One of the things I’m looking forward to over the next couple of years as Ben and I start a family is creating some fun new family routines.
That’s right. I’m so type A that I literally cannot wait to incorporate more routines into my life. (I can practically hear Ben’s eyes rolling from here…) 
Growing up, my family life revolved heavily around routines and traditions, which I have (mostly) fond memories of.
My Dad coming home from work every week with a “Friday Treat” for my brothers and me? Super fond. Monday night spaghetti night? Fond. Church potluck suppers on Wednesday nights followed by choir practice? Mostly fond. Cleaning our bedrooms and the house every Sunday afternoon. Not so fond.
Please note that most of the fond memories revolve around food, and how weird is the word “fond” sounding right now after reading it for the 15th time in under a minute?
Anyways! Every Sunday morning before weekly bedroom cleaning commenced (ugh) my Dad would fire up the stove after church and make my brothers, Mom, and me whatever we wanted for brunch. This was the best part of the weekend!
French toast, pancakes, waffles, eggs, omelets, bacon, hash browns, or biscuit dough doughnuts from the Fry Daddy (omg) – he’d make a different dish for every single family member if we wanted it.
Well, last Sunday, when the whole family was at my brother and sister-in-law’s house after Evie’s baptism, I found out my brother has continued the tradition of making Sunday morning brunch for his family every week. Adorable.
We also found out that he’s continued the Friday night treat tradition for Finn (and eventually Evie, when she gets teeth!) which made my Dad so happy that it sent him into an emotional tailspin. It was…hilarious.
At any rate, apparently his specialty is homemade Banana Pancakes, as Finn is a banana fanatic, which he flipped all morning long for everyone who had come into town for the baptism. With a house full of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and more, there was a lot of mouths to feed, but he put the petal to the metal, went into Iron Chef mode (his words exactly,) and cranked out pancake after pancake ’til we had all gotten our fill.
They were delicious!
Normally I’m not a huge fan of “stuff,” like chocolate chips or berries, in my pancakes, but I am totally making an exception for these babies. Fluffy, tender, and laced with warm, creamy, banana pieces, each bite absolutely melted in my mouth.
They were so good, in fact, that I called my brother 2 days later and made him recite the recipe to me from memory so that I could make them for Ben and myself. Which I did. And now you can too! Well, not for Ben and me – but your family anyways!
Banana Pancakes
Makes 20-5″ pancakes (5 servings)
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 or 4 Tablespoons sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
4 Tablespoons melted butter, cooled & divided
2 cups milk
2 bananas, mashed to desired consistency (my bro likes them chunky)
Maple syrup
Directions:
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl then make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, 2 Tablespoons melted butter, and milk. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients then whisk until just combined. Fold in bananas.
- Brush pre-heated skillet with a bit of remaining melted butter, then pour a scant 1/4 cup batter to form each pancake. When bubbles appear all over the top of each pancake, flip then cook until golden brown. Remove to a plate and very loosely cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter then serve with warm maple syrup.
Whip up a batch of these Banana Pancakes for a yummy treat this weekend, or any night of the week for a quick and fun brinner. That’d be breakfast for dinner. You’ll love ‘em!
These look (and sound!) phenomenal….. I can’t wait to start traditions/routines, too!
Oh man these look awesome! I make a huge breakfast every Saturday morning (we call it naughty breakfast at my house
) and now I know what is on the menu for this Saturday!
Oh wow those look good…care to cater my breakfast on Saturday? lol
Oh yes! These look like a great “filler” after my Pumpkin Spice Eggo Waffles are gone after the season.
yummy yummy yummy! (: they looks delicious!
Yummers. Looks absolutely delicious. I have a fond banana memory from my childhood. As a treat, my mother would make the most delicious banana smoothies.
I could certainly add these pancakes to the “tradition” mix!
“as Ben and I start a family”
Are you pregnant? If so- squeeee!!!
If not, we readers can’t wait!
No, I’m not!
I love the light color of these — they look sooo fluffy and perfect!
Omg! I was so sad because no one in my family likes bananas! Not my husband, siblings, parents, in-laws..!!!? What?! BUT, I realized that I could just freeze extras.. although I’m sure they’re much better the first time.
Do you think I could at least half the recipe?
You can totally halve the recipe (or double, or triple – it’s very forgiving.) You can also swap out the banana for something everyone else would like too!
The recipe looks awesome!!!! But I am also in LOVE with those plates!!!! Will you share where you got them?
Also ~ when you start a family those little munchkins are going to be the cutest things ever (not to mention totally, wonderfully well-fed!)
Great pancake pictures.
Do you really have time to incorporate MORE routines into your life? Between blogging, cooking and your full time job, you’ve got to be crazy busy!
There are so many things that I love about this post:
1. The closeness of your family
2. Fond, fond fond – haha yes it sounds weird!!
3. Is someone preggo?
4. New word: Brinner
Wow I just made a list.. the type A in me as well
3: No!
OMG these look so so good! Seriously, I love how light they turn out. Looks like cooking runs in your family.
I read your blog just about everyday. I enjoy seeing the pics of your family and hearing about you guys’ traditions. It sounds like you really had a great childhood with the “all American family” feel, you know? It’s wonderful. I love reading your stories and hearing about the great times you had with them.
Our dads would be such little buddies! He would bring us Saturday Surprises, and he is the king of big weekend breakfasts! I love good dads
Wow this recipe looks great and I can not wait to try it out!! Do you think I could use almond milk instead of regular milk for this recipe??
Definitely! My nephew is allergic to cow’s milk so they use almond!
I love this — the recipe and the stories.
I think little traditions like that are great. Obviously, they were memorable to you and your siblings. It just goes to show that the most important things we can do for our kids are the little things. That’s what they’ll remember.
My hubby makes banana pancakes for me as a special treat….they are so awesome!! He puts oatmeal in them too….sooo good!!
These look delish…and is it just me or did anyone else end up with Jack Johnson stuck in their head?!!
Your family totally sounds like my in-laws! They still have a Sunday morning brunch and my hubby has tried to get me to follow suit. Of course we had cold cereal on Sunday mornings, so it’s a little harder for me to imagine doing that much work!
The pancakes look amazing. Your brother has good taste!
mmm banana pancakes are my absolute favourite kind of pancake!
xo julesinflats.com
Pancakes are my favorite breakfast option, and I love bananas! It is funny how so many family memories are centered around food- nothing can take me home more than just a whiff of certain foods.
Naw keep it in the family! What a pleasant tradition
Banana pancakes sounds so good!
Starting a family…anytime soon???
As a dedicated reader, who feels like I completely know you and you’re whole family hehe, I’ve been wondering when you and Ben were going to have a little one!! Is that strange coming from a stranger??
Hopefully that didn’t come out too creepy
We’re new[ish]lyweds too and I love the idea of starting new traditions/routines now when it’s just the two of us that we can share with our future family later.
And those pancakes look amazing!
oh mah gahhh. these look so great!
Perfect breakfast idea and looks easy too!
These look and sound amazing. And I have a good Jack Johnson song stuck in my head now!
Such an adorable post! I love your Dad’s traditions and that your brother has continued them. Too cute! Can’t wait to make these pancakes for my hubby!
These look delicious! Would’ve loved to see pics of Finn flipping the pancakes! What a cutie pie
Not to mention Evie too – your brother and SIL make adorable children!
Family traditions are so fun and create the best memories. I very much enjoyed reading about yours. I need to make those pancakes for my family. I love bananas and I love pancakes, so they have to be good! There are only three in my family so we often have leftover pancakes. I just cool them on a cutting board or rack and place them in a freezer bag in the freezer. They are great warmed up for breakfast during the week!
Reminds me of the Jack Johnson song! They look deeelicious! I have a question for you, Kristen! I remember from a while back you posting about how you manage your oily skin. I was just wondering if you have tried anything else since writing that post, or what you would recommend! Thanks
Hi there! Well, I tried the oil cleansing method for two weeks and it worked great at first, then my skin went to hell in a hand basket. I have no idea what happened! So, now I use Cerave to cleanse, which is sulfate free. Through all my research of the OCM method, I learned that sulfates in facial cleansers (which are also used in industrial cleansers) strip your face of it’s natural oils, which causes your skin to produce MORE oil to replace it. UGH! Anyways, Cerave seems to be working great but I’m still searching for a good everyday moisturizer. A few drops of pure jojoba oil (from Whole Foods) leaves my skin really really soft and NOT oily, but it seems like my makeup doesn’t stay on as well/long when I use it. Yesterday I bought Neutrogena’s oil-free moisturizer for sensitive skin so we’ll see how that goes. As night I use Cetaphil’s intense moisturizer, which I love. Ahhh, sorry for the long explanation. Does that help any?
Thank you for such a thorough response, it did help! The things we do for good skin, haha! I appreciate the tips and info, I’ll have to give Cerave a shot. I always use Cetaphil but it seems to be almost too heavy to put on before make-up, if that makes sense. I also recently bought the Smashbox light primer to use after I moisturize which is supposed to be a miracle worker for oily skin… I don’t know if I’ll have such luck but we’ll see! Thanks again!
We love Brinner in our house. And thanks to Scrubs we finally had a name to put with the breakfast-for-dinner meal! Thanks for all the great recipes!
Those sound fantastic! I bet they smell great while cooking, too.
Now I totally have the song “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson stuck in my head!!
This is such a very sweet post. I’m excited to carry on family routines and traditions too
My favorite tradition (or at least the one that is top of mind right now): every Wednesday before Thanksgiving break, my mom would scoop my brother and I from school just before lunch. She always brought Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts and a big thermos of hot chocolate for our classmates.
Awwww, memories!
I heart banana pancakes. Throw in some walnuts & I’m in breakfast heaven!
We had breakfast for dinner last night and I made your brother’s banana pancakes, per request of the kiddo’s, I added mini chocolate chips
Its so funny because so many guys don’t like bananas and here’s your brother perfecting banana pancakes. Reminds me of the jack johnson song. I can’t wait to try them…ona girl weekend (my husband would never eat banana anything)!!
xoxo
Erin
Readeatcreate.com
I just made these for myself and cooked up the rest to put in the freezer for later. They were delicious! I always have frozen bananas for banana bread and smoothies, so now I have another recipe to add to the list. I made a small change by using 7up instead of milk. It makes them MUCH fluffier and lactose free!
I like banana French toast, so should like this.
I made these on Sunday and then we had the leftovers last night at Breakfast for Dinner. These are the hubs’ new favorite pancakes. Thanks!
[...] Banana Pancakes (via Iowa Girl Eats)- a new Sunday morning favorite! These were just as easy to whip up as my regular cakes, but the chunky bananas and fluffy batter were a hit. I also added chia seeds. [...]
made these this AM…delicious!
Made a half recipe of these for Sunday brunch on a below zero morning–so good! thanks for sharing.
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