Thursday, March 7, 2013

Blueberry Banana Buckwheat Pancakes

Blueberry Banana Buckwheat Pancakes

Lately I've been thinking a lot about living and experiences and simple things. About image and how people portray themselves, announce themselves, cloak themselves. This started to come out a little bit in my last post, but I've been struggling to put into words what I've been thinking and feeling. Then I read some posts that really resonated with me and brought everything I'd been thinking together (this one for example). The yearning for honesty. The desire to really feel and experience things.

I find myself continuously questioning all the moments and images that seem too easy, too perfect, too deliberate. All the pretend friending and pretty lifeing. Because my reality looks very little like all the dreamy, filtered pictures and nice outfits and styled life settings. And quite frankly, that's ok. In fact, that's pretty great. I want real connections, real people, real moments and memories. I want to experience everything genuine and be present in reality and be myself with other people being themselves. Lately I've felt like everything is a big competition. I look around and wonder if I'm losing. And I compare and overanalyze and even get upset sometimes. But then I stop myself and refocus my gaze upon what's right in front of me, what matters, and I realize that I'm definitely not losing. Sometimes life is messy and hard, but it's real. And real may be less pretty in some respects, but it’s far more beautiful in so many others. It’s fulfilling and disappointing and happy and sad and hectic and lazy and ridiculous and nowhere near perfect, and that’s what’s so great about it. Although I love adventures and fresh, wholesome, seasonal meals and beautiful photos, sometimes I’m tired and overwhelmed, and I eat chips and drink soda and lay on the couch with my boyfriend and my cat, and I’m totally ok with that. So I'm going to work on expressing that more here. I'm going to freaking live y'all, and it may not always be picturesque, but it will be real.

animated gifs
My pathetic attempt to get my gif on à la Izy.

These pancakes have become my go-to Sunday breakfast. I love how puffy and fat they are, and they stay that way sitting in the oven while you scramble to fry some eggs (!!) because you didn't time breakfast so well and you broke the yolk when you tried to flip the first egg and the bacon is still crisping and the coffee isn't ready and maybe you want to shower before you eat. They're patient pancakes. Real life pancakes.



I like to use overripe berries (you know, the ones you bought last weekend but didn't finish during the week) in pancakes, as they get wonderfully jammy when cooked. These pancakes are hearty and delicious on their own, so you can snatch one out of the oven to munch on while standing over that broken yolk then drizzle the rest with maple syrup once you get your breakfast life together.

Banana Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

Blueberry Banana Buckwheat (or Triple B) Pancakes
makes 10 small, thick pancakes

Note: These can be made with all buckwheat, but I really like the texture and flavor of using half whole wheat.

60 g (1/2 cup) buckwheat flour
65 g (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
large pinch salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
pinch cardamom
3-4 small bananas (10 oz.)
juice from half a lemon
2 tsp. pure maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract
1/2 cup very ripe blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel bananas and break each into three or four pieces. Arrange pieces on a baking sheet and roast 10-15 minutes, until softened and lightly brown. Let cool 5 minutes. Decrease oven temperature to 200 degrees F and set a small cookie sheet on the middle rack.

Set griddle or skillet over medium heat. Whisk together flours, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl. Set aside. Place bananas in a small bowl, add lemon juice, and mash. Whisk in eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until almost combined. Fold in blueberries. Batter will be very thick.

Oil the griddle or skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Drop a 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle or skillet and spread out just slightly with your finger. Cook a few minutes until edges begin to set then flip and cook about two more minutes until golden and cooked through. Transfer to cookie sheet in preheated oven until ready to serve.

Banana Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

22 comments:

  1. Yes, yes and yes. Oh and YES. I could not resonate with your sentiments more and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the real you on here.


    Also yes to these pancakes. YUM.

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  2. I adore you and your blog. So much.

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  3. Gosh those look good! And here's to keeping it real, with a drizzle of syrup on top :-)

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  4. Definitely going to be working on it! Thanks Stephanie!

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  5. Yes! That's what I'm all about these days--realness and syrup!

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  6. Great post, it's so true when you said "Sometimes life is messy and hard, but it's real." I truly agree with that. It's way better to live a real live and face the reality.


    On a lighter note, these are some gorgeous pancakes. They are really fluffy and fat. I know I have to make some this Sunday especially they are the "patient" pancakes. After all these years of cooking breakfast for the family, I still don't have the "perfect timing", on anything! hahaha...good that these pancakes can wait. ;) By the way, I really love your "motion picture.

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  7. Your pancake look delicious and I love your writing :)

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  8. Love the photos, so beautiful! And the pancakes sound delicious :)

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  9. These pancakes look so thick and chewy.. just how I like them. I love putting overripe berries in mine. Mmm.

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  10. I loved Kelsey's post! And I agree with your sentiments—I'd love it if we could all just live a little more honestly, no posing about our supposedly-charmed lives. I mean, I get that a blog, one that people want to read at least, is a portal to a neater, lovelier, and better-propped existence much like a magazine, but beneath the varnish, it would be nice to know that there was some substance. I wonder about that sometimes.

    Anyway, I love these real life pancakes Natasha! Beautiful photos. And by the sound of it, perfectly uncoordinated. :)

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  11. I am all about real life these days. Happy it resonated with you. And thank you so much! I hope the pancakes were patient enough too!

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  12. Thank you! They are my new favorite!

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  13. Well said. I'm all for lovely images and stories and foods, but like you said, I also want to know there is something behind it that's real. I appreciate the substance. Thanks for such a great comment!

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  14. The Café Sucré FarineMarch 13, 2013 at 4:11 PM

    I'm such sucker for pancakes, these look wonderful.

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  15. southerngirlskitchenMarch 19, 2013 at 10:18 AM

    Very nice post here... I think about this every time I open google reader and scroll through the links.. I hardly ever relate to what I read...and "pretend friending" that's a nice way to put it.. I know I don't fit the "norm" in this blog world, but I try to keep it real and just keep going. Glad I'm not alone. and next time you make these pancakes please invite me over. :)

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  16. I often feel that way too, so it's nice to see others relate to this, as I hope you could. Fitting the norm is super overrated--keeping it real on the other hand is not, and I appreciate that you do. Oh, and I'm always up for sharing pancakes with friends!

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  17. Kimberley HasselbrinkMarch 22, 2013 at 1:48 AM

    I hear ya. It's funny how it seems that so many of us crave the authentic and yet are compelled to evoke something perfect, or at least ideal. (I don't exclude myself from this!) I'll take a buckwheat pancake any Sunday.

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  18. One thing I heard recently (maybe at Alt?) was that when we compare ourselves to others on blogs or social media, we're comparing our whole, messy selves to their highly edited version. If someone's house is clean and white and filled with light in a post, and then I look at my dark and cluttered apartment, I feel terrible. But they might have a room brimming with junk or a garage that can't be entered. We just never know. Which is all to say, I love this post, and yes, let's all definitely get a little more real. Also, buckwheat blueberry pancakes with inadvertently scrambled eggs? I want that breakfast big time.

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  19. It is a rather conflicting notion. And I am certainly guilty of it, but I'm working on finding a balance!

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  20. Thank you so much for this comment--such a great way to put it and so true.

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