Welcome to Quarantine Kitchen, a guide through various “quarantine hacks” that I have tried during my stay at home adventures.

We were listening to Samin Nosrat’s new podcast over the weekend, where the idea of an egg and banana “pancake” came up as a kid-friendly way to get some nutrition into kids while working from home.  This was discussed with much enthusiasm as a delicious and easy breakfast, so I had to try it.

The basic concept involves mushing up 1 banana, cracking in two eggs, mixing that all together, and cooking the egg and banana mixture as a “pancake”.  I followed this procedure and made two large “pancakes” that were more of a crepe-style and called it breakfast.

It tasted… fine.  It was exactly what you would expect it to be, scrambled eggs with some banana flavor.  Better when very hot, the eggs get kinda tough and watery as they sit, which is not what I’m here for.  It seemed like French toast without the bread, pancakes without the flour, omelets without the cheese – food without joy.  If I want to eat pancakes, I’ll eat pancakes.  If I want to eat eggs, I’ll eat eggs.  Bananas will stay on the side or as their own breakfast with peanut butter or a smoothie ingredient.

To me, as an adult, it tasted like diet food.  It was edible, but not what I want to eat.  I can see how this would be fun for kids, as it was generally bland and sweet enough from the bananas.  And I can also see how this is a quick and easy meal for parents compared to a whole pancake breakfast.  At the very least, I had a good serving of protein and fruit for breakfast – but next time I won’t be eating them mixed together.

On a scale of 1-10, here’s how I would rate this Quarantine Kitchen adventure:

• Creativity: 5
  • (Do I think this is a fun, creative idea?)
• Resourcefulness: 7
  • (Do I think a lot of people will have what they need to already do this at home, no shopping required?)
• Result: 4
  • (How did it turn out?)
• Repeatability: 2
  • (Would I do this again?)

If you have kids and make it, I would love to hear what their thoughts are!  Or if you want to try it at home, kids or not, let me know how it goes! Links here for some different versions of the recipe, from Kitchn, Food Network, and Hurry the Food Up.  Picture from my adventure up top!

Happy Quarantining, friends!