BANANA, CHOC CHIP AND COCONUT FLAPJACKS

I haven’t been much into blogging lately. Just not feeling in the mood to take photos and write up. After MoFo I think I’m a little burnt out. I also feel like I’m not cooking anything too exciting. So what have I been doing? Well Mike and I are in saving, budgeting mode. Mike is still waiting for his work permit and we have no idea when it will be approved (and can’t get updates). That being the case we could look in the mailbox tomorrow and it’ll be there or we could get to April with no news. It’s been four months so far so we’re hoping it’s sooner than April. It’s a little bit annoying as Mike is Australian and in IT so in Germany these are considered ‘privileged’, and the process should take 6-8 weeks. Unfortunately due to an error made by the Visa Application department when submitting a form to the Work Approval Permit department we have been stuck in this long process of waiting, where no one appears to be doing anything. So money is very tight as we have to watch every cent less we may have to pack up and return to Australia. With this in mind I have been working on a budgeting spreadsheet. I have always had a budgeting spreadsheet (being half accountant) but I have made enhancements! I have been looking at prices at different supermarkets and entering them in so when I make a shopping list it will show me where the cheapest item is. I have also been learning to shop from a catalogue and make meals based on weekly specials. Taking advantages of specials takes a little bit of planning when there is only two of you, how do I use up 4kg of potatoes! Anyway that’s just an update of why I have been missing from the blogging world, twitter and the like.

On to the food! These are what I made for Christmas Morning Breakfast. On Christmas morning we were up early to make these little beauties and Skype Australia. So in PJ’s with breakfast and a coffee we had a 3 hour video call with my family. These Flapjacks (modified from Vegan Brunch) were a fantastic Christmas morning breakfast and very,very filling. According to the Wiki a flapjack is a thick small pancake often served in a stack with syrup and butter, which is exactly how we served them (minus the butter). Sweet and comforting with lots of maple syrup, they were very perfect for a special occasion.

Ingredients

• 2 very ripe medium bananas

• 2 tbsp canola oil

• 1/2 cup almond milk (or your favourite non-dairy milk)

• 1/2 cup water

• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup

• 1 cup all -purpose flour

• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

• Pinch ground allspice (optional)

• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

1.	Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl with a fork. Add the oil, milk, water, vinegar, and maple syrup and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Mix until there are very few clumps left but don’t over mix. Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.
2.	Preheat a non-stick skillet or crepe pan (I flick water on my crepe pan and wait for it to sizzle and dance around, which tells me it’s ready). Either spray some oil onto the pan or brush a little bit of oil over the pan, just enough to provide a thin coating. I like to make small flapjacks so pour a small amount of batter onto the pan. You should be able to fit two or three on the pan at once (depending on how big your pan is). But really you can make any size flapjack that you can handle. Cook until the top looks somewhat dry (about 3 minutes). Flip over and cook for another minute.
3.	Transfer to  a plate covered with tinfoil to keep the flapjacks warm while you prepare the others.

This recipe is modified from: Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For--From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz This recipe can also be found on Google Books and uses material from the Wikipedia article Pancake.