Banana pancakes

I've been on a banana craze lately. I buy bananas just to wait for them to be too ripe to eat just so I can use them to bake something. This morning I made banana pancakes. They are from the allrecipes.com website and they had a ton of great reviews so it didn't seem like I could go wrong. I usually make mini pancakes just because that's what size is good for my son. As you can see it made a ton of mini pancakes. I added walnuts to mine just to give a little more texture-about 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. A great weekend breakfast!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions

Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

Granola

I've been wanting to make my own granola for quite some time. I see people do it all the time. I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and this one place made granola pancakes and it sounded so good, so I finally pulled out this recipe and set off to the market. I realized that you can put whatever you want in your granola. It's really up to you. I think it's the honey blend that's important. That's the part that is key to making the type of granola you like. This makes TONS of granola. I almost don't even know what to do with it! My son actually loves eating the granola nuggets-and I don't feel so bad because it's got good stuff in it.

We've been eating it as a snack, topping our yogurt with it and making granola pancakes with it which are amazing. I HIGHLY recommend mixing it with your pancake mix. It gives it such a nice texture.

I used the granola from allrecipes.com, but I modified it to my own liking. Here is my modified version:

Ingredients

8 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups wheat germ
1 1/2 cups flax seed meal
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Optional ingredients: oat bran, sunflower seeds, cranberries, raisins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
Combine the oats, wheat germ, coconut, flax seed meal, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly and not too thick on the baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 30-49 minutes. Stir once halfway through.


Truly an amazing recipe for a classic homemade granola!

Tender Greens

My dear friends A+L+B took me to try Tender Greens this week. There are a few other locations on the Westside and Hollywood, but I've never been. It just opened here in Pasadena on Friday and I wonder where it's been my whole life. I didn't know what to expect-the name in itself does not make the place sound appetizing in the least. Tender Greens gets most of their ingredients from Scarborough Farms in Oxnard and small local farms. Most of their food is organic. I'm not one of those "everything must be organic" type of people. I'm actually turned off by places that are strictly organic-it doesn't sound like it would taste good, but this place is amazing. If you're skeptical like I was, this place is the place to change your views of that! Pasadena isn't really known for any really good restaurants, but this is a new favorite of mine.

They have perfectly roasted vegetables, fresh salads, soups, fried chicken, mashed potatoes..it suits all different palates. And their desserts are supposedly really good too. I only had their chocolate pot de creme sprinkled with sea salt, which was fairly good. I had their tuna nicoise salad, tomato soup, and fingerling potatoes with parmesan cheese. Everything was delicious. Their salad wasn't overdressed, their tomato soup was made with fresh tomatoes and their potatoes weren't overdone or dry.

The service was amazing as well...I hope it stays that way-I know new places tend to have great service at the beginning and then taper off once the novelty of it has worn off.
I've been thinking of this place since I've gone...I think I'll go again tonight and take my husband. You must go!

621 East Colorado Avenue
Pasadena CA, 91101

Tel: 626 405-1511
Fax: 626 405-1508

Hours:
Sunday-Thursday: 11:30am-9:00pm
Friday-Saturday: 11:30am-10:00pm

Converse Slips

We couldn't help but to get these. They are the cutest things I've seen. The best part is that there are no laces to fuss with. The back of the shoe pulls back and all you have to do is slip your foot in. It comes in a few colors. I've seen red and blue, and pink and black. I can't wait to put them on the LO.

Gyoza

One of my most favorite foods in the world is gyoza. I could eat 30 of them on my own. Gyoza means dumplings in Japanese. There are a million different ingredients you can put inside and my mom will tell you that she NEVER puts garlic in hers, but to each their own. In this gyoza I used ground pork, water chestnuts, cabbage, dried shiitake, nira (garlic chives), ginger, salt and a little bit of sesame oil.

I didn't really measure the ingredients so I can give you approximate amounts... I used a package of ground pork, 3 inches of ginger-skin removed, 1/4 head of a cabbage, a can of water chestnuts, 8 or so dried shiitake (soak in water for 10 minutes and then chop finely) I chopped the nira into tiny pieces (If you can't find nira, you can use one clove of garlic finely chopped) I add about a teaspoon of salt and a few drops of sesame oil.

I chop all of the ingredients and mix together.

Then the fun part. Filling and folding. I remember watching my mom fill and fold each gyoza thinking about how daunting it was. Boring. I tried to avoid her when it was gyoza night because guaranteed she would ask for help. I hated this part of the process, but somewhere along the way this became somewhat therapeutic to me. Now I could sit for hours on end filling and folding them. I got the hang of pleating the tops of the gyoza. You could definitely just wet the wrapper and not do a fancy pleat, but it's a nice detail to add and at every Japanese restaurant you'll find it done this way.

You can fry them, steam them, put them in soup...it's endless. My favorite way is to fry them in a pan with a little bit of oil until you get a crispy bottom, then add a few tablespoons of water to the pan, cover it with the lid and let the rest of it steam.

The Japanese way to eat these is to dip it in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar and a few drops of sesame oil. It's definitely worth the time!

Toms and Tiny Toms

Since it's all about Father's Day I decided to get the LO and Daddy some matching shoes. Tommy is exchanging his shoes for a different stlye, but how cute are the tiny Toms? Not only is it a great purchase, but knowing that someone else is getting a pair too makes the deal even sweeter!

Father's Day

It's Father's Day! We've been waiting for this day for a long time. It's officially Tommy's first Father's Day and we wanted to make sure it was very special. We spent the morning at The Rooftop Restaurant at the London Hotel. It couldn't have been a more perfect location. Outdoors, relaxing, beautiful view of the city, wonderful staff and wonderful service. They know how to treat their patrons well. This place is perfect for little ones because it's outdoors so you don't have to worry about being too loud. (We were a little worried because Keags didn't take his morning nap yet. yikes!) We were seated and a high chair was already prepped for us. They had a $45 per person menu which included wonderful pastries (croissant, chocolate croissants, french bread, and apple turnovers) you get a choice of a champagne drink, coffee or tea, an entree and choice of dessert. I had a peach bellini, the breakfast burger and a chocolate almond cake. Tommy had a mimosa, chicken and waffles and a wonderful lemon curd tart with burnt meringue and sorbet. The best part were the pastries and the desserts. Keagan too enjoyed the buttery croissants and fresh baked french bread. My dessert was delicious. It was served with coffee buttercream and a coffee milkshake. Tommy's dessert was beautiful and delicious. Our entrees were so so. I won't even bother to say anything about them. Nothing memorable. The staff entertained Keagan and were very playful with him and we had the freedom to roam around with our LO. It's been a wonderful Father's Day so far!