~Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Pancakes~

...With brown sugar. I decided the name would be too long to have that part in it. Besides, it sounds healthier the way the name is! These are healthy for the most part and were every bit delicious!! I enjoyed these so much that I made them for breakfast the next morning. Yes...I made these for dinner one night. On occasion, Jeremy and I like to have breakfast for dinner. It's fun! I am slowly moving away from processed foods, which includes Bisquick, or pre-made pancake mix. I am moving towards all whole foods meals, so I was happy to make these yummy pancakes. Yes they do have sugar in them, so they are not entirely whole foods certified, but they're pretty darn close. The brown sugar can actually be omitted altogether and replaced with unsweetened applesauce if you want a healthier alternative. I just never buy applesauce so I opted for the brown sugar.

I am still too cheap to buy real maple syrup (sorry Ash), but instead of buying imitation maple syrup, I make my own instead! It is soooo easy. Once I had used up my old bottle of store-bought syrup, I washed it out and put my syrup in it. So now I have a bottle for it, too. The homemade syrup calls for maple extract and only 2 other ingredients. News flash: making your own syrup will save you a lot of money in the long run, and I think homemade tastes better too. For the pancake recipe, you need oats--not the instant crapola, but the real deal rolled old-fashioned oats. Healthier! Blend the oats in a blender to get a coarse texture, as pictured above.

Spray your griddle/skillet or run some leftover butter from the fridge onto it. Cook the batter until the little bubbles in the pancake pop. Time to flip!

Cook the pancakes until they are a golden brown. The secret natural sweetener in these pancakes is the banana. It gives the jacks such a good flavor too!

Serves 4

you'll need:

1 c. uncooked rolled oats

1 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. all-purpose flour *substitute with whole wheat white flour

1/4 c. brown sugar *substitute with unsweetened applesauce

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

2 c. milk

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 banana, mashed

get busy:

Place the rolled oats in a blender and blend until the texture looks like coarse flour. Whisk together the blended oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

Whisk together the egg, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Stir in the mashed banana {I mashed mine in my Blendtec until it was smooth}. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix together.

Heat a lightly buttered griddle/skillet over medium-high heat. The rest is followed as you would do any pancake. I hope you enjoy these--they truly were phenomenal!

Homemade Maple Syrup:

you'll need:

2 c. sugar

1 c. boiling water

1/2 tsp. maple extract

get busy:

Pour 1 c. boiling water over 2 c. sugar in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the maple extract and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Makes 2 1/4 c. syrup. This recipe is a runnier syrup.

For a thicker homemade syrup:

Add 2 Tbs. water, 1/4 c. sugar 1 1/2 c. corn syrup and 1/2 tsp. maple extract in a small pot. Boil for 2 minutes. It will thicken as it cools. Makes 1 pint.