PB&J Pancakes, 2 for 1!

Hello my lovely readers! I want to take a quick moment and say thank you for your support during my start up posts.

Up to this post, I have not mentioned breakfast as part of my repertoire….and this is wrong. VERY WRONG. I am a lean, mean, breakfast/brunch making machine. Give me a few hours on a sunday morning and I will kick your standard american brunch’s ass. Something about having those eight uninterrupted hours of brain wave movement help me wake up to a cornucopia of ideas.

I KNOW pb&j isn’t that creative, but I promise this recipe is worth reading and making. Another great reason to keep reading is because not only are these five ingredient pancakes, but I made the strawberry jam for you to try as well! I find the store bought stuff to be way too sugary for my liking and not enough of the fruit’s natural flavor.

Strawberry Jam
2c strawberries tops cut off and halved (or quartered if bigger)
1/4c COLD water to mix with 1 tsp cornstarch
1/4c water
1 packet of Stevia
1 1/2 tsp chia seeds

In a small bowl mix the cold water and cornstarch until no lumps are left. Once mixed, pour your strawberries, cornstarch mixture, water, stevia, and finally the chia seeds into a small saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-low and let cook (uncovered) until the mixtures starts to bubble, strawberries start to soften and the mixture thickens around it. Remember to stir every few moments because the heating could cause it to stick. Once the mixture has combined into a yummy mush, I took my fork and mashed the strawberries chunks down even more. When choosing strawberries for this jam, I found that the riper, redder ones created the color and taste I was looking for in the final product.

After your jam is cooked, pour into a mason jar and store in the fridge for the next few days. You could also serve warm over ice cream…I’m not sure how long it will keep, because mine was gone in 3 days.

Now for some easy pancakes!

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes
1c whole wheat flour
2tsp baking powder
1 mashed ripe banana
1tsp apple cider vinegar
1+c non dairy milk (to make it to the right pancake consistency, it will change based on the thickness of the milk you chose)

These pancakes are NOT on the sweet side. This is my base pancake, and in my opinion the banana is enough of a sweetener. If you want them a little more like the average pancake, I would suggest adding in your preferred sugar source (But if you top with the jam, I promise you won’t need it!)

In a small bowl, mix the milk and vinegar to start the buttermilk process. Turn your medium sized pan on medium to low heat, and spray with (my favorite is coconut) cooking spray.

In your dry ingredients bowl add in your flour and baking powder. I also like to add just a little bit of flax seed or chia seeds for my fiber in the morning. Add the mashed banana into your other wet ingredients and mix those together. After they are thoroughly mixed, pour wet ingredients into your dry bowl. When it comes to mixing, you want to be careful not to over mix. Combine the ingredients just so there are no major lumps, and enough so they are still thoroughly combined.

From this point you can add whatever else you like into them. I’ve made lemon chia seed(zest of one lemon and a tsp of chia seeds), blueberry, apple pie…..the choices are endless!

After you’ve added your mix ins, pour onto your skillet by the pancake and cook until the bubbles have stopped popping and stay open on the side you can see. Flip em and cook the opposite side. Make sure your skillet isn’t too hot or only the outsides will cook while the inside remains wet. (I’ve done this a few times, I get too excited about them and try to make them cook faster….It’s not worth it, slow and steady)

To form my pb&j pancake tower I simply did this layering.
Pancake, spread on peanut butter, add a few fresh cut strawberries, and next pancake. Repeat until the top pancake. This is when you want to drop some of that amazing jam you made on top, and let it run down the sides of your piping hot pancakes.

Enjoy!!! comment if you’ve tried them out, and how they worked for you!!!

xoxo thissimplevegan