Recipe: Maia and Ghab's Choco-Banana Pancakes

Pancakes were supposed to be in yesterday's breakfast menu. But I was rushing to be in the office early so I had to beg the kids for a one-day extension. This morning they didn't let me get away with it. Maia forcefully dragged me out of bed the minute she woke up. 

"Pancakes, Mommy!"

"Okay sige, I'll call you when I've prepared the ingredients already. You can still go back to sleep"

"Pero gising na ako eh! Hindi na ako inaantok. At gusto kong mag-mix! Ako ang magmi-mix!"

Okay, I rest my case. So we were up and about by 6am getting everything we needed out on the table. Then she called her Ate Ghabby to help us prepare the pancakes. "Crack the egg Mom and I will mix" My little commander just took over my kitchen kingdom. She actually feels like the expert pancake maker in our home ever since she learned to make one herself so I usually give her the free reign during pancake days. Her dad had to hurry up with his breakfast so we can have the entire dining table to ourselves.

Here's what we needed to make the pancakes:

1 pack 250g pancake mix (I used Maya, my pancakes usually turn out a lot fluffier when I use this brand)

1 tsp chocolate power (I used Goya here since that's what I have on stock)

a pinch of cinnamon

1 large egg, beaten till fluffy

1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 pieces ripe bananas, sliced thinly

chocolate chips/shavings

How we did it:

1. Beat the eggs till they fluffy. 

2. Add in the remaining wet ingredients (oil, milk, water) and mix well.

3. Mix in the dry ingredients (cinnamon, pancake mix and chocolate powder)

4. Whisk till there are no more lumps. 

5. Add in the chocolate chips/shavings and mix.

6. Heat a non-stick pan (over low fire) and scoop out about half a cup of the batter unto the heated pan. 

7. Top with bananas and  flip over when the mixture start to bubble.

8. Serve hot (you may slather with butter or maple syrup, whatever you prefer to garnish it with. The kids had fun with the butter and the syrup this morning. They finished their pancakes with great gusto).

Enjoying the fruit of their labor. :)

This recipe yielded about three mickey pancakes and four 5-in circular pancakes. It might have tasted better if I dropped some vanilla syrup unto my pancake batter too but I ran out so I replaced it with cinnamon instead. It didn't came out cinnamon-y though because the chocolate probably was more overpowering. I plan to make colorful pancakes next and maybe make some traffic light pancakes just like what my friend Erlaine did with her cutie daughter (and Maia's friend) Kelsea. Pancakes are indeed fun to make with kids! Next time I hope to make my pancakes from scratch (and maybe experiment with other ingredients too). 

Maia's Fave: Stir-fried broccoli and carrots with diced chicken

I usually post my recipes in my other blog (our family blog) but I thought it would be a nice idea as well for me to share with you some of Maia's favorites. I'll start with sharing her favorite foods since I'm still overwhelming with pride seeing her empty her plates during mealtime this past weekend.

We had this for lunch yesterday and this was a special dish I especially cooked for Maia. She's been a broccoli monster since she got introduced to this vegetable when she was just less than a year old (I think, I couldn't really remember now). Maia could still be picky at times but what we usually do to curve that is we refrain from giving her snacks especially if she's had a full meal during breakfast and lunch to save her appetite for dinner. This works most of the time, but I really couldn't say right now if it's THE long term solution for us.

Anyways, I've tried making this with left over litson manok, fish fillet and shrimps (just substitute the chicken with whatever meat or seafood you have). It's a really flexible dish and you can add in your kid's other fave vegetables (as long as it won't alter the taste so much - i.e. sayote, cabbage, cauliflower)

Prep time: 15 mins (mostly chopping duties)
Cooking time: 15-25 mins 


What I used for this recipe:

• 2 pcs of breast fillet, diced/cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup of broccoli florets 
• 1 medium carrot, cut into 1/4 inch strips
• 1 pc small white onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp oil (you can use whatever you have but of course olive oil would be the healthiest), I used coconut oil for this one because I wanted to stir-fry the chicken so I needed something that has a higher smoking point 
• 1 tsp cornstarch, diluted into 1/2 cup of water (this is optional. you can use plain water  if you don't have cornstarch)
• 1/4 teaspoon, light soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• a few drops of sesame oil (for the chinese taste hehe)
• chopped leeks (this is optional because we had to pick them out of Maia's plate anyways), for garnish

How I did it:

1. Blanched the broccoli florets and carrot strips in boiling water for about a minute, drained and set aside

2. Sauteed garlic and onion. I usually let the onion sweat (because I find my dish a lot more tasteful when I do)

3. Add in the diced chicken. Stir-fry till chicken turns whitish (I like it when the chicken gets a little brown of the side, it gives me assurance that it's really cooked). Season at this point with light soy sauce, salt and pepper (I usually season my meat and not the veggies)

4. Add in the veggies, stir-fry for 2 mins. 

5. Add in the cornstarch slurry. Then stir till sauce thickens. Simmer for 2 mins.

6. Serve with hot, steamed rice. Enjoy!!!!

This recipe was able to feed 4 hungry stomachs at lunchtime. We were able to set aside a small bowl for the little miss's dinner and we were rewarded with 2 clean plates on both meals. Yay. We were happy parents!

BEFORE AND AFTER (well actually on the left was her lunch plate but I wasn't able to take a photo of the plate after. Right plate was from dinner and it was just a repeat of the lunch plate so I figured this would do *lol. That was more than a cup of red rice, mind you!

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