Breakfast & Dessert - Green Banana Pancakes, Fruit Medley Bread Pudding

I haven't talked about breakfast much. Most days I eat fruit, just fruit. I get up earlier than my husband and make a full blender of whatever fruit I grab that morning: bananas, melon, pineapple, mango, oranges, kiwi's, sometimes papaya, whatever is in season, and almost always an avocado. Avocados are very versatile as well as beneficial. Besides creating a creamy texture, the avocado helps to give me a fuller feeling as I go through the morning. Most of the time the only thing I add to the fruit is a little filtered water to help the blending. Sometimes I will add some leftover coconut milk, but usually just fruit and water. I drink half of the pitcher and leave the other half for my husband.  I drink about three cups of blended fruit every morning. I try to eat at least three more servings of fruit throughout the morning.

This morning we had cooked fruit. I made my version of a green banana omelet from a recipe out of one of my favorite vegan cookbooks from the Blossoming Lotus. They call it a green banana omelet. I make it a little thinner than they do and call it a pancake. It does have kind of a fluffy omelet consistency. I have served it as an omelet with julienne carrots, celery, green onions, and nut cheese made from cashews just as in their Vegan World Fusion Cuisine cookbook.

I served them today with a fruit compote I made by combining some frozen peaches, pears, a few blueberries, and raspberries. About six cups of fruit total. Any combination of fruit can be used. I still have a little fruit in my freezer from last summer. Almost farmer's market time again, Woo Who!

I sweetened the fruit mixture with about 3 TB of pure maple syrup and added about a half tsp of lemon juice. I let this all cook down on a medium low heat until it was bubbly. I didn't cook it too much so some of the fruit pieces remained.

Banana Pancakes with Peach, Pear, Raspberry Fruit Topping

I call mine Green Banana Pancakes

5 or 6 green bananas.
1/2 cup spelt flour or your favorite whole grain flour
1 tsp baking powder

1. Cut the ends off the green bananas and score up the sides. Place the scored bananas in a 3 qt pot, cover with water, boil until you can easily poke a fork through them, approximately 20 minutes. Drain the water from the bananas and allow them to cool a few minutes.

2. Remove peels (which should come off easily) and place bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mash with a fork or masher. Add flour and baking powder to bananas and knead into a dough. Separate dough into 4 pieces. roll into balls. Pat the balls into small round patties, about 1/2 inch thick.

3. Heat a heavy skillet on medium heat until hot. Pour a small amount of oil onto skillet and fry pancake/omelet on one side until golden, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until golden brown on both sides.

These can be prepared with sweet or savory toppings. I think it's great fun to have pancakes and be eating mostly fruit. I can't believe I like to buy green bananas now. I used to buy them green so the boys didn't eat them so fast. If  I came home with five pounds of bananas my boys could and would eat that many in a day, maybe two, if I was lucky. Now that I like using them for cooking, it seems they are hard to get in the store that stay green. I usually buy them green the day before I want to make these. Most the time they are getting yellow the next morning, but they are still firm enough for this recipe. I have also made this with very ripe bananas, just skipping the blanching part and mashing them the way they are.

This next dessert is a vegetarian dessert. I used some of the fruit mixture above on the banana pancakes and used the rest of it in a bread pudding. I bought some homemade whole grain bread at the produce store yesterday and we won't eat it fast enough as bread before it goes bad. So, I made some bread pudding with the remaining fruit, about four slices of the whole grain bread, some free range egg whites, and a cup of oat milk, a dash of salt, and no additional added sweetener. I topped it with roasted almond slices and a little orange zest. Then poured a little Cashew Coconut cream over the top.