Trimarni wheat and gluten free pancakes

It's National Pancake Day!!!

It was very important to me that my campers at the Trimarni endurance triathlon camp had food that would help their bodies stay nourished and fueled throughout camp. It was never even a thought to get lunches catered, to order pre-made meals from a restaurant/fast food establishment or to buy pre-made options at the grocery store. It gives me great joy to enjoy food around others and I wanted my campers to enjoy food that makes them yum, with their fellow campers (and new friends).

So, since I was providing food for the campers at the Trimarni camp for lunch on Day 1 and Day 2, I wanted to make sure that I could accommodate all dietary preferences that were listed on the camper questionnaire (provided pre-camp). As a dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition, it was important to me that I also provided food that would be easy to digest post workouts, would help with refueling and repairing post workout and would ensure happy tummies throughout our camp. My goal was not make the athletes eat like me (an almost 21-year lacto-ovo vegetarian) but instead, have a variety of real-food options so that each athlete could to be creative with their food choices to meet their individual needs and taste buds but also to eat food for fuel and for health to ensure consistent energy levels throughout camp.

Although Karel and I have never had any GI/nutritional issues with gluten, bread, whole grains and wheat (as they are all part of our daily diet), I decided to go with a gluten and wheat free flour from Bob's Red Mill which offered a variety of nutrients from blend of gluten-free flours to ensure that every camper could enjoy the pancakes. We did not have any vegans at our camp so the pancake recipe I used included milk and eggs.
Ingredients in the flour: Garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour, fava bean flour.
Although the pancakes were the spotlight for our post long ride + interval run meal, each athlete used the pancakes as a base and dressed up their 2-3 serving pancakes with a variety of yummy toppings.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar (I used white sugar)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp iodized salt
1 1/4 cup skim milk
1 egg
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Olive oil for cooking.

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
2. Warm milk for 30 seconds in microwave. Whisk milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract in small bowl.
3. Heat large skillet to medium heat and drizzle with a little olive oil. 

4. Pour milk mixture into flour (into the center) bowl and use a fork to stir until no clumps remain.
5. Use 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour batter onto skillet and with fork, gently spread the batter into a large circle (about 3-4 inches across).
6. After ~2 minutes, flip pancake and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes (add a little olive oil as needed to prevent sticking - around 1 tsp per 4 pancakes depending on size of skillet).
7. Serve with your choice of toppings. Enjoy!