Thursday 4 October 2012

Banana Chocolate-Chip Chocolate Protein Pancakes




Firstly, thanks to everyone for all your support about my back.
 
I saw a doctor and a physio about it. Apparently I tore some muscles in the left side of my back. It's nothing too serious, but I have some exercises to do now and I have to take it pretty easy exercise-wise for a little bit. In good news, one of my aims when I started exercising was to improve my flexibility and my physio said I was one of the most flexible people she had seen.


Now, these pancakes are amazing. Looking at these pictures I want to make them all over again. They were deliciously soft, with all that lovely melting chocolate and a hint of banana. The best is, they are about as healthy as pancakes get. With no sugar (except for the honey), wholemeal flour and oats, these pancakes are a trillion times better than the sugary ones from Pancake Manor. And if you ask me, they taste almost as good. 


Level of Difficulty: It’s almost a one-bowl recipe. Nothing too fancy here. 
Average Cost: $
Main Ingredients: Cacao powder, raw honey, banana and peanut butter
Occasion: I swear I will not say anything if you eat them for breakfast. Or for dinner. I did both of them.
Recipe Substitutions/Menu Options: You can omit the chocolate protein powder if you like – you can sub it for any other flavour protein powder or another ¼ of whole wheat flour if you prefer not to use protein powder or 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. Raw honey can be substituted for regular honey, but remember that raw honey is much sweeter and stronger. If you are using regular honey, which is fine, maybe add a little more. I would use my measurements first, and add more honey if it is not sweet enough. For those in Australasia, I used raw Manuka honey – brilliant flavour, very sweet and very strong. You can use any milk you please, I just prefer almond milk.

Makes 8-10 pancakes, based on the size of pancakes. If following my directions, you should make 10 pancakes. Nutritional stats based on 10 pancakes - each pancake is worth 172.


What you need:
-          1/2 cup whole wheat flour
-          1/3 cup oats
-          1 scoop chocolate protein powder
-          1/2 tsp salt
-          2 1/2 tsp baking powder
-          1 tbsp raw honey
-          2 very large, very ripe bananas, mashed
-          1 egg
-          1 1/4 cup almond milk
-          1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

What to do:

Place the dry ingredients (first five ingredients) in a large bowl. Mix together with a whisk – this helps to displace the ingredients evenly.

Add wet ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) and whisk well. If you are using regular honey and find the batter not sweet enough, add more in this step as necessary.

Add the chocolate chips and stir in well, this time with a wooden spoon.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Our frypan was on level 6 of 10. Once the pan is hot, spray with cooking oil.

Using a 1/4 size measuring cup, scoop out the batter and place in the pan. This amount of batter makes one pancake. Make sure choc chips do not go all the way to bottom of batter.

Cook until the batter is bubbling all over the surface of the pancake and then carefully flip the pancake. Once flipped, cooked the pancake for another 2-5 minutes, checking the bottom of the pancake regularly to make sure it is a golden brown and not burnt.

Repeat the previous three step for the remaining pancakes. Before you place each batter scoop down, spray the surface of the frypan. This prevents the pancake from sticking but also ensure the pancake is not fried in oil or butter. A light spray will do.

Serve warm – I drizzled mine with honey, added some fresh berries and some yoghurt.

If you have leftovers, feel free to wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for later. To reheat, warm in the oven until the right temperature. The microwave will make the pancakes soggy. 


11 comments:

  1. Hi Bec! Here's the recipe to my Nectarine Cheesecake I promised http://eatandgetmoving.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/the-recipe-to-my-protein-packed-no-bake-greek-yogurt-nectarine-cheesecake/ from last WIAW :) Love, Leanne

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    1. Thanks Leanna :) I can't wait to try that out :)

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  2. BTW... these pancakes look amazing too! I love your photography! I'm dying to get a better camera some day :)

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    1. Thanks! I just got a new camera. It does all the work for me! :)

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  3. I'm sorry... 10 pancakes for less than 200cal - are you flipping serious?! This might be my new favourite breakfast/lunch/dinner!

    xo Emilie @ Hungry Delights

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  4. Hi there bec! My name is Yan and i'm a 26 year old female, living in canberra. I've just started reading your blog & completely empathise with your back injury as I too sustained a pretty bad one after I had a push-bike accident last weekend! I'm currently awaiting x-ray results but have hurt my tail-bone area & struggle to bend or do any form of impact activity (jump/run/even sneeze). Am honestly rather worried as to how long it'll take to heal or if it'll ever heal at all (i miss my daily exercise regime!). You mentioned you were diagnosed with torn muscles - may I ask how your GP/physio came to that conclusion? I'm feeling a little lost as to how to manage my condition at the mo - so any advice/suggestions you have would be most welcomed & appreciated!! Thank you in advance!!!!

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    1. Hi Yan thanks for stopping by :) Firstly, I love Canberra - it's so beautiful there! Secondly, well I'm not an expert really but I can tell you what happenned to me. I was pretty lucky in that I didn't hurt my tailbone, which I know can be a lot worse. I hurt mid-back, on the left side. I had a bit of bruising and some lumps around the area and when anyone touched it it felt like it was on fire, so the Doctor knew from that. I was told to keep my back as straight as I could and if possible to not lie on it (ie sitting on the couch or lying on the bed). I also use Dencorub (got it from Coles) or a heat pack. It's a really good idea to keep the area warm. However that's for muscle issues, and I don't know what happenned to you. I'm finding it hard not being able to exercise as much either! If you want to talk more about this feel free to email me (rebeccagillies@hotmail.com) :)

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    2. Thanks so much for your speedy & efficient reply Bec!! I totally appreciate it :) :) I might go check out if i can get the Dencorub - so far i've used the Diflam Extra Strong anti-inflammatory gel & the nurofen ibuprofen gel - but they seem to not help that much. You're right about the heat pack though! Tho slightly embarrassing, I've been carrying around a hot water bottle at work :p I'll find out about my x-ray results tomorrow/friday - so fingers crossed! And thanks HEAPS for offering email support - its superbly sweet of you given i'm a complete stranger! I just might take up your offer!!! Thanks again Bec!!

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    3. Yeah I found the nurofen ibuprofen gel to be a bit weird too! I hope the Dencorub works for you - it did me wonders. Also my doctor suggested visiting a physio, which hurt like hell, but worked wonders, especially because my problem was with my muscles. Haha I carried around a hot water bottle too! T'was pretty embaressing :) Good luck with the results tomorrow - let me know how you go. I hope its nothing too awful or permanent! And definitely feel free to email any time - I love meeting others who live in Australia :)

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  5. wow these look amazzzing! xxx

    http://ileftmyheartinmiami.blogspot.co.uk/

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