My closest friends and family know that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. If given the option, I’d choose breakfast for lunch or dinner each and every time.  Pancakes, waffles, omelets…all foods I love along with my son.  Unfortunately, because he suffers from food allergies, he can’t eat any of them, along with a number of other breakfast foods.   Having a child with food allergies has changed the way I look at every single food.  I am not typically surprised when I find an allergen in an unlikely food and never take for granted that something is “safe” for my son until I read the label. Additionally, when I learn that a food isn’t safe for my son, I start brainstorming ways to recreate that food in such a way that my son could eat it.

Last week, I started experimenting with pancakes and came up with this incredibly delicious and flavorful recipe for Vegan Vanilla Cinnamon Pancakes:

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp dry Egg Replacer plus 2 tbsp water (according to directions) mixed well

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup Almond milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined. Use about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.

Top with vegan butter and pure maple syrup or this fabulous baked apple compote:

In a pan over medium heat, sauté 1 apple (peeled, cored, and sliced) in 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of Vegan butter (I like Earth’s Balance).  Add 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it) and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Sauté until the apples are soft. Voilà!