Eggy Banana Pancake

Three years ago I started getting migraines.  If I was lucky, I would get one every once in a while, but if I was unlucky, I would get one every day for a week.  Medicine helped with the pain, but left me just as incapacitated: light headed, shaky, and weak.  As I started to become more conscious of my migraines, I noticed they were usually triggered by low blood sugar; they would begin around 10 or 11, right when my breakfast wore off. 

For the first time, I began to strongly connect what I ate to how I felt.  I researched the correlation between carbohydrates, insulin, and blood glucose.  I learned that my “healthy” breakfast of whole grain cereal and low fat milk may not be what was best for my body.  I started simply enough, switching my breakfast from the all American favorite, cereal, to fruit and nut butter, and I immediately noticed a change.  My new, seemingly light breakfast could carry me through to one or two o’clock, without a worry to my blood sugar or a resulting migraine. 

I have since changed my diet further, eliminating grains entirely, along with legumes, refined sugars, and most dairy products.  And I haven’t had a full blown migraine in over two years.  I certainly have my slip-ups, and I make dietary exceptions for special occasions such as holidays and vacation, but if I make too many exceptions in a row, I can feel the migraines slipping back in.

On the weekends, when I have extra time, I like to prepare something more complex for breakfast.  In a way it reminds me of home and growing up; my Dad, without fail, would cook pancakes on Saturday and eggs on Sunday.  Below is my recipe for a grain free, dairy free, added sugar free, pancake. And don’t worry, it’s tasty, I promise.  The key to the recipe is patience.  If you cook the pancake too fast or flip it too soon, it will fall apart.  I typically use a mixture of “pumpkin-pie” spices for extra flavor, but lemon zest, vanilla extract, or berries would also be nice additions.  Serves one. 

               Eggy Banana Pancake

               1 tablespoon oil or butter

               1 ripe banana

               1 large egg

               ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

               Pinch of cloves

               Pinch of cardamom

Warm a heavy frying pan equipped with a tight fitting lid on medium to medium low heat for 10 minutes.  Once warmed, add the oil or butter to the pan.  Meanwhile, mash the banana in a bowl.  Add the egg to the mashed banana and whisk together.  Finally add the spices to the mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the pancake batter into the pan and cover with a lid.  Cook the pancake for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for five minutes longer.  Next flip the pancake and cook for an additional five minutes uncovered.  Remove from the pan and serve warm.  I typically eat my pancake with a tablespoon of hazelnut butter, but my husband likes his plain.  You could also top with honey, maples syrup, or jam.

The German Rabbit

I’m back.  It’s been a while.  In the last two years a lot has changed.  I got married to my best friend.  I earned my Ph.D..  I started my first “real” job.  And probably the most important thing, at least as far of the content of this blog is concerned, is my family and I (my husband, and our two cats) moved to Heidelberg, Germany, seven months ago.  

The move to Germany has completely changed my approach to food and cooking.  I no longer take my weekly drive to a large box grocery store.  I no longer truck home my large haul to be stored in my American-sized refrigerator and freezer.  Here, my German neighbors and I grocery shop every day or every other day, bringing home our goods to be stored in a refrigerator one half to two thirds the size of those found in the US.  I no longer have access to any and all ingredients my heart could desire, and I’ve found myself having to quickly change plans and improvise when I can’t find butternut squash, avocado, or green beans at the grocery store.  The city grocery stores are sized to match the German refrigerators, and they carry a much more seasonal selection of produce and meat.  I can buy inexpensive chanterelle mushrooms, chestnuts, endive, strawberries, or white asparagus, as long as they are in season.  A lesson I’ve learned: if you see something interesting at the grocery store, buy it, because it may not be there next week or even the next day.  So when I recently found a whole, fresh rabbit at my neighborhood grocery store, I didn’t hesitate.

I had never cooked rabbit before. In the US I wasn’t accustomed to finding it, outside of the freezer section of some gourmet grocery stores. And it certainly wasn’t something I came across frequently in rural Mississippi or middle Wisconsin, where I spent the last 11 years. Rabbit is a very mild tasting meat, similar in flavor and texture to chicken, although unique in its own right.  I chose a recipe for braised rabbit in mustard, like the ones found here, here, and here.  The most challenging part was butchering the rabbit into individual pieces, but Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook does a nice job of explaining the process, step-by-step.  In the end, we had a delicious meal of braised rabbit, green beans with shallot vinaigrette, and roasted pumpkin.  I will continue to look for new and different ingredients in Germany. There will be failures and successes, but exploring unusual food is part of my new great adventure, though you don’t have to live in a foreign country to be adventurous with food.  Don’t hesitate to snap up any unique ingredients you find back home.  You never know, you may discover a new favorite dish.