Say Hello to My Little Friend

... who helped me make BOMB pancakes this morning.

After last night's supreme chillaxin', which included vino, the movie Fried Green Tomatoes and this lovely dinner:

brown rice pasta with olive oil, pepper and balsamic vinegar; topped with goat cheese, sauteed French green beans and raw bell pepper. Mmm mmm good!

I woke up this morning a little later than usual, ready to take on the world... or something.

That only meant one thing: time for pancakes.

Since I'm out of Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein powder and am not a fan of the Natural flavor (or lack thereof), I'm going to have to hold out on the Fitnessista's Perfect Protein Pancakes until further notice.

I wasn't in the mood to wait for the stone age oven to preheat for Caitlin's pancake truffles, so I thought, "Hey! Why not make up your own pancake creation?!"

And so I did.

I used:

-1/2 cup of whole wheat pancake mix
-1/2 cup of water
-1/4 cup of rolled oats (technically the last of my oats in the jar- probably around 1/4 cup)
-1/8 cup canned pumpkin
-heavy sprinkle of cinnamon
-light sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice (my new best friend)
-splashes of almond milk to texture
-banana slices and pecans for garnish

First, I combined the dry mix, oats and spices alone, then added the water + a splash of almond milk. After that was somewhat together, I plopped in the dollop of pumpkin and stirred. Then more almond milk until the mix seemed pancake batter appropriate.

I melted Earth Balance in a large-ish skillet and arranged 2 small circles of sliced bananas directly on the greased pan.

I poured the batter into 2 [somewhat] pancake-looking circles over the respective banana shapes.

... waited for bubbles to stop forming around the edges and attempted to flipped.

I know for next time that I should only make one pancake at a time, as this got a little messy.

I let them go for about 30 seconds on the other side, did one more flip for good measure and slapped them on the plate.

I sprinkled a handful of chopped pecans....

Drizzled the syrup.

And enjoyed.

The perfect breakfast for an amazing day ahead.

Who needs a brunch place when you can make your very own scrumptious pancakes at home? Not this girl!

Now it's time for scene rehearsal, then Alex and I are going to face the crowds at Target for some Christmas decorations, followed by TREE TRIMMING!

Be back later with a recap for ya!

xo