Cheddar Bacon Pancakes

This meal was inspired from the S & W Country Diner where I had breakfast with my sister. She said the "bacon and cheddar waffles" were to die for. I was game, so we gave it a shot. We also ordered a side of hash browns (J loves them), a fried egg for each of us, and a side of tomato slices. We had to get a little healthy color going on the plates ;-)

Turns out, putting bacon and cheese inside of waffle batter makes it even better! We didn't even need to put maple syrup over the waffles because they were savory on their own. Now, if you're like me then you love savory foods. Chili chocolate, salty sweet pretzels, candied bacon, and now? Cheese with bacon and sugar. So.Good.

I will warn you, this is so not the healthiest meal. I suppose it's not worthy of my blog title, but then again I'm sure half my recipes aren't . . . but you already knew that, right? Good. Let's get down to business!

Cheddar Bacon Pancakes

• vegan batter from an older post (this time I used regular milk)
• shredded cheddar cheese (3/4 cup)
• 5 strips turkey bacon
• pinch brown sugar
• optional: side of hash browns, eggs, tomato slices

For the pancake batter I skipped the addition of vanilla and I used dairy milk instead of almond or soy. Turned out the same though! Additions for the batter were 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese and crispy sweet turkey bacon. To cook the bacon, I put 5 strips down in a cold pan and lightly sprinkled them with brown sugar. I cooked the bacon, flipping frequently, until very crispy and caramelized. Cut your strips into thirds and set aside. I made pancakes instead of waffles because I don't have a waffle iron, although I'm dying for a pink one that makes heart shaped waffles =( Maybe the Waffle Fairy will bring me one for my birthday!

While the bacon was cooking I tossed some potatoes O'Brien into a skillet and then got started on my pancake batter. Once the bacon was cooled and sliced I added it into the mixture. For the first pancake I actually left the bacon out, poured it into the skillet over medium heat and then added the bacon pieces while it was cooking and then flipped. I liked how this turned out a little better, in terms of presentation. If you don't want to see the bacon then you can just put it into the batter. You can even crumble the bacon, but for me if I'm going to eat bacon I want to see it! These cook quickly and make about 5 medium sized pancakes, and probably 3 large ones. I made the first one a little larger than I wanted, so I got full off that pancake alone and still have 3 medium sized pancakes in the fridge.