banana pancakes on a saturday morning

Before I get into all that delicious food I ate on vacation, here's what I've been enjoying about being home: my kitchen, which may not always be perfectly organized, but has the ingredients and equipment I need in the perfect place. I missed making breakfast in my pyjamas to CBC radio. I missed late night popcorn recipe inventions. I missed cooking in my favourite pots, on my perfect gas stove that almost never burns anything. I missed preparing food with my favourite cat buddies, Pipi and Luna.

Vacations are great, but it's always nice to come home. Here's yet another pancake recipe (and if it's not what you're looking for, try these: banana walnut pancakes, raspberry lemon pancakes or raspberry flax pancakes).

simple banana pancakes - makes around 10 3-inch pancakes

These are adapted from Jamie Oliver's 2012 Recipe Yearbook, a magazine special I picked up in England. I changed the all purpose flour to whole wheat pastry flour, and substituted half of the milk for yogurt, to add some tang (or maybe I had just run out of milk - but it tasted great).

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt (or just another 1/2 cup milk)
oil for cooking

2 bananas
2 tbsp butter
splash of maple syrup, plus more to serve

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add egg, milk and yogurt, and stir until just combined (some lumps are ok). Heat oil in pan, and cook pancakes in batches. Meanwhile, melt butter in another pan. Add sliced bananas and a splash of maple syrup, and saute until golden. Serve pancakes  with butter and more maple syrup.

vegan version: substitute 1/2 mashed banana for the egg, and use 1 cup soy milk. Cook the bananas in grapeseed or canola oil.

PS. I'm in the middle of redesigning the blog, so expect some changes. I loved the last layout, but it wan't the easiest to navigate or read.

PPS. You know it's a good day when you still haven't left bed, but you've gotten through brunch, four episodes of Seinfeld, AND posted a recipe!

banana walnut pancakes

This is me playing around with photoshop. I'll be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing, beyond looking up tutorials, and following them step-by-step. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. And now the recipe! A little late for Pancake Tuesday, but where pancakes are concerned, better late than never. This recipe is adapted from Joy of Cooking's cornmeal pancakes. Seen here with applesauce - serving extra fruit with pancakes makes them a bit healthier, and helps you cut back on the maple syrup by adding some natural sweetness.

banana walnut pancakes
(makes about 15 medium sized pancakes)

1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp melted butter (or vegetable oil)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup walnut pieces
2 or 3 bananas, sliced

Combine the cornmeal, honey and salt in a bowl. Slowly stir in the boiling water, whisking out lumps, and cover for 10 minutes. Stir in egg, milk and butter. Combine flour and baking powder, and stir into wet ingredients. Finally, fold in walnuts and bananas. Heat a pan or griddle on med-high heat. Flip away!

(For a vegan version, use sugar instead of honey, and 1/2 mashed banana to replace the egg.)

raspberry flax pancakes

This recipe is from Moosewood Kitchen's latest cookbook, Cooking for Health. I modified them a bit, only because the recipe called for 2 eggs, and I only had one. I substituted half a mashed banana, and I really like the slight banana flavour. Feel free to add a different fruit other that raspberries, or some spices like cinnamon. If you like sweeter pancakes, you might want to add a few teaspoons of sugar to the batter.

This makes about 15 small pancakes, so if you feel that's too many, just freeze some - cook all the pancakes, and once they're cooled, freeze them in zip locks, separated by parchment paper. Put the frozen pancakes directly into the oven or toaster oven to heat them up before eating.

Also, try using whole wheat pastry flour, also called soft whole wheat flour. It's a great flour to use in cookies and sweet baked things, and really makes a difference in the texture of the pancakes.


raspberry flax pancakes


1/4 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg
1/2 mashed banana
1 cup full fat yogurt
1/4 cup mild vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

zest from one orange
1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries


Grind oatmeal and flax seeds in a food processor, until it's the texture of cornmeal. Combine all dry ingredient in a bowl, and whisk together. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, banana, yogurt, oil, water, vanilla and zest. Pour wet ingredients into dry, and stir until just combined. Finally, stir in raspberries.

Cook on a griddle, about 2 minutes on each side. Serve with butter, fruit and maple syrup.

raspberry pancakes

Lemon zest + raspberries = some top notch pancakes. Who knew?

There's no photos, because the pancakes were hideously misshapen, however, they were delicious. I used a vegan pancake recipe from the Veganomicon cookbook... not my favourite, because they refused to separate from the pan. But the lemon brings out an amazing flavour in the berries. I'm sure a little lemon zest might be equally delicious with blueberries or strawberries. It'll take your pancakes from normal to a-MAY-zing. (And if you are looking for a delicious, non-vegan pancake recipe, there's one in that old classic, the dog-eared Joy of Cooking - it involves cornmeal and honey, and it's quite spectacular.)