Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone that celebrates is having an amazing one. I sure am! And I’ve been spending lots of time playing in the kitchen making creations for family gatherings. Last night we had a mini gathering at one of my sister’s houses and I threw together a double batch of Simple Green Lentil Stew with kabocha squash.

It completed my vegan meal nicely with baked potato wedges and a simple salad dressed with balsamic vinegar. And the stew was a hit with the non-vegan family, my grandma was so cute to tell me over and over that the soup was an entire meal in one dish and she really loved the flavor.

For dessert, I did the same pumpkin pie I did for Thanksgiving because I was seeing the other half of the family that didn’t get a chance to try it and I had another pie pumpkin to use up. Only this time I got a little creative with the presentation. :-)

It was just as good as the first time and my sister’s father-in-law loved it, well it was a hit with everyone, but him especially so. He’s taken a real interest in the raw recipes I’ve done, especially the desserts for the fact that they don’t use processed carbs or sugar.

The evening was a total blast, my 3-year-old nephew was the only kid there and he milked the evening being the cutest and most charming entertainment for the adults happily shrieking, “That’s exactly what I wanted!” at every present he opened. Too precious.

Christmas morning was truly magical for me thanks to my amazing hubby. I’ve been jealous of Averie’s  posts on getting a Canon DSLR when I had no clue one was waiting for me under our tree! With an awesome macro lens, flash, books and zoom lens!

And as you can tell by this crappy picture, I need this book! :-) Actually the picture was taken by my dinky point-and-shoot in bad lighting – no more!

Oh wow, I’ve got so much manual reading and learning to do! Can’t wait! I was so surprised hubby got this for me, he’s so amazing! I’m sure we’ll be sharing this quite a bit. :-)

But let’s get to the better pictures, shall we? Yes! Pancakes are something that I only have once a year and that’s usually Christmas Day. This time I decided to get experimental with that package of Trader Joe’s peanut flour that I just can’t seem to use up in my pantry.

Peanut Pancakes

• 1 1/4 cups peanut flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cups sweetened almond milk
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil

Whisk peanut flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add almond milk and whisk until gloppy and lump free. Heat coconut oil on griddle or in pan and drop batter by spoon fulls to desired size. Cook until edges are firm and center is bubbling, then flip and cook until browned on the other side.

Then serve with vegan butter, maple syrup, chocolate sauce and/or berries – whatever you want and have fun! Heck, even throw chocolate chips in the batter which I totally would have done if I had them. :-)

They came out a little more flat than traditional pancakes, more like peanut butter crepes. But they were still very tasty and the recipe made about 10 medium pancakes. Because the almond milk was sweetened, I didn’t bother adding sugar or sweetener, but you may want to add a couple of tablespoons if the milk isn’t sweetened.

Dogs seem to love peanut flavored pancakes too! :-)

Whew, look at the time! I’ve gotta hit the shower, throw another recipe together and pack gifts before heading to another family gathering! Time flies when you’re having fun!