I’ve Gone Bananas Week: Day 1 – I Really Wanted Pancakes

Here’s a warning:

Every post this week will be a recipe that includes bananas.

Why, you ask? Because I have bananas I need to get rid of. I meant to use them last week, but I had a rough, stressful week, and they got to ripe for me to just eat as is. I’m very strange in my dislike for actually ripe bananas, preferring to eat them when they’re still tinged with green. These bananas are way, WAY past that. If I liked banana bread, they’d be banana bread ready. Consider yourself warned.

Easter morning I awoke before dawn, which, considering Sunday was my day off and I’d declined an invitation to walking group so I could sleep in and totally relax, did not make me happy. At all. I’m really not sure how many times I can watch Cindy Crawford’s Meaningful Beauty infomercial without beginning to feel my skin deteriorate like the Nazi guy at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

So sometime before the sun rose I decided that since I was totally out of both chicken sausage AND eggs, my standard breakfast fare, that I’d throw together a quick pancake mix with those overripe bananas. Now, did you notice something important missing from my refrigerator? Right. No eggs. I knew I had chia seeds. I knew chia seeds could use used as an egg substitute. I scrounged through my pantry and came up with THIS:

The Strangest Pancake Recipe Ever

• 1/4 c. raw sunflower seed kernels
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1/4 c. coconut flour
• 150 grams overripe banana
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 serving whey protein powder (I used Isopure Zero Carb Cookies and Cream)
• 1/2 cup water
• cooking spray

Directions

In a food processor, process sunflower seed kernels, chia seeds, cocoa powder and coconut flour until the sunflower seed kernels are coarsely ground. Add banana and vanilla extract, pulse until well mixed.

Scrape down the bowl, add the protein powder and pulse some more. (Why? Who the hell knows. Because it was 6 am and the sun was barely up and I was tired, that’s why.) Then, with the processor running, drizzle in the water slowly. I let the batter sit for 15 minutes in hopes that it would be more viscous.

Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag or a zip top bag with the corner cut off.

Heat a pan over medium heat. When it reaches temperature, spray with cooking spray and squirt out pancakes in about a 4″ diameter. Here comes the tricky part. Because the batter is both gluten and egg free, you need to be patient. Don’t try to flip them too early or they’ll just fall apart on you. I learned this the hard way. Flip and cook until brown on both sides. You should have enough batter to make 16 pancakes.

I served mine with a frozen fruit blend that I defrosted and warmed a bit so the liquid made a little sauce, almost like pancake syrup!

The texture was a bit dense and you could definitely feel the texture of the sunflower seed kernels and the coconut flour, but the flavor was spot on like chocolate chip banana bread. Really tasty! You could even make these vegan by replacing the whey protein powder with a plant- or rice-based protein powder if you so desired.

Considering I totally made up this recipe I think it turned out pretty good, and it’s a win in the flavor department. Have you ever made something up and failed-but-not-failed? Let me know!