Insta-perfect banana crumpets: Yay or Nay?

Is your Instagram algorithm overflowing with healthy food ideas jostling for your attention? Same. Scroll online and you'll see that every second food content promises to taste as good as original recipes, without all the unhealthy crap and calories. Especially if it's loaded with cottage cheese. Cottage cheese has become so popular that there's even evidence of a shortage, with demand currently outstripping supply. Don't believe me? Read this here. Before I go on a tangent about the rise of cottage cheese, let's get to the point of my posts. I won't gush about how great cottage cheese is (it's alright, to be honest) or hype up whey protein (it's fine). This is a taste test, part of my effort to eat healthier. As a regular person with a normal body, I'm aiming to make better food choices. You can expect raw and unfiltered honesty.

This is all just my opinion. I'm no Martha Stewart in the kitchen, and I couldn't tell you the exact calories of anything. The photos won’t be picture-perfect—some dishes might look burnt, lumpy, or weird. But they’ll be real. In the debate between Instagram and reality, this leans entirely towards the reality side.

Recipe of the day: Banana and Greek Yogurt Flapjacks Rating: 6/10 (respectable) Pros: Looks the part - like real flapjacks with actual fluffiness.

Cons: Mushy banana centre if you don't cook them right.

Banana Yogurt Flapjacks: 6/10 – Would Reluctantly Eat.

It's been three weeks since I pressed reset on eating better. I was restrictive at first, yes, that person, trying to follow an unsustainable diet. But now it's winter, so I need something hot, sweet, and with a crunch. Enter these wannabe crumpets. One Instagrammer I follow swore that mixing banana and carrot together with one egg and a dash of milk creates the ultimate low-calorie treat. Each to their own, but that was a hard no from me. Unless it's in carrot cake, my carrots will remain in the vegetable drawer. Instead, I combined bananas with yogurt, milk, eggs, and flour—a recommendation from another Instagrammer. Adding a pinch of baking soda will puff things up.

I was worried that adding less flour would make the crumpets soggy and impossible to flip. However, these batches held their shape and turned out thick and fluffy. So, appearance-wise, they looked legit - even Instagrammable. Promising start.

However, like with any crumpet, achieving a golden brown exterior and a cooked middle was beyond my basic cooking skills. The inside was undercooked and aggressively banana-y, but moment of truth: I don't love bananas. I was after a satisfying crunch and got handed a lot of goo.

Mistakes I made: I used Older bananas (see below): Old bananas taste stronger. Hence the flapjack mush. Lesson learned.

A brown speckled banana - great for banana bread, but not for this.

I used too Many Bananas (for my taste) The recipe called for two - I followed the rules. Next time, I'm halving that number.

Verdict:

The recipe works, but banana is a strong ingredient in this with an overpowering taste. If you're not a banana superfan, then you might soldier on through every mouthful.