Banana Blueberry Pancakes

What's something in your kitchen that you can't stock enough of? In my kitchen, the answer is easy. Blueberries... or blue 'beh behs' as my son likes to call them. He will stop whatever he's doing for a blueberry. He'll even give up his Thomas the Train for a blueberry. Yes, there's no doubt about it. My son can eat his weight in blueberries and I can never seem to have enough. Now, as much as he loves his blue beh behs just as is, I wanted to introduce some other ways to enjoy them. Enter these Banana Blueberry Pancakes. Studded with blueberries and pockets of sweet mashed bananas, these will make breakfast a meal to look forward to...

My son has been doing well and gaining more interest as my little kitchen helper. He's taking on a more interactive role by measuring, mixing and of course, taste testing along the way. With a growing vocabulary each day, he's all about announcing what he's doing too... and you'd think he's auditioning for a kiddie cooking show. In making this recipe, he did great naming off the ingredients as we added them to the bowl. He even stirred the batter with more gusto. But when his beloved blue beh behs needed to be folded into the batter, he lost it. He looked at me in horror as I took the batter bowl and proceeded to fold in the berries. According to him, blueberries had no place in a pancake batter. But little did he know what deliciousness was in store. I continued on with the pancake making from there because the blueberry police had a meltdown. That's when I leaned on my friend, Thomas the Train, to calm the little guy down. Suddenly, the tears stopped falling and he became so mesmerized by the screen in which Thomas was tooting his horn. And then the first few pancakes were ready. He tried one bite with hesitation. Then he took another bite. And another bite. Can you believe his polished off 3 pancakes? I had to cut him off at that point! Now my son understands that blueberries can be enjoyed in other ways - or at least, I hope he understands that. The good thing is this recipe makes quite a few and you can make them, cool and then wrap them up for the freezer so an easy breakfast on any given morning.

Banana Blueberry Pancakes
recipe adapted from For the Love of Cooking

1 1/2 cups of flour (or gluten free flour blend)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed well
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and whisk until well combined.

In another bowl, mashed the banana with a fork and add the egg, milk, vanilla, and sugar. Whisk together with the fork until very well combined. Gently add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in all the blueberries and set aside.

Heat a nonstick skillet or flat griddle over medium low heat. Spray with cooking spray. Once the skillet is hot, pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake into the pan. Cook the pancake for 2 minutes or until the tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Carefully turn pancakes over; cook 2 more minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.