Aloha Pancakes

It's Saturday night, when lots of people unwind, party or just lay beached-whale-style on the couch and stare at the tube. It's also a perfect time for...

Breakfast for Dinner!

I am seriously dreaming of vacationing close to the coast, but our work schedules aren't allowing for that anytime soon. Why not bring the coast to us, in a town deemed the Heart of Texas? Heart of Texas, shortened H.O.T., and that it is. No coast, a couple of rivers and a fake lake (ok, Army Corps created). We're at 100 degree days. Boy, do we need a little coastal comfort.

These pancakes were thrown together, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the outcome. These are some of my favorite fruits, and I hope you like them, too. Normally, warm pineapple is not my thing, but this worked well. 2 notes:

1) Toasted coconut would be tasty in this, but a certain lady caught her toaster oven on fire tonight while trying to do so. Shocked the smoke alarm didn't go off. Hope you're toasting goes better.

2) Fresh fruit is ideal (especially when fresh pineapples are $2 right now at our grocery!) but canned works, too.

Aloha Pancakes
serves 4, 16 3-inch pancakes

Fruit-filled pancakes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup bread flour (or all-purpose)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 cup skim milk
1 egg
1/3 cup chopped coconut
1/3 cup shredded coconut (sweet or un)
1/4 cup chopped cherries (8 cherries)
1 medium banana, sliced 1/4-inch thick
Optional other ingredients: 1/4 cup chocolate chips, chopped macedamia nuts, or chopped mango

Tools needed: skillet/pan for pancakes, 2 medium bowls, 1 large spoon, 1 spatula, can of nonstick spray

It really is a pretty batter, trust me :)

Steps:
1) Heat a skillet or pan to medium-high heat. In a medium bowl, stir the first 5 ingredients until well blended.


2) In a second bowl, stir almond extract, milk and egg until combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend. Fold in fruits until well blended. If batter is too thick for your liking, add milk, 2 TB at a time.


3) Spoon 3 TB or so of batter to make a small pancake (bigger will take much longer to cook). Wait until bubbles and flip, cooking for 3 more minutes or so. 

Melty banana and pineapple in the middle

I hope you like these little flapjacks. They took me to a happy place as I daydreamed of breezy beaches and ukulele serenades over dinner. Happy vacationing over a fun breakfast meal next to the shore or at your own kitchen table.

Little Jeweled Pieces of Paradise...I hope

A little trivia...

~Spanish explorers discovered and named the coconut "Coco," meaning monkey face, because of the 3 indentations resembling a face.

~Falling coconuts kills over 150 people a year, about 10 times the rate of people killed by sharks. Strange.

~You can make coconut butter (a wonderful spread on toast, in baking, etc.) by putting shredded coconut into a food processor and blending until it becomes a creamy, smooth consistency. It's a $1.50 solution to avoiding the $10 jar of coconut butter in health food stores.