Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I didn't take any good pictures of these because I was distracted. But they were great!

 I started with my favorite basic pancake recipe, then added chocolate chips. I placed the sliced bananas in the batter as they were cooking.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes Serves 3-4 people 1.5 cups all-purpose flour 3.5 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 egg 1.25 cups milk 3 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1 thinly sliced banana  Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl In a smaller bowl, beat the egg then add the melted butter, milk, and vanilla Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and lightly mix in chocolate chips Pour batter onto skillet, then place banana slices in before you flip the pancake

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

I've been trying to eat healthier in the past few days. So in the midst of my parsley and spinach smoothies, I decided to add in some pancakes! These use entirely whole wheat flour which is nice.

I know it's not really the season for fresh blueberries, but my friend gave me this ginger syrup for my birthday and I thought it would really go well with them.

They turned out really nice and thick. It was challenging not to eat them all.

The ginger syrup has a confusing label which says "Does not require refrigeration" in English then "Refrigerate after opening" in French. I decided to live on the edge and not refrigerate. YOLO.

I will definitely have to go blueberry picking this summer and make these again!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes Makes 7 thick pancakes Adapted from Cooks.com 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 tablespoon sugar 1 2/3 cup (soy) milk 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 egg, beaten 1 cup fresh blueberries  Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in wet ingredients until just mixed.  Fold in blueberries Cook about 1/3 cup batter at a time in a heated non-stick skillet over medium heat

Vegan Tea Pancakes

The whole city of Boston is on lockdown, so there's not much to do. I spent a while watching the news, painting my nails with polka dots, eating bagels, reading magazines, doing yoga on the porch, and cleaning my room. 

And bothering Natalie while she tried to work from home. 

Then I decided to make pancakes! Thankfully we had just enough flour. The grocery stores near us are closed, but a few convenience stores are open. 

This is a combination of a few recipes. The first used an instant pancake mix, and just substituted tea for water. The other was a vegan recipe that used water in place of milk. 

I used Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger tea. I don't normally drink tea so I spent about half an hour in the tea aisle trying to decide. It turned out to be a good choice. 

It was nice and flavorful, but very bright. I thought maybe this would turn the pancakes a lovely pink color. It did not.

But they came out fluffy at least!

Despite the odd color, they were good. They tasted like tea!

Natalie said they looked like mold. I can't argue. Maybe if I used a darker tea? Or didn't use cinnamon.

I ate one plain, then I ate one with Natalie's homemade marmalade.

Don't let the color discourage you from trying these! They are super easy and very versatile depending on what tea you use.

Vegan Tea Pancakes Makes 6 small pancakes 1.25 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder Dash of cinnamon 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil 1.75 cups cold tea  Brew tea. (I used 3 tea bags in 2 cups of boiling water and left them for about 20 minutes to make it strong.) Put tea in fridge to cool. Mix other ingredients then add cooled tea. Mix lightly and let sit for a few minutes.  Cook on a heated frying pan.

Goat Cheese Pancakes with Dried Cranberries and Thyme

A couple weeks ago I was at Whole Foods and I decided to buy the largest package of goat cheese they had, because goat cheese is awesome. In the following two weeks I proceeded to eat only pizza and cupcakes until I realized that all this cheese was going to go bad at some point. 

So I made it into pancakes! 

I wanted just the leaves of the thyme, so Stef carefully removed them all for me. It's harder than it looks.

Hooray for giant sized bags of Craisins from Costco! The recipe I based this off used fresh raspberries, which I'm sure would be absolutely delicious as well. Stef was so involved de-leaving thyme that she looked over when I was done mixing and didn't believe I had actually added the cheese.

These have no butter or oil in them, which would be great for the health-conscious. It's great for me too because I hate melting butter. The goat cheese made the batter very smooth and moist.

I ate one plain, then I ate one rolled up with more goat cheese spread on the inside. I highly recommend this method.

 

A few hours later I ate another one cold from the fridge. Still good. 

PANCAKES!

Goat Cheese Pancakes with Dried Cranberries and Thyme Makes 9 medium pancakes Inspired by MyCommunalTable 1.5 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup white sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1.5 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 cup goat cheese 3/4 cup milk 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice 3 eggs 1 tablespoon thyme leaves 1/3 cup dried cranberries Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl In a smaller bowl, mix together goat cheese, milk, and lemon juice until relatively smooth. Beat eggs and add to mixture Add wet ingredients to the dry then mix in thyme and cranberries Cook in a small skillet over medium heat. Use about 1/3 cup batter per pancake.  Serve with additional goat cheese on top, or use instead of bread in a sandwich!

***Deliciousness Update: 

I have been using the leftovers to make sandwiches and they are wonderful! I put the cheese and stuff on top then microwave it for about 40 seconds.

Cheddar cheese and tomato

Cheddar cheese, tomato, and parmesan 

Gluten Free Grits Waffles

I went home for Easter and decided to make gluten free pancakes since my little sister has celiac. And I had a lot of grits to use up from the last waffles. 

My mom has this new fantastic sign hung above the stove. It's so practical! 

I used essentially the same recipe as the non-gluten free ones, but replaced the flour with this.

I asked my mom if we had any grated cheese. Her response: "No. ... But there's cheese. And a grater." 

Sooo haaaard. 

They were not as thick with the gluten free flour, so I ended up using more batter per waffle. I also replaced the butter with oil out of sheer laziness.

 I also omitted the chives because all our chive plants were still covered in snow and I kept forgetting to stop at the grocery store.

We ate them with butter. My family kept trying to add maple syrup but I stopped them. Maple and cheese? Gross.

I'm actually not sure if my little sister ate any. By the time she woke up, I was already taking my morning nap.

Yum.

Gluten Free Grits Waffles Makes 10 waffles  Adapted from Joy the Baker  1 cup water 1/2 cup dried grits (polenta) 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup milk 1 cup Bob's Red Mill GF flour 3/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 egg 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese Boil the water, then add grits and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes Remove from heat and stir in oil and milk In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder Whisk egg and stir into dry mixture Pour grits mixture into bowl, then add cheese. Stir until evenly mixed.  Cook in waffle iron!  I used about 1/2 cup of batter per waffle and left them in until most of the steam coming from the iron had died down.

Ricotta Cheese Crepes with Zucchini

 Every Tuesday night, my two best friends and I take turns cooking dinner. This week was my turn, and as I flipped through my favorite cookbook for inspiration, I found this recipe.

The batter is fairly simple (eggs, flour, milk) seasoned with thyme and parsley. The cookbook also suggested marjoram, but I didn't have any and figured that if I bought I would never use it again.

I don't have a special crepe maker, so I just use a frying pan. The trick is to make sure your pan is already hot and seasoned with butter. Then wait until the edges of the crepe start to curl up. Then it's time to flip. After a few false starts, I got the hang of flipping.

And ended up with a plate full of beautiful crepes!

The filling is made by sautéing zucchini, then adding ricotta, nutmeg, and pepper and simmering for a few minutes. The recipe also calls for zucchini flowers and pine nuts, which I omitted because I couldn't find pine nuts at the store, and I'm pretty sure they didn't have zucchini flowers. 

The crepes are then folded, covered with light cream and cheese, and baked in the oven. 

 The finished product:

They were enjoyed! They have the benefit of looking pretty fancy, but not requiring that much work. In fact, I made them in a groggy daze, having just woken up from a nap, and they turned out alright!

These would also be good to try with a different kind of cheese in place of ricotta. I am not the biggest ricotta fan myself. I would also add a bit more Parmesan to the top before baking.

For dessert, we ate leftover jellybean pancakes!

Ricotta Cheese Crepes with Zucchini Adapted from Simply Delicious Vegetarian cookbook Makes 10 crepes - serves 4-5 people Crepes: 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups milk 4 eggs 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped thyme 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 tablespoon butter Filling: 10 oz zucchini, cut into rounds 2 tablespoons butter 1 2/3 cups ricotta cheese 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 cup light cream 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese Mix all crepe ingredients together, excluding the butter Melt the butter in a medium sized frying pan and cook the crepes over medium heat. Use just enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Flip when edges begin to curl.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and butter a large baking dish Saute zucchini in butter in frying pan for 10 minutes. Add ricotta, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to zucchini and simmer for 3 minutes.  Place about 3 tablespoons of filling in each crepe and fold twice to make triangles.  Arrange in prepared dish and pour cream over top. Sprinkle with Parmesan.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 8-10 minutes.

Jellybean Pancakes

When I first announced my intent to make jellybean pancakes, I was widely ridiculed. But these pancakes came out amazing, so I guess I proved everyone wrong!

I love jellybeans. I always forget about them until around Easter, then I eat so many I feel sick.
I used Starburst jellybeans. My original intent was to crush them up a lot then add them to the batter almost like sprinkles. But turns out Starburst jellybeans are pretty much indestructible. I smashed them with a lot of heavy objects, but only managed to crush a few. So I ended up adding them pretty much whole.

I was a little worried the jellybeans would stick to the pan. Although they did melt a little, the melted sugar came right off.

The recipe I used promised super fluffy pancakes, which is what I wanted so that the jellybeans wouldn't stick out too much. And boy, they were fluffy. I cut the amount of recommended sugar in half since I figured the jellybeans were sweet enough.
They did stick together once I stacked them, but were so delicious.

The pancakes themselves were fluffy and light, and the jellybeans added a burst of flavor and chewiness. They almost force you to eat slower because you have to chew more, which heightens your appreciation of the flavors.

Maybe I should leave some of these out for the Easter bunny...

Jellybean Pancakes Makes 5 small thick pancakes  1 cup all-purpose flour 1.5 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 tablespoons melted butter 1 egg 3/4 cup jellybeans, slightly smashed Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, and butter then pour into dry mixture Add jellybeans and stir Cook on a hot buttered frying pan - about 1/3 cup batter per pancake (batter will be very thick!) I would recommend soaking your dishes right away after you are done cooking to get rid of any stickiness!