Healthy Pancakes- oh my!

There's something so very comforting about pancakes. On Sundays, my dad would make his special batch of pancakes- fluffy, buttery, round clouds of deliciousness. When Oliver was born, my mom and two sisters surprised me at the hospital. My dad was unable to make it because he was working (it was a Wednesday). But that Saturday morning, he arrived on my doorstep to meet his newest grandson. On Sunday morning, right before he had to leave, he made a huge batch of pancakes for us. It was the sweetest thing.

Unfortunately, pancakes are not the healthiest breakfasts out there. I have experiemented endlessly with recipes ( a lot can be found here- just search pancakes), and finally have a base that seems to not fail me time after time. Mainly because it's so very easy and foulproof! I struggle with my recipe creations because I tend to not measure and go by taste and texture. A little of this, a little of that, and a lot of oh- that would be good in it! Haha!

Check out this weekend's pancakes! I made extra batches for today since it is St. Patrick's Day and green is a must!

Delicious and healthy!

Fluffy, delicious, yummy, versatile, pancakes!

My pancake base:
-equal parts (I generally do 1/2 cup of each per person) of the following:

• old-fashioned oats
• cottage cheese*
• egg whites
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• as much spinach as you can fit in your blender after adding the previous ingredient

Directions:

• Add old-fashioned oats to your blender and blend them (this is how I make my own oat flour. I buy an extra container of oats and it literally takes me less than 5 minutes to make a huge batch of oat flour that generally costs quadruple the price)!
• Add cottage cheese (The only cottage cheese I have found that is not filled with a shitton of weird ingredients is the Daisy brand).
• Add your egg whites (or whole eggs if you prefer); add spices, vanilla, baking powder and blend. 
• Finally, add as much spinach as your blender will still hold and blend away! The spinach is optional depending on the type of pancakes you are trying to make but seriously, why not?

Look at that fluffy perfection- & my fancy plasticware!

-Additional Add-in's/toppings

• your favorite spices (my defaults are cinnamon and pumpkin spice
• chia seeds
• ground flax
• peanut flour
• pumpkin puree
• almond milk
• chocolate chips
• nuts
• extracts (think mint, butter, etc)!
• fruit (banana, any berries)
• Greek yogurt/cottage cheese- have you ever had it together? It's the only way I eat my greek yogurt now!
• This particular picture has greek yogurt with 1 tbsp. of white chocolate no-sugar added jello pudding mix, a little bit of almond milk, dash of vanilla stevia, topped with fresh strawberries and sugar-free syrup! Yum!

Experiment & enjoy! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Peanut butter banana pancakes!

Elvis pancakes- peanut butter, chocolate chip, banana, turkey bacon pancakes for dinner! Hotdamn!

Buttermilk pancakes for Valentines day topped with greek yogurt and fresh berries and a berry jam (frozen berries, heated through and a tiny bit of stevia or honey added, then mashed)!

Blueberry and Banana Pancakes with Kale + Spinach! Baby approved!

Anxious little baby hands eating the rainbow!

Shamrock and pancake stacks with cottage cheese/greek yogurt/white chocolate pudding mix and gold sprinkles. With a fruit rainbow on the side! ;)

Pumpkin [Chocolate Chip] Pancakes

This morning, I woke up bright and early and started on my chores and decided that we needed pancakes. I was going to attempt to come up with a recipe for more protein pancakes and then realized that I have  pure pumpkin puree- hooray! (ha!)! Pumpkin pancakes it is!

Not only is pumpkin delicious but the health benefits make me wonder why I forget about it all year long! The only other times I use it is if I'm ever making store bought cake mixes which is extremely rare...but I just substitute all the additioanl ingredients for a can (for chocolate cake)! It has thousands and thousands units of Vitamin A (which is good for your vision, immune system, babies in the womb -ahem-, & bone health); it has more potassium than a banana & a bunch of other minerals; fiber!!!; & it's an antioxidant!

Guys, these were AMAZING! Like a crispy pumpkin pie or cookie or scone or...pancake! haha! So delicious! Since I made it vegan, I was able to taste the batter and adjust measurements to my liking. In the end, I decided they needed more sweetness and added a little bit of mini chocolate chips which really made these pancakes, in my opinion. You can definitely omit the chocolate chips and add carob chips or none at all to make this fully vegan!

Yummy pancake stacks; fluffy goodness; Honey Munster silently and awkwardly begging.

Ingredients

-1 1/14 whole wheat pastry flour [I'm sure regular whole wheat would be fine]
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1/2 tsp. salt
-2 tbsp. brown sugar
-1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
-1 cup Pumpkin Puree
-1 1/2 cups almond milk
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 tsp.-1 tbsp. of chai seeds
-1 tbsp. flax seed*
-3 tbsp. warm water*
*egg substitution

Optional:

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips or carob chips or none at all!

Directions

1. Start by mixing your egg substitution (warm water + flax seed) that way you can keep your recipe vegan and taste/adjust as you go. Set it aside. Heat up a griddle or pan and lightly spray it with EVOO.

2. Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl (whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, & pumpkin spice).

3. Add your wet ingredients to the mix (pumpkin puree, almond milk, flax seed/water, & vanilla). Mix.

4. Taste! Here is where I thought it needed more oomph (as in sweetness). I wanted it to taste more pumpkin-y (yup, that's a word), so I added more puree (originally I had only added 3/4 of a cup). I don't like adding sugar so 2 tbsp. of brown sugar was enough. I considered honey and then remembered I had mini chocolate chips! My favorite! I added 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, gave it a quick stir and voila! Perfection!

5. To make the same size (or similar sized) pancakes, I use the same measuring cup or ice cream scooper to scoop & serve. Use whatever size you want- I think I use 1/4 of a cup. This gave me enough for 8 pancakes! Cook your batter on medium high heat and flip when you know they're ready (usually about 4 minutes or so or depending on how you like your pancakes). Cook the other side and serve immediately! So delish!

Enjoy! Can you believe how amazingly HEALTHY these are?!

:]

With my leftover pumpking puree, I'm thinking of a pumpkin smoothie later for a healthy dessert or if it lasts til morning, I'll add it, along with cinnamon & almond milk, to oatmeal for a sweet, low-calorie breakfast. Yum!