Adam - this one's for you.

Peanut Butter and Jam Banana Pancakes

Recipe taken from here

 Okay, I know it's been mentioned more than once, more than twice, and unfortunately more than three times as of late as to how much I have been obsessed with peanut butter, jam and bananas together, yes, and I use the word obsessed.  I know I don't make pancakes far as often as I would like... honestly, I'm not even sure why.  When I think of pancakes, a light descends and the lights from my imaginary heaven open up and shine down on me, yes, I love pancakes.  When I think of making pancakes though, I always think of a million and two ingredients, something that takes a decade to make, with five bazillion pots and pans left to clean.  When in reality, pancakes are rather simple to make, with not so many ingredients, unless you include a lot of spices, and really, it takes one bowl, a whisk, spatula/spoon and a pan, it's so easy and takes barely any time at all, especially if you're just cooking for one, which most of the time is my case.

I save so many recipes for pancakes, and I always include them in my weekly meal planning file, but then I usually tend to make something that I think requires less time aka oatmeal.  Dumb, and well, even dumber. I then usually seem to get rid of these recipes because I save more recipes that I want to try out and think to myself, "you're never going to get through all of these recipes Sam!".  Well, I need to stop doing this because I miss out on a lot of really great meals.  However, this is certainly one recipe I was not going to be getting rid of, and certainly will not get rid of after gobbling them down as fast as a wild forest fire burns (sorry...).

I made these on Sunday (yes, perfect day to have pancakes).  After drooling at all the pancake recipes from dozens upon dozens of people posting numerous recipes for Fat Tuesday I figured I definitely needed to have some in my gut by the end of the week.  My boyfriend, best friend, mom and her boyfriend were all away on vacation, I decided I was going to take a rest day from the gym, and so I figured hey why not treat myself, so treating myself is what I did with a big stack of peanut butter and jam banana pancakes.

These pancakes are why peanut butter and jam go so well together.  It's like before this, whatever you thought love was, it was just a myth.  This is brilliant.  It's complete and utter perfection.  It's as if you were in the dark all these years, and Thomas Edison had never invented the lightbulb for you to light your way, that is, until these pancakes came along.  Okay, okay, I need to stop.  I'm literally starting the psychological stage of digestion by talking about this, my salvatory glands are actually beginning to produce saliva and this is not something I want this late at night, where I've already consumed so much food, should no longer be eating anything (eeek, especially the Peanut Butter Cereal I just inhaled), and should really be hopping into bed soon, darn psychological temptations!  Nonetheless, if you are a fan of pancakes, if you are a fan of peanut butter, jam, and bananas, if you are a fan of healthy, and most certainly if you are a fan of delicious food that feels like it should be a dessert and put on the naughty list than this is for you, so stay tuned, because you will be hooked, and trust me, it's not such a bad thing.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk 
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• Dash of sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp sugar - which I completely forgot to add in

Topping - 

• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp raspberry jam
• 1 sliced banana

Directions:

Preheat griddle to medium-high heat - about 350 degrees. 

Prepare oatmeal by combinging oats and boiling water in a bowl.  Cover and let set for 5 minutes. 

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add remaining wet ingredients to oatmeal, including PB, and mix. Add wet to dry and stir until just combined. Scoop onto lightly greased griddle in 1/4 cup measurements. 

Note: these take a bit longer to cook than traditional pancakes since the oatmeal gives them a lot of moisture – about 2-3 minutes each side. Top with melted peanut butter and jam (I tossed both in a microwave safe dish for 20 seconds until nice and runny). 

Enjoy :)