Remember Juno? Aka the era of “dining halls are closed so we will distribute rations”? Okay, maybe it wasn’t really an era but to a first year college student coming from a life of 24-7 stocked-fridge access, it might as well have been. The email instructing us to pick up “meal bags with provisions for two meals” scared the bejebies out of me. So…this happened:
photo by Wendy Sun
Yup, this here stash is $20 worth of Durfee’s goods and priceless stares from dining hall staff as I hoarded five bananas in my backpack.
In the end, we made it out of Juno alive and were probably more concerned than we should have been. In fact, I’m pretty sure our lack of snow days henceforth was some form of punishment for that blissfully class-less, moderately snow-less day on January 27th. Life resumed as usual and I’d totally forgotten about the era of rations…until Friday rolled around and something smelled funny. And this wasn’t your quintessential “I haven’t done my laundry in two weeks” smell. No, sir, it was not. I peeped into my drawer, emptied the fridge, and voila.
photo by Wendy Sun
Ah, yes. The essence of aging banana. Needless to say, for the sake of the noses of suite B31, bananas had to go. Luckily, I came across this article on what to do when you have way too many bananas, courtesy of my editor-in-chief. I was immediately drawn to the two-ingredient pancakes because 1) they’re pancakes and 2) they require two ingredients.
That Saturday morning, I recruited a lovely Spoon photographer and a fellow health nut to help me cook. Before I continue, I should probably make a confession: I love food. I really do. I’m quite good at eating it. But, uh, cooking it? Not so much.
The recipe goes like this: mash banana, mix in eggs, pour onto a lightly greased, non-stick pan, flip when bubbles show and serve when golden-brown. Pretty idiot-proof. Or so I thought.
Banana mashing isn’t my forte, so I nominated the food processor for step one.
photo by Kristina Kim
I can crack and beat eggs just fine, though, so step two went smoothly.
photo by Kristina Kim
Pouring the batter required a bit more finesse, but we survived step three nonetheless.
Such skill
photo by Kristina Kim
Much round
photo by Kristina Kim
Very pancake
photo by Kristina Kim
Now step four…step four is another story. We were pretty disappointed by how the first batch turned out aesthetically—they looked more like broken crepes. (Which, if you ever so desire, you can get for a steal at this quaint, cozy food cart.)
photo by Kristina Kim
We tried making batch after batch, but for some reason, none of us, not even the master chef behind these beautiful pancakes, could flip the pancakes without either a) turning them into banana scrambled eggs or b) completely burning one side [picture is omitted for sake of viewer].
photo by Kristina Kim
At this point, we democratically decided to pour the rest of the batter in and hope for the best. Let’s just say we ended up with lots of banana-egg oatmeal. Not too shabby, in my humble opinion, but maybe that’s just me trying to console myself.
photo by Kristina Kim
So then we were left to dine on an impressive selection of banana egg fails, ranging from broken crepe to scrambled egg to mushy oatmeal. What’s most surprising, though, is that they weren’t half bad! With the soul-healing remedies of peanut butter, fruit spread, greek yogurt, agave and blueberries, we were able to turn our frowns upside-down.
photo by Kristina Kim
The greek yogurt and agave, mixed with soymilk, made for some wicked tasting maple cream frosting.
photo by Kristina Kim
Peanut butter. The answer is always peanut butter. (I know this doesn’t look that appetizing but please rest assured that the peanut butter and fruit spread complemented the slightly burnt banana-egg pancake quite well.)
photo by Kristina Kim
What’s the moral of this rather embarrassing story?
While we didn’t realize it at the time, a messed up recipe doesn’t have to mean a messed up meal. Experimentation is your friend. Don’t be afraid to mix things together that aren’t necessarily destined to be mixed together! Here’s to creativity! To making yummy food! To peanut butter!
P.S. I do recommend you stay away from these food combinations.
P.P.S. For you brave souls planning to try this recipe, we recommend you to use low heat. That’s actually probably why our pancakes didn’t flip properly.