Banana pancakes
I appreciate the suggestions from some of you about ways to make our growing blog be even better. So as some of you suggested, here is our first recipe post.
It seems appropriate that we start with breakfast. And if you are looking for a starting place to let your kids actually learn to cook, pancakes is where its at.
Now, I learned to cook pancakes as a teenager on Boy Scout outings, but Dylan is always offering to help around the kitchen during meal times. So this morning when his brothers were still asleep and he offered to help, it seemed like the ideal time to get him started.
The basic recipe for pancakes is very simple so Dylan gathered the ingredients and began measuring. We use a two bowl approach in the Camp Daddy kitchen -- one to put the ingredients in, and one to measure OVER. This process reduces waste from overflowing the measuring cups and spoons, which happens a lot, as long as you empty the bowl after each ingredient. I used this trick during last year's Christmas cookie marathon and probably saved a half-bag of flour alone.
Anyway, Dylan measured the ingredients, I cracked the egg into a smaller bowl for him to add and stood back to watch our budding chef in action.
Dylan has been mixing ingredients for a couple years now, so he really needs no supervision. In fact, I was able to empty the dishwasher while he took care of batter preparation.
I showed him how to select the correct stove knob and preheat the pan, then I added a bit of oil and made the first pancake. Dylan is a quick study and soon he was in the lead.
CAMP DADDY BANANA PANCAKES
Makes 15-20 silver dollar size pancakes
1 cup All-purpose Flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tbsp oil or melted butter (plus more for the pan)
1-2 ripe bananas (the more over ripe the better!)
1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar (the bananas bring their own sweetness so you can skip the sugar if you want) using a whisk or a fork. The dry ingredients are mixed when it looks like it is all flour.
2. Whisk in egg, milk, vanilla extract.
3. Mash bananas in a separate bowl. Add to mixture and mix.
4. Heat a small amount of oil or butter in a frying pan on medium heat. (1-2 minutes)
5. Use a measuring cup to pour circles of batter onto the pan.
6. Big bubbles will begin to form on your pancakes, about 1-2 minutes. When they begin to pop, it's time to flip. Use a flat spatula to flip pancakes and cook for one more minute.
7. Eat pancakes with syrup, compote, or plain!
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