Gluten-free cooking

So far this weekend I've made two things gluten-free - amaranth carrot raisin cookies and buttermilk pancakes with buckwheat.  I found the cookie recipe on the back of my Bob's Red Mill amaranth flour.  They turned out ok, but the texture is a little strange.  There are no eggs or butter in the recipe so I'm not surprised.  I'm not sure I'd make this recipe again.  I would probably take an existing oatmeal chocolate chip recipe and just swap out the wheat.

My family has a really tasty buttermilk pancake recipe and there is a lot of nostalgia attached to them because we ate them about once a week when I was growing up.  I think we only used a pancake mix one time when we were at a cabin near Mt Hood.  Anyhow, I tried this recipe this morning swapping buckwheat flour for wheat flour one to one by mass.  The color changed to this brownish-purple, but they tasted pretty good.  The taste is a little different from what I'm used to so it was a little strange, but I would definitely do this swap again though I might exchange some of the buckwheat for arrowroot or tapioca starch or maybe almond flour to lighten the pancakes.

I usually get pretty tired after eating buttermilk pancakes because of the dairy and wheat, but I'm feeling good now so this switch to mostly gluten-free has been a good one for me.  It may not be an effective or necessary diet for everyone, but I'll just worry about myself.  I hadn't been eating much bread the past few months anyhow so it hasn't been a huge sacrifice and if I'm jonesin' for some rolls, I'll just eat them and pay the price.