it’s all about balance

before i get started with my post, i need to take a moment to give a tremendous thank you to a beautiful, talented baker whose blog i love- joy the baker. see, a couple days ago she did a post alerting her readers to some great new-ish cooking blogs, and i was lucky enough to make the cut! woo-hoo!!! so, for all of you who are here because of joy, thank *you* for following the link and checking out my site  [o:  oh–one more thing before i get started– even if you don’t have time to read my post, i urge you to take the time to copy the below recipe. no, seriously, these pancakes are beyond delicious!

last weekend i posted about my laziness, but mentioned my love of exercise, and replied to a commenter who agreed with me that it is all about balance. i will now demonstrate the balance i will be trying to keep this weekend. i have been given two homework assignments from my work friends, in addition to the other things i need to get done this weekend:

1. for those who don’t know me, i manage a team of hardware specialists at an IT sales company. yes, we are nerds. when one of the guys on my team found out that i hadn’t yet watched chuck he was shocked and insisted that i try it out. season 3 starts tomorrow, so i have been tasked with watching seasons 1 & 2 so that i can watch this season as it happens. that’s 35 episodes, each was an hour on tv, so about 42 minutes on blu-ray…clocking in at just over 24 hours of viewing pleasure.
2. i started going to the work gym a little less than a year ago (when i noticed that i didn’t have time–nor energy–to go to nysc after work very often), and joined the noon crew (the best group of all the time slots i tried out), comprising of the helpdesk/it operations guys who are seriously into working out. they have been doing this intense routine, starting last year with intermediate, and a few weeks ago starting the advanced program. i have been talking about how i want to get back into as good of shape as i used to be, so one of them lent me the muscle bible that their programs come from. i was tasked with reading the book and starting the beginner workout. it is from men’s health, so hopefully it doesn’t make me all sorts of bulky!
3. since i take my own photographs of my foodstuffs, i am never in them unless a friend is over. my neighbor from growing up is a great photographer and a ton of fun…and he asked asked to come do a shoot of me baking in the next couple weeks. this means that i have to come up with a recipe that will be visually appealing/interesting to photograph, and perhaps even go out and buy a new cute apron for the occasion (i *love* cute aprons).
4. my mom is coming back to visit tomorrow (she was just here last week and the week before, but is coming back to help her injured mother) and i have to have my house in just the right amount of order. everything should be put away and basically clean, but just enough not done yet that we have something to clean together. see, my mom loves to clean and help me out, so if my house is immaculate, she will find new and interesting ways to rearrange things in my home. trust me. i love my mother very much, and it is better this way.
5. all the other random stuff that one needs to do on weekends, like grocery shopping, laundry, perhaps even seeing some friends.

i started watching chuck last night, knocking out 7 episodes so that i had some time to do other things today. this morning i considered having some oatmeal for breakfast, then going to starbucks for a muffin for second breakfast (i eat like a hobbit), but instead i decided to combine that with pancakes, since i did not get to photograph the pancakes i made at work the other day. yeah, you read that right: i made pancakes at work on tuesday as part of a team-building event for my group. since i had some left over, i of course shared with my helpdesk/itops boys. something tells me though that i should have made THESE pancakes for them–delicious and healthy. if i threw some protein powder in, i bet even my friend from the group that is ridiculously health-conscious would have had some!

like i said, i wanted to combine my desire to eat oatmeal, a berry muffin, and pancakes so i searched for an oatmeal pancakes recipe. let me just tell you, i am soooo glad i picked this recipe. there were so many out there, but i didn’t want to get into the buttermilk predicament, which you may have read me ramble about on numerous occasions (struggling to use up the whole carton in a few days) so i took a chance on this one. i made some modifications based on reviews and my own personal taste, which are reflected below. i used pure maple syrup on them, but if you are trying to make this an even more nutritious breakfast, i highly suggest topping them with some vanilla yogurt, a couple fresh blueberries, and a sprinkle of chopped walnuts or granola. i plan to share some leftovers with justin (who i made the pancake cake for), but then enjoy the others in the manner i just described. i think you could get away with a little more oatmeal for the health benefits, and without (or less) cinnamon depending on the fruit you go with, but they are oatstanding (har-har) just the way i made them!

YUM! and now, without further ado…

Recipe, modified from bon appetit’s cinnamon oatmeal pancakes

Makes about 8 pancakes

• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 5 tablespoons butter, diced, plus more for griddle
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1 1/2 cups blueberries, or whatever fruit you are in the mood for

Stir water, oats, and 5 tablespoons butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture comes to boil. Cook until mixture is very thick, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and cool 15 minutes. Stir in flour, sugar, wheat germ, eggs, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix in fruit.

Heat griddle or 2 large nonstick skillets over medium-high heat. Brush with butter. Drop batter onto griddle or skillets by generous 1/2 cup for each pancake; spread batter to 4- to 5-inch rounds. Cook pancakes until brown and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.