As a Holistic Nutritionist I always advise my clients to eat a healthy and sustaining breakfast every day. It’s essential for your health that you break your fast and start the body’s metabolism.

I’m gluten and lactose free due to irritable bowel syndrome. However, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but a very high percentage of breakfast foods are predominantly wheat and dairy based not to mention unhealthy and unsustaining. Sugary cereals drowning in milk, toast slathered in butter, pancakes, bagels, pastries, granolas, yoghurt and bacon sandwiches. It’s a rogue’s gallery of empty calories.

When you remove wheat and dairy from the equation, what are we left with that’s quick and easy? Porridge served with plant based milks, eggs and really not much else. However, I’ve been creative in the kitchen and come up with a healthy, gut friendly breakfast that ensures I won’t be hungry before lunch.

Buckwheat is a fantastic and versatile replacement for wheat flour. Despite its name Buckwheat has nothing to do with wheat at all in fact it’s related to rhubarb. Buckwheat flour is rich in dietary fibre, contains high quality protein, magnesium, phosphorus, lysine, arginine, niacin, copper, and manganese. It helps to reduce systemic inflammation within the body, lowers LDL (which is your bad cholesterol) and stabilises blood sugar. Buckwheat is also very low on the glycaemic index, meaning that you will receive a slow release of energy instead of the high and crash that you traditionally get from wheat. This is a very versatile grain that can be used in a myriad recipes.

After much experimentation I came up with Cinnamon Buckwheat pancakes. The cinnamon adds a lovely natural sweetness and is a powerhouse of health benefits. It’s an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory effects, it’s a prebiotic, an antiviral, it reduces blood pressure and even has antifungal properties. All this from just one spice. The recipe for my Cinnamon Buckwheat pancakes is simple. The ingredients can be blitzed together the night before and refrigerated for the morning. The pancakes take just a few minutes to cook therefore you can have something healthy and substantial even on a weekday.

Cinnamon Buckwheat Pancakes

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Servings 2 people

Ingredients

200 g Buckwheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
A pinch Salt
300 ml Plant based milk (Coconut is excellent)
1 large Egg
Fresh berries
1 Lemon

Instructions

Mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, egg and milk in ablender until a smooth batter is formed.
Heat a frying pan and grease with a little coconut oil or plant butter.
Pour in a little mixture and cook for a few minutes each side until golden brown.

Notes

I love my pancakes served with fresh berries and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice. The pancakes can be served savoury if you wish, omit the cinnamon and serve with scrambled eggs and wilted spinach.

But you know what, don’t take my word for it, try them for yourself.

Enjoy

Main photo by None Other on Unsplash