The Art of Racing in The Rain and Pancakes

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is so sweet.

I am not going to lie, I picked up this book quickly out of my stack of books without looking at it as I ran to my train and as soon as I looked at it I told my boyfriends, crap, this book is going to make me cry.

And it did. The first 4 pages made me cry about 4 times.

However, I do connect a lot with animals, so when I read anything or watch anything about animals I tend to always cry. Even when it is happy.

So this book definitely had a weakness in my heart.

I did question if I was going to like the book at the beginning though because Denny, the main character, is a race car driver and I'm not going to lie, I'm not even slightly interested in this subject.

However, I was surprised how quickly I fell in love with characters, how quickly I disliked other characters, and how quickly I connected with Enzo.

This book was written in the dogs perspective and I think it was beautifully done.

I have two cats and I often feel their judgmental stares and this book, I know is not real, gave me an insight on an animals (specifically dog) perspective and I thought it was so sweet.

Garth Stein, maybe you need to write this same store in the cats perspective...give me an insight into their thoughts...What do you guys think cats think about all day?

Anyway, back to Enzo who is a day, a dog that loves unconditional like most dogs and Garth Stein really showed that, other than the Evil Twins *wink wink*.

By the end of this book, I had cried on the train at least 10 times and ugly cried once.

Really well written and just an all around good book, even with the race car driving, race car metaphors, and race car information, I really enjoyed this book and probably would read again if I needed a good cry.

But, let us get to why you are all hear!

I am sure you saw the beautiful pancakes, the large dollop of peanut butter, and also the bananas in the picture above, but you might have thought, "what are those muffin things with the bananas on top?".

Well, those are a mixture of all of Enzo's favorite foods (breakfast foods) put into one - These are called Peanut Butter and Banana Pancake Muffins.

Yes. I know. It is a long name, but so is the title of this book.

These muffins were so delicious and what I would imagine any dog would enjoy eating these for breakfast every morning with their human counterpart/s.

If you don't have a dog, you can just bake these and pretend to have a dog. Or find a friend who does have a dog, bake them, go over to their house, share your muffins just with the dog and not your friend.

And! If you do actually end up baking these and sharing them with your furry friend, please send me a picture, I would absolutely love seeing it and if you would like the picture to be on the blog, let me know and I'll be sure to add it!

by the way, I actually can't remember if Enzo mentioned if he liked peanut butter, but I think most dogs do, so I added it in just in case. If you know the answer, let me know down below!

Anyway, let's move onto this super easy recipe!

Makes About: 17-20

Takes About 1 hour and 30 minutes

Difficulty: 1 out of 5 (even a dog could do it! Just kidding, don't have your dog do it...they don't have thumbs...)

Prep:

Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (170 degrees C).

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

3 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 1/4 cup milk

4 large spoonfuls of peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons maple syrup

1-2 ripe bananas

Instructions:

- Step 1 - Mix Dry Ingredients

In a large bowl, mix together the 2 cups of flour, 3 3/4 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.

- Step 2 - Add the Wet Ingredients

Add the 1 1/4 cup of milk, 4 large spoonfuls of peanut butter, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 4 tablespoons of maple syrup to the dry ingredients.

Using a whisk, whisk all the ingredients together until the batter is smooth.

- Step 3 - Add Banana

Slice the banana up into thin 1/8 inch slices and set 17-20 slices to the side. Add remaining banana to the muffin batter and fold them in using a spatula.

- Step 4 - Fill the Muffin Tin

Using an ice cream scoop, or a large spoon, fill the paper lines about 2/3 of the way full.

Using the reserved sliced bananas, add 1 slice to the top of each muffin, pressing down slightly so they stick.

- Step 5 - Bake!

Bake the muffins for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

- Step 6 - Enjoy <3

Because these are technically pancakes, you can add whatever you like to the top; be that maple syrup, more peanut butter, butter, Nutella (which was super delicious), or any of your other favorite pancake toppings.

I hope both you and your furry friend enjoy!