Banana Nut Pancakes

 

You know how it's called comfort food because it's meant to be comforting and yummy and feel-good? Well you also know comfort food is a big no no when you're trying to stay healthy and keep your bikini from being your worst nightmare. I am always trying to find ways to make compromises so I can keep my bikini body AND my insatiable appetite in sync. So, here is another recipe that is guaranteed to make you happy (so long as you like bananas.)

A friend of mine recently posted a recipe on Facebook about having made pancakes using only two ingredients: one banana and two eggs. (Hey Alice!) Naturally, I was slightly skeptical and also very intrigued, so I had to make them. 

Roy's birthday was this past Sunday, and since we have his kids with us this summer, I thought it'd be nice to treat them all to some yummy cinnamon roll pancakes; a recipe I found on Pinterest. (When I told Roy about them, he said: "They're not just sin. They're the express train to hell pancakes.") Now, that recipe is absolutely deliciously disastrous for your waist as well as most of your internal organs, but hey, you gotta live a little. I informed the kids that had they known me during "Flabby Gabby Days," we'd all be well on our way into daily diabetic shocks. But since Flabby Gabby turned into Skinny Minnie, thankfully that won't be happening. Once in awhile however, I allow them all to indulge, and I thought Roy's birthday would be the perfect opportunity. I won't be going into the cinnamon roll pancakes, but I will post a lovely photo of them and all their cinnamony glory. Yummo.

Roy's Birthday Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

For myself though, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to try out those banana pancakes Alice posted. It was simple enough. I threw a super ripe banana into the Vitamix along with two eggs, blended, and poured the batter into the skillet. I'll say it was a bit of a nightmare to flip the banana pancakes, but I managed to do it, and we all nommed on our breakfast happily. While I ate, I imagined all the ways I could improve the two-ingredient recipe, and this morning I tested out my plan.

I blended a banana and two eggs, and then added some cinnamon and nutmeg to the blender. Once it was blended, I added about a quarter of a cup of raw walnuts, and pulsed a few times to chop up the walnuts but not puree. Then, remembering the difficulty I had flipping the pancakes on Sunday, I made small silver-dollar-sized pancakes. They sizzled and bubbled, and flipped relatively easily with my spatula. The smell was amazing, and it smelled like a fresh baked banana nut loaf coming out of the oven. Mmmm mmmmm. I used a little bit of agave as my maple syrup stand-in because I didn't have any maple syrup (we didn't buy any for the cinnamon roll pancakes because they didn't require any since they're topped with a cream cheese icing). The result was amazeballs. Truly, amazingly delicious. And zero guilt. AND zero bloat! I ate a plateful of these delicious pancakes and didn't feel like I needed a nap afterward. And no, it didn't taste like a banana omelet. The egg and banana mixture make that fluffy consistency you get with regular flour pancakes, and neither flavor overpowers the other. The ratio of one banana to two eggs is perfect. I do wish they wouldn't fall apart quite so easily, but that's why I recommend making smaller pancakes. Plus, they look so cute and it's the perfect bite-size pancake.

Perfect silver-dollar-sized pancakes

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Kudos to Alice for posting on her Facebook wall about these. I'd otherwise have never found out about them! Let me know if you think of some other flavor enhancers for these bad boys. I am definitely going to be playing around with a blueberry pancake idea shortly. I'll keep you posted!

Til next time!

-Kale Queen