Sometimes You Just Need Pancakes

The Sunday before finals week is definitely prime pancake time.  It’s been too long since I’ve made pancakes and a sunny, warm spring Sunday presented me with the perfect opportunity.

Now, being that these were my first pancakes in months, I had to go all out.  I made blueberry pancakes topped with apple butter, sliced banana, and maple syrup.  I based my recipe off of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipe from Vegan Brunch. I found that the oil the recipe called for wasn’t really necessary. It may have made the pancakes slightly fluffier, but I kind of like mine a little on the denser side, and hey, who can resist something that’s delicious and fat free?

You don’t have to use blueberries.  You can add any sort of fruit or, if you’re feeling indulgent (which you should with how hard you work!), try some chocolate chips!

Blueberry Pancakes

Serves 2

1-1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c water
1 to 1-1/4 c plain rice or soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Preheat a greased skillet over medium heat.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add wet ingredients and mix until just combined; some lumps are fine.  Ladle a few spoonfuls of the batter onto the pan according to how big you want your pancakes.  Sprinkle blueberries on top of the pancakes before the batter sets very much (within the first 30 to 45 seconds or so).  Wait until you see bubbles on top, flip, and cook until the other side browns, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve with whatever you’d like!  I piled on sliced banana and apple butter with a drizzle of maple syrup (okay, so ‘drizzle’ may be an understatement), but get creative! Make a blueberry or strawberry sauce or a cashew cream!  The pancake is your breakfast canvas!

xoxo Abigail

A Cheaper Breakfast of Champions

Last December, I posted about an awesome breakfast that consisted of  a ripe banana sliced and smeared on a whole wheat bagel. This is still an amazing breakfast, but having it every day was sure to wear down my meal plan. In an effort to be frugal, I purchased a large bag of quick-cooking oats.

In my last post, I whined about bland foods and now I plan on dabbling in a little hypocrisy.

Oatmeal gets dressed up a lot with things like raisins, maple syrup, brown sugar, apples, cinnamon, etc. These are all awesome things in oatmeal, don’t get me wrong, but I honestly love the taste of a plain bowl of oatmeal. It warms me up in the morning and keeps me satisfied until lunch. All I do is throw half a cup in a bowl with some water, nuke it for 2 minutes (I like it super cooked) and then, morning bliss.

It’s so healthy, too! Half a cup is only 170 calories and, after it’s cooked, makes quite a large bowl of oatmeal!

I try to pay homage to the taste of foods just as they are. Sure, a carrot tastes good when it’s dipped in hummus. But sometimes, I just want to taste the carrot.

This all being said, my boyfriend and I are currently obsessing over Indian food, in all of its spiced extravagance. I’m at peace with my hypocrisy of plain oatmeal in the morning and curry in the evening. It’s all delicious.

I’ll be sure to post about it when we actually get around to making this Indian feast! I hope it’s soon!

Abigail

Breakfast of Champions

I’ve been seriously neglecting breakfast this semester. Sometimes a banana is just enough to carry me through, but I’m usually starving until I can make it to the dining hall for lunch. I have learned my lesson thoroughly, as Spanish class irritates me way more when my stomach is crying for a meal. Then I end up eating way too fast (and consequently too much) at the dining hall during lunch because I’ve allowed myself to get so ravenously hungry.

Last week, I tried out slicing up a ripe banana and smooshing (that’s totally a professional technique) the slices onto whole wheat bagels halves. I didn’t have high expectations, but it was perfect.

It’s definitely not extravagant or fancy, but I’ll save the tofu scramble for mornings when I have the time and motivation. I’m lucky that my school gets freshly baked bagels every day from a local “bagelry” that makes its bagels with no preservatives, which is awesome since I try to avoid breads that have a shelf-life longer than a week.

I tried to eat meager breakfasts because I always felt guilty loading up on calories in the morning, but this breakfast is both reasonably healthy and has ultimately helped me avoid over-eating at lunch (all-you-can-eat dining halls are dangerous.)

This breakfast also made a fantastic hangover cure this morning when I felt like I would never function properly again. Good thing I’m done with finals!

My next plan is to make my own bagels to save money and, well, to be a bad ass who makes my own bagels. I have Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s bagel recipe from Vegan Brunch. It seems simple and rookie-friendly, so I’m really excited to try those out.

Long live substantial breakfasts!