

      Incidentally, how are your shingles???? I hope you're back to full health yourself now!

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    2. Mostly, in that regard at least. Very little itchiness. Thank you for asking :)

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  7. I'm sure these were very wonderful straight from the frying pan and served warm with some butter and jam. I love pikelets. I haven't tried them with quinoa flour but you've inspired me! I do hope you're feeling better soon and that you make a full recovery xx

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    1. Thank you :) And yes, straight from the pan is the best way with pikelets! There is something beautifully decadent about that approach to their consumption.

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  8. Yummy, these sound fantastic! I love strawberries (well really berries of any type). I particularly like them marinated with a little sugar and cointreau. So delicious. And of course you can't beat a chocolate dipped strawberry!

    I hope you are feeling better, I'm still coughing. Every couple of years I get a cold and my lungs seem to decide that coughing is their way of life and don't stop even after I'm better! Fingers crossed they get over this fad soon.

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    1. I hope your lungs get sick of coughing in a hurry - that's definitely not something to encourage them to keep up with!

      I'm with you on the berry front, and chocolate dipped is always good :)

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  9. I think fresh strawberries are always, always better than any artificial flavourings or jam-type strawberry filling, though they do sometimes get swamped by chocolate. These look really lovely - perfect for a pretty afternoon tea (with no bugs in anyone's lungs, ideally).

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    1. Absolutely. There are some foods when I find it matters less - apples, say, where I'm quite fond of apple flavours in most formats - but with strawberries fresh is immeasurably better.

      Bug-free is definitely the way to go for afternoon tea I think, inside and outside of lungs :P

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