Feed South Africa + Grain-Free Banana Pancakes

Yesterday morning I woke up hungry, and all I had to do was walk downstairs, open my fridge, and decide to eat whatever food my heart (and my stomach) desired. Do you realize how incredibly luxurious that is? For most of us hunger triggers a Pavlovian response -- a trip to the kitchen, a drive to the nearest restaurant, a phone call to our favorite Thai place.

Imagine that instead of all those options you were forced to spend the day with hunger as your shadow. It would cloud your thoughts, interrupt your concentration, literally strip away all your energy and willpower. This is the reality that many South African children face each day. Sixty-five percent of South African children live in poverty, and nearly 20% of them are orphans (>1 million as a result of losing their parents to HIV/AIDS). For many children, school lunch is their only solid meal of the day, if they are lucky to receive it at all.

Today's post is in support of a wonderful organization called The Giving Table. Their current campaign, a partnership with another great group called The Lunchbox Fund, is hoping to raise $5,000 to provide a daily meal to 100 children in South Africa for a year. Bloggers from all over the country are donating a recipe post today to support their cause. While I'm not technically a food blogger (or much of a prolific blogger at all), I wanted to help out. Our posts are supposed to be lunch-themed, and I'm going to extend my pancake recipe into the "brunch" category :)

GRAIN-FREE BANANA PANCAKES

Ingredients
1 medium banana (about 7")
2 brown eggs
1/3 cup almond flour
1/2 tspn cinnamon
Coconut oil for cooking
Maple syrup & berries for topping

1.  Whisk eggs in a small bowl.
2.  Slice banana and add to mixture, using a fork smash banana until clumpy.
3. Add almond flour and cinnamon. Continue to mix using fork until mixture has the consistency of puree.
4. Heat a non-stick pan on the stove and grease with coconut oil (I use a spray).
5. Using a small ladle, pour batter into 2.5-3" diameter pancakes. Flip pancakes once they can be easily lifted off the pan. Grease pan between batches.
6. Top with maple syrup, berries, whipped cream...however decadent you want to get :)

This recipe makes about six 2.5-3" pancakes which are easily portable if you want to bring them with you to work for lunch, and they keep nicely in the fridge for a day or two. The next time I make these I'm going to try adding in some flaxseed meal for some extra omega-3s. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for reading, and if you can, consider making a donation to The Giving Table's campaign which you can do here. Just $10 can give a South African child their only meal of the day. We are all so incredibly lucky to live without hunger, so please take a moment to support those less fortunate! And check-out this great video by The Lunchbox Fund!