Pancakes: two ingredients

This recipe has been making the rounds of the Internet, enjoyed by those who are gluten-free, paleo, and/or interested in trying unusual things.

It's one of the easiest things you'll ever make from scratch. All you need are 2 bananas and 4 eggs. If you feel you want to add a little poof to the final product, throw in 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.

I could stop right there, but I'll add a few tips to save you having to figure it out yourself.

First, it's best to have very ripe bananas, the brown ones that you might use for banana bread. I've used kinda green ones, but the riper they are the less lumps you'll have. Not that the lumps cause any problem at all -- indeed, they disappear during cooking -- but they can turn brown while waiting to be cooked.

Speaking of lumps, a hand-held mixer or even a blender is the best tool for these. The bananas are slimy, the eggs are slimy, and believe me, an electric appliance will easily blend these to perfection.

The batter will be thin, but don't worry. Magic happens in the pan.

I used a 1/4-cup scoop to measure each pancake, placing the batter in a nonstick skillet. I also used a bit of oil to crisp up the edges. I like crisp edges to my pancakes.

Don't wait for bubbles to appear as you do with regular pancakes. These will simply sit there looking frothy. I learned to wait for the edges to get not only crispy but dark brown before turning. The pancake in the photo is ready to turn.

These are very delicate pancakes, which is why I recommend a nonstick surface. Before turning, I carefully scoot the spatula around the edges to make sure the pancake is sliding on the surface and not sticking. Then I scoop it up and turn. This might take practise, but even the wrecks are tasty.

Now the difference between using baking powder and leaving it out is somewhat significant. Either way you'll get a very delicious treat.

Without baking powder, the pancakes are dense. If you've made Polish pancakes -- these go by several names, but are basically 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 egg -- you'll have a good idea of the texture. I'd call it eggy. In this case, the banana flavor comes through strongly, and they'll be quite sweet. No syrup needed.

With baking powder, the pancakes rise up (see top photo). They have the texture of regular pancakes and even taste like them. You can kind of distinguish the banana if you concentrate, but the chemical transformation is truly amazing. I call these fluffy.

One warning: since bananas do turn brown, after about 15 minutes the banana bits in the batter will start darkening. Of course this only looks bad before you cook the batter since the pancakes will be an appetizing color when they leave the pan.

This is truly a remarkable recipe, one that is good to know when it is -20 (as it was here in south-central Montana for a week recently) and you just don't want to go to the store for flour.

To sum up:

Two-ingredient Pancakes

2 ripe bananas

4 eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking powder (optional)

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Pour into nonstick skillet (1/4-cup scoop recommended). Cook till brown on both sides.

Top with butter, honey, or syrup, or eat as is.

Makes about 10 4-inch pancakes.

Farewell, Johnny

Today was the last day of business for Johnny's, a small coffeehouse in Big Timber.

Businesses come and go, but in a small town (Big Timber's population is just over 1,700) losing any business can create a large gap, not necessarily in terms of real estate but rather in the heart.

People who pass through, if they notice at all, will think it is just another empty building. Locals will think about the good times they had there behind those blank windows where the OPEN sign will never be turned on again.

The hot cups of coffee and tea, breakfast burritos and tacos for lunch, the backgammon games, the chance to meet with friends and neighbors or chat with Johnny . . . these are now memories.

When Johnny's opened in April 2013, Scott Romsos (aka Johnny) had big dreams: create a community around fresh food, backgammon championships, maybe some evening music.

But dreams take hard work -- and enough money -- and although Johnny put in his fair share, it turned out to be too much for one person.

Even with the hardest work, a broad customer base is also necessary. "There just aren't enough people [in Big Timber]. You need a bigger group of people to come in and drink the coffee," Johnny said.

But in fact, food was the biggest draw for customers.

"You can't do it just with coffee. I really wanted to do food that was fresh and healthy and homemade, handmade, instead of just taking something and putting it in a microwave. The flip side of that, though, is with me being the only person in here, it was a lot of work. Long, long hours in here."

Yet Johnny wasn't quite alone. There was that community he was striving to build.

"I'm one hundred percent an elementary school teacher. I've never gone into a restaurant, never cooked, never done coffee before, never owned a business before. So this was all basically starting at square number zero. But I would say, one of the beautiful things about being in Big Timber is there were people who would come in, and as I built up a rapport with people, I would start asking questions about business, especially the food side of things. And people were just really, really open and helpful."

For example, "when you're making a burrito, you need to know what your cost is, for everything. Onions, potatoes, meat, eggs. Beforehand, just cooking for myself, I would just kind of grab. The way I like to cook is go into the refrigerator and see what's there and throw something together. So that was the biggest piece of advice I got."

Johnny's fresh tacos were a big hit.

Johnny is both philosophical and practical about the closure.

"I just really like talking to people. That was hands down the best part of this job. I feel like I really poured myself into this place. So [closing] wasn't something I really wanted to do. But I just couldn't go on anymore, with barely breaking even every month."

Despite the closure of his business, Johnny has no regrets about having given it a try. He's looking forward to the future: Maybe go back to teaching elementary school, perhaps overseas. Do a little fishing.

We'll miss you, Johnny, but we wish you the best of luck. May the fish be always near and hungry.

Zucchini Crust Pizza

Pizza is one of those foods everyone seems to like. Your favorite topping might not be my favorite -- pineapple, Canadian bacon, and mushrooms -- but I think we can agree that pizza is a treat to eat.

I have no complaint about regular pizza. I don't even care if it's deep dish or thin crust. I'll eat my fair share no matter what. But sometimes it's good to try something a bit different.

The other day someone gave me a whopper of a zucchini -- 6 pounds! Of course I scrambled to find things to make with it.

I love zucchini shredded and mixed with corn and red pepper, then mixed with eggs and a bit of flour and fried in tasty little cakes.

I have a terrific recipe for zucchini bread that people rave about.

And for the past year I haven't been able to get my fill of Zucchini Tots.

But I had a lot of zucchini to use up and so went searching for more ways to serve it. One delightful dish I found was pizza with a zucchini crust.

Surprisingly, it tastes exactly like pizza. It is very light. If you find regular pizza with its flour-laden crust difficult to digest, try this version.

I found this recipe on a Zone diet forum, so it is Zone friendly. Each serving is about 3 blocks if you include fruit for dessert.

If you're not on a diet of any kind, you'll still like it. Maybe even love it. Trust me.

Zucchini Crust Pizza

Makes 1 12-inch pizza
Serves 4

Crust
3 cups shredded zucchini
Salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup grated cheese
1tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
Sprinkle of dried oregano

Toppings
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 or 2 chicken Italian sausages, crumbled and browned
-or- 2 hot dogs, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle shredded zucchini with salt and let stand for 15 minutes. Squeeze out water.

Mix crust ingredients and spread on a parchment-lined pizza pan or cookie sheet. (Whatever you do, use parchment paper under the crust! Merely oiling the surface of the pan isn't enough; the crust will stick.) Bake about 20 minutes, or until top is dry to the touch and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and add toppings in order listed.

Return to oven (I raised the temperature to 400 for quicker results -- watch the pizza carefully!) and bake until cheese is melted.