Intro to Cooking: Banana-Nut Whole-Grain Pancakes

I am a self-confessed hippie eater. No, I do not eat hippies (they tend to be too chewy). However, I do eat in the way that most hippies do—that is, staples of my diet include wheat germ, quinoa, and organics of all kinds, and, occasionally, I will even go out on a limb and try something like Kefir. Basically, I want my body to be as healthy as possible, so I’m going to put healthy things in it.

By Carly

But I’m also a self-confessed foodie, and I want my food to taste GOOD. If it doesn’t, it’s out. So I have been searching high and low for months now in an effort to find the perfect pancake recipe—one with both taste and health benefits. Most pancakes aren’t bad for you, sure, but I wanted a recipe that really packed in the good stuff and had a flavor that couldn’t be beat.

Well, you guys, I’ve finally found it. All Recipes saves the day once again! This time, though, I modified the recipe to make it even yummier by adding extra flavor to these bad boys. As if that wasn’t good enough, you can also whip up all twelve of these pancakes in just about 15 minutes. It may not look it, but this recipe is SUPER easy.

Sunday mornings never tasted so good.

What You Need
• 1 1/2 cups regular oats (NOT quick oats)
• 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cup skim, 1%, or soy milk
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 2 bananas, sliced thin

What You Do
1. You’ll need a food processor for this. Put the oats into the processor, and pulse them several times until they’re ground like a coarse flour. Transfer them to a bowl, and mix them with the whole-wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. Use a second bowl to mix together the buttermilk, milk, canola oil, egg (whisk it slightly first), sugar, and vanilla until they’re smooth. You can use a whisk instead of an electric mixer as long as you put some power into your strokes.

3. Heat up your skillet. Coat it with a thin layer of butter, oil, or cooking spray. Let it get nice and hot before you pour on your pancakes.

4. Combine the wet and dry mixtures, and stir in the nuts and banana slices. Use a 1/3-cup measuring cup to scoop portions of batter onto the skillet.

5. Cook each pancake until it’s getting bubbly and dry at the edges. Then flip it and cook for another minute or so, until both sides are browned and the middle is no longer raw.

6. Keep pancakes warm in a 200-degree oven until you’re finished cooking the whole batch.

7. Eat up!