When I was in Portland, I went to one of the biggest bookstores I’ve ever seen: Powell’s. It almost gave me anxiety, because it didn’t look like there was an end. There were shelves upon shelves of books organized into sections and multiple floors. The space stretched across at least one city block (maybe more).

I managed to escape eventually, and when I did, I had two new books: Traveling Mercies by one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott, and La Tartine Gourmande, the first cookbook by one of my favorite food bloggers, Beatrice Peltre.

I started reading Beatrice’s blog after I moved back from France, and her recipes always reminded me of the food that I ate there. I hadn’t checked her blog in months when I stumbled on this cookbook, but I guess that’s what fate is all about.

I’ve been cooking from Beatrice’s cookbook all week. I made these gluten-free lemon poppyseed quinoa pancakes on Monday, my first day back to work. It’s never a good feeling to have to come back after vacation but these pancakes made it a little easier.

Similar to Beatrice’s blog, I hadn’t listened to Simon & Garfunkel in a while. Then, all of a sudden, I started hearing their songs everywhere this week. Here’s one of my favorites (that guitar…)

Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Quinoa Pancakes (slightly adapted from La Tartine Gourmande)

Ingredients

1/3 cup white rice flour or sweet rice flour
1/3 cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
2 tablespoons blond cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 pinches sea salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Finely grated zest of 1 organic lemon
2 large eggs, separated
1 cup almond milk (or any milk you prefer)
1 tablespoon canola oil, plus more to cook the pancakes

Directions

In a bowl, combine the flours, quinoa flakes, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, a pinch of sea salt, poppy seeds, and the lemon zest.

In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the buttermilk. Beat in the 1 tbsp of canola oil. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

In a third bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of sea salt until soft peaks form. Fold the whites into the batter.

In a frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter in the pan and repeat for as many pancakes as the pan can hold. Cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip the pancakes and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes, until golden.

Sprinkle the pancakes with remaining lemon zest and serve with warm maple syrup. Enjoy!