Coconut Buttermilk + Pancake Recipe!

I know I haven't talked about it a lot, but this past summer we made the choice to eat more a flexitarian diet.  This means we try to eat vegan at least 2 meals a day.  It's not an all or nothing lifestyle.  If some days I feel like eating more protein I do.  You should always listen to what your body wants.  Breakfast is a harder meal for me.  I like my dairy for breakfast.  I like bagels with cream cheese and things like pancakes.  These aren't vegan friendly meals as I also can't have soy.

Coconut buttermilk is helping me to move towards a vegan breakfast.  Using this I can have pancakes that are a step in the vegan direction.  I still use an egg in my recipe, but you could easily sub in vinegar to make it vegan.  To me coconut buttermilk pancakes taste like the ones you'd get at a fancy restaurant.  They're rich and have a great texture.

Coconut buttermilk is incredibly easy to make.  You'll have to start it with a little regular buttermilk to get the cultures grooving in the right direction, but as you continue to make the buttermilk it gets more vegan friendly.

Another thing I should mention, coconut buttermilk is incredibly thick.  We're talking almost frosting consistency.  That's why I've added coconut milk to my pancake recipe instead of using all coconut buttermilk.

Coconut Buttermilk

2 (13.5 oz) cans full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, whisk together coconut milk and buttermilk.  Transfer to a quart size ball jar.  Top with a square of mesh or cheesecloth and let sit undisturbed for 24 hours.  Once that time has past, you've got buttermilk.  Refrigerate until ready to use and up to 2 weeks.  Make sure to reserve 1/4 cup of the coconut buttermilk to culture your next batch.

Coconut Buttermilk Pancakes

1 egg, or 2 tablespoons vinegar
2/3 cup coconut buttermilk
1/3 cup coconut or almond milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl whisk egg, then add coconut buttermilk, coconut milk and oil and whisk to incorporate all ingredients.

Then add rest of ingredients using the whisk, mix these in until batter still has lumps but is no longer dry.

Grease and heat a large skillet to medium and using a spoon scoop out about 1/4 cup of batter.  Wait till batter forms bubbles before flipping.  Cook until golden brown.  Recipe makes approximately 12 pancakes.

November Chicago Food Swap

After a ton of misses, we finally made it to the Chicago Food Swap at the Chopping Block inside the Merchandise Mart this past Sunday.  We'd been signed up a few times now, but something always came up to prevent us from going.

Y'all know by now that I'm a baker more than anything else.  I do occasionally make curds but really nothing else thats meant to sit for any amount of time.  Being our first time I made some of our favorites, buttermilk chocolate pound cake and roasted garlic focaccia.  I wanted to bring something that we ourselves loved, just in case we weren't able to trade it all away.  Luckily that didn't happen.  :)

I also brought something new to us.  I'd just read about coconut buttermilk and really wanted to give it a go.  I made up a batch and brought three jars of it with me.  If you were one of the lucky three to get a batch, I definitely recommend making pancakes with it.  That's what I used mine for and man, oh man were they good!  I was worried there wouldn't be enough "juice" (fermenting power) to give the pancakes lift but they turned out great.

This a photo of our haul.  Some of the things we've already tried and loved was the kimchi, kimbap and the dumplings.  We haven't tried making kimchi yet, but as its Susie's favorite I was glad someone there had it.  She said it was milder than she'd had before but still had great flavor due to it being super fresh.

We took home Farmer Jim's huge Blue Hubbard Squash!  I still can't believe that no one had bid on it by the time I walked back in to trade some pound cake for a smaller squash.  I'm going to have to ask the neighbor to cut it for me, but my family is already looking forward to the treats I'll make with it.

We're signed up for next month's swap already and I know Susie's hoping there will be more Korean treats to be found!  If you love to cook and live in the Chicago area, I definitely recommend trying this out.  Even though our first time was a little disconcerting, huge mobs of people aren't always our thing, it's definitely worth trying,