Tasty Goodness: Whole Wheat Banana Nut Pancakes

My husband LOVES pancakes.  And generally, the fluffier, and whiter, the better in his book.  I am always on a quest to convert him to whole grains, so whenever I see a recipe for whole grain breakfast treats, I give it a go.  I've had a few successes, but Patrick is rather suspicious of such things, so I've learned not to tell him when I'm trying out a whole grain recipe. :)

Yesterday was Breakfast for Dinner night at our house, sparked by a new blog I've been reading called Trainer Momma.  Trainer Momma is a health nut (I mean that in the best possible way) who has made it her mission to inspire the masses to exercise more and eat healthily.  She's posted scores of recipes on her blog (as well as exercise plans) to help us do just that.  I saw a recipe for Whole Wheat Waffles that intrigued me, so I decided to give it a go. Since I had three very ripe bananas, I decided to modify the recipe to use those, especially because I thought the added sweetness of the bananas might make the waffles more palatable to Patrick.  I did decrease the added sugar in the recipe to 2T., though, so they weren't too sweet. 

The waffles turned out great in my opinion.  Very tasty.  Patrick liked them, too--Yippee!  We used our Belgian waffle maker, because that's the only type we have, but I imagine this recipe will work well on any waffle maker.  Here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Waffles
modified from Trainer Momma's Whole Wheat Waffles

3 very ripe bananas
2 c. whole wheat flour
4 T. canola oil
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 t. baking powder
3 eggs
2 c. milk
2 t. cinnamon
3/4 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat your waffle iron.  In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined.  (I like to lightly whisk my eggs before adding to break up the yolks and help the eggs mix in better.  Just don't over-whisk them.)  Then spray the waffle iron with cooking spray and start making your waffles.  Trainer Momma suggest 1/4 c. of batter for a regular waffle iron.  Our Belgian waffle maker uses 3/4 c. of batter per waffle, and we ended up with 8 waffles.  Enjoy!