Dessert for Breakfast? Healthy Carrot Cake Pancakes with plenty of protein :)

I am a carrot cake fiend (in case you couldn't tell with my last carrot cake inspired recipe).  I had originally planned to make these for Easter but had a little glitch in our original plans.  Anyways, this recipe has greek yogurt, protein powder AND healthy oats for a breakfast that will tickle your sweet tooth and satisfy you for hours.

Ingredients (serves 2-3 people)

For the batter

• 1/2 cup gluten free flour (I used Better Batter)
• 1/2 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder (you can omit this, just add more flour if you do)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp light agave syrup (you can use regular sugar but you'll need about one and a half tsp)
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup plain or vanilla greek yogurt
• 2 egg whites

For the delicious cream cheese sauce

• 1/3 cup low fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup grade A maple syrup (don't skimp on yourself with the fake stuff... it's just not the same)

Carrot Cake Pancakes with Maple Cream Cheese Sauce

Directions

1. Preheat your skillet.  
2. Add all batter ingredients to a blender.  
3. Blend well.  
4. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into your preheated skillet and allow to cook until you see bubbles coming from the center of the pancake.  Flip and cook to your desired doneness (about 2 minutes).  
5. While you have your pancake line going, add cream cheese and maple syrup to a smaller blender (I have a ninja and find that the three different blender options come in handy) and combine.  If you do not have a small blender, heat the cream cheese up in the microwave on low for about 30 seconds and mix the maple syrup in.
6. Find your prosecco and orange juice in the fridge, then make your mimosa side dish.  Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Blueberry Pancakes

In honor of Father's Day, I decided to pay homage to my favorite childhood meal that my Daddy used to cook... pancakes.  These pancakes are gluten free AND have protein!

Ingredients

• 1 c of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour
• 1/4 c ground flax meal
• 1 scoop protein powder (optional - if you decide to omit, simply add more flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c almond milk (if you like thinner pancakes, add more)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup blueberries

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, flax meal, baking powder.  Set aside
2. In another small bowl, mix together the egg, almond milk, salt and brown sugar. Add to the dry ingredients, then fold the berries into the mixture.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  If it's not a non-stick pan, be sure to spray with cooking spray.
4. Drop batter as desired to the pan and heat approximately 1-2 minutes per side (until bubbles appear and golden brown).  The recipe makes approximately twelve 4 inch pancakes.

berry coffee Cake... or Death???

Cake?? Or death?  Ah there's something about that Eddie Izzard skit that makes me crack up every time I hear the word cake... feel free to Google it.  I'll wait.


Anyways... just because this recipe says its cake, does not mean it is going to be the death of your diet.  It's been a while since I baked and since I started a new job, I decided it was time to bring back my usual routine of testing recipes out on the masses.  Since I work at a spa (where obviously, a healthy way of life is a priority), this recipe includes antioxidants and very little fat.  It went over quite well at our 7:45a meeting this morning.  I've made another coffee cake before but I have to say that this one is a bit more delicious.

Ingredients
Cake

• 1 and 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup quick oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/3 cup stevia baking sugar (or like-substitute)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or your preferred milk)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 cup fresh or frozen berries

Topping

• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 3 tbsp dark brown sugar (I used the real stuff for the topping)
• 2 tbsp cold Earth Balance (or butter)
• 1/4 cup quick oats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients from the cake listing.  
3. In a smaller bowl, blend together the egg, milk and applesauce.  
4. Pour the contents of the small bowl into the mixing bowl and stir until moist, then fold in the berries.
5. Coat an 8 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray and spread the batter into the dish.  Ensure the mixture reaches the edges as it will be a bit thick
6. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the topping.  Use a fork so that the mixture is crumbly.  Pour the topping over the batter.
7. Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

Bellini anyone? :) Enjoy!

Nutrition Information: (courtesy of Spark Recipes Nutrition Calculator)

12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories   142
Total Fat  2.7g
Cholesterol  0g
Sodium  217mg
Carbohydrate  33.5g
Fiber  5.1g
Sugar  6.8 g
Protein  3.6g

Spaghetti (squash) for Breakfast

I made spaghetti squash for one of our sides the other night and decided to incorporate it into my breakfast bake for the week.  It actually turned out quite yummy, so here's another exciting Whole30 blog update!

Ingredients

• 1/2 spaghetti squash (hint: make it the night before and use the other half as your side... to cook, heat oven to 375, halve the squash and scoop out the seeds.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, until the squash is tender, and scoop out the insides)
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 small shallot
• 1 sausage link, casing removed
• 3 whole eggs
• 10 egg whites
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp basil
• 1 Tbsp parsley
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp grape seed oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and place the sausage in the pan.  Separate the meat so it is in bite sized pieces and cook thoroughly
3. While the sausage is cooking, send your sweet potato and peeled shallot through a food processor (or finely chop them if you do not have a processor)
4. Place the sweet potato mixture into the skillet and cook thoroughly
5. Once cooked, add the spaghetti squash so that it heats up
6. Whisk your eggs in a separate bowl.  Add the vegetable/sausage mixture to the bowl and stir so that the ingredients are mixed
7. Pour the mixture into a 8" glass baking dish and bake in the oven for about 30-45 minutes *until the eggs are fully cooked
8. Remove from the oven, let set for about 10 minutes and then serve!

Makes approximately 8 servings

Chocolate... for breakfast

This post is has nothing to do with cooking or baking... oops.

I am addicted to the Lean1 protein powder that is made by Nutrition 53.  It comes in flavors like Chocolate (nom), Cookies & Cream, Strawberry and Vanilla.  They are jam packed with vitamins, minerals and the best part is, they are all lactose free.  Smoothie King sells it at their stores and I tend to go in there for my fix, but recently I brought the powder home to experiment with a few of my own concoctions.  I also found out that Smoothie King adds sugar to their smoothies (seriously!) so I wanted to make my own from home.

Here are a few of my favorites that I've made with the chocolate protein:

Heaven in a Cup
1 cup ice
2 scoops chocolate Lean1 powder
1/2 banana
1/2 single serve container of plain fat free Greek yogurt
4 oz water

Combine and blend (do yourself a favor and get a Ninja blender... they are the best)
310 calories, 29g protein, 24g sugar, 7g fat

Chocolate Covered Strawberry
1 cup ice
2 scoops chocolate Lean1 powder
6 large strawberries
1/2 single serve container of plain fat free Greek yogurt

Combine and blend
295 calories, 29g protein, 19g sugar, 7 g fat

You get the point... add fruit and yogurt to this chocolate wonder and you have one delicious meal on the go!

Streusel Topped Blueberry Coffee Cake

Here's a favorite breakfast food- coffee cake.  I always loved the strusel topping that brought a slight crumble and crunch to the breakfast cake.  In order to make this more belly-friendly, much of the fat and sugars have been replaced with lower calorie and non-dairy options.

Cake

1 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 plus 1 tablespoon cup non-fat yogurt (plain)

1 1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Streusel Topping  

1/4 cup quick-cooking oats

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons soy butter (ie: Earth Balance)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. CAKE: In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the egg, milk, agave, yogurt and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Spread evenly in to a 9" round glass baking pan.
3. TOPPING: In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, oats and flour; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes (utilize toothpick test). Cool on a wire rack.

Nutrition Data

12 Servings: Amount per serving - Calories: 170 (total fat 5.4g, sugars 13g, protein 4g)