Vanilla Berry Protein Pancakes

 I think I've finally perfected them, so here is the final recipe!

Mmm...fresh raspberry vanilla.

A few weeks ago I decided I really needed to focus on upping my protein intake in light of how much more I was working out.  I wound up overdoing it and making myself sick, mostly because I was in a frenzy to try all the protein powder recipes I could and gorged myself on the (crazy low calorie) results, but I'll spare everyone the details there.  Since I've been experimenting for weeks though, I can guarantee any protein powder recipes I share here are absolutely delicious, and don't taste like protein powder nastiness at all.  Just beware if you decide to eat a few batches of these a day along with the apple pudding muffins I shall share soon...

I have to say though, I bet none of what I've made would taste as good with another protein powder.  I highly recommend the BodyLogix Natural Whey.  I initially bought it just because it seemed to the the best powder around so far as giving me the most protein for the least calories, and I was shocked that it was also the best tasting I had tried, by far!  The vanilla flavor is like a white chocolate milkshake, even just mixed with water.  Not to mention it is one of the less expensive powders out there, to boot.

My Nana tells me these do not look good and she can't believe they would taste ok with protein powder, but she's wrong, I promise.  They taste different from your average IHOP rendition, for sure, but they're also way, waaaay healthier.

On to the recipe!

What you need:
1 scoop BodyLogix Natural Whey
1.5 tsp Ener-g Egg replacer
1/4 cup King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour (white whole wheat works, too, and is 10 less calories)
1/4 cup low fat 1% cottage cheese
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Stevia
(optional) handful of your berries of choice
(optional) pancake syrup/toppings (look for Walden Farms 0 calorie syrup- it is a miracle in a bottle!)

Makes 4 medium sized pancakes.

What to do:
Add all ingredients except the optional berries to a blender and blend until everything is nicely combined. Heat a greased skillet over medium heat, pour some batter in, toss in some berries if you like, and cook them like you would any other pancake!

Nutrition facts (without berries or toppings) for the WHOLE stack:
285 calories
2g fat
33g carbs
33.5g protein
4g fiber
2.5g sugar

These turn out pretty moist, so it's not entirely necessary to top them with anything, but it doesn't hurt.  They don't fluff up as much as your average pancake though, so if you toss in something like blueberries, it gets tricky to cook them evenly on both sides (because the blueberries are thicker than the pancakes).  I chopped up some raspberries from my dad's garden for them this morning and that problem was avoided!

You can also substitute plain Greek yogurt for the cottage cheese, but you wind up with a denser pancake.  The cottage cheese is better for fluffing them up, it seems.

Suggestions for making them fluffier without losing nutritional value are welcome!  I like this version a lot, but it's always fun to try more variations and see what I get.

Previous versions:

The very first try.  Not bad, but very dense...

Getting better....more pancake-shaped at least....

Mmm blueberry!

Pancakes, Plane Crashes, and Picnics in the Clouds (Memorial Day Weekend, Part II)

The creek just beyond the Boone Fork parking area.

Day two of our holiday weekend entailed a mountain expedition the likes of which we have never attempted before.  It wasn't the longest hike we've been on, but it was certainly the most strenuous- and I loved it!  I must have been on an adrenaline high though, because I could tell my boyfriend was giving me the "Are you insane?" look when I talked about us doing a much longer hike to the end of the Grandfather Mountain profile trail sometime.  Once I was off the mountain and downing my normal amount of oxygen, I felt a little less confident that it would be a good idea, too, but it's still a goal for someday.

150 calorie stack of pancakes! Om nom nom!

First things first, we started our day by whipping up some pretty delicious coconut flour pancakes, which you can find the recipe for here at Foodie Fiasco (a website I'm having quite a field day with currently).

The goal in mind for our day was to hike into the Grandfather Mountain trails from trailheads outside the park (thus avoiding the rather pricey ticket you need to access the park otherwise.  This isn't frowned upon, fyi- they make it clear that hiking in is an option.  The only drawback is there are areas you won't be allowed to access once you're in the park.)  

I would have liked to hike all the way to the beginning of the profile trail, but for the day I decided that getting to Calloway Peak would suffice.  Also on this hike I got to face my two greatest phobias- heights and snakes!  Hooray!  I am proud of how I did with the heights; maybe not so much with the snake.

We began our ascent up the Craggy Way trail, I believe it was called.  It was appropriately named, for sure, and definitely the hardest trail we could have chosen for getting there.  The views were worth it though!

This is about where we came across the snake lying to the side of the trail....

...the drawback is your most slithery woodland friends enjoy these sunny views as well.  It took me a good minute and earned me a very annoyed boyfriend, but I finally mustered up the courage to walk by the little creature.  Give me a wild mountain lion and I'll get as close as I can, but don't expect me to get within 50 feet of a two foot snake knowingly.  I'm so rugged.

I'm also having fun with HDR toning lately, as you can see.

The end of the Cragway trail brought us to another trailhead where the mountain environment started to change quite a bit with the increased elevation.  The dirt gets darker, the ferns get thicker and greener, and everything becomes more dark, lush, and mossy.  Mountain top woodlands like this are some of my favorite scenery in the area.  They feel so separate from the rest of the world below, and it becomes easy to believe you've traveled much further from home than you actually have.  Fantastic stress relief for when you need to feel far away from your problems.

Some spectacular views started popping up once we hit the top of the tree line!

View from the Linn Cove Viaduct Overlook.

Boyfriend embracing the clouds.  They definitely provided some welcome relief to the sweatiness this hike will cause!

 Close to our destination, we came across the wreckage of a tragic plane crash that happened in 1978 (read a bit about it here).  I couldn't believe how spread out the pieces were across the mountain top.  Very sad and eerie, but morbidly fascinating to walk around.

He walked around looking for the propeller, which he wanted to take home with him if we found.  Because carrying a plane propeller for 4 miles up and down a mountain would have been great fun.

Welcome to Mirkwood Forest.  Please stay on the trails, mind the elves, and report any sightings of SOUS (Spiders of Unusual Size) to the park services. 

Soon after exploring the wreckage, we came upon the ladders and cables I knew we would have to deal with eventually.  Going up these with Charlotte in tow was easy enough, but coming back down was another story.

This is also where I got to deal with my second favorite crippling phobia- heights!  I laid my whole body on that ladder and did not look behind me....

....if I had looked behind me, I would have seen this.  This is nice when you're not dangling over it.

At our destination, we were lucky enough to be approached by someone carrying a Digital SLR camera who asked us to take a photo of her group, and took one of us in turn, so for once we didn't have to settle for a selfie (you'd be surprised by how terrified the average person is of using my very basic Digital SLR, so I normally don't bother asking anymore).

Hiked all this way and of course it's too cloudy to get the view in the photo!

Fellow hikers were so amazed that our little dog made it all this way.  Little dogs can do big things, too, if you let them!

We did get some moments between the clouds rolling across for some excellent views.

Far over the Misty Mountains...

Our wee picnic in the clouds at about 6,000 feet above sea level.

Sammiches were had, but were scarfed down far too quickly to be documented.  I can tell you that simple turkey + provolone sammiches go up approximately 400% in deliciousness after a 3.5 mile uphill hike though.

Storm clouds were rolling in on our descent, but we made it out of the woods safely.

After making our way back to the car, we ventured out to our favorite dog-friendly restaurant in Boone: Cafe Portofino, where Char was fawned over and gleefully worshiped by the locals imbibing on the porch.  We couldn't resist having a hard-earned Crispin cider, too.

We haven't decided on our next hiking challenge yet, but I can't wait for it!

3 Ingredient Banana Pancakes!

I've had this recipe saved on Pinterest for a while:  http://www.recipebyphoto.com/3-ingredient-pancakes/

Looks too simple to be true, right?  I was skeptical, too, but over the weekend I found I really needed to do something with the blackened banana in my kitchen, so it felt like the right time to give this a try.

And OMG....it was SO much better than expected!

146 calories per pancake!

Even as I was mixing up the ingredients and pouring them into the pan, I was still skeptical.  I was skeptical up to the moment I cut a piece off and stuck it in my mouth.  They taste like delicious, moist banana crepes!  I only had some atrociously unhealthy uber-butter flavored pancake syrup around the house from my pre-diet days, so I was worried about having nothing to douse it in, but it turns out these really don't need anything extra.  I put two teaspoons of blueberry jelly on the top of mine for the sake of trying it out, but it would have been just as yummy alone.

Here's what you need:

1 very ripe banana

2 eggs

a smidge of cinnamon (like, 1/2 a tsp perhaps)

Makes 2 pancakes

Cut the banana up, add the egg and cinnamon, mash it all up with a potato masher (or an assortment of ineffective kitchen utensils if you've forgotten you own a potato masher, as I did). Let the mixture sit for about 3-4 minutes to get a fluffier pancake than the one in the picture (I figured this out on the second go-round). Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with a sliver of butter, add half of the banana goo mixture, and watch the magic begin.  Just cook it and flip it like you would a normal pancake.

Nutrition facts:

Calories:  146 without toppings (I did figure in 1/4 a tsp of butter per serving with this- if you use an alternative you could adjust accordingly)

Fat: 5.7g

Carbs: 16.5

Protein: 6.8g

Fiber: 2.4g

Sugar: 6.8g

....and just one is pretty darn filling!

In the true spirit of my cooking style, I did, of course, burn the second one.  Because I didn't add more butter to the pan.  My dear boyfriend still ate it like a champ and turns out they still taste pretty awesome even burnt!

It's an abstract piece, ok?