blueberry pancakes

Pancake day is fast approaching and on Monday I will be posting about the joys and stresses of pancake day when you have a child who suffers from anaphylactic shock from dairy & eggs amongst other things!

Aars is also allergic to blueberries – it was one of the first foods we discovered he was allergic to after dairy! He loved banana’s and I loved blueberries, so thought I would add some fresh organic ones to his banana when I was weening him. He was about six months old and as soon as the spoon hit his lips with the mashed up banana and blueberry mix they were covered in blisters. He must have taken a bit in his mouth which he spat out, and then projectile puked for about 20 minutes – it was insane the amount of vomit and the velocity which it was expelled from his little body.

I gave him piriton once the vomming ended and put pure potions on his blistered face. I couldn’t believe anyone could react like that to a fruit which was meant to be a super food and which I loved. Obviously we avoided blueberries after that, and he was wary of bananas because of their association I guess. After a few more strange-to-me incidents like that to other fruits and vegetables I learnt to test ALL new foods on his wrist to see if he got blisters before allowing them anywhere near his mouth – which he he did a lot – so I learnt what to avoid and what was ok. I had no experience of food allergies before I had my son. I had no clue beyond the knowledge that some people were very allergic to peanuts; but didn’t know that people could react so violently and have their lives threatened by food – anaphylaxis was an alien word to me.

Happily we have claimed many of these foods into his diet with the help of the food challenges at the Royal Free Hospital and their wonderful allergy clinic team. So Aars’ diet is slowly expanding :). Sadly, however, blueberries are still off limits – so last weekend  when he was away I had a sneaky go at making my first ever free-from blueberry pancakes – they were AMAZING! So I cannot wait for him to be able one day, to try these himself.

I hope that if you can eat blueberries you give these a go – they are soooooo yummy I wish he could eat them, and I could enjoy them more often too!

blueberry pancakes

• Yield:

  22

• Cooking Method:

  frying

• Prep Time:

  10 mins

• Cook Time:

  20 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, refined sugar-free, soy-free, vegan

If you love blueberries, these are the perfect pancakes for you, rammed full of blueberries & bananas these are a wonderful way to start a lazy weekend day! We love our ground spices so have a nice bit of ginger and cinnamon in these - you adapt them to your families taste-preferences. Enjoy and let me know how high you can stack yours!

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas 
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 C gluten-free oats (I use nairns)
• 1½ C m!lk alternative (I use koko, a thin coconut m!lk)
• ½ C oil (I use organic sunflower oil)
• 1 Tbs cider vinegar
• 1 C gluten-free self-raising flour (I use doves)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 C blueberries

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl mash your bananas with the spices, then add all the other ingredients (except the blueberries) in the order above, mix it all up really well.

   

2. Once the batter is thoroughly mixed gently stir in your blueberries. 

3. Heat your griddle or frying pan (we use a stone pan) on a low but broad flame. If you need to grease your pan do! 

4. Drop dollops of your batter onto the heated pan - leaving space for them to expand then watch them puff up and grow. When the colour around the edges start to darken flip those babies. The second side take less time to cook than the first, when they reach a colour you like serve them. 

Notes:

These are best straight from the pan, you can see we enjoyed ours with fresh strawberries and a drizzle of pure maple syrup. SCRUMMY!