Gluten Free | Food Final Frontier

There is nothing so virtuous as a healthy dessert. You simply drip with righteous glory. Every bite makes you better than everyone else on the planet. Well done, you fantastic son of a B.

This particular dessert is doubly satisfying, as it also doubles as *drum roll please*… a delicious breakfast! Hoorah!

While it calls for almond extract (one of my favorites), it would be just as tasty with coconut or vanilla extract. I am also tempted to try pureed dates instead of a couple of the eggs, which is a great sweetener/binding agent.

On top is a cinnamon almond yogurt dollop, which was delightful.

Paleo Pear Tart

from Jen’s Gone Paleo

1 T melted coconut oil
1.5 c almond meal
1 T honey
3 eggs, beaten
1 t almond extract
1 t vanilla extract
2 T rum
1/4 t salt
2 Pears– I went with one green Anjou and one red. Peel and core them.
1 T lemon juice
1/4 c peach preserves, melted slightly in the microwave

Yogurt sauce:

1/4 c greek yogurt
1 t almond extract
1/2 t cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 325. Mix the coconut oil, almond meal, honey, eggs, extracts, rum, and salt in a bowl until incorporated. Pour into a well-greased tart pan (mine is 10 in). Thinly slice the pears to about 1/4 in thickness and keep them in the shape of the pear halves. Fan them out and press them into the dough in the pan, then brush with the melted preserves. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is firm. Drizzle with the yogurt sauce and serve with joy.

This isn’t just pancake batter that you throw bananas into. It’s pancake batter made mostly out of the bananas themselves.

BOOM. Just blew your minds.

Since I’ve gone mostly gluten free and vegetarian (now and then you just NEED a burger. Am I wrong? That’s not a “like to have”, it’s a “need to have” kind of food), I’ve been combing Pinterest for recipes that will fit both bills. A lot of vegetarians rely on bread, pasta, etc to fill the void left behind by chickens and other beasts, but the GF thing gets in the way. I’m finding creative recipes and substitutions all over the wonder-webz and this beauty takes the cake for the weekend.

There are two ingredients. That’s right. TWO.

1 banana
2 eggs

Most people have those hanging around, so you can keep your sweatpants on (I know I did) and not worry about having to run to the store first thing on a lazy Sunday morning.

The other beautiful thing, aside from the fact that they are tasty, have a good texture, and take 2 seconds to make, is that you can make them sweet OR savory.

It’s as if Moses has traipsed down that mountain again to deliver me golden tablets etched with delightful recipes. Thanks, friend.

I added a teaspoon of almond extract and a shake of cinnamon to give mine a little personality, but I think these combos would be great, as well:

Chocolate and peanut butter chips (duh)
Cinnamon pecan
Scallion and shredded cheddar
Caper and bacon chunks (one of my favorite combinations ever)

And the list goes on and on.

To get yourself moving, preheat a pan to med-high or 375 degrees if you’re working with a griddle. Mash the banana in a bowl (really make sure it’s smooth) and then beat in the two eggs, one at a time. Mix in any additionals. When the pan is hot and you’ve greased it up with butter or oil, pour a slow stream of batter for a couple of seconds, until you have a nice sized disc. It will spread fairly quickly and be runny, so it’s easy to know when to stop pouring.

Warning: these stick to the pan when they are not cooked enough on one side, so make sure you wait 3-4 minutes before attempting to flip. Make them fairly small so you don’t have to worry about leaving behind an edge as your spatula comes off the surface of the pan. I slid mine around under the pancakes to make sure I had loosened the whole thing up before I attempted to flip. A few edges were lost in the shuffle. I cried. The pancakes mourned.

But then I ate them and it was magical, so all of the sadness was forgotten! I doused mine with some maple syrup and a bit of buttah, and died a little happy joyful heavenly death of wonder.