Thing-a-day.com

I’m not sure if anyone has already tried this flavor combo.  I had two big oranges dying to be picked up and I was in the mood for some refreshing citrus flavor.  Thus the orange pancakes were born.  The batter was very easy to make.  Half all-purpose flour and half oat flour.  Maple syrup as the sweetener, with the help of some vanilla extract and plain soy milk.  Freshly squeezed orange juice added the fresh garden smell and taste.  I loved these mild and subtle orange-y pancakes.  Next time I will use orange zest to strengthen the orange flavor a bit.  Overall, it was a great experiment.

I haven’t made pancakes much in the past few weeks.  I’m usually a huge pancake fan.  I mean I can eat pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I haven’t been cooking lately but making a stack of pancakes doesn’t feel like work at all.  So this is my new pancake mix: coconut-banana-cranberry flavor.  The sweet and rich combination of coconut and bananas is highlighted and contrasted by the tangy cranberries.  I highly recommend eating these pancakes with vegan margarine.

Coconut-Banana-Cranberry Pancakes
(makes 6-7 large pancakes)

1 cup self-rising flour (or all-purpose flour plus 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt)
1 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla soy milk
1 over-ripe banana, mashed
1/2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 to 4 1/2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 + 1 Tbsp. dried cranberries

1. Sift the flour and oat flour with baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
2. In another bowl, mash the banana, and add coconut cream, soy milk, olive oil, vanilla extract and maple syrup.  Mix well.
3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients gradually.  Mix the batter well.  The batter should be runny but not too thin.
4. Use a paper towel to lightly grease the pan and then put it on medium heat.  When the pan is hot, cook your pancakes away.

Well, the First Grader doesn’t sleep in anymore. He was up before The Baby made me drag my half-awake groggy self out of bed. So when The Baby went down for his 8am nap, I grabbed the First Grader to help me make one of his favorite breakfast foods. He loves to cook with me but we haven’t done much of it lately as I try to do most of it when he’s in school. Thus today, with Daddy and The Baby tucked safely out of our way in lala land dreaming of pancakes, we actually made them

He learned how to flip them today and is quite proud of himself. Watching to see if enough bubbles have formed on top, but a little early out the gate most times (and my controlling self just couldn’t let go enough so I reined him in and made him wait to flip until it was actually time) he did a very impressive job of controlling the placement. No flying pancakes today! He’ll probably wait until I’m not around some day and convince Daddy to let him try that trick.

Starting out gently…

Getting the hang of this!

Last one…

For anyone interested, the pancakes are half Buttermilk Pancake recipe from the Southern Living cookbook, and half Organic Buckwheat mix. The full strength buckwheat was just too thick and hard and not so tasty. Everyone likes them like this

I made pancake batter from scratch this afternoon.  Covered the entire kitchen with flour and then covered myself in flour as well for good measure.

Ben and Geri came round late afternoon and they cooked the pancakes.  I wasn’t sure that my arms would be up to the pancake cooking thing.  I had a go at flipping one however and managed to do it.  That surprised us.  Didn’t manage to catch it in the pan though so the floor caught it for me and I gave that one to Milo who also came.  Always good to have a dog to eat the cookery mistakes.  Tried again with another one with Ben holding the pan with me as well that time - flipped it fine and got it caught on the edge of the pan but… it also hit the floor.  We joked that Milo was very lucky because the only pancakes I cooked were made especially for him.  And we laughed lots.

I was going to make toad in the hole if there’d been any batter left but there wasn’t… might be a thing for another day.

4 days late for Shrove Tuesday but well worth it.