Banana-Oat Blender Pancakes

There are few better mornings than those spent in pajamas, digging a fork into a large stack of pancakes dripping with syrup. But with weekday mornings revolving around making it to work or class before 9 a.m. Spin classes and tackling weeks' worth of laundry, the concept of enjoying the leisurely breakfast often gets thrown by the wayside.

I propose a return to the pancake breakfast, in the form of fast, easy, and healthy (!!) blender pancakes. The recipe consists of five commonplace ingredients and doesn't even require a bowl. Because the batter is whipped up in a blender, the only other pieces of equipment you'll need are a pan and a stove. To achieve a successful pancake breakfast on a weekday if you have . 20 minutes: make the batter, fry the pancakes, consume. 10 minutes: make the batter the night before and store in an airtight container.

In the morning, thin the batter with a few tablespoons of milk, fry the pancakes, consume. Five minutes: make the batter and fry the pancakes the night before. Place pancakes in the toaster or the oven while putting on your shoes. Consume rapidly OR wrap pancakes in a paper towel and eat on your commute to the utter jealousy of everyone around you.

To enjoy these pancakes on the weekend: silence — or better yet, turn off — your phone, step directly over the pile of laundry in the middle of your room, and start a pot of coffee. Make pancakes. Sigh with relief. It's time for a break. You can also fold in chocolate chips and/or berries after the batter has been blended.

1. Place the banana, milk, and oats in a blender and pulse until smooth. 2. Add egg and baking powder, pulse to combine. If adding optional vanilla, salt, honey, or nut butter, blend those in as well. 3. Grease a pan or pancake griddle with coconut oil or cooking spray and place over medium heat.

4. Use a large ice cream scoop or 1/4-cup measuring cup to portion out the batter onto the griddle. If adding optional chocolate chips or berries, sprinkle on top of pancakes now. Cook until large bubbles appear on the surface and the perimeter seems firm (a minute or two, depending on stove strength). Flip and cook for another minute or two, until both sides are golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter. 5. Serve immediately with desired pancake fixin's, or keep warm on a baking sheet in a 200° oven until ready to serve.

What you’re looking for is an 80/20 mix of beef to fat. I’ve gone for chuck beef: a great cut of the meat and gorgeous in a burger. Your friendly neighbourhood butcher will provide you with the perfect burger meat; just ask. Finally, there’s the burger sauce, a little zing to spread on the buns to accompany that meat and cheese, and this sauce recipe cuts through it beautifully. Let’s cook . .

Preheat the oven to 175°C. We’ll kick off by making the burger mix. In a bowl add the Worcestershire sauce, the Chinese five-spice mix and the minced beef, and season well with salt and pepper. Don’t be shy with the salt: these burgers can take it! When you have the spices mixed well into the beef, divide the mixture into four 240 g balls.

Wet your hands with cold water, and then take the meatballs and shape them into burger patties about 1 inch thick. When you have all four done, pop them onto a lined baking tray, cover them and let them sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up. While these are in the fridge, we’ll make the burger sauce. In a small bowl, simply mix together the smoked paprika, hoisin sauce, mayonnaise, chopped gherkins and lemon juice.

Now to cook the burgers. If you have a griddle pan, put it over a medium heat. The griddle pan is great to get those beautiful marks on the burger, but if you haven’t got a griddle, a standard ovenproof pan will do. Take the burgers out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature before you cook them.

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