Our pancake roundup this morning only included eight delicious recipes that were sure to tempt just about everyone to get out their frying pan and make up a batch. But as tempting as they may have been, most of the recipes presented there would not be good choices for gluten-free eaters because they were almost all flour-based. In fact, most pancake recipes are. Fortunately, there happen to be a lot of equally delicious gluten-free pancake options out there that ensure everyone who wants to can celebrate Fat Tuesday (a.k.a. National Pancake Day).

The easiest GF option is a pancake mix. Jay used Kinnikinnick Pancake Mix to make the lovely stack pictured above. There are many mixes out there to choose from, including Bob's Red Mill, which is widely available at Whole Foods Stores.

If you want to make your own, try using an alternative flour, as was done in these Rice Flour Crepes or Almond Flour Pancakes. You can find several more GF pancake recipes here, which use buckwheat, quinoa, potato flour and other gluten-free bases.

[Thanks for the reminder, Jay!]

Last year, we rounded up eight great pancake recipes for a Fat Tuesday celebration, but even though eight new pancake recipes are enough to get you through several breakfasts without getting bored, there are always going to be more recipes out there to try. So, without further ado, here are eight delicious new pancake recipes to try:

• Nosheteria's Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes (pictured) are light and tender, with the bright flavor of lemon backed up with a little crunch from poppyseeds. They're a great alternative to lemon poppyseed muffins.
• Keeping the seasonal citrus, but moving in a slightly different direction, we have Lemon and Ricotta Pancakes, which are delicate and just melt in your mouth when eaten.
• Oatmeal pancakes are hearty, but perfectly satisfying on a cold winter morning - although with a fresh berry topping like the one Elise used, they will satisfy in summer, as well.
• A giant Baked Apple Pancake can be served as breakfast or as dessert, but due to its size and addictive taste, it is best to save lots of room for it.
• A little bit of zest and spice can take a plain, buttermilk pancake to a whole new level, as they did in these Orange and Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes. Use any spices you like (ginger would be nice)!
• For those of you who are health-conscious when it comes to breakfast, you might want to try making a batch of No-Flour, No-Sugar Crepes to start your day.
• Pork-lovers will probably get a kick out of having their favorite breakfast side inside their pancakes, rather than next to them, so Bacon Pancakes should be particularly appealing to them
• Nutella is often spread on top of pancakes or used as a filling for dessert crepes, but mixing it into the batter for Nutella Pancakes eliminates that pesky extra step before consumption. Opt for chocolate sauce as a topping if you like your pancakes for dessert, otherwise stick to maple syrup.

Happy Fat Tuesday, everyone.

The whole idea behind having pancakes on Fat Tuesday is to use up the butter, milk, eggs and other indulgent ingredients that you might having lying around the house so that you won't be tempted during Lent. But because everyone likes pancakes and not everyone observes lent, calling the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday "National Pancake Day" makes the tradition open to all - and I think that we can all agree that more pancakes are not a bad thing.

For my pancake day breakfast, I opted not to go with something decadent, but instead with something more wholesome so that I don't feel too bad about starting the day with a couple more pancakes (topped with maple syrup, of course), than I need.

Do you have any plans for breakfast tomorrow? Since Tuesday, February 20th is National Pancake Day - also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday - you might want to think about heading to IHOP. Not only is the restaurant chain famous for their pancakes, but they're actually giving them away for free all day tomorrow! From 7 am - 10 pm at participating stores nationwide, all guests can get a short stack of classic buttermilk pancakes for free.

The point of the giveaway, in addition to the simple celebration of pancakes, is to raise money for charity. Diners are encouraged to donate the money that they would otherwise have spent on the pancakes (or as much as they'd like ) to support the Children's Miracle Network, a nonprofit group that raises money for children's hospitals across the country.

This is the third year that IHOP has held the pancake giveaway.

Even the name of "Fat Tuesday" implies that there should be at least a little indulgence in the day. In keeping with the tradition of making pancakes to celebrate the last day before lent, I made a batch of pancakes, using up some buttermilk, butter and eggs. As if that weren't enough for a delicious breakfast of classic comfort food, I added chocolate chips to really get into the decadent spirit of Mardi Gras. The pancakes themselves are light and fluffy, and the chocolate chips melt deliciously into your mouth as you eat. These don't really need syrup, but to really get into the theme of "Fat Tuesday", top yours with whipped cream. IF you have kids, use the whipped cream to make a smiley face, just like the IHOP Funny Face Pancakes.

Even though the may of Pancake Town USA doesn't seem to think that any time is a good time for pancakes, he certainly can't deny that Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is a natural day for them. The tradition of eating pancakes on the last day before the season of Lent was started to use up dairy and eggs that were often abstained from, from Ash Wednesday to Easter. But enough with religious roots: you don't need an excuse to eat pancakes, but it doesn't hurt to have one. Here are Slashfood's eight favorite pancake recipes:

We've already looked at Cajun cuisine, so now we want to find out how Creole cooking is different.

The word "Creole" is derived from the Spanish word "Criollo," a term used in the 1700s by the Spanish governing the New Orleans. Criollos were people of European descent living in the area. "Creole" came to imply refinement and elegance. 

While Cajun cooking is a fusion of primarily rustic, provincial French and American Southern cooking, Creole cuisine additionally draws influences from the Caribbean, Africa, and Spain, using more classical European methods and techniques with locally available ingredients. Like the original implication of the word, Creole is a slightly more sophisticated style of food than Cajun.

Like Cajun cooking, Creole chefs use filé powder as well as the "Holy trinity" of bell peppers, celery, and onions. Creole recipes also use butter, cream and tomatoes. Famous Creole recipes that are shared with Cajun cooking are jambalaya and gumbo. However, unique to Creoles are oysters Rockefeller, bananas Foster, shrimp rémoulade, and bread pudding.

Related Links:

• LA Times does Creole Cooking
• On Oysters
• Bread Pudding base

[photo: LA Times]

Cajun is the cuisine of French Acadians who were forced out of Nova Scotia in the mid 1700s and eventually settled in Louisiana. The word "Acadian" was transmuted into "Cajun" (say them both out loud and you'll hear). 

The cuisine is a fusion of French and Southern cooking. The recipes use simple, local ingredients, and are considered somewhat "rustic."  The base for many of the soups and stews is a dark roux made from flour and pork fat. There is a popular misconception that Cajun food is ragin' spicy, but though Cajun cooks use a heavy hand with spices such as cayenne and black peppers, the food is meant to have a balanced, not overpowering, heat. Another misconception is that Cajun cuisine includes "blackened" fish and chicken, but most foods prepared in traditional Cajun home and restaurants don't do this.

Cajun cuisine encompasses dirty rice, skillet cornbread, crawfish and other crustaceans boiled with cayenne and salt, a lot of catfish, use of pork in the form of andouille, boudin and chaurice (similar to chorizo) sausages, Tasso ham, gumbo, jambalaya, and etouffe.

Cajun sweets include beignets and pralines.

Though the parades and festivities have been scaled back a bit this year in New Orleans, Slashfood will be fully indulging in all kinds of food, drink, and traditions in honor of Mardi Gras next Tuesday.

We know Mardi Gras as a time of excessive celebration, and like many "holidays," through the commercialization, we might have forgotten why it's there. As a refresher "Mardi Gras" translates from French to "Fat Tuesday." The celebration has its roots in Catholicism - the Church established the period from January 6th (12th Night) until Mardi Gras as "Carnival," a time of celebration and enjoyment. Mardi Gras is the last day of Carnival, and is the last chance for us to enjoy ourselves, before we go into the 40 days of Lent, a period of prayer and penance.

Mardi Gras is also known as both Shrove Tuesday and as Pancake Day because pancakes are eaten to use up milk and eggs, which are not eaten during Lent.

Related links:

• LA Times Goes Creole
• King Arthur Flour's King Cake Kit
• Make Some Pancakes