3-2-1 Pancakes

So, PAPAYA!!!  The whole point of making anything with papaya was to let the kids explore this beautiful and delicious fruit through taste, sight and touch. So, when I discovered this recipe for 3-Grain Papaya Pancakes, I immediately knew that it would offer me an opportunity to teach the kids about WAY more than just papaya.

The idea of calling the recipe "3-2-1 Pancakes" popped into my head while I was running; 3 different kinds of grain, papaya 2 different ways, 1 delicious meal. Kids like catchy titles and I love to "hook" them with really fun ones at the beginning of class! First, I love the idea of using more than one type of flour. At home, I do a lot of gluten-free baking and have discovered that a combination of rice and tapioca flours (plus a tiny bit of flax meal, depending on what I am baking) is my favorite. So, I was excited to introduce new flours to the classes. Second, while the original recipe only suggests that papaya is used as a topping/dipping sauce in the form of a puree, I wanted the kids to see the versatility of this food. So, I added chopped papaya to the batter. Third, adding this delicate chopped papaya gave me an idea to teach the difference between stirring, whisking and folding.

The original recipe suggested whole wheat flour, polenta, and buckwheat or spelt. I decided on whole wheat flour (easy to find and hearty), coconut flour (high in fiber and contains a little courseness that you might expect from polenta) and buckwheat in lieu of spelt (only because I could locate it.)

Look at these beautiful papayas. We examined the papayas by slicing them open, scraping the seeds into a bowl and describing how they looked.

We prepared the papaya by slicing it and placing some of it in the food processor. We whirled it all around...

and made a puree...

that was really fun to look at!

Then, we started assembling the wet ingredients. This was such a solid opportunity to talk about whisking. We even talked about the "secret ingredient" that it added to the mixture when you whisk: air! Look at these kids go! The whisk is just a blur in this pictures!

And, on Friday, we thought we were having fun, until THIS GUY showed up...THEN, it was really a party!

Then, we prepared the dry ingredients.

When we had one bowl of each,

we mixed it all together by stirring--a method which is different from whisking.

Then, we discussed the method of folding.

We gently folded some chopped papaya into our batter.

Then, we fired up some really delicious pancakes.

This group from the orange room loved the pancakes AND the dipping sauce. As a whole, most of the kids ate their pancake and many asked for second helpings. Two little girls asked for thirds! And, one of the teachers confessed that she ate three! Whoo-hoo! The surprising thing about this recipe is how light the pancakes are. The next time you plan to make pancakes, try making them with a mixture of different flours; I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

Also, despite the fact that we were serving pancakes, not a single child asked for syrup as an alternative to the papaya puree. This was also a great opportunity for me to talk to the kids about putting something other than syrup on their pancakes at home. Here are some suggestions:

1. Any nut or non-nut butter (i.e. nutella, almond butter, sunflower butter)
2. Strawberry Yogurt
3. Powdered sugar + lemon juice
4. Honey
5. Pureed Fruit!!!

Quotes of the Day:

Me: "What do these papaya seeds remind you of?"

Answers: 

1. frog eggs

2. blueberries

3. circles

4. caviar (Miss Linda's answer)

"My dad is a professional pancake maker. He could make these pancakes at home."

"I make cookies with my mom. She's my best friend." 

3-2-1 Pancakes: (3 grains, Papaya 2 Ways, 1 Delicious Meal)

1 papaya, seeded and coarsely chopped + a little finely chopped

1 extra large egg

1 cup rice milk (you will probably need a little more depending on which flours you choose)

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp sea salt

Coconut oil

Put the papaya in a blender and blend, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth, then transfer to a bowl and set aside. Reserve the finely chopped papaya for the pancake batter!

In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg with a whisk. Add the rice milk and 2 tbsp of the sunflower oil and whisk. In another bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Fold in the finely chopped papaya.

Heat a little coconut oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, or heat a griddle pan, over medium-low heat. Working in batching, pour 2 tbsp. of the batter into the skillet to make a pancake and repeat, spacing the pancakes slightly apart. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until the bubbles that appear on the surface pop and the undersides of the pancakes are lightly browned.

Serve hot with the papaya puree. Alternatively, sprinkle with freshly squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar.

Thank you SO MUCH to Shawn Whitman (Katherine's dad) (aka: Chef-boy-ar-dude) for volunteering on Friday. He took some fabulous pictures and made the kids laugh like crazy. 

I must say, although Shawn calls himself "Chef-boy-ar-dude", with his hat and newly found facial hair, he looks more like Gaston or Pierre to me. 

Some thoughts on entertaining completely unrelated to Papaya Pancakes:

On Saturday night, we invited my husband's cousin (Marcel), his wife (Lorie) and their three kids (Landon, Hunter and Camden) over for dinner. Marcel is an engineer for the Navy and they are moving to California in two weeks. They both also happen to be fabulous cooks. So, I needed an easy, delicious and sort-of homemade dinner on the same day that we had a morning soccer game and an mid-afternoon birthday party. Here is what I came up with:

I went to Fresh Market and found three delicious cheeses (cheddar+blue, swiss, brie), french rounds, thai curried cashews, mixed olives and pickles, spicy hummus with vegetable chips, gluten free pretzels and social crackers.

This salad was to be served as a side dish or a main entree. It included: mixed greens, toasted pine nuts, crumbled blue cheese, sliced red onion, diced cucumbers, shaved carrot, and crispy red peppers. I offered a choice of two dressings: honey mustard (literally plain yellow mustard, honey and cracked black pepper...and so very delicious) and a Greek vinaigrette.

We had a well-stocked refrigerator, complete with a variety of beers and sweet iced tea. Dinner (which was not photographed due to total chaos) was corn on the cob and burgers on the grill. I prepped the corn on the cob (before the mid-afternoon birthday party) by shucking it, then wrapping it in aluminum foil with butter and salt. The ground beef was mixed with a little barbecue sauce, an egg yolk, salt and pepper. We had fresh tomato, a variety of mustard and pickles, ketchup and Vermont cheddar cheese for the burgers.

Look at these adorable cousins. Baby Camden (who is about 2 months old) is hanging out with mom behind the scenes.

Since we missed Landon's birthday party, I decided to have a little cake for him and sing Happy Birthday. I made a simple sheet cake (before the soccer game), iced it and let the kids decorate it. They had a blast throwing jelly beans and colored sugars on the cake. Eventually the sugar just went directly into their mouths, which was the clear indication that it was time to eat the cake, instead of decorate it!

A simple menu. A fun night. A relatively easy clean up.

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