Feel good Strawberry Syrup

Its still early in the morning, the sun's rays are playing hide and seek in the kitchen windows watching a high energy bustle of activity. Sambhar is bubbling on the stove and the aroma wafts through the house, the pressure cooker is hissing away and the blender adding its own music to the mix. The kid walks over sits at the dining table with a book in hand distracted, a steaming plate of idlies and sambhar is placed in front, contents gobbled up distractedly runs of to catch the bus to school with the still warm lunch bag hung on the shoulder.

The scenes are right out of my kitchen well at least in my dreams anyway :) This is a true story albeit in a different time and place, 25 years ago.

Moving to the present and switching places to my own kitchen breakfast like that everyday can only exist in my dreams. Even if I do try to get it work it might not be appreciated. Don't get me wrong idlis/dosais with sambhar and chutney is a highly sought after menu item for breakfast during the weekend or for dinner.

Even the other adult in the house prefers cereal, oatmeal, pancakes or bread for breakfast. The kids would love to eat cereal every single morning. Like all so called good things it just is not healthy or advisable health wise or nutrition wise. Most cereals especially the ones kids love are so loaded with sugar that after the short sugar high there is nothing in it to last them through the day. Cereal is restricted to about once or twice a week always mixed in with granola, bran and oat based cereals.

Pancake is another alternative made from store bought mixes or homemade. It not only gets boring to eat pancakes with syrup or cream cheese every single day and the nutrition counting side of my brain panics and there is no excitement at all to this routine.

I had to use up some frozen blueberries in the freezer when this idea first took root and now it is a become routine. That is where the feel good and the strawberries come in. It takes less than 10 minutes but it brings cheer all around. I feel good for having prepared a fresh syrup, the kids feel good eating it.

pancakes with feel good strawberry syrup

Strawberry Syrup
Ingredients
1. 6 strawberries ends sliced off and cut into pieces
2. 1 1/2 tsp raw sugar (or to taste, if strawberries are sweet reduce sugar further)

Method
1. Set a pan on the stove add the berries and sugar, let cook for about 5-8 minutes
2. Whisk or mash with a back of the spoon

Pour over the pancakes. This syrup is done even if heating you are just heating frozen pancakes or waffles. We have plans to make a mixed fruit during the next week.