This morning, I woke up craving pancakes. I had a few options. I could order take out from a place in town that has awesome pancakes, then lament the calorie and fat content later in the day. I could get pancake stuff from the store, and make a huge mess in our kitchen. Or, I could try the easy, healthy alternative recipe I saw on this blog. I went with option 3.
So, I assembled the ingredients and embarked on yet another cooking adventure.
First, I mashed a banana in a medium sized mixing bowl.
Once the banana was all mashed, I added 2 packs of instant oatmeal. Any kind will do, but I went with Lavish Dark Chocolate Oatmeal. It was already smelling great.
Next I added 3 tbsp of egg white, the equivalent to one large egg.
Finally, 1 tsp each of baking powder and vanilla extract.
I mixed everything up to a nice, well blended chocolaty concoction.
I used olive oil cooking spray in a skillet over medium heat. Once this was nice and hot, I used the 1 tbsp measuring spoon to drop spoonfuls into the skillet. These were going to be small but hearty pancakes, each about the size of a large no bake cookie. It was a little tricky knowing when to flip them, since they did not bubble like traditional pancakes, but with a little testing of the edges you are able to tell when the underside is done, and flip accordingly.
The batch made 2 servings of 4 small pancakes, which was perfect. As I said, they were small, but really hearty. I added 2 tbsp low calorie syrup to mine, and they were sheer perfection.
This one was a little tricky to calculate nutrition and WW points. I am going based on the nutrition information on the label for each individual item, plus the generic info for the banana, and plugging that into a WW Points Plus calculator. The nutrition breakdown, with syrup us:
Calories: 279
Carbs: 61g
Fat: 3g
Protein: 7g
Fiber: 9g
Now if you plug all that into a WW Points Plus calculator, the result you get is 7. Yet the only individual ingredient that has any points is the Oatmeal, with is 4.5 points per packet. So, I guess go with 7 point to err on the side of caution.
Without syrup, it is:
Calories: 229
Carbs: 48g
Fat: 3g
Protein: 7g
Fiber: 9g
Again, plug that into a calculator and you get 6 WW Points Plus. Yet if you only ate the oatmeal, it would be 4.5, and then if you later ate a banana, it would be 0. Again, I guess go with 6 to err on the side of caution.
The possibilities are endless with this really easy recipe. I am thinking, next time, strawberry banana oatmeal pancakes!
