Banana Sour Cream Pancakes with Coconut and Chocolate

The day after Thanksgiving – ahhhh…since I don’t care for Black Friday, I finally have time to make myself a nice breakfast and write down a couple of recipes. It has been a busy month, mainly because I decided to go back to Microsoft – can’t live with – can’t live without :-). This is the 3rd time I am back at Microsoft, so hopefully this time its a charm and will last for a while.

The most memorable event in the past 4 weeks was Mike’s yearly Fishlake outing for his birthday which we got to celebrate with the Sudore’s and Dowd family.

While the guys spent time fishing, the ladies stocked up on German Pretzels and Beer in Leavenworth.

We never get tired of this beautiful view

The weekend after Mike’s birthday is Halloween and even though we rarely get any trick or treater’s, Mike loves to decorate the outside and spook the little ones…

We also had a couple nice days here and there and took the opportunity to soak in the last sunrays before Seattle drowns in rain.

Speaking of rain…Thanksgiving “pre-day” (Wednesday) was a pretty rainy day, so perfect for cooking up the side dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner at the Sudore’s – Green beans, butternut squash soup, gravy, Avocado chocolate pudding (sounds weird but it was really tasty), tomato mozzarella brochettes and lastly home made sourdough bread (Sams’ favorite).

I thought I include this gravy recipe as I am looking for it every Thanksgiving but never think gravy yields its own blog entry even though gravy is really important for our Thanksgiving meal.

Turkey Gravy:

Ingredients:

2 turkey necks
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
3/4 cup celery
6 cups of chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons of cornstarch

Directions:

Combine chicken necks, onions, carrots, celery and 1 cup of water in a medium sized pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover, stir often over high heat until liquid is evaporated and giblets and vegetables are browned and begin to stick to the pan, 15-20 minutes longer.
Add 4-6 cups of chicken broth (depending on how much gravy you need) and pepper to the pan, stir, cover and reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until turkey necks are tender, around 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Mix together 1/4 cup water with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Pour turkey/veggie mixture though a fine strainer into a pot and put back onto the stove. When the mixture is boiling mix in the cornstarch/water mixture gradually until your desired gravy consistency is reached. Add salt to taste.

After so much hearty food, I really was looking forward to a lighter fare breakfast the day after and had a hankering for pancakes…but not your typical flour tasting ones, I was looking for something light and fresh and decided to use up my overripe bananas, left over coconut milk from the Avocado chocolate pudding and sour cream from Wednesday’s pozole and the most delicious pancakes came together this way.

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes with Coconut and Chocolate – makes 12 small pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup semolina flour
1-2 tablespoons sugar substitute
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup thick sour cream (or Quark)
1/2 cup coconut milk (or regular milk or almond milk)
2 eggs, beaten
1 banana, mashed
2 tablespoons butter
Toppings: powdered sugar, flaked coconut, chocolate sprinkles, fruit of your choice, syrup

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine everything and let rest for 5 minutes.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat, lightly coat with butter or vegetable spray, use 2-3 tablespoons of butter per pancake. Cook until small bubbles appear at the edges about 3-4 minutes, flip and cook another minute.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and add your favorite toppings.

Enjoy!