Saturday 16 February 2013

No-Fat Low-Carb Protein Pancakes


If I could rate pancakes on how blissful and warm they make me feel, they would score on par with the fluffiest and cutest of puppies. However loaded with fat and carbs, I can never justify allowing myself the treat (pancakes, certainly not puppies). That was until I discovered multitudes of healthy alternative recipes online using everything from pumpkin to cottage cheese to create a guilt-reduced breakfast.

And although every clean-eating fanatic has a protein pancake recipe to share, I've never found the perfect recipe for me. I am yet to find anything that is my taste, in my price budget or that uses readily available ingredients. Personally I like to use as few eggs as possible, stray from fats (I already have enough good fats in my diet) and avoid flours (even healthier choices like Coconut Flour which my sad budget just can't afford).

After weeks of experimentation using different combinations of ingredients like chia seeds and vanilla protein powder and some play-dough-looking attempts, I have finally created my very own recipe. These babies have no added sugar, use ingredients available at most mainstream grocers, are a great serving of protein and, if you choose the right milk, are clean. Not to mention they're thick, fluffy and just like a healthy pancake should be!

Quick Oats, processed, 30g
Chobani Plain Non Fat Greek Yogurt, 85g
Banana, half, 50g
Egg white, 1
Stevia, natural sugar substitute, 1 tbsp, or to taste
Natural Psyllium Husk, 10g
Milk of choice, 3 tbsp (I used Vitasoy Low Fat Soy Milky)

1. Process oats to a fine powder in a food processor.
2. Add remainder of ingredients and process until combined.  Play around with flavours - add vanilla essence, cinnamon, coconut essence etc. as you like. Mixture will be quite thick.
3. Prepare a non-stick frying pan with oil of choice. For clean-eaters, coconut oil is best. I used Canola Oil Spray. Butter, olive oil or other oils will work to. Make sure the pan is hot before you start cooking. I'd suggest testing one pancake first and if it's too thick or you run into any problems, tweak the recipe.
4. Add your toppings as desired! I used almond butter sauce (that's almond butter mixed with soy milk), sugar-free maple syrup, homemade soy ice cream and frozen raspberries for my toppings today.

The great thing about these pancakes is they're so guilt-free you can load them up with as many healthy toppings as you so desire.

Notes: Serves one. No food processor? Give the recipe a shoot anyway, I can't guarantee it will have the same results though.

Total calories (without toppings or oil): 231

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