I have a couple breakfasts that I like to cook.  On Saturdays, I often whip up a batch of Banana Oatmeal Pancakes.  They are quick and easy to make, and they give me a great energy boost to do a Saturday morning's bit of work around the house or in the yard.

I've never been a fan of regular pancakes; whenever I have them for breakfast I feel dizzy and weak all morning.  I feel lazy and I just want to sleep.

It's the same for me if I just eat something sugary for breakfast, like a doughnut.

There's a fair amount of diabetics in my family, so I guess I'm headed in that direction.  In fact, I save my daily sugar binge for after dinner and for before bed, which (I'm realizing as I write this) does the same thing. However at the end of the day, it's like taking a sleeping pill and apparently puts me down for a sweet night's diabetic-coma sleep.

When it comes to breakfast, I need sustenance!  I need to fire up for the day.  I need to stay away from sugar and get a decent amount of protein.

Enter Banana Oatmeal Pancakes.

But first a little background...

Just about every meal I make starts with my wife first taking the initiative to figure out how to make it.  Sometimes, if I really like the dish, and its easy to make, I'll get her to show me how to make it.

Then I'll make it everyday until she can't stand it (and me) anymore.

That's me 🙂

But then I forget about it for a while and bring it back at some point.

One time, when I was bringing (what was originally just) Banana Pancakes back, my wife stepped in and decided something wasn't right.  The "batter" (bananas & eggs) needed something more to get a thicker consistency.

So she added oatmeal.

It completely transformed the pancakes.  They went from being thin, soggy and difficult to cook consistently, to a nice thick consistency that eats more like a fluffy pancake.

The recipe is really easy.  Its just three ingredients - Bananas, Oatmeal and Eggs.

Here are the ratios:

• 1 Bananas
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Quaker 1-Minute Oatmeal

Usually I triple that, which makes about 11 medium-sized pancakes (4" in diameter).

• 3 Bananas
• 6 Eggs
• 1.5 Cup Quaker 1-Minute Oatmeal

To make the batter, simply smash the bananas up in a bowl (I used to use a fork, but just bought a potato smasher the other day).  Make sure to really beat up the bananas to get rid of clumps. It should be a paste by the time you are done with it. Then crack and mix in the eggs.  Finally, mix in the oatmeal.

Wait a few minutes for the oatmeal to absorb some of the liquid and it should have a fairly thick consistency.   Most often I don't even measure the oatmeal.  I just mix in oatmeal until it starts to get a bit clumpy when you let it drip from a fork.

Then heat up an oiled frying pan on low heat and start frying them up.

Make sure the pan is good and hot before your first batch.  I often get lazy and put the batter on too early for the first round and they usually don't come out well; they can be soggy in the middle and difficult to flip.  My second round is always spectacular.

I use a soup ladle to scoop up the batter and drizzle it on the pan.  If you're not trying to take a picture while pouring it on, the ladle helps make for the same size pancakes each time (unlike the sloppiness in the pic).

For extra flavor or to change it up from time to time, my wife also likes to add some peanut butter (or even easier to add is peanut butter powder) to the batter.

For my son (4 years old), I'll sprinkle some 100% Ghirardelli Cocoa powder on top and tell him he's eating chocolate pancakes.

You can obviously also top with maple syrup or honey.

In conclusion, I enjoy Banana Oatmeal Pancakes for breakfast.  They give me a great boost to get my day going.

The bananas make the pancakes sweet without making me feel sick from a sugary breakfast (Bananas are low on the glycemic index) so that must help explain why I don't get the dizzy/weakness feeling after eating them as part of a breakfast).

The eggs and oatmeal provide lots of protein (eggs = 6grams, oatmeal = 6grams/cup).

Plus the fiber in the oatmeal helps me "keep it together" for the rest of the day 😛