When I'm 80

When I'm 80, I'm going to have stories to tell.

This week, I saw an interesting hashtag going around Instagram. It's called #whenim80. It's related to the fact that this last week was Mental Health Awareness Week. The hashtag has several purposes that I'd like to talk about. I have friends and family with mental illness, and while I can't get into their head and know exactly what they're going through, I encourage and help in any way I can. So, I'm going to discuss this hashtag and the encouragement it has given me and anyone who reads it. Whether you have a diagnosed mental illness or not, everyone needs to take care of their mental health. You still wash your hands and eat your veggies when your body's not sick, right? same with your mind.

1. There is a future, and you can be a part of it. If you are going through something and you feel like this is just your life now and you're stuck in a flatline, or you've considered ending your life, this is for you. You CAN think about what life will be like when you're 80 and looking back. The here and now may feel like all there is, especially when each day feels almost insurmountable/You've made it through every bad day, every anxiety attack, every depression phase, and every relapse so far, this one isn't going to take you. You're going to be there #whenim80

2. Life does not have to be perfect. Those beautifully posed pictures you put on Instagram will likely not be your favorite when you're 80. If you are going through a rough time but feel the need to hide it, or to put up a perfect front, it's okay. Talk to a friend, family member, mentor, pastor, or mental health professional. The good times you pretend to have will be tainted by the anxiety of constantly trying to hide panic attacks or bingeing and purging. That need for perfection causes a sense of isolation and "I'll live life when..." Let me tell you, that goalpost will keep moving and you will never achieve the perfection that your illness wants. It's not something you can just snap your fingers and change, it takes a lot of hard work because you are literally rewiring your brain, and that's okay. There will be slip ups along the way. Recovery is not perfect, and that is okay. You can live the life you want to live without the pressure of social media perfection. Find those horribly unflattering pictures of you when you really are living your life, and treasure those. Maybe it's that picture your friend snapped right after making an awful pun and you're cringing. Maybe it's that beach day photo where you're sunburned, covered in sand, and your hair is a mess but you just learned how to water ski and had a blast. Those moments of perfect imperfection are what you're going to treasure #whenim80

3. Life is happening right now. This one does relate to my previous one, but it's a slightly different angle. If you've been afraid to get help, or putting off a difficult part of recovery or management, now is the time to challenge that. No one is ever 100% ready, there will always be a reason not to seek help. How much will your illness have to take before enough is enough? How many days will depression isolate you from the people who care for you? How many events will you miss or not be able to enjoy because you're paralyzed by obsessive thoughts and actions? How much more of your life will you give to an illness that only gives you temporary comfort and demands more and more? It's scary, it's difficult, but life is happening right now. It's time to live it. Looking back, you won't think "I'm so glad I checked to make sure my house was locked exactly 17 times." "I'm so glad I starved for a week leading up to that vacation so I could be at my lowest weight ever" "I'm so glad I spent my mother's birthday lying in bed too numb from to even cry or answer the frantic phone calls." No one ever wishes they'd waited till they were sicker or "more ready" to take the next step. Life is something that you can live, and you'll be glad you did #whenim80

Yeah, you may not live to 80, but the idea is still the same. Take the risk, do something difficult, and make those memories that you can look back on.

I'm usually a pretty photogenic person, but this picture is...less so. Look at me. My hair is truly awful, I'm all sweaty and gross, and I'm out in the middle of the woods with a giant pair of clippers. But I remember exactly what we were doing. I and my summer research buddies we're building a hero fence to trap salamanders. We spent all morning building that thing by ourselves because we don't need no man! We we're so proud of it. I didn't care that I looked terrible, I was right there, in that moment, and darn it, all I wanted was to go jump in the lake! That is life, the life that mental illness wants to strip away. Don't you dare let it! #whenim80, this picture will still make me smile.

And you know what, when I'm 80, I will still love pancakes.I will always have the memories surrounding them, and they are just as good as the pictures at reminding me of the good times. So yeah, another pancake recipe. And look how pretty they are! Berries, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I had a killer chocolate craving, and on this blog, we enjoy the things we crave. There is a time and a place for moderation, but there is also one for indulgence. Also, life may not be perfect, but this stack of pancakes is pretty darn close.. It's so beautiful, and I enjoyed every moment of destroying it. Pancakes will still bring up good memories that I will look back on #whenim80

Here's my recipe. I didn't really make too many alterations to it because, honestly, this one was pretty darn good to start with:

Cinnamon Applesauce Oatmal Pancakes

Sprinkles of Kim:
-A few dashes of pumpkin pie spice and extra cinnamon because it is fall and I can
-I used a whole egg
-I used maple syrup as my sweetener
-I didn't make the maple peanut butter sauce, delicious as it sounds, because of the aforementioned chocolate craving and a desire to use the fresh berries I had

So, take time to live you life now, and encourage those around you who may be struggling. Even something as small as a green ribbon prominently placed on your bag, car, or lapel can show people that someone else wants to see them get better. One of the biggest obstacles to seeking help is the shame and stigma surrounding mental illness. The charity Stop the Stigma seeks to end this through not only helping provide affordable counseling to those with mental illness, but education to friends and family in how they can help and support those they care about. That is a cause I will advocate to my dying day, and this is one of my favorite charities, they do such good work. Here's a link to donate if you so desire.
Stop the Stigma

Tasty Toxic Waste

 As Britney Spears would say "I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic"

I am, of course, talking about cheese. (That's what the song is about, right?) Cheese itself is not toxic unless you have a severe allergy, but it is definitely a food that I have over-indulged in on more than one occasion. And that's okay, it's just food, I have more important things to worry about.

Like Halloween.

I love Halloween. My biggest hobby is building costumes, of course I love pulling out all the stops for the biggest costume-based event of the year. I love seeing all of the crazy and creative ideas people pull together to be scary, pretty, funny, and all-around awesome. I love decorations and parties and events and, of course, fun food. Halloween also kicks off the "holiday season" with Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years in rapid succession behind it. The entire month of October is Halloween for me, so with today being the 8th of Halloween, I am posting a fun recipe for this spooky season.

So, fist off, I am aware that this recipe is incredibly gross-looking and childish. Yes, I made this recipe for me with no intention of sharing it. I am an overgrown child. And for anyone who doesn't know, I work in a medical laboratory, I see things every day that a lot of people can't stomach. I majored in Biology in college, my visceral disgust reaction is basically gone. So, when I see a recipe that is designed to get and "ick" reaction from a bunch of 9-year-olds, I'm all over it because, well, it's just fun.

Thus this Toxic Waste Mac and Cheese. Because I love to make my food fancy, I surrounded it with decorative scientific-looking bottles. Toxic waste is supposed to give you superpowers, right? Comic books wouldn't lie to me!

Don't let the appearance fool you, the only thing toxic about this dish is how much you want to eat all of it. When I saw this recipe online I couldn't resist. Not only does it look absolutely vile, the ingredients sounded right up my alley and pretty easy to make. When there is cheese, I say yes please! And look at that, we even get a decent amount of vegetables in there. I threw this together in about 30 minutes, so this is a very doable recipe for those who have, you know, actual children who want to eat gross-looking green goop. And even outside of how it looks, this recipe tastes really good. It sure beats boxed mac and cheese. I would describe the taste as a cross between spinach artichoke dip and broccoli cheddar soup. Creamy, gooey, cheesy, what's not to love? So, here's my original recipe:

Toxic Waste Mac and Cheese

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I used gnocchi instead of traditional noodles. Gnocchi are little potato-based dumplings you can generally find along with pasta in the grocery store. They have a lot of starch and cook up really sticky, so I thought they would make this recipe look even more like toxic goo. You can use any pasta depending on what look you want.
-frozen cauliflower works just fine for this, it would also work with broccoli or peas or zucchini, whatever vegetable floats your boat. Or just leave it out all together if you're not a fan.
-I wanted this to be a more substantial meal, so instead of melting butter at the beginning, I browned a pound of ground turkey and used the juices as the base for my sauce, then added the meat when I mixed everything in at the end. I thought the meat added a lot of flavor. I would definitely recommend doing this with the turkey, or pork or beef, whatever you have.
-I used a generic green gel food coloring. definitely use gel rather than liquid, it's stronger and really gets that fluorescent green color.
-I added a bunch of stuff to make the flavor to my taste. Taste your sauce and add what you think it needs, here's what I did:
     -more black pepper
     -paprika and an extra dash of cayenne
     -lots of garlic powder (gotta keep vampires away)
     -a big sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

I will probably have more Halloween-themed recipes this month because there's a thousand different ones that I can't wait to try. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if I gained super powers.

Birthday Adventures

Now, I don't wanna brag or nothing, but I have so many friends that I had to have two birthday parties. Seriously. Allow me to explain.

This past Saturday, September 29th, I turned 24 years old. Yeah, I know, I'm old. But I had to celebrate with as many of my friends as possible, so I ended up having two parties when all was said and done.

So, the festivities started Friday evening with a gathering featuring my college friends that live in the Dallas area. We went to a really cool restaurant that does pizza served Brazilian-steakhouse style. What does that mean? First of all, if you've never been to a Brazilian steakhouse, put it on your bucket list. It's expensive, but so worth it. The general format is that there are waiters wandering around with various cuts of meat, offering it to each person at the table, and if you say yes, they cut you off a bit of the meat. You can have as much as you want, and if you would like a particular one again, you can ask for it as many times as you like, all you can eat. It's a really fun dining experience, great for special occasions. This place used that serving concept for their pizza. 20 different gourmet topping combinations, 15 savory and 5 sweet, served up in small slices so you can try all of them if you so desire. I tried all of them. I was really, really stuffed, but it was my birthday, I wanted to be a pig. My personal favorites were a lamb one that was perfectly spiced, and the dessert blackberry mascarpone. If you live in the DFW area, I highly recommend this place for special occasions and gatherings, it's great. It's called Delucca Gaucho Pizza and Wine, price is $20/person for all the pizza your little heart desires. Our little group of seven gathered and ate and talked and generally had a great time. It was good to catch up with my Hillsdale friends. Some of them work in politics, so this is a busy season for them, but we do try to keep up. At the end of the dinner, we got a special treat since it was my birthday. It's a Nutella pizza with ice cream, and it was delicious.

The next day was party number two, with my anime convention buds. We knew we wanted to get together and watch some "so bad it's good" old anime and movies, but the trouble came in getting a location. We all live scattered over the metroplex, and some of us have small apartments, so finding a place that can accommodate all of us without forcing people to drive two hours. We found a solution: get a hotel room somewhere in the middle and split the cost. We did, and it was great. We played games, ate, and laughed at some pretty awful old anime. And because no one had to drive home, we could stay until everyone fell asleep and just go home in the morning.

So, this is a recipe blog, so you might be wondering if this week will be devoid of a recipe because I was so busy. HA! Not so. I like to bake and share too much for that. Last week, when I made a pile of pumpkin pancakes and posted them to Instagram, a cousin of mine gave me a challenge. She recently gave birth to twins, and due to some intolerances they have, cannot eat gluten or dairy for the time being. That poses a problem because most dessert foods contain one or the other of these things, and if anyone deserves a "treat yo self" dessert, it's her. So, I decided to make a gluten-free, dairy-free treat for my recipe this week. Just because I'm the one with a birthday doesn't mean I can't make a recipe for someone else. I like to make other people happy, let me. Thus, these pumpkin muffins.

They are dense, spicy, and sweet. And they make the kitchen smell like fall. You definitely wouldn't know there's no dairy or gluten. Oat flour and almond milk are your best friends when working around gluten and dairy allergies. Oat flour can be made cheaply and easily by grinding up oats in a food processor. This recipe uses both whole oats and oat flour to give it a nice texture. I recommend warming them up and eating them with some almond or peanut butter. The concept is good, but you know I had to spice things up. Literally. So, here's my starting recipe:

Allergy-Friendly Pumpkin Muffins

Sprinkles of Kim:
-Used regular eggs instead of flax eggs, so my version is not vegan.
-Brown sugar instead of coconut sugar because coconut sugar is expensive.
-For my dairy-free milk, I used unflavored, unsweetened almond milk.
-About 1/2 t extra cinnamon because cinnamon makes things better.
-about 1/2 t maple flavoring to amp up that maple flavor., and a couple extra tablespoons of syrup. These are supposed to be sweet, after all.
-A few dashes of each of the following: allspice, cloves, cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg. You could probably throw in a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice and get a similar effect.

Needless to say, I immensely enjoyed my birthday weekend. I hope my readers also had a good weekend. Remember to treat yourself occasionally, it's good for the soul!

Overnight Oats Part 2: Extra Thicc!

The apparent theme of this blog is currently breakfast, and I'm rolling with it. I did cook this weekend, as those of you who follow my Facebook will know, but I wanted to get this post out there because I've had the idea in reserve for a while and it's one I feel like people will enjoy. My birthday is Saturday, so this next weekend will be awesome. Expect a much more interesting blog post after that.

Okay, looking at my list of combinations, oatmeal is just going to be a running thing on my blog. If you haven't read my first post on my weekday breakfast, please do so here:

Part 1

I know I said oatmeal is hard to make pretty, but I think I may have succeeded with this picture. Matcha oats with strawberries and almond butter. Or maybe it actually looks like alien ectoplasm and Instagram has fried my brain. Either way, it tasted really good.

 I like to have a little fun with my breakfast, it motivates me to disturb my cat and get out of bed. So, in my Pinterest adventuring, I came across a blog that is almost exclusively oatmeal recipes. I decided to check it out and HOLY MOTHER OF WHOLE GRAIN that's a lot of recipes. If you like oatmeal, I highly recommend checking out this blog.

The Oatmeal Artist

But, you know, also read my blog. Because my blog has more sass. I've been adding a tablespoon of chia seeds to a lot of my oatmeal for the extra nutrients, and I've found that I really like the texture it gives as well. I also sometimes have chia seed pudding for breakfast and really enjoy it, so that might have to get a blog post at some point. A couple of these recipes use Greek yogurt, which makes the oatmeal super thick and creamy with the added bonus of enough protein to turn you into Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman *flexes tiny girl arms* Okay, maybe not. If you don't like Greek yogurt, you can certainly use regular or any non-dairy version you prefer. I've made a couple of these recipes both hot and overnight, and it's honestly down to preference which one is better. Another option is to soak the oats overnight and then warm it up in the microwave right before eating, which is nice if you want to prep the night before but don't like the texture of cold oats.

Chocolate blackberry
-1 tsp cocoa powder
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-few drops of vanilla
Top with blackberries right before eating

Banana Daquiri
This is America, if I want my breakfast to taste boozy, I can. This tastes really rich and tasty
-1/2 tsp rum flavoring
-1/4 tsp vanilla
-Top with banana right before eating

Nutella
I highly recommend topping this one with banana or strawberry, it adds to the sweetness. This doesn't really taste like Nutella to me, but the combination is still tasty
-1 tsp cocoa powder
-1/4 tsp hazelnut flavoring
-sprinkle of cinnamon
-few drops of vanilla
-Optional: top with fruit right before eating

Thin Mint
This actually does taste like thin mint cookies. It's a personal favorite.
-1 tsp cocoa powder
-1/4 tsp peppermint extract
-few drops of vanilla
-dash of cinnamon

Vanilla Almond Latte
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp espresso powder
-few drops of almond flavoring

Carrot Cake
I used a recipe for this one, and it has a great texture. I left out the raisins because I have never had a carrot cake with raisins, and I added cloves and nutmeg because the spice mix wasn't quite right without them.
Original Recipe

Spiced Orange
This one does have an extra step, but it tastes really good. Blend the orange and milk before pouring over the oat mixture. You could probably also make this with a 50/50 orange juice and milk mixture if you're not a fan of the pulp. This reminds me of a creamsicle crossed with an orange tea. It sounds a little weird, but it's good
-1 orange, peeled and blended with the milk
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp cloves
-1/2 tsp allspice

Tiramisu
This one is from the blog I mentioned earlier. It's super creamy and delicious. I added a little cinnamon and some extra coffee granules because I can.
Tiramisu Oatmeal

Strawberry Romanoff
For those of you who haven't had it, strawberry romanoff is a dessert that consists of strawberries in a sweet Grand Mariner sauce covered in whipped cream. You can see where I'm going with this.
-3 small or 2 large strawberries, cut and blended with milk
-1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
-1 tsp orange zest
-1 tsp rum flavoring
-1 tsp vanilla
-additional sliced strawberries for topping

Strawberry Daquiri
This one is a really refreshing breakfast when it's triple digit temperatures by 10 (which is about 3-4 months of the year here in Dallas), and the flavor combo is particularly nice
-4 small or 3 large strawberries, cut and blended with milk
-1 tsp rum flavoring
-splash of lemon juice
-splash of lime juice
-1 T chia seeds

Bonus: Savory Oats (not overnight)
Okay, I had to include this because it's so unique and delicious. I'm normally a sweet breakfast kind of girl (and sweet snacks, and sweet cocktails...I keep dentists in business), but savory oatmeal really hits the spot some mornings. It's creamy, flavorful, and really satisfying. It kind of reminds me of a rice casserole. This is just a basic recipe, feel free to get creative and make what you think would work. Maybe some rosemary and chicken, or bacon and cheese, or ham and sweet potato. This idea inspired me, let it inspire you! (I might make a bunch of variations and give this its own post at some point)
-dash of salt
-garlic to taste
-sprinkle of chives
-dash of paprika
-whatever veggies and toppings you like in an omelette (peppers, onion, mushrooms, hot sauce, etc.)
-top with an egg cooked how you like it

Prescription for Pancakes

Can I just say that I have the best friends ever?

So, this weekend was really good. On Friday, I made my boyfriend and awesome dinner and we marathoned Back to the Future. I knew the movie and had probably seen most of it through clips and memes, but I'd never actually sat down and watched it. He decided that it was high time to fix that. IT was a great evening spent with someone I really care about.

Then the next morning, I went out for brunch and discovered some of the best pancakes in my area. They were like fluffy little buttermilk clouds. After happily devouring said pancakes like a child, I did adult things. Like get the oil in my car changed. Then back to being a child and buying a bunch of sparkly fabrics from JoAnn's for my next costume.

I know I'm normally really positive, but Even I have times when I don't feel the brightest. Sunday morning was not the best time for me. I had been thinking about where my life was going and where I wanted it to end up and having a small existential crisis. I have become aware of some things that I know God wants me to change, and I'm trying to figure out how. Now, before I get flooded with messages: If I want to talk, I will tell you. Prying is the best way to make me never want to tell you anything. It's okay, this happens to everyone, and I know how to deal with it, and I have. I'm done, the crisis is over. But, that afternoon, I needed something that would get me out of my own head. I needed a prescription.

A prescription for pancakes.

So darn it, I made some pancakes. And these were really good pancakes. The apple and cinnamon flavors were perfect for fall, and it took almost no effort to make these things. I am trying to use up some strawberries that I found on sale, so those went on. top. The cinnamon apple glaze in the recipe sounds amazing and will probably be tried when I make these again. And they will be made again because these were just what the doctor ordered. Just the right amount of sweetness and so nice and fluffy. Pancakes are one of my favorite foods, so of course I'm going to eat them frequently if I want them. If you don't like pancakes and are sick of reading about them, I'm sorry you have terrible taste. And these pancakes weren't the only thing I needed that day.

I went to hang with my best friend and we sewed our respective projects while talking. After she learned of my morning, she did exactly what I didn't know I needed. Without a second thought, she grabbed some massage lotion and cleansers and worked all of the kinks out of my neck and shoulders while making my skin nice and soft. This woman is magical. By the time she was done, I was physically and mentally in a much better state. I had a plan for my next steps and I was prepared to stick to my choices without second-guessing. The tension was gone and I could focus on the task in front of me. I repeat: I have the best friends ever.

Now, to my pancake recipe:

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I added extra cinnamon because that's how I roll
-Topped with strawberry, whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Yum.
-I used baking sda instead of baking power because I found that made my banana pancakes fluffier, so I wanted to try it here. I'm not sure i it made a difference, but the end result was still really good, so I can't complain.

So, maybe this wasn't my most positive post. That's okay, the next one will be better. Just remember to take care of yourself and so what you need to do to be at your best, because maybe next time you'll be the one reaching for the massage lotion or the spatula. Even something that common sense would say is stupid can do a world of good. If it really helps, don't be afraid to write yourself a prescription for pancakes.

P.S. - That costume I bought all the sparkly fabric for? It's going to be visible from space. Just look at the shoe I spent two hours (and a couple sticks of hot glue) on. It was an awful shade of purple, it's now fabulous.

Pumpkin Presentation

Sometimes even I can be basic.

Granted, it's not very often. I don't like wearing scarves, Those big plastic glasses don't work on me at all, and I don't wake up early to make sure my eyebrows are on fleek. Not that there's anything wrong with those things, it's just not me. But do you know what is me? Yoga pants. Brunch. Ombre-dyed hair. So, I have some pieces of the "basic white girl" package, but not all. The inevitable next question is whether I have the linchpin of this stereotype: a deep and undying love of the pumpkin spice latte (or PSL) from Starbucks. Do I? The answer is a very profound and committed "meh." It's an okay drink, if someone bought me one I would enjoy it, but I'd never order one for myself. Especially not when there are maple and apple pie flavored things to be had. I lack the nostalgia factor because as a kid, (skip this sentence if you are a die-hard pumpkin lover) I didn't like pumpkin. No idea why, I just didn't like most squash, and pumpkin tastes very similar. I didn't even like pumpkin pie, opting for apple or chocolate (yeah, my family made chocolate pie at Thanksgiving and I loved it) over the usual dessert staple. As I got older, I eventually came around to pumpkin, and while it's still far from my favorite, I do enjoy a good pumpkin bread or pumpkin-filled pastry.

Why all the talk about pumpkins? Well, if you saw my Facebook post a couple days ago, you saw that I made a recipe that features pumpkin rather prominently. Part of the reason I get most of my recipes from Pinterest is because I can see things that I never would have though of on my own. Filling a pumpkin with deliciousness and baking it? Genius. This recipe is all about the presentation. Putting a whole pumpkin on the table just screams autumn. Cutting into it and allowing that savory filling to spill out has an effect like a cornucopia, calling to mind the idea of harvest and bounty. As a bonus, this is adapted from a Native American recipe, providing an avenue to look at an aspect of history that I rarely see in cooking. Who knew you could stuff so much into one little pumpkin?

I have been waiting for stores to start stocking pumpkins because I really wanted to try this recipe. When I saw them, I knew the time had come. It was time to turn one of these beauties into a beautiful motherpumkin' meal.

My beautiful creation

The filling spills out everywhere when you cut into it

I scraped the pumpkin from the skin and let it mix with the filling

And a beautiful meal it was. The rich, savory scent, the texture, the way the mellow pumpkin flavor complimented the filling, this was a perfect dinner for a rainy fall evening. I used ground beef, but this would be a great recipe for a game meat like venison. Or if it's close to Thanksgiving and everyone is kind of sick of turkey and soups. The filling can be tweaked to suit different taste preferences, maybe subbing the rice for potatoes or adding sweet corn. This is just a really cook idea that I can't wait to play around with some more. But, since we all started somewhere, here's my original recipe:

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

Sprinkles of Kim:

-While the rice was cooking and the meat was browning, I seasoned up the pumpkin seeds and baked them to save for later snacking. If you don't already do this when cooking with a pumpkin, you should. It's delicious.

-I added a garlic seasoning blend to my meat. The sage was good, but that flavor alone was less than I personally like. Season to your own preferences.

-I prepared the filling and stuffed the pumpkin in the morning and stuck it in the fridge until I was ready to put it in the oven. This turned out really well, so this can definitely be made ahead and then baked right before serving.

As we move into fall, I'm excited to use some different seasonal ingredients to make more awesome food to share. It may be a little basic to use a pumpkin to celebrate the start of fall, but that's okay. Sometimes, it's all about the presentation.

Perfect Banana Pancakes

My name is Kim and I'm addicted to pancakes. I'm a lover of all kinds of food (except the, like, five things I just flat don't like), but there is never a time I am not up for some pancakes. Breakfast? Pancakes. Been a long day at work and need some comfort food? Pancakes. Hanging out with friends and the late night munchies strike? Get in the car, because we are finding a 24-hour diner for some pancakes. I've mentioned my good memories with pancakes in a previous post, so I won't dwell on this for too long, but let's just say I really love a good pancake.

One reason I love pancakes is that there are literally hundreds of things one can do with them. One cannot deny the awesomeness of the classic butter and maple syrup on a simple buttermilk pancake, but the possibilities are endless. The base itself can be tailored to different preferences, from light and delicate pancakes that melt in your mouth, to more dense pancakes that are hearty and full of flavor, to bakery-like flavors such as red velvet or gingerbread. Various mix-ins can be added, from cinnamon or nutmeg to the classic chocolate chips or fruit. And don't even start with me on toppings. Whipped cream, caramel, nuts and nut butter, fruits, yogurt, even ice cream can all make for an amazing pancake experience.

When I make pancakes, one of my favorite fruits to add has got to be bananas. Whether in the batter or sliced on top, I love the taste of bananas with my pancakes. So, this week, I decided to embark on the noble endeavor of making what I consider to be the perfect banana pancake. Okay, what actually happened was that I had a bunch of bananas that I wanted to use up before they went bad. I decided to try a few different recipes and take the best bits of all of them to make my own.

I started with an oat base. I like the taste of oats, and they are nutritious as well as cheap, so I always have them in the house. Bonus: this makes the pancakes gluten free, so if you have Celiac or know someone who does, this is a great recipe. I used a lot of banana in this recipe, especially considering the quantity of pancakes it makes, but the amount used in most recipes that I tried was pitiful. Half a banana? C'mon, that's not going to add anything. One and a half bananas gets the job done without making the pancakes too wet.

Because they lack gluten, oat-based products tend to be more dense and heavy than ones made with wheat flour. With the addition of a heavy, wet ingredient like banana, the main thing this recipe will need to achieve to truly be perfect is fluffiness. So, to that end, a lot of the other ingredients are geared towards keeping everything light. One of the recipes I tried used just egg whites rather than the whole egg, and it kept the pancakes light while still having enough protein to add structure (I love using science in the kitchen), so I incorporated that into this recipe. Making a single serving of these in a blender (I have a Magic Bullet) means cleanup is easy and the texture is nice and even, no bowl or whisk required. And finally, letting pancake batter rest gives the ingredients time to mix and make friends with the baking soda, making the pancakes fluffier. This is so easy to make that I had no problem throwing it together after work and having a nice breakfast for dinner. This recipe makes enough for one if it's all you're having, but if you add some eggs and bacon or sausage, it could probably serve two quite nicely.

The spices and toppings are obviously up to you, but I put mine in this recipe because it was, in my humble opinion, the perfect combination. And this is a post about "perfect" pancakes. The spices reminded me of banana bread, and the maple flavoring was a surprisingly good addition. If you love maple in general, I would highly recommend mixing it into regular pancakes as well. For me, the real star of the show is the peanut butter. It goes so well with the banana, and it brings the cocoa and banana flavors together in just the right way.

As if breakfast for dinner wasn't awesome enough. Not pictured: the amount of restraint it took to wait until I had finished making all the pancakes before eating them.

Kim's Perfect Banana Pancakes

Makes 6-7 small pancakes
Pancakes:
1 1/2 bananas, preferably overripe
1 cup oats (rolled, steel-cut, quick, it really doesn't matter, it's going to get blended)
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp maple flavoring
Dash:
Cloves
Nutmeg
Allspice
Optional: 1-2 T brown sugar, depending on ripeness of bananas and how sweet you want the pancakes

Topping:
2 T peanut butter, either warmed up or mixed with milk to drizzling consistency
1 tsp cocoa powder, either mixed with peanut butter or dusted over top
whipped cream
cinnamon dusted over top

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Let the batter rest for at least ten minutes. Heat a skillet or griddle to medium or medium-low (depending on your stove) and oil/butter the pan. Pour approximately 1/4 cup batter per pancake and let cook until they are bubbling in the middle. Flip and allow to cook until the other side is golden brown (~30-60 sec) Air on the slightly long side of cooking if you are unsure as it's easier to undercook than overcook pancakes with banana. Transfer to a plate and drizzle with peanut butter, dust with cocoa, top with whipped cream, and sprinkle with cinnamon (or whatever you want to top these with).