Quinoa Pancakes

After our first experience with Quinoa, I have been hesitant to try it again.  And my family wasn't encouraging either.  So many of you keep posting Quinoa recipes on Pinterest and sharing how you like Quinoa that I wanted to try it again.  The nutritional benefits of Quinoa were also appealing.  I discovered that .  I discovered that THRIVE Quinoa is pre-rinsed and is certified Gluten Free (except that when I turn it into quinoa flour, I'm using my wheat grinder that also grinds my wheat).

So here's what I made for our second experience with Quinoa - Quinoa Pancakes.  I deliberately made the pancake batter when no one was in the kitchen so that there wouldn't be any pre-conceived ewws coming from the family (learning from the mistake I made earlier this week with the chocolate cake made from zucchini).  This recipe called for quinoa flour as well as cooked quinoa.  It also called for whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, quinoa flakes, and no all purpose flour.  I knew that that combination of flours would not go over with my family.  They taste "healthy" and immediately say "yuck".  So I knew I had to change up the flours.

I took the 1/2 cup of quinoa flour and 2 cups of whole wheat flour and changed it up to about 1/3 cup quinoa flour (I put some quinoa through my Nutrimill and it ended up being a little shy of 1/2 cup) and filled the rest of the 1/2 cup with whole wheat flour.  I then used another 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and the rest was white flour.  I also replaced the quinoa flakes with old fashioned oats because 1) I didn't want the quinoa flavor to be overpowering and 2) I'm a newbie to quinoa flakes and have no idea what they are.

Another change I made was to add chocolate chips immediately after putting the prepared batter on my griddle.  Princess Smiles-A-Lot doesn't like plain pancakes, even when they're normal pancakes.  The pictures of the recipe were of fluffy pancakes.  Mine did not turn out fluffy.  But I thought they did turn out edible, with the chocolate chips.  In fact, Princess Naked Toes scarfed down 3 pancakes!  Princess Smiles-A-Lot took one bite (without hesitation or fighting) and said "what did you put in these?" and refused to eat anymore.  I couldn't argue with her because she tried it and that was a big step for her.  My dear husband ate his two pancakes but asked that I not make the recipe again.  For him, it was a texture thing from the cooked quinoa.  The cooked quinoa looks too much like tapioca for me to want to eat it.

So the verdict?
If you like whole grain pancakes, you'll probably like these.  They were too "healthy" tasting for us, even though I added those chocolate chips.  Because the recipe mixed the dry ingredients separate from the liquid ingredients, I still have lots of the dry ingredient mix to use.  I just need to figure out a replacement "liquid" for the cooked quinoa.  If you have suggestions, PLEASE share them!
I love the idea of quinoa.  The nutrition available in quinoa is very appealing.  But so far, the taste has not been for our family.  But that's just my family's tastes.  I have had several friends who say their children LOVE quinoa.
For my family, I will not be adding more quinoa into our food storage, unless I find a magic recipe that everyone here loves.  But that's okay.  That's why each family gets to build their own home store.  And this is another example of why we need to be eating from our home stores - to discover what we are willing to eat and aren't.

Update 11/5/12 - I've learned that Shelf Reliance has used two different sources for Quinoa and one of them is darker and has a more bitter taste.  I believe that's the source for my Quinoa; although I would have said "strong" taste more than bitter.  The other source for Shelf Reliance is becoming the standard so I'll probably be willing to try again in the future.  And I'm not willing to waste food so I'll be finding ways to use the Pantry can of Quinoa that I already have; but probably not where it's the main ingredient :)