Tag: breakfast

Stupid easy paleo pancakes

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With many thanks to MBDH for the eye opener on these.

Our breakfasts are easy.  Not as fast as cereal and milk, but they are streamlined because they are essentially the same thing every day.  I crack four or five eggs into a ghee-lined pan.  Fry.  Serve with fruit.  Or avocado.  Or roasted sweet potatoes if I have some.  If I’m feeling crazy, I’ll fry up apple bits with cinnamon, but that takes extra work to chop up the apple.  And SCENE.

Guess which one is the supermarket egg

But sometimes, when we are feeling a little crazy and need to break out of our egg routine, we change it up.  Then we have pancakes, made out of, you guessed it, eggs.

This two (or three or four or more ingredient, you’ll see what I mean) pancake is a gamechanger.  Fast.  Tasty.  The toddler is excited that he is getting pancakes.  It is a pleaser for protein-seekers who are not in love with eggs.  (Cough, cough, James.)  Win, win.

Basic Recipe

Mash up bananas.  Blend with eggs.  Add dash of cinnamon.  Fry.

3_pancake 4

That’s it.  I know.  Easy enough to do when you have kids screaming for breakfast and you aren’t thinking your best in the morning.

You can do individual batches to fry or mix up a big mess of banana/eggs and fry them individually.  I like to do about one banana and two eggs per person, but you can play with this.  I haven’t had an inedible batch yet.

They aren’t the prettiest.  But they are tasty and filling.

3_pancake 2

Variation 1

If you have some extra time, throw a sweet potato in the microwave and then add sweet potato to the mix.  This is a denser, more filling option.  Look, Ma, no side item needed!

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Variation 2

Add _______.  You could really add anything.  I’ve done blueberries.  Delicious.  I’m sure other fruit would be great.  Nuts would be great.  You could probably even shred zucchini or try other veggies.  Go crazy!  The leftovers in your fridge are your delicious breakfast oyster.

You recipe followers may be cringing a little.  I know.  It isn’t precise.  But you really can’t screw it up.  Now go forth and pancake!

Baby approved!

Baby approved!

Toddler approved!

Toddler approved!

Want to make eleventy billion dollars in Rome?

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If I had buckets of money, patience to figure out Roman building permits, and know how on Italian labor laws, I would open a Waffle House in downtown Rome.  Or a Waffle House like restaurant.  It would make a killing.  Lemme ‘splain.

Italians don’t really do breakfast.  Nick Kroll was not too far from the truth when he said breakfast would be a cigarette and a bar of chocolate for Europeans.

Italians are crazy for coffee.  I’ll see people come in, order an espresso, down it at the bar, and leave before I can even figure out how to get my stroller through the door.  Cappuccinos are for morning; never for afternoon.  It is my understanding that Italians believe milk interferes with digestion.

9.13_first cappiciono

You may see someone get a pastry.  A cornetto is an Italian croissant.  I like them quite a bit, but they are different than French croissants.  A cornetto is denser and less flaky.  They do come with fillings.  Nutella and apricot jam seem to be particularly popular.

Mmmm...nutella croissant

Mmmm…nutella croissant

I can’t say what Romans do in the comfort of their own homes, but this seems to be the standard breakfast.  Some combination of espresso beverage and cigarettes.

I miss American breakfasts.  Big plates of pancakes with syrup streaming down the sides.  Cheesy omelets.  Crispy bacon.  Toast with jam AND butter. Back home, we usually had breakfast out on Saturday or Sunday.  It was awesome.  Breakfast food is thankfully pretty easy to make at home, but sometimes it isn’t just the same.

You will see places that advertise brunch here.  I accompanied some friends to a brunch buffet not too long ago.  They had sushi, pasta, salad, meats and cheeses.  It was nice.  But there wasn’t anything particularly breakfasty about it.  I’ve heard from others that many other “brunch” places are similar.

Enter my brilliant idea.  A breakfast joint in Rome.  Even if it was just a greasy spoon, I think it would make a killing.  First you get the ex-pats, then you get the tourists, then maybe, just maybe, you get the Italians.  Probably not for breakfast, but possibly at 9:00 pm.