Tag Archives: blueberry

Cornmeal-flaxseed pancakes with maple berry sauce

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Quick to whip up, wheat-free, gluten-free, sugar-free — and still delicious! I’ve been making these for months, but just now got around to posting them. I’m trying life wheat-free for a while, and these are a great substitute for traditional wheat flour pancakes.

This recipe came about when I tried this recipe for Blueberry Flax Microwave Muffines via Spark People, I loved the ease, nutrition, and flavor of the original recipe, but the grainy texture just didn’t seem right for a muffin.

So that actually became my inspiration. It reminded me of the texture of cornbread, and I LOVE cornbread! It’s one of the things I missed the most when I went low-carb. When my kids were little (before I went low-carb), we would sometimes have cornmeal pancakes for dinner. Just swap out cornmeal for half the flour, and you’ve got a pancake with a texture somewhere between pancakes and cornbread. Soaked in melted butter and maple syrup; mmm…! Replacing some of the maple syrup with berries adds vitamins and fiber; a small nudge toward healthier fare.

But back to these wheat-free pancakes… Another drawback was that putting frozen blueberries in the muffins made them pretty ugly. Trust me: they looked NOTHING like the picture! Also, egg in the microwave has a super-fine line between undercooked and rubbery.

So to solve all these shortcomings but keep them quick and easy, I…

  • Replaced half the flaxmeal with corn meal
  • Turned them into pancakes, made stove-top
  • Took the blueberries out of the mix and served them on top as a sauce/syrup (I use whatever berries I have on hand: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, or a mix.)

Result? Quick, easy, tasty breakfast!

IMPORTANT NOTE: The dry ingredient amounts below make a batch of dry mix, which you then use a little at a time to make 1 or 2 servings. The mix is enough to make four single batches.

Cornmeal-flax pancakes with maple berry sauce

Dry mix:
1/2 c. flaxseed, freshly ground
1/4 c. + 2 T. cornmeal (gluten-free, if necessary)
2 tsp. baking soda
4 pinches salt
Combine and store in airtight container, at room temp or in fridge. Makes four single batches.

Single batch:
1 egg
1 T. coconut milk (or other milk of your choice)
3.5 T.  dry mix (recipe above)
1-2 T. butter

Whisk the egg and the coconut milk, then whisk in the dry mixture. Stir till well combined.

Cook as you would pancakes. Heat a non-stick frying pan. (You know it’s the right temp when splattered droplets of water immediately skittle across the surface.) Melt the butter in the pan; pour the excess into a small bowl and set aside for later.

Pour batter into the pan to make one large, two medium, or three small pancakes. It starts out pretty runny; you may need to nudge the edges in a little with your spatula, especially on the smaller cakes.

When the edges look puffy and dry-ish, and bubbles coming to the surface slow down in frequency, flip them over and cook a little less time on the second side. They should be just slightly golden-brown on both sides.

Use the leftover melted butter and brush or spread it on both sides of the finished pancakes, then plate them and pour on the berry syrup. Syrup recipe below.

Makes three mini pancakes, two medium, or one large.

Maple-berry syrup 

4 single-batch servings

1-1/3  c. fresh or frozen berries
2-1/2  to  3 T. real maple syrup

Combine and heat briefly in microwave or on stovetop.
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Nutrition info, via myfitnesspal. Serving equals one whole single batch:

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 397
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 28 g 43 %
Saturated Fat 15 g 73 %
Monounsaturated Fat 6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 6 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 240 mg 80 %
Sodium 730 mg 30 %
Potassium 221 mg 6 %
Total Carbohydrate 31 g 10 %
Dietary Fiber 8 g 31 %
Sugars 10 g
Protein 8 g 16 %
Vitamin A 13 %
Vitamin C 18 %
Calcium 9 %
Iron 17 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

20 Cranberry Sauce Recipes

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A variety of cranberry sauce recipes, for Thanksgiving or Christmas…

Cranberry Sauce Recipes
image: OurFamilyEats

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Roasted or Baked Cranberry Sauce

Simple Roasted Cranberries (Gluten Free, Grain Free, and Paleo) from OurFamilyEats. I love that this one really is simple, and that it uses maple syrup for the sweetener.

Bobby Flay’s Baked Cranberry Sauce, which calls for finishing it off with a quarter cup of bourbon. Some reviewers substituted other liquor or liquers (orange being a popular flavor). 41 reviews, and every one of them 4-star!

Roasted Cranberry Sauce with Herbed Candied Walnuts, from Bon Appetit. Lots of sugar in this one!

Boozy and Baked Cranberry Sauce. Even though it has “boozy” in the name, its alcohol content is much less than Mr. Flay’s. Also looks easy: just four ingredients.
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Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce Recipes
image: The Vintage Mixer
And another “sugar-free” cranberry sauce recipe, but it uses honey. You could sub maple syrup or your preferred sweetener. It also includes crushed pineapple; interesting!
And another. This one calls for Equal, but a couple commenters said they used Splenda and it worked well.
Paleo-friendly cranberry sauce; uses apple juice and maple syrup for sweetener. (Listed as

Paleo/GF/DF/EF/SF/NF)

Another Paleo cranberry sauce, from nomnompaleo, using sweet cherries and apple juice.

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Traditional Stove-Top Cranberry Sauce Recipes

Cranberry Sauce Recipes
image: Simply Recipes
Every recipe I’ve ever tried from Elise at SimplyRecipes has been great. Here’s her traditional recipe. But she also suggest various add-ins. I might try blueberry!
(And her recipe is the same as the most popular cranberry sauce at AllRecipes; more than 1200 reviews, and still five stars!)
Another classic cranberry sauce recipe; this one from Pioneer Woman. Similar to the others, but uses maple syrup in place of sugar, and orange juice in place of white sugar.
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Unique Cranberry Sauce Recipes

This page at Fun & Food Cafe features five different cranberry sauce recipes, with unusual ingredients. I like the sound of the second one, which has raspberries and walnuts!
Ginger Cranberry Sauce, via RecipeLion.
Another from the same source: Cranberry Sauce with Apples (and Mandarin oranges, and pineapple).
How about Cranberry Sauce with Jalapenos? I think that would be a big hit with smoked turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Emergency blueberry crumble for one

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Blueberries in the freezer, snow outside on the ground, and a hankerin’ for something warm and sweet. What to make, that’s slightly healthy but also bona fide comfort food?!

Blueberry crumble, of course! (Blueberries are a super food. Old fashioned oatmeal’s not bad either.)

Based on this recipe for Microwave Blueberry Crumble (four servings), here’s a version that goes together super fast and easy (less than five minutes!), can be made sugar-reduced, and is scaled to make just one serving. And if you use gluten-free oatmeal and cornstarch, it could also be gluten-free!

I’m including instructions for topping it with a bit of vanilla-flavored cream, but you could, of course, top it with ice cream instead. Depending on the severity of your emergency and the contents of your freezer.

Emergency blueberry crumble for one

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 t. sugar (or one Splenda packet)
3/4 t. cornstarch
2 T. old fashioned oats
2 T. packed brown sugar (or 1 T. brown sugar Splenda blend)
1 T. chopped pecans
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and/or a wee pinch of nutmeg
1 T. cold butter (no exceptions)
3 T. heavy cream
splash of vanilla extract

Place the blueberries in a 4- to 5-” microwave-safe dish (I used the cover of an extra-wide butter dish). Sprinkle the sugar and cornstarch on top. Cover and microwave on high for 30 seconds; stir and heat on high another 30 seconds. Repeat until the blueberries are softened and the sauce is slightly thickened.

In a small bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon. Cut in the butter into the oat mixture using a fork, until the mixture resembles very coarse crumbs. You want there to still be some globs of butter, though; not completely smoothed out.

Sprinkle the oat mixture over the blueberry mixture. Cover and microwave on high for 30 seconds; stir and heat on high another 30 seconds.

Pour a splash of vanilla extract into the cream; stir till combined. Drizzle over the blueberries. Grab a spoon and enjoy!