and now, for something just a little different....

BANANA PANCAKES

Maybe this entry is too late...but I made these the day before a mini vacation and I'm actually posting from the beautiful Appalachian mountains. You can decide if you should dock me a letter grade for being 8 hours late or if I get bonus points for posting while on vacation.

At any rate, I just wanted to share my favorite pancakes with you. This recipe (or one very similar to it) actually comes to us by way of a man who lived in one of the group homes where we used to work. We'll call him Ron. He always insisted on having banana pancakes. "I don't know how to make banana pancakes," I would protest. "Just make pancakes and stick a banana in it!" Ron would say. One day, Pat did it for him and came home raving. He made them for me and I had to agree that they are...really good.

So here is my typical pancake recipe, from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:


I do this (sometimes I substitute 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, but I was out when I made these) and add in one mashed banana. Just one. If you add more, it starts getting funky.



I quintupled this recipe and made them as brunch for a group of school kids.


I usually add chopped walnuts (at which point, they are so good no syrup is required), but was afraid of nut allergies for the kids, so here they are in their simplicity. Ron and Pat like them with peanut butter and syrup. I tried to do a strawberry syrup (strawberries and sugar reduction) but learned that two pints of strawberries do not go far among so much greatness. I had to add Aldi syrup to make it stretch. It was still good. Here was my final version, topped with the strawberry syrup, walnuts, and a little powdered sugar.


They got great reviews from the kids. I ate the left-overs plain and cold on my drive down to Appalachia, which is a GREAT travel idea.

and now, for something just a little different....

BANANA PANCAKES

Maybe this entry is too late...but I made these the day before a mini vacation and I'm actually posting from the beautiful Appalachian mountains. You can decide if you should dock me a letter grade for being 8 hours late or if I get bonus points for posting while on vacation.

At any rate, I just wanted to share my favorite pancakes with you. This recipe (or one very similar to it) actually comes to us by way of a man who lived in one of the group homes where we used to work. We'll call him Ron. He always insisted on having banana pancakes. "I don't know how to make banana pancakes," I would protest. "Just make pancakes and stick a banana in it!" Ron would say. One day, Pat did it for him and came home raving. He made them for me and I had to agree that they are...really good.

So here is my typical pancake recipe, from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:


I do this (sometimes I substitute 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, but I was out when I made these) and add in one mashed banana. Just one. If you add more, it starts getting funky.



I quintupled this recipe and made them as brunch for a group of school kids.


I usually add chopped walnuts (at which point, they are so good no syrup is required), but was afraid of nut allergies for the kids, so here they are in their simplicity. Ron and Pat like them with peanut butter and syrup. I tried to do a strawberry syrup (strawberries and sugar reduction) but learned that two pints of strawberries do not go far among so much greatness. I had to add Aldi syrup to make it stretch. It was still good. Here was my final version, topped with the strawberry syrup, walnuts, and a little powdered sugar.


They got great reviews from the kids. I ate the left-overs plain and cold on my drive down to Appalachia, which is a GREAT travel idea.

and now, for something completely different....

POTATO PANCAKES WITH "THE BOMB" SAUCE

I wanted to make my banana pancakes. Maybe I still will. But today, my husband issued me a cooking challenge. "Make potato pancakes," he said. So I did. I decided not to look at any other recipes for said pancakes first, and I have NEVER made potato pancakes before, so this was truly figuring it out from scratch. I decided to stay as true to a traditional "pancake" as I could, making something of a batter that is able to be poured in some way and some real syrup-consistency topping instead of going the gravy route.

Here is the ingredient list in its final version, though it took a few tries to get a good consistency. There is no picture of the ingredients, since I didn't know what I was going to end up using.

5 small-medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4-1/3 c. plain yogurt
1 T. butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

1.) Boil the potatoes in salted water until quite soft. Drain nearly all the water from the pot.
2.) Mash the potatoes with the yogurt and butter while hot.
3.) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. (This can all be done in one pot, which is a great plus in my book.)
4.) Preheat a griddle to 375*. I used butter on it, because butter makes everything good, but that is probably not necessary.
5.) Pour and spread the batter. The batter is a little on the thick side.
6.) Cook 4-5 minutes per side.

This makes roughly 20 pancakes. You will wish you had more. Double this recipe if you have more potatoes in the house than I did.

Pat ran around Muncie while I made the pancakes, looking for the *secret ingredient* for the pancakes. We finally had Pat's sister to thank for her effort at getting us just what we were looking for: real bacon fat!

The "syrup" is easy:
2 big spoonfulls of bacon grease
2 spoonfulls of brown sugar
2 spoonfulls of tomato paste

1.) Melt the fat in a pan on medium-high heat.
2.) Add the sugar.
3.) Reduce heat and add the tomato paste.
4.) Add water to thin to desired consistency.

Pour "The Bomb" sauce over the pancakes and garnish with green onion slivers (which taste great with it, in addition to being fancy).

Pat loved it.
Eden kept saying, "Yummy syrup!" all during dinner.
Israel said, "This is the BOMB!"
Our housemate, Kyle, agreed it was very good.
I was skeptical at first as I wished they would have been a little more fluffy, but in the end I could not complain. I wished I had made more.

and now, for something completely different....

POTATO PANCAKES WITH "THE BOMB" SAUCE

I wanted to make my banana pancakes. Maybe I still will. But today, my husband issued me a cooking challenge. "Make potato pancakes," he said. So I did. I decided not to look at any other recipes for said pancakes first, and I have NEVER made potato pancakes before, so this was truly figuring it out from scratch. I decided to stay as true to a traditional "pancake" as I could, making something of a batter that is able to be poured in some way and some real syrup-consistency topping instead of going the gravy route.

Here is the ingredient list in its final version, though it took a few tries to get a good consistency. There is no picture of the ingredients, since I didn't know what I was going to end up using.

5 small-medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4-1/3 c. plain yogurt
1 T. butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

1.) Boil the potatoes in salted water until quite soft. Drain nearly all the water from the pot.
2.) Mash the potatoes with the yogurt and butter while hot.
3.) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. (This can all be done in one pot, which is a great plus in my book.)
4.) Preheat a griddle to 375*. I used butter on it, because butter makes everything good, but that is probably not necessary.
5.) Pour and spread the batter. The batter is a little on the thick side.
6.) Cook 4-5 minutes per side.

This makes roughly 20 pancakes. You will wish you had more. Double this recipe if you have more potatoes in the house than I did.

Pat ran around Muncie while I made the pancakes, looking for the *secret ingredient* for the pancakes. We finally had Pat's sister to thank for her effort at getting us just what we were looking for: real bacon fat!

The "syrup" is easy:
2 big spoonfulls of bacon grease
2 spoonfulls of brown sugar
2 spoonfulls of tomato paste

1.) Melt the fat in a pan on medium-high heat.
2.) Add the sugar.
3.) Reduce heat and add the tomato paste.
4.) Add water to thin to desired consistency.

Pour "The Bomb" sauce over the pancakes and garnish with green onion slivers (which taste great with it, in addition to being fancy).

Pat loved it.
Eden kept saying, "Yummy syrup!" all during dinner.
Israel said, "This is the BOMB!"
Our housemate, Kyle, agreed it was very good.
I was skeptical at first as I wished they would have been a little more fluffy, but in the end I could not complain. I wished I had made more.