Guilt-Free Pancakes

Girls I’m not lying here! On a cold winter morning, there is just nothing better than hot pancakes right off the griddle with hot maple syrup. YUMMMM! But while that’s a wonderful image, it’s really easy to over-indulge with way too many calories and bad carbs that leave you bloated, heavy and needing a nap to recover. Not exactly an energizing, healthy way to start the day. Last week at my nutrition class, I met a like-minded mom and personal trainer from Wichita Falls, Texas that shared with the class my new favorite recipe. Here we go:

½ rolled oats
1/8 tsp cinnamon
½ cup low fat or fat free cottage cheese
3 egg whites
½ tsp vanilla

First, blend/grind up oats and cinnamon. Second, add your wet ingredients and blend into nice pancake batter consistency. So easy! I use my hand blender, but any blender or food processor would certainly work. This size batch makes four medium pancakes. On the griddle, I throw in some blueberries to get a little extra fruit. I love Cary’s sugar free syrup. I buy it at WalMart so it’s readily available. It has great flavor and my family can’t tell the difference.

If we conduct a little analysis here, you’ll notice there is no flour in the recipe. Just a wonderful, heart-healthy serving of rolled oats. Roughly, the entire batch is about 280 calories and 33 grams of protein. And, the syrup is only 30 calories for ¼ cup. Glorious!