Tag Archives: breakfast

Healthier Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I had been meaning to try these “healthy” Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes from Elana’s Pantry for awhile. We had some cashew-based pancakes in Thailand that were delicious and knowing that they are a celiac-friendly option makes them perfect.

The ingredient list is pretty short with only seven ingredients, including the coconut oil you fry them in.

I whipped ours up in my Kenwood Cooking Chef food processor attachment to grind the cashews first before adding the other ingredients.

Bananas and heaps of vanilla? This has to be good!

…annnd the chocolate chips.

Unfortunately for me, I still have not gotten the knack of cooking gluten free pancakes. They set up OK and the mix was a good balance of liquid to dry, but I just couldn’t flip them before they burned!

As hard as I tried, any time I knew they were bubbly and should flip, I couldn’t get my darn spatula under there. The whole pancake would just slide away on the pan, mocking me.

In the end, I was only able to flip them when they were already kind of burning. Man. If that’s not depressing on a Saturday morning, I don’t know what is.

Still, since I doubled the recipe (yeah, we eat a lot!) it made heaps. Too much for us really. I think one recipe would have sufficed.

And even though they are a little burnt, don’t you think they look tasty? They still were… but they definitely need some practice. Although, we are in serious need of some more syrup before new pancakes can be made. Kay is a bit sad because the imported maple syrup is extremely expensive in Switzerland and not the best quality.

Do you have any tips for GF pancakes? Friends are telling me I should reduce the heat a lot more next time. I wonder if it’s also possible that my pan is too oily?

Dolder Grand

If you noticed I’ve been kind of absent lately, you might wonder what I’ve been up to. Truthfully I downloaded candy crush for iPhone a few weeks ago and I have kind of abandoned my Kindle and blogging in lieu of zapping those little candies every chance I get. *Hangs head in shame*

I do go out of the house still though… a couple weeks ago Kay’s brother invited his parents and us to the Dolder Grand in Zürich for a pretty fancy brunch. Dolder is a five star hotel and wellness spa and it is $$$. I had never eaten there so far…

Like most family events, this also required going to church together first, much to the “joy” of Kay’s father. After sitting in the unheated church for an hour (brrr!), it was time for brunch! And oh what a brunch it was…

I started off with duck on hummus, wasabi cream filled cones, and an assortment of meats and savory items.

We all decided to try the oysters since it was a buffet and they were just sitting there, but I’m still not sure how I feel about uncooked oysters. It’s just so much “ocean” going on in your mouth. Kay had one and I knew he would hate it…

That wasabi paste in there was so creamy and delicious, but I wish I didn’t fill up on all that relatively ordinary meat. There was a wall of desserts to be had!

 

Without wasting any time, I decided that I already needed to start my dessert course before I lost any more stomach room.

I took basically all these desserts in the pictures above and below and started eating while my inlaws laughed that I was diving into dessert already. Girl’s got priorities!

You can see here how much Kay looks like his father. We make a nice looking family. 🙂

After dessert it was time to head back for some sushi, but man I was getting so stuffed already. I did not come to this brunch as prepared as I should have.

Even the bathrooms in Dolder are fancy….

Well, at 92CHF ($96) per person for the buffet (and I’m not sure coffee was included) I don’t think Kay and I will be coming back soon. It was a very good brunch, but it was very, very expensive for a buffet. Usually our brunches are more in the 20-40CHF range depending on what we order. My favourite is making waffles or pancakes at home on the weekend. 😉

How much does a good brunch in your area cost?