Monkey Bar Pancakes

Nothing says family like old bananas. I love that my brother-in-law walked into our kitchen yesterday and offered us a bunch of brown, speckled, soft bananas. It reminded me of bringing an open bottle of wine to a best friend's dinner party. O & I gratefully scooped them up, chatting excitedly about what we could do with them.

We decided to try a "monkey bars" recipe from a local cookbook, Morning Glory Farm, and the Family that Feeds an Island. Of course, O & I healthi-ed those monkey bars right up! And, Uncle Ryan's old bananas did what they do so well in baked goods-- created a moist, sweet irresistible treat. As O & I tasted the warm, gooey, rich monkey bars and licked chocolate from our fingers, we looked at each other and agreed, "These would make an awesome pancake." So, here we have them . . .

Monkey Bar Pancakes
serves 4

1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1.5 T date sugar (sugar of choice)
3/4 c oat flour (or flour of choice)
3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 T ground flaxseeds
2 T wheat germ
1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1 large elderly banana, mashed up
1 t pure vanilla extract
3 T softened organic coconut oil or butter, plus more for greasing griddle
2 eggs
1 1/2 c milk of choice (if you like a thinner, less-cakey pancake- add more milk)
1/3 c dark chocolate chips

(We had leftover fresh coconut flesh, so we added that to the wet ingredients, too.)

Combine banana, vanilla, oil, eggs & milk in a medium bowl. Mix flours, baking powder, salt, sugar, wheat germ, flaxseeds & shredded coconut in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in wet ingredients, mixing until smooth. Be careful not to overmix.

Heat oiled griddle and pour batter, using about 1/4 cup for each pancake. Drop a few chocolate chips on each pancake (a little goes a long way). When you see bubbles throughout, flip and cook for another two minutes or so.

They are like little breakfast cookies, but really, the only questionable ingredients are a little white flour and a few dark chocolate chips. Definitely worth making for a birthday or overnight guests.

Monkey bars for all!

And Happy Father's Day to all the daddies, grandaddies and daddy's-to-be!
Some fave daddy's photographed below . . .

 My Pop Pop and I. How I loved playing with his cane!

What a shock it was- discovering how much fun my dad could be during 

Parent's Weekends at Florida State!

How incredible it is to watch your once college-lifeguard-boyfriend transform 

into a hands on, caring, intelligent father! 

W a i t . . . there's Cottage Cheese in Here? Pancakes

I'll admit we were leery at first of cottage cheese pancakes. Wouldn't they taste too healthy?
After all, we want tasty pancakes, not vitamins for our Sunday breakfast!

But, these turned out to be some of our best pancakes yet. The whole wheat pastry flour & beaten eggs kept them light, while the cinnamon sweetened them up. The barely noticeable cottage cheese added a subtle richness. 

W a i t . . . there's Cottage Cheese in Here? Pancakes

INGREDIENTS 

serves 4+
slightly adapted from Be Fit with Kristen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

2 tablespoons sweetener of choice (we recommend honey or date sugar)
1 tablespoon cinnamon (we promise it's not overpowering)
1 cup cottage cheese
3/4 cups milk of choice (we use whole milk)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons soft organic coconut oil (or neutral oil of choice/melted butter)

O & his cousins help our favorite farmer wash the eggs.

DIRECTIONS

Mix all ingredients. Add eggs, cottage cheese, vanilla extract and mix until well-blended.

Drop the batter onto a heated, oiled pan in 1/4 cup portions. Cook on low until the top starts to bubble (usually about 5 minutes). Flip the pancakes and cook for another 1 -2 minutes.

Yum!

We will make these again!

Some photos from our Farmer's Market trip yesterday. First one of the year- so much fun to see old friends and watch the local produce trickle in.

See you next Sunday!

Strawberries and Cream Flapjacks

Strawberry Flapjacks presents . . . Strawberry Season! 

O shows off our first-ever homegrowns.

How lucky were we to scoop up the first-last pint of strawberries from Mermaid Farm last week?

Strawberries & Cream Flapjacks
serves 3
1/2 c. spelt flour (an easy-to-digest ancient gain which is rich in protein, fiber and B complex vitamins)
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t sea salt
2 T honey
1 egg
1 c. milk of choice (we recommend whole milk)
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 T organic coconut oil or soft unsalted butter
2 c. chopped strawberries

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together honey, egg, milk, butter/coconut oil and vanilla in a small bowl.

Combine wet and ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently stir in strawberries.

For uniform size, pour about 1/4 c. batter onto preheated, greased griddle. Flip when bubbly & set. Cook for about two more minutes.


Whipped Cream
1 c. heavy cream
1 T confectioner's sugar
1 t pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Do not overbeat.

Serve with butter, pure maple syrup & whipped cream.

Full disclosure: we licked forks, plates and fingers. Pancakes were perfectly fluffy & sweet. It feels like getting away with something. (We all know we're basically having strawberry shortcake for breakfast.)

Popeye Pancakes

Zucchini muffins, kale pizzas, pea smoothies . . . it seems like people are adding greens to 

everything these days-  So why not add spinach to our pancakes? 

Popeye Pancakes

a typical batch of your favorite pancake mix (box or scratch)

1/2 c. pureed spinach (3 c. loose spinach)

1/4 c. applesauce

1/4 c. dry oatmeal

Slip the spinach & oats in with your regular batter.

Sizzle.

Savor.

Mid-way through his stack of Popeyes, O staged this photo just for you.

The oatmeal and spinach give these Popeye Pancakes just enough texture. The applesauce makes them moist with a hint of sweetness. If you're unsure of how the spinach will go over, you could add more applesauce than spinach the first time you make these.



Popeye would be proud . . . "It's O-ey the-sailor-man! Toot! Toot!"
(Look for boat pancakes coming this summer!)

We hope you enjoy this Memorial Day weekend as you feel the rush of summer coming in.
To celebrate, we made these healthy, yummy patriotic pops. (Cheaters can use canned coconut milk, but you will miss the awe-inspiring moment of cracking open a Thai coconut, sticking a straw inside and slurping the elixir of life.)

Please join us in saluting our troops over the weekend!

P.S. A BIG thanks to our friend, Jorinda, for sharing this fine family pancake recipe!

Who Needs Flour? Grain-Free Banana Pancakes

So happy to see you, Month of May! 

We are weeks away from making strawberry flapjacks with our very own berries!

Until then, we're sticking with bananas.

If you've ever thought of cutting back on carbs, this grain-free recipe would be a delicious place to start. These naturally sweetened flapjacks are light, moist and satisfying. 

You may not even need syrup!

Who Needs Flour? Grain-Free Banana Pancakes
adapted from Homemade Mommy: Keeping Real Food in a Fake Food World
serves 4
4 eggs
2 very ripe bananas
1/2 c. almond butter (we subbed sunbutter per O's allergy)
4 T your choice milk or kefir
2 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
pinch salt
2 t pure vanilla extract
organic coconut oil, butter or olive oil for cooking

Mush up banana and almond butter together thoroughly until smooth consistency. Add eggs and mix. Add milk and the rest of the ingredients.

Your batter should be more liquid-y than usual. If it's too thick, add more milk.
Heat greased griddle and pour in the batter. Pancakes are thin and cook quickly.

Reid, who is always skeptical of me making things too healthy, is looking forward to making this new breakfast treat again! I am scheming to use a version of this recipe but with butternut squash in the fall.


PS We've made some milestones. Over 1,000 blog views and over a dozen recipes. Which have been your favorite pancakes so far?

Make-Mom-Proud Kale Pancakes

It's Mother's Day! 

Eat your greens :)

Make-Mom-Proud Kale Pancakes
Ready? It's an easy one this week.
Choose your favorite pancake recipe or boxed mix.
Add 1/2 c. pureed kale (2 c. loose, stems removed) and 2 mashed bananas.
We also like to add 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract to every batch of pancakes we made. Soaking the mix (without the bananas) overnight makes the kale softer.

A little sweet, a little crunch. You barely notice the kale. A nice change-up. And rich with potassium, Vitamin B6, Manganese, fiber, iron, Vitamin A, calcium, beta carotene and more.

Happy Mother's Day to every mommy-to-be, mommy, grammy, auntie and nanny out there!! Wishing you foot rubs, homemade cards and breakfast in bed.

Here's the card I received from O.

I have many treasured memories of sleepovers at my Grandmother's, although I don't remember 

any pancakes the next morning. 

Breakfasts with Grandma Dottie featured the Entemann's Pop'ems-of-the-season and 

cheese-y scrambled eggs with her own backyard tomatoes. 

The best part?

Leftover New York pizza. Your choice: cold or hot. 

Once my belly was full, we'd walk to the Bellerose Library. Then, read 

books underneath an oak tree in her driveway where we could feel a cool breeze. 

I can still see us girls: sipping our homemade lemonade 

from her sweaty, old-fashioned Coca-Cola glasses.

Grandma Rosie was the sugar-gramma, saying "yes!" to ice cream for breakfast and handing me a $2 bill each time we visited. She was ever smiling, even after a sleepover when I'd kept her up at night like, "a mess of monkeys" in bed. Still sleepy or not, the following morning we'd visit her her neighborhood friends, like Hilda and Billy, sometimes splashing about in their above-ground pools. Moving around "just like gypsies," she'd giggle.  

 And a Very Happy Mother's Day to My Own Mother!

 Here is a tiny poem to thank you for the warm weeknight dinners you prepared after teaching all day.

At 6:00 each night,

as dependable as a church bell,

we'd
fill glasses, say grace, pass salt.

For twenty sacred minutes,
around our oval dining table sat Dad, Kerry, Karyn, Trisha, you & I.
Sharing reports about soccer practices, math tests and band concerts

giggling and griping
devouring lasagnas, chicken divan and beef tacos.

YOU had it all lined up.

Thank you, Mom, for filling our tummies and hearts
each night at 6:00.

Spring's Here! Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes

We no longer have to "think spring"- signs of it are everywhere . . . here are some photos from our recent visit to the Grey Barn & Farm.

Did you know asparagus stalks grow about 2 inches a day?

To quote e.e. cummings, "the little calf [horse] is newlY

Born)

These ducks are only 7 weeks old.

Spring's come to our house, too . . .

O has been tending his seedlings which include: radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, rosemary, chives and basil.

Carrots won't be growing until early summer. But, they still are an icon of spring, along with chicks and bunnies. And so, in the deliciously hopeful spirit of springtime, we bring you these  treaty Carrot Cake Pancakes (slightly adapted from the amazing blog: Vegan Richa).

Yes, a few more steps in this recipe than usual, but we think these wholesome, hearty little cakes are well worth it. Shortcuts could include using your favorite boxed mix and making most of the recipe the night before. The ingredient list isn't so exotic- we had almost everything we needed right here and just improvised with the rest, using our go-to plain dairy yogurt, etc.

Spring's Here! Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes with Yogurt Coconut Cream frosting
serves 2+ grown-ups ( makes 4-5 pancakes)

Allergen Information: free of dairy, egg, soy, yeast. can be made gluten-free.
Ingredients:
1 loaded cup chopped carrots or 1 loaded cup shredded/grated carrots
1/4 cup raw walnuts (O's allergic to nuts so we used pumpkin seeds)
1/2 tsp oil (we recommend healthful Grapeseed oil. Trader Joe's carries it.)
1 Tbsp ground raw sugar or any finely ground sweetener
1/4 tsp each of each of cinnamon, ginger, clove powder
a pinch of nutmeg



Pancake Batter:
1 1/4 cup pancake mix (You could use Vegan Richa's multigrain pancake mix or gluten-free pancake mix)
1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger powder
a generous pinch of clove and nutmeg powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp maple.syrup
1/3 cup almond milk (we used hemp milk)
1/3 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice


Yogurt Coconut Cream Frosting:
1/4 cup non dairy yogurt (could use vegan cream cheese)
1/3 cup coconut cream (the thick cream that settles on the top of the can after refrigerating for a few hours) or cashew cream
1 Tbsp coconut oil, softened
1/4 cup ground raw sugar or other sweetener of choice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp or more lemon juice
1/2 tsp cider vinegar (we used apple cider vinegar because it was handy)


Method:
Grate the carrots, or pulse in a blender/food processor to a coarse shred. Pulse the walnuts to small pieces. We used our Cuisinart food processor (total 1.25 cups of grated carrots and chopped walnuts).
In a pan, add oil and heat at medium. Add the carrot walnut mixture and roast for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and spices.

 Mix and cook for another 4 minutes. Reserve a Tbsp of the mixture to top the pancakes.


In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients of the pancake mix. Add the spices and mix. Add all the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to combine. Add more water if needed. Keep the batter thicker than usual so it can hold a lot of carrots.
Add the carrot walnut mixture and mix to combine.
Make 4-5 pancakes. Heat a pan on medium heat. Drizzle a few drops of oil. when the pan is hot, Spread the batter to form same size circles. The batter will be thicker than usual pancake batter, so use a spoon to
shape.

Cook 4-6 minutes each side.

Make the frosting: Combine everything under frosting in a bowl. Taste and adjust sour and sugar. Spread a Tablespoon or more frosting between the pancakes to bring out the sweetness.
Drizzle the frosting on the stacked pancakes or apply evenly with a spatula. Keeps well in fridge overnight.

Sprinkle the roasted carrot walnut mixture on top and serve.

Serve pancakes as is with maple syrup, with this yogurt cream frosting, or your favorite cream cheese frosting.


Yum! Yum! Just two of these kept me full for hours.These would make a great Mother's Day treat. We're thinking next time soaked raisins would be a nice addition. Just be sure to double the recipe or have breakfast fruit/meat on the side if you're feeding 4.

How many signs of spring will you see today?





Bonus-full text of e.e. cumming's poem

the little horse is newlY

Born)he knows nothing,and feels
everything;all around whom is

perfectly a strange
ness(Of sun
light and of fragrance and of

Singing)is ev
erywhere(a welcom
ing dream:is amazing)
a worlD.and in

this world lies:smoothbeautifuL
ly folded;a(brea
thing a gro

Wing)silence,who;
is:somE

oNe.

--e. e. cummings