Pancake Thursdays

Thursdays are pancake days at our house. I try to feed a varied diet to Sophie (and all my family, but I personally could eat eggs every single day for breakfast without getting bored with them). Today’s feature is:

Coconut-banana pancakes

Ingredients

1/4 c all natural coconut butter (I like the Artisana brand)
1.5 c coconut milk (I use the So Delicious brand)
1/2 c coconut flour
1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 ripe banana

Procedure

Mix the coconut butter and coconut milk until smooth. Add the banana (you can mash it prior, I usually just let the standing mixer do this). Mix dry ingredients with a fork and add to the wet mixture.
Put a dab of coconut oil in the frying pan (or pancake pan, whatever you use) and prepare pancakes.
Serve with Greek yogurt topping – I usually mix about 1 c Greek yogurt with 1/4 c coconut yogurt and 4-6 drops of coconut flavored stevia. This adds protein and no sugar (just skip the maple syrup!!)

This yumminess is less around 100 calories with ~12g carbs, ~4g fat, ~2g protein.

I usually make smaller pancakes to make sure they bake through thoroughly. After adding the batter to the pan, I cover the pan for about a minute, then flip the pancakes and push them down, cover again to make fluffly. After a couple minutes, I flip them again, this time not covering the pan. I know this may look tedious, but it works for me. If you have your own way making the pancakes, do it your way – and maybe share with me too, so I can learn new ways. I’m a constant learner. Let me know what you think!

Enjoy 🙂

Make Breakfast Fun

Breakfast is undoubtedly my favorite meal. It’s the easiest too with Sophie. And while she probably doesn’t appreciate all the fuss about my pancake fun yet, I love both the process and the outcome. So here’s just a quick recipe for fun blueberry pancakes.

 

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 c soft coconut oil

Mix the wet ingredients

1/4 c coconut flour
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tbsp packed brown sugar
pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients with a fork, then add to wet ingredients, mix together

Add in 1.5 c blueberries

Have fun 😉

 

Ten Days of Healthy Swaps – Day 1

Who doesn’t love pancakes for breakfast? Sophie and I have pancakes at least once a week. It’s good for her, it’s good for me. Or is it? A lot depends on the topping. We recently have decided to try layering our pancakes with fruit and yogurt topping, instead of maple syrup. It tastes amazing, and here are some additional benefits:

Four tbsp of a typical maple syrup is 200 calories. You know what makes up those 200 calories? Pure sugar. 53g of pure sugar. (The multiplier is 4 in case of carbs).
Breakfast should be about empowering you. It should give you a boost in the morning. With so much sugar, the only thing you get is a quick boost followed by a crash soon after. You know what stays though? Fat does. Excess glucose (a simple carb, one form of sugar) is stored as body fat. And that’s something most of us are trying to minimize. So drop that maple syrup.

Instead, try plain Greek yogurt flavored with liquid stevia (any flavor, I like vanilla, and you need a surprisingly small amount).
Four tbsp of a typical Greek yogurt is 47 calories, over half (~25) of those calories comes from protein (10 from carbs, 9 from fat). Much better composition, isn’t it? Protein repairs and replaces bones & muscles and can help burn excess calories. Now we’re talking.(In case you’ve opted out of dairy products, coconut or almond milk yogurt are way better options than maple syrup as well. While these barely contain protein, if any, both are considered healthy fat and contain fiber.)

RECIPE

So now the recipe for that yumminess above (gluten free version below).

Ingredients
3/4c all purpose flour
1/2c coconut flour
1.5tbsp packed brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/4c natural almond butter (choose one that contains only almonds, no additives)
1 1/2c almond milk

Procedure
Mix dry ingredients with a fork. Mix almond butter and almond milk until smooth. Mix everything together. The trick for these pancakes is to make them smaller than regular ones. I usually use medium heat, drop about 1.5tbsp mixture into pan, cover the pan, after about a minute, I flip the pancakes, cover, about 2 minutes later I flip again, not covering this time, and I let them cook through.
Cooking time depends on your pan.

GLUTEN FREE VERSION:

Ingredients
1/2c gluten free flour
1/2c coconut flour
1.5tbsp packed brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/4c natural almond butter (choose one that contains only almonds, no additives)
1 1/2c almond milk

Procedure
Mix dry ingredients with a fork. Mix almond butter and almond milk until smooth. Mix everything together. The trick for these pancakes is to make them smaller than regular ones. I usually use medium heat, drop about 1.5tbsp mixture into pan, cover the pan, after about a minute, I flip the pancakes, cover, about 2 minutes later I flip again, not covering this time, and I let them cook through.
Cooking time depends on your pan.

Enjoy 🙂