Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes with Almond Butter

I started the night shift this week. For 5 weeks, I will start work at 5 pm on Sunday and 6:15 pm Monday-Thursday and get off a little after 8. My eating schedule is very weird on nights....I have a hard time deciding what and when to eat. My body is very confused. When I wake up, I don't know if I should have breakfast or dinner. The other day, for instance, I woke up and had a bowl of kashi cereal. This wasn't quite enough so I followed it with some chicken. It seemed like such a wrong combination. Today I planned on having scrambled eggs with some chicken sausage that was thawing in my fridge. Unfortunately, I only had one egg. I struggled to find something to eat that did not involve going to the store. I came up with this recipe for blueberry pancakes with almond butter. They were actually some of the best pancakes I've ever made. I use a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens for buttermilk pancakes as a base and then tweaked it based on the ingredients I had to work with. I partly came up with it after reading an article in some magazine on labor and delivery about foods that reduce belly fat....not sure to believe it or not, but blueberries, almonds, and oatmeal were all on the list. So consider it healthy.

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes with Almond Butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Almond Butter for spreading on top (peanut butter could be substituted if you don't have almond butter....I use the natural kind which isn't sweet)

Warm Maple Syrup for drizzling

Combine the flour, sugar, baking, powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture; set aside. Combine the egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (bater should be lumpy). Add additional milk to thin the batter if or additional flour and/or oatmeal to thicken as needed. Next add blueberries (mine were frozen; I did not thaw them before adding them to the batter. They turned the batter blue, which I actually kind of liked).

Spoon about 1/4 cup batter int a hight, lightly greased skillet or griddle (I used butter flavored

Pam to grease my griddle). Cook over medium heat, about 2 minutes on each side, until pancakes are golden brown. Spread almond butter on each pancake and drizzle with maple syrup.