There’s nothing quite like a warm slice of banana bread with a nice smear of butter.  It’s as if the heavens looked down on the creation of butter and said, “Now we must create a perfect platform upon which to show off this butter.”  When made properly, banana bread is moist and loaded with flavor.  It’s pretty much a big, bread-shaped muffin.  Best of all, banana bread is so easy to make… it’s “nuts!”   Just kidding.  It’s totally “bananas!”

In this article, I’ll show you my favorite banana bread recipe and share a couple of tips for getting great tasting bread every time.  I’m also excited to present my latest cooking video.  Last week, I watched the movie The Artist.  It was cute.  But you know what it was missing?  A good banana bread recipe.  Here’s a few scenes that would have made it perfect:

Video:  “Mr Breakfast Makes Banana Bread”

How To Make Excellent Banana Bread

For the printable version of this recipe, click here.

The only real trick to making good banana bread is using really ripe bananas.  Just when you think it might be time to toss a banana in the compost bin, that’s the perfect time to use it for banana bread.  The reason is that bananas develop more sugar as they ripen.  The banana flavor becomes more pronounced as the fruit ages.

I’ve seen some recipes that try to extract more flavor from bananas by microwaving them and cooking down the liquid produced to a syrup.  That’s fun if you want to try it, but it’s unnecessary.  Ask anybody’s grandma… the old way is the best way.  Very ripe bananas yield very good banana bread.

When I make banana bread, I use two mixing bowls: one to mash the bananas and the other one for mixing.  Cream 1 softened stick of butter and 1 cup of sugar together until fluffy.  Stir in 3 medium mashed bananas and 2 beaten eggs. Then, slowly stir in 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a couple pinches of salt.  If you like, you can add a teaspoon of vanilla or a few dashes of cinnamon at this point.

Lastly, fold in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts and then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees and that’s all there is to it.  This recipe makes one 9 1/2″ X 5″ loaf or three 6″ X 3 1/2″ inch mini loaves.

The only note of caution with this recipe is to watch the cooking time.  40 to 50 minutes is a decent approximation, but every loaf of banana bread has its own distinct cooking time.  The ripeness and size of your “medium” bananas both impact the cooking time.  I’ve had one loaf take exactly 40 minutes and another with the same recipe take nearly an hour.  Both turned out great despite the significant difference in cooking time.  Just be sure to test that the bread is done with a toothpick or a skewer.  If you stick it in the middle of the loaf and it comes out clean, the bread is done.

I hope you have as much fun and success with this recipe as I’ve had.

This post is based on the following recipe on MrBreakfast.com:

Easy Banana Bread

If you’re not that bananas about banana bread, but you’re totally pumped about pumpkin bread, check out this Pumpkin Bread Recipe.

These Jack O’ Lantern Fruit Cups (alternatively called Halloween Breakfast Cups) are fun to make, adorable and a tricky way to get kids to eat fruit.  If you look at the pictures, you’ll get the idea, but I’ve included a few instructions if you feel like reading.

The only tools you need are a small, sharp paring knife and a grapefruit spoon (the kind with a serrated edge).   Cut off the top of the orange.  Cut around the inside with a knife to loosen the pulp and remove it with the grapefruit spoon.  Now, just cut out a face as you would with a pumpkin.  If you like, you can draw the face first with a marker and then cut along the lines.

Note: If your Jack O’ Lantern is unbalanced, you may want to take a thin slice out of the bottom so your orange will have a base to stand on.

When you’re happy with your Jack O’ Lantern, all that’s left is to fill it with mixed fruit. You’re options are basically limitless.  If it grows and can be cut, it’ll probably work.  Here’s a few suggestions: oranges (obviously), bananas, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, watermelon,  honeydew melon, etc.  As you can see, I’m just basically listing every fruit known to man.  However, this reminds me of a great joke:

Knock. Knock.

Who’s there?

Honeydew

Honeydew who?

Honeydew you love me?

The answer is yes.  If someone comes knocking and wants a delicious, healthy treat served in a unique way, they will love you.

When it comes down to it, the scariest thing about Halloween may be the amount of sweets kids eat.  Bless their hearts, my parents used to let me have a piece of my trick-or-treat candy with breakfast.  Then, I’d secretly take 5 or 6 more pieces to school.  I was a fat little kid.  Later in life, I’d have a fat complex and perceive myself as chubby even when I wasn’t.  That made me awkward around chicks.  Help your kids avoid this horror story and start serving Jack O’ Lantern Fruit Cups today!

For more Halloween breakfast recipes and ideas, please check out the Halloween Headquarters page of MrBreakfast.com.  You’ll find a few more special projects, a bunch of pumpkin recipes and even a couple Halloween jokes.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Independence Day!  Today’s ideas are all about adding some red, white and blue flare to your morning meal.  If you have some berries and bananas, you have the power to transform an ordinary breakfast into an All-American Fourth of July Spectacular Breakfast.  Add some whipped cream or yogurt and the patriotic possibilities are endless.

The easiest (and maybe most fun) thing you can do is arrange berries to make an American flag pattern on waffles, pancakes or French toast.

Here, you can see combinations of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, banana slices and whipped cream.  Those are Apple Cinnamon Waffles in the pictures.  The warm apple pieces in the waffles tasted amazing with the fresh berries on top.  For standard waffles, I’d recommend the following recipes: Best Waffles Ever (quick waffles without yeast) or Overnight Waffle Batter (yeast waffles from a batter that needs to rest at least 7 hours).

In a matter of seconds, you can turn ordinary toast into USA-mazing toast.  A spread of cream cheese gives you a white canvas to work with.  Strawberry jam is used to make the red stripes of the flag which are offset by banana pieces to make the white stripes.  I especially love this idea because it’s so kid-friendly. Wee ones will have a blast making a flag out of a piece of toast.  You don’t really need a recipe for this, but here’s one anyway:  American Flag Fruit Toast.

A super cute way to add Yankee Doodle yumminess to breakfast is to make Fourth of July Berry Bites.  These are just large strawberries with the stems removed and the bottoms sliced so they’ll stand upright.  Fill the hole where the stem was with whipped cream and top with a blueberry.  This idea is awesome because you can use it as a garnish with eggs and omelets and still get some red, white and blue on the plate.

A parfait is a great way to add patriotism and nutrition to your breakfast. In the picture above, you see Fourth Of July Breakfast Parfaits made with vanilla yogurt, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.  You can easily adjust this recipe to include bananas, cherries, whipped cream or any other ingredients that match the colors of the holiday.  For a bigger twist, try using oatmeal in place of the yogurt.

Now that we’ve conquered using fruit in its God-given form, we can graduate to fruit compotes as seen in the Red, White & Blueberry Pancakes above.  On the Fourth of July, I’m all about making a beautiful breakfast quickly so I can go out and enjoy the day.  So, I’ll use jam, water and berries to make compotes in half the time as other compote recipes.  You simply cook down about 1/3 cup of jam with a couple of Tablespoons of water until it’s thin and fluid.  Stir in berries and turn off the heat.  In few minutes, it’ll start to thicken again and, just like that, you have a fruit topping.

The toppings in the recipe above can also be used on French toast and waffles.  You can also swirl the compotes into oatmeal for Oat-rageously American Hot Cereal.

With liberty and breakfast for all… I wish you a very happy Fourth of July!

Also see:

Red, White & Blue Oatmeal Parfaits

As American As Apple Pie Oatmeal

Peach, Banana & Pecan Pancakes – With chopped pecans, mashed banana and pieces of fresh peach, these hearty, flavorful pancakes are a perfect way to celebrate peach season. I served my pancakes with homemade peach syrup (see below) and even more peaches.  It’s a peach explosion!

Peach Waffles – Waffles are wonderful, but they might be best when they’re full of peaches and topped with more peaches swimming in peach syrup with a dollop of whipped cream for a final touch.

Peach Pancake Syrup – The pancakes and waffles above were both served with this easy-to-make homemade peach syrup.  See the recipe for additional suggestions to make Peach Maple Syrup and Peach Nectarine Syrup.

Peach Smoothie - One of the best ways to appreciate a peach at the height of the season is to toss it in a blender and drink it down.  This particular smoothie combines a fresh peach with orange juice and vanilla yogurt.  Add a banana for even more flavor.

Almond Peach Muffins - Did you know peaches and almonds are in the same family (the genus Prunus)?  Maybe that’s why they taste so great together.  This beauty has chopped peaches and chopped almonds in a vanilla batter.  I sprinkled some additional almonds over them at the end to add some crunch and make them pretty. One might say, “Pretty as a peach.”

Pecan Peach Muffins - This is my particular favorite of the recipes on this page.  I made it for the first time a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to get enough since.  The peach cake batter is fantastic and the pecan and brown sugar crumble is to die for.  A little bit of the crumble sinks into the batter as it bakes, producing a great caramelized flavor in every moist bite.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Here are 10 more peach breakfast ideas:

Peaches And Cream Oatmeal

Baked Peach French Toast

Peach-Nut Coffee Cake

Peach Bellini Brunch Cocktail

• Peach Cobbler Oatmeal
• Peach Crepes
• Easy Peach Crisp with Cereal Topping
• Baked Peach Pancakes
• White Peach Bourbon French Toast
• Peach French Toast

If you try any of the recipes, be sure to leave a comment on that recipe’s page or drop me a note here.  Here’s hoping you have a peachy keen day!  I’ll leave you with this…

“Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it.” – Alice Walker (American author and poet)

National Eat A Peach Day is August 22.

A couple Thanksgivings ago, I introduced you to the Pancake Turkey.  This year, I’d like you to meet Pancake Turkey II, a variation on the concept of pancake turkeys.  I’ll also introduce you to a special, new Thanksgiving friend… the Fruit Turkey. If that’s not enough… new for Thanksgiving 2014, I will show you the rare and exotic Muffins Turkey.

This (above) is the first pancake turkey I ever made. For this gobbler, you need a pancake mix (or homemade pancake batter), a banana, candy corn, a chocolate chip or a raisin and a maraschino cherry or a small dollop of red jam.  You can get complete instructions right here.

This is my latest attempt at the craft of pancake turkeys.  This one has a little more dimension.  To make this guy, you need pancakes, a banana, raisins, sliced almonds and a cashew.

Making the body is just a matter of making one normal pancake and one that’s vaguely phallic.  Slice the banana and you’re ready to go.

Now, this handsome follow is a rare, endangered fruit turkey.  He’s endangered because I’m seriously about to eat him.  Fortunately, you can help repopulate the fruit turkey population with a pear, an apple, an orange, 2 mini-chocolate chips, a raisin and a cashew.

What should I name my fruit turkey?  Your comments are welcome below.

Here’s a pair of exotic Muffin Turkeys.  You can make these with any muffins.  You’ll need some grapes, candy corn (wedged into the grape) and some red and green apple slices.  A toothpick is used to attach the grape head to the muffin body.  I made eyes with icing and chocolate sprinkles.  You could also just dab on some chocolate sauce or peanut butter.  The muffins I used for these turkeys were Apple Bran Muffins.

That concludes today’s lesson in the art of breakfast turkeys.  All that’s left to say is “Happy Thanksgiving!”  I hope it’s your best one ever!

Further Reading:

Turning Thanksgiving Leftovers Into Great Breakfasts

This article presents 35 of my favorite apple breakfast recipes. Most use fresh apples with a handful that require applesauce. We’ve got apple waffles, apple pancakes, apple oatmeal, apple cereal, apple crepes, apple muffins… think of a breakfast food and put “apple” in front of it and it’s probably here.

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, try these recipes and keep that pesky medic off your back for over a month.

35 Apple Breakfast Recipes

Apple Granola – This flavorful granola includes apples, walnuts, cinnamon, vanilla and maple. Substitute chopped pecans in place of the walnuts for a different taste.

Apple Cinnamon Waffles – Diced apple in the batter makes every bite special. For the best experience, top with real maple syrup and some chopped nuts.

Homemade Apple Bars – These bars are perfect for breakfast on the go. They’re comprised of mostly oats and apple, but still somehow taste like an indulgent cookie.

Applesauce Oatmeal Pancakes – The applesauce in the recipe make these pancakes more dense and filling than traditional pancakes. Whole wheat flour and oats add bonus fiber.

Apple Bran Muffins – Step aside boring bran muffins! An apple, some honey and select spices make these bran muffins tasty and interesting.

Cinnamon & Honey Apple Breakfast Treat – The simplest recipe on this list, it’s just apple, whipped cream, honey and cinnamon. Serve it as slices or core the apple to make a cute apple bowl.

Apple Crunch Muffins – The cake part of these muffins is tender and buttery with small apple pieces and noticeable cinnamon. The crumble topping is made of brown sugar, crunchy chopped nuts and cinnamon.

Apple Coffee Cake – The cool thing about this coffee cake is that it uses twice as much apple than flour resulting in an extremely moist texture.

Honey Apple Pancakes – Honey and apple are two flavors that are meant to be together. These fluffy pancakes are proof of that. This recipe requires an apple and apple juice.

Apple Walnut Oatmeal – Forget about packets of oatmeal with dehydrated apple pieces. Everything here is fresh and made from scratch.

Fruit Turkey – This adorable fellow makes a fun breakfast for kids. I first made it for Thanksgiving, but it’s great for any day you want breakfast served with a side of whimsy.

Applesauce Pancakes – These pancakes are so moist you might consider them gooey. They’re not for everyone. I found them to be a nice change from ordinary pancakes.

Homemade Apple Bread – You’d be hard pressed to find a better apple bread in any fancy bakery. It’s moist and loaded with apple flavor.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal – I’d put this homemade concoction up against name brand oatmeal packets any day of the week. A drizzle of pure maple syrup adds a delightful finishing touch.

Apple Pancake Topping – You can enjoy this topping on a million things. Pancakes, waffles and French toast are the obvious recipients. But you could also have it in oatmeal, on ice cream, or stirred into yogurt for a breakfast parfait.

Cinnamon Maple Apple Pancake Topping (Microwave) – This topping isn’t as fancy as the one above. It’s apples in a very basic form with sugar, cinnamon and maple syrup. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare.

Apple Muffins – If you like a moist muffin, don’t miss these muffins. Buttermilk and a healthy dose of cinnamon give it a flavor that’s vaguely reminiscent of an apple fritter doughnut.

Baked Apple Pancake Skewers – Next time you make pancakes, make them small and fill them with warm, cooked apple slices. Poke a toothpick or a skewer in the middle and you have a unique pancake treat.

Microwave Apple Oatmeal – If you like apple pie, you’re going to like this oatmeal. Add a dab of whipped cream to enhance the pie sensation.

Apple Buttermilk Muffins – Friends will ask, “What amazing bakery did you get these muffins from?” The secret is using fresh Golden Delicious apples and topping them with a playful vanilla icing.

Steel Cut Apple Oatmeal (Crockpot) – Have you heard the expression “as easy as apple pie”? It should be “as easy as apple oatmeal.” For this recipe, you throw ingredients in a crock-pot, go to sleep and wake up to a healthy, super tasty breakfast.

More Apple Breakfast Ideas:

Applesauce French Toast

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes (Egg-Free And Dairy-Free)

Apple Blender Pancakes

Old Fashioned Apple Fritters

Maple Apple Raisin Oatmeal

Apple Allspice Muffins –

Spicy Apple Pancakes

Apple Raisin Crepes

Apple Raisin Kugel

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Cinnamon Apple Raisin Oatmeal

Whole Wheat Apple Scones

Homemade Applesauce (Topping)

Apple Snapple Oatmeal

Every now and then, I need to hit the reset button on my nutritional intake. As a rule, I try to squeeze a healthy breakfast of whole grains and fruit between each indulgent breakfast. But sometimes you’ll read a post here about donuts. That usually means I had a few consecutive mornings of overindulgence. Such was the case recently.

To get back on track, I spent last week having a different kind of oatmeal and smoothie every morning. I chose 14 recipes from the site that I’d hadn’t tested yet. I tried to create a menu with a wide range of flavors so the week would be exciting and fun (words not always associated with oatmeal).

It was a great week. I was reminded that oatmeal doesn’t need to be boring or routine. My beliefs about smoothies being amazing… totally reaffirmed. Who doesn’t love a recipe whose only instructions are to throw everything in a blender. I feel energized, a little leaner and ready to take on the deliciously difficult task of having to eat omelets and pancakes this week.

Take a look at my menu. Hopefully, you’ll find a recipe or two you might like to try.

Monday

Key Lime Pie Oatmeal – This steel-cut oatmeal dish tastes a lot like key lime pie because it contains many of the same ingredients including fresh lime juice and crumbled graham cracker.

Honey Banana Breakfast Shake – This is a very basic fruit smoothie featuring bananas, strawberries and noticeable notes of honey.

Tuesday

Banana Honey Flax Oatmeal – This recipe uses Old Fashioned oats and gets its flavor from bananas and honey with a nutrition boost from ground flax seeds.

Choco-Peanut Banana Shake – Three great tastes that taste great together! This smoothie contains peanut butter and cocoa powder. The flavor might remind you of a shake you’d have for dessert. Wheat germ adds extra nutrition.

Wednesday

Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Oatmeal – A couple of tablespoons of Nutella adds chocolate flavor to these Old Fashioned oats. A few chocolate chips add even more!

Cinnamon Smoothie – This smoothie has a little of everything: banana, raspberries, blueberries, orange juice, vanilla, etc. A pinch of cinnamon gives this one an almost candy-like essence.

Thursday

Sweet Scottish Oatmeal – This recipe uses steel-cut (aka Irish or Scottish oats) flavored simply with modest amounts of butter and brown sugar. I topped mine with raisins, walnuts and a splash of cold milk.

Banana Coffee Smoothie – For this smoothie, you’re supposed to use coffee flavored yogurt, but you can also use plain or vanilla yogurt and stir in instant coffee crystals. That’s what I did.

Friday

Maple Apple Raisin Oatmeal – This oatmeal is made from Old-Fashioned oats. There are pieces of apple and raisins in every bite. For more taste and texture, I added a few chopped pecans.

Oatmeal Smoothie – For a double dose of heart healthy oats, try an oatmeal smoothie. The blended oats make the smoothie thicker without really effecting the taste. The drink pictured above was pretty good. I personally prefer a recipe I tested last year called Banana Oatmeal Smoothie.

Saturday

Curach (Irish Honey Cream Oatmeal) – For the start of the weekend, how about a shot of Irish whiskey in your oats. Steel-cut oats are toasted and added to whipped cream that’s been flavored with the whiskey and honey. Then, fresh raspberries are added to make a fruit parfait.

Easy Orange Smoothie – This smoothie reminded me of an Orange Julius. If you’ve ever had one, you know that’s a good thing. This one uses orange juice concentrate instead of fresh juice.

Sunday

Pineapple Coconut Oatmeal – To close out the week, I went tropical… a taste of the islands in a bowl (or in this case… a tin) of oatmeal. Toasted coconut is used as a garnish.

Hawaiian Twist Smoothie – Completing my island-inspired breakfast is a smoothie with flavors of banana, pineapple and coconut. Aloha!

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to oatmeal and smoothie recipes on MrBreakfast.com. Check out the following sections for many, many more options:

The Oatmeal Recipe Collection (156 recipes as of March 2014)

The Smoothie & Breakfast Drink Collection (167 recipes as of March 2014)

It’s lemony, sweet and delicious.  It’s easy to make and goes with just about anything.  But what’s up with that name… Lemon Curd.  I like the “lemon” part, but a “curd” is something I expect to find in cottage cheese.  I don’t even like when “curd” is used to describe pieces of a scrambled egg.   Maybe it’s because it rhymes with “turd” or that the letters so easily rearrange to spell “crud”.  It’s definitely not a great word to describe the lemony, smooth, flavorful, custard-like spread that’s so easy to love.

I’ve been experimenting a lot with lemon curd lately.  I’ve made a couple of homemade versions, including one that’s prepared in the microwave.  In all cases, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, eggs and butter are combined and gently cooked until you suddenly have a beautifully thick substance.

In recent days, I’ve had lemon curd on pancakes, in pancakes, on toast, on English muffins, as part of a fruit parfait, as a filling for pastries and that’s just for starters.  Anything you might use jam for, you can use lemon curd instead.

In grocery and specially stores, jars of lemon curd often cost more than five dollars.  By my estimate, it costs about 80 cents to make it at home.  It was even cheaper for me because of where I live.  A lot of my neighbors have lemon trees and it’s not uncommon to see a basket of lemons on someone’s sidewalk with a sign that says, “Free Lemons.”  I grabbed about a dozen free lemons last week and, as you’ll see from the variety of recipes that follow, I went a little lemon-loco.

As they say, a rose by any other name smells just as sweet.  So it is that lemon curd by any other name tastes just as sweet, although a new name would probably be more descriptive.  Here’s a selection of recipes for lemon curd and recipes that use lemon curd… or as I’m calling it now… Lemon Delight, or Lemon Magic… how about Lemon Ecstasy.  On second thought, those all sound names you’d find at the medical marijuana store.  Anyway, here’s some Lemon Curd recipes I hope you’ll like.

Homemade Lemon Curd

I swear by this recipe.  I’d put a jar of this against the store-bought stuff any day.  It requires only 4 ingredients (if you count lemon zest and lemon juice as one) and takes only 15 or 20 minutes to make.

Microwave Lemon Curd

Do yourself a favor and make the recipe right before this one.  This is a weird case where a microwave version of a recipe actually takes longer than the stove top version.  It was rewarding to know I could make lemon curd this way, but it wasn’t as rewarding for my mouth when compared to the traditional preparation method.

Lemon Pancakes Topped With Whipped Cream & Lemon Curd

If you want pancakes with big lemon flavor, put lemon zest and lemon juice in the batter and then top them with some lemon curd.  Of coarse, you could top any kind of pancakes with the good stuff, but why not go crazy.  As the saying goes… when life give you lemons, make lemon curd and lemon pancakes.

Kolache Pastries Filled With Lemon Curd

The recipe for this Czechoslovakian pastry was handed down from my Grandmother.  You can fill them with any favorite jam or preserve.  But if you have a jar of homemade lemon curd handy, I recommend giving it a try.  It might take some practice to get the dough the right shape and thickness, but they always taste amazing even when they don’t look amazing.

Lemon Coffee Cake

This coffee cake has a creamy, fruity center from lemon curd and raspberries.  Vanilla yogurt in the batter assures that it’s moist and flavorful throughout.

Mock Lemon Danish With Vanilla Yogurt & Lemon Curd

I was really surprised how good this was.  At first look, it seemed kind of lame.  It’s an English muffin topped with cinnamon-infused yogurt and lemon curd.  It’s insane how much it tastes like a pastry.

Funny story… when I took photos of the mock pastry, the yogurt didn’t look good in the pictures.  Being a clever, sneaky guy, I replaced the yogurt with vanilla pudding so it would appear to have more substance in the pics.  That’s when I made one of the best discoveries of my life.  Lemon curd mixed with vanilla pudding is… how do I say this without overselling it… it’s orgasmic!

Remember… this is just a small sampling of the things you can do with lemon curd.  Try it on waffles.  Spread it between two pieces of French toast for Lemon-Stuffed French Toast.  Dip a banana in it.  Or try my favorite thing to do with homemade lemon curd… give a jar to a friend.

This oatmeal tastes like banana cream pie!  It gets big banana flavor from mashed and sliced bananas and a creamy richness from a modest amount of sweetened condensed milk.  If you add a dollop of whipped cream, you’re in for the full banana cream pie near-experience.  For the more diet conscience, you can skip the whipped cream and still get a pretty serious pie flashback.

This recipe is a modified version of a popular recipe on MrBreakfast.com called Banana Cream Oatmeal.

Here’s how to do it:

The ingredients are 2 cups of oats (Old Fashioned or quick-cooking), 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, a hint of cinnamon and 3 bananas.  The original recipe asked for 2 bananas, but I found that it really benefited from one more.

Prepare the oats as directed on the package.  I tried it with both quick cooking and Old Fashioned oats.  The end result was the same.  Both kinds of oats required 4 cups of water (double the amount of oats).  The only difference was – as you might expect – the quick cooking oats cooked quicker.

As the oats are cooking, mash two bananas.

Slice the remaining banana into coins.

When the oats have the constancy you like, stir in the mashed bananas, condensed milk and some cinnamon.  Top each serving with banana coins and final dash of cinnamon.

I added raspberries to make the pictures pop.  I found that they also made the recipe pop.  So, add ‘em if you got ‘em.

There it is… a delicious, unique oatmeal that takes about 15 seconds longer to make than it takes to make just the oats.  One might say, “It’s easy as pie!”

This post is a companion piece to the following recipe on MrBreakfast.com:

Banana Cream Oatmeal

Here’s a fun project to brighten your morning.  Kids of any age will love helping to make their own personal waffle butterfly.  If you use frozen waffles, the whole thing takes about 3 minutes.  Best of all, your kids will be having such a good time decorating, they won’t realize that they’re inadvertently getting a serving of fruit.

When it comes to making pictures and characters out of food, it’s important that the dish be prepared quickly.  There’s a guy at a site called Jim’s Pancakes (now defunct) who is making incredible, intricate sculptures out of pancakes.  I love what he’s doing, but there’s a problem with making complex, edible spaceships and football stadiums for breakfast.  If you play with your food for too long, your breakfast might look cool… but hot?  It is not.

That’s what I like about these waffle butterflies.  Once the components are prepped, the butterflies take just seconds to make and your waffles are still warm and crisp.

You’ll need 2 waffles – frozen or homemade.  Besides a banana, you’ll need a small selection of other fruits or berries.  I decided to decorate my butterfly with a kiwi and some strawberries.  You might also try blueberries, raspberries, cherries or dried cranberries.  The more colorful the fruit, the more lovely your butterfly.

I like to think of the ingredients as a cocoon – ready to release a breakfast of unmatched glory.  Or if I’m in a bad mood, I just think of them as 2 waffles and some fruit.  But then, everything comes together and my bad mood flies away like some kind of winged insect.

Now, let’s transform these simple ingredients into a beautiful butterfly.

Slice a long lengthwise piece of banana to make the body.  Then, chop the remaining fruit into various pieces.  Take two waffles and cut them each in half to make the wings.

Decorate the wings with the fruit pieces.  Use two very thin slices of one of your fruits to make antennae.

How could someone eat something so beautiful?  Easy!  Just drown it in warm maple syrup.

For 150 waffle recipes, visit the Waffle Recipes section of MrBreakfast.com.