It is the weekend and Paddle around the pier! If you are not sure what Paddle around the pier is, it is the UK’s biggest surfing festival based at the end of my road. Basically every year I get the chance to walk 500 metres to be surrounded by water sports based stalls from balance boards, surf themed food, sea related charities, surf boards and much more.
This is the third time that I have gone to the event and every year I always go and capture exciting moments from Free running displays, “cutest puppy” competition to last year seeing a Star Wars themed raft racing other hand made crafts.
When planning this project I thought that Paddle around the Pier would be an event that I was sure to find something to nom with a portion of fruit or veg based on the healthy food stalls in previous years. This year it was a shame as I couldn’t find one! So while I got some wonderful photos – which you can see on my Facebook page, I didn’t get to try anything food-wise.
It is a lucky thing then that I had surprised the BF with pancakes with a home made strawberry coolie. Strawberries are one of his favourite flavours – he adores strawberry cheesecake ice cream! He’s so busy with his job, often having to disappear off to London for meetings, so he doesn’t often get a breakfast. Normally most weekends I make him porridge with strawberry jam so the idea of surprising him with strawberry pancakes was perfect. For me it is also a good plan – if the both of us like this recipe then I will have something with fruit in that we can both have.
Now I have grown up being taught how to make and flip pancakes so for me it wasn’t that hard. I have tried a few recipes and found that the BBC Perfect pancake recipe is quite simple, quick and yummy so I whipped up the batter and focused on making a strawberry sauce.
Without using a set recipe I just blended 180 grams of strawberries with some caster sugar before pouring the now liquid substance into a pan on low heat. It only took minutes for the sauce to become what I can only describe as heavenly. The kitchen was filled with a beautiful berry aroma that made me want to cook it every morning just for the smell.
Now with a sauce and handful of chopped strawberries it was time to make the pancakes. I love making pancakes – they are so easy for me as I grew up with taught how to flip pancakes with my dad. The sauce was still warm so once the first pancake was ready it was a simple task of spooning in some sauce adding in some chopped strawberries and folding the pancake in half. It looked so yummy already but to make it clear that it was strawberries I decorated the top with a little bit more sauce and some chopped strawberries.
BF loved it! He had nothing bad to say about it and has even asked for me to make it again! With my cooking it normally takes a few tries before I get it just right but here was a beautiful looking dish that was also delightfully yummy.
For me this is a turning point – the other dishes have generally been a challenge but this was so quick, easy, yummy and fun that I know I’ll be able to add a dash of fruit to my diet in the future. Today I have also been investigating old Waitrose Magazines and recipe books to find ideas. I am getting excited now about a cheesy courgette dish and fruit filled meringue that I’m going to attempt tomorrow.
The rest of the day has been rather plain compared to breakfast with a massive salad for dinner and smoothie with a home made bread roll filled with melted brie. It does go to show you though just how being stubborn about having at least 5 portions of fruit and veg completely changes your diet. I knew I was going to be too full for dinner so I only ended up having one of my small bread rolls than my normal two. I feel so full and compared to my normal diet I have had a lot less!
So will you be trying out strawberry pancakes? Do you have any fruit or veg filled breakfast dishes that you would recommend? Have you been to Paddle around the Pier this year? Have you been in the past?
I would love to hear from you so leave a comment below!
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