Whole Wheat Pancakes

Enjoy these thick and fluffy pancakes. Not only are they dairy free, but they are healthy because the recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. The almond extract leaves just a hint of almond flavor. Great breakfast for a cold winter day. Don't forget to heat up your maple syrup before serving!

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
3 tablespoons soy flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups plain almond milk (may substitute rice or soy)

Directions:

1. Preheat griddle to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
3. In another large mixing bowl combine eggs, oil and almond extract.
4. Whisk eggs, oil, and extract until combined.
5. Stir in soy milk.
6. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients while whisking until combined.
Batter should be slightly thick. If necessary, add a little more soy milk.

Pour batter by the 1/4 cup full onto hot griddle. Cook until edges look dry and bubbles burst. Flip and cook another minute or so until golden brown. Serve warm. Top with fruit or warm maple syrup.

Why Can't I Eat Easy Mac and Cheese?

Are you one of those who can't eat the Easy Mac without experiencing symptoms of lactose intolerance? Maybe you know some friends or relatives who are lactose intolerant but they can eat macaroni and cheese without suffering too much?

Let's look at the Easy Mac. After eating a bowl of this macaroni and cheese, you experience stomach cramps and diarrhea. You feel awful. You just want to curl up somewhere.

Take a quick peak at the ingredients:

Ingredients for Easy Mac: Enriched Macaroni Product (Wheat Flour, Durum Wheat Flour, Glyceryl Monostearate, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate [Iron], Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Cheese Sauce Mix (Whey, Corn Syrup Solids, Palm Oil, Maltodextrin, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Milkfat, Milk Protein Concentrate, Calcium Phosphate, Contains less than 2% of Medium Chain Triglycerides, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Natural Flavor, Whey Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Citric Acid, Guar Gum, Sodium Phosphate, Lactic Acid, Calcium Phosphate, Milk, Apocarotenal [Color], Artificial Flavor, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Enzymes, Cheese Culture.

Lots of processed stuff and foreign sounding words. Look again and you will see numerous sources of dairy products:

Whey, Milkfat, Milk Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Concentrate, Milk, Cheese
Culture.

Those items are the culprits causing the symptoms.

For each person, the onset of the symptoms will vary.

1. For some, the symptoms may be immediate. For others, you may not feel any discomfort for hours.

2. Sometimes the symptoms will last for a few hours, sometimes much longer. If my daughter eats the wrong thing, she can still have abdominal distress the following day. And nothing helps in relieving the symptoms once they start.

3. The severity of the symptoms of lactose intolerance can vary dependent on the type of dairy product, how much was eaten, and over what time period.

In our household, my daughter can eat the Easy Mac as long as she takes Lactaid right before eating. Unfortunately, she found out the hard way not to long ago that she cannot eat homemade macaroni and cheese as a meal. You know the kind - thick with sharp cheese and milk. She can eat a small portion, accompanied by other foods. But, she cannot eat the macaroni and cheese alone.

Experiment to find out what kind of dairy products you can eat and how much you can tolerate. Start with small amounts of foods that have dairy products and make sure that you eat something else when you have that dairy product. This sometimes helps alleviate the symptoms that can accompany a meal filled with dairy products or ingredients.

And remember to take Lactaid right before you eat. Taking Lactaid helps prevent symptoms of lactose intolerance