Hello friends. Let's just gloss right over the fact that I haven't updated my blog in over 2 years. What can I say? Two kids, a full time job and lots and lots of cooking classes. A girl has to have her priorities. ;)

The real question...why am I back? As many of my former cooking students know, in August my family moved to Chile, Santiago. We said good-bye to Seattle, Washington our home for the past five + years, my job of almost 8 years, and our friends.

All our friends. :(

(I miss you.)

And we are here. In this beautiful, vibrant, bustling city on the other side of the world. We moved for my husband's work and though he speaks Spanish, the rest of us don't. The things we have learned in the past two months could fill a blog on its own. But what I want to write about here is food. It won't be what you are expecting. And having a gluten-free person among our household has been a huge challenge (I love you Joel).

I'd like to take you on my journey and share with you what we are finding and learning. There is no good place to start...so I'm going to start with manioc flour (which also goes by the name cassava or yucca). I've been anxious to get my hands on this stuff after we fell in love with Pão de Queijo, a gluten-free Brazilian cheese bread. Easy to find the bread in the States...hard to find the flour. I tried using tapioca flour and even made the cheese bread in a kids cooking class. And while it was tasty, it was a little gooey and didn't hold a nice shape.

Where tapioca flour has almost zero health properties, manioc has the nutritional value of wheat flour...just without the gluten. So you can imagine my excitement when last week (after looking in a dozen groceries stores) I finally found manioc flour in a tiny shop in Santiago. I bought two bags and used it to made delicious Pão de Queijo as well as a Paleo pancake recipe with manioc.

Recipes below:

Pão de Queijo

(Joel is taking Portuguese and pronounces this "pongh dee kay-jho". Check out this fun link to hear others say it.)

2 1/2 cups Manioc Flour or Tapioca if that is all you can find

1/2 cup Olive Oil

1 cup Whole Milk

2 Large Eggs, beaten

1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

1 teaspoon Salt

Heat oven to 400 F.
In a large bowl mix the flour and salt.
In a sauce pan, warm the milk and oil until it starts to boil. Remove from the stove and pour over flour mixture.
Mix very well until your batter looks like glue.
Add the eggs and mix.
Add the Parmesan cheese. Mix until all ingredients are combined and you are able to hold the batter in your hand to shape 1 or 2-inch balls.
Cover baking sheet with parchment paper, no need to grease. Place dough balls an inch apart as they don't spread much. Lower the oven temperature to 375 F and bake for 15 to 20 min. They are done when they are a light golden brown and smell fantastic!

Inspired by Fabiola.

Manioc Pancakes

I'm not lying...I've made these three days in a row now.

3 eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted (or any oil)

1/4 cup milk (any kind)

1 -2 Tablespoons honey

3/4 cup manioc flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs.
Add butter, milk, and honey. Mix well.
Add the cassava flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well.
Cook by scant ¼ cupfuls, 20 seconds or so per side on a greased griddle or skillet over medium heat, or until golden brown and cooked through.
Serve with maple syrup if desired. Or if you live in a country that doesn't appreciate maple syrup, try nutella, honey or jam. :)

Heavily inspired by https://blog.paleohacks.com/cassava-flour-pancakes/