Oatmeal Pancakes

Life can get so bothersome and complicated. We all, hopefully, have our ways of getting away from it all.

Last week I found another way of escaping the intensity of modern life, something I want to share with you. My latest getaway is making oatmeal pancakes. I am not even sure where I got the idea of making oatmeal pancakes. Like many of the very best ideas, it simply appeared!

I already had some oats, the five-minute variety of rolled oats. I also had some eggs that needed using up. But what else did I need to get? The wonderful thing about looking online for recipes for oatmeal pancakes is that you enter a huge and incredible world of variations.

Making oatmeal pancakes is a task with certain challenges. Oats can be solid and chewy—not the first choice for nice fluffy pancakes! Some recipes call for the addition of bananas. Some would have you soak the oats for a time. A blender is usually required, but not always.

The (probably) thousands of recipes available leads one to the most wonderful part of cooking—experimenting! Add more of this, less of that, and perhaps—gasp—add some completely new ingredients of your own.

I will not post here the recipe I settled on. I plan to improve upon it. Still, for a first time effort, it really was very good. Tasty, fluffy, filling pancakes. The word “yum” would be a cliché, but nevertheless: YUM! [Go ahead, click on the YUM link.]

Pancakes have a certain magic to them. Making pancakes has lots of magic. While pouring the mix into the pan and watching my small pancakes start to bubble, I thought of nothing else. To be oblivious for a little while of such things as worldly conflicts, global warming, household chores, bills, and to experience instead the simple creative bliss of making one pancake after another, this is simple, flavorful, culinary bliss.