This post actually has some pictures I took in it! I’m awful at uploading pictures which is why my posts are a little sparse with the pictures. I’ll try to work on that. To give you an idea-I took these pictures and uploaded with all my pictures from Christmas! I’m only a little over a month late 🙂 Here’s some Christmas doggie cuteness for ya!
Brutus and Rizzo
Brutus in his pj's checking out his gifts
Doesn’t it look like Rizzo is hugging Brutus in that pic? And yes I sometimes torture my dog by dressing him up. Mostly just on holidays though 🙂
Now onto the pancakes. I started experimenting with using quinoa instead of oats for my protein pancakes. I found out recently that I’m mildly allergic to oats, among other things, so am eliminating from my diet for now. Not quite sure yet if oats contribute to my sinus issues, so until I figure that out for sure I won’t be eating oats.
I decided to do a banana nut pancake because these are one my my favorites. Topped with peanut butter….yummmm…but the thing I like about these is that they are also good plain.
Ingredients: half cup quinoa flakes half cup cottage cheese one scoop vanilla protein powder half a ripe banana 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 cup almond milk (or your milk of choice) 1 ounce chopped walnuts (optional) cinnamon to taste
Blend ingredients until smooth and cook like you would regular pancakes. I use canola oil cooking spray. I got 7 pancakes from this batch. Nutrition stats per pancake are: 98.5 calories, 3.5 g fat, 8.9 g carb, 7.4 g protein. If you want to keep calories lower you can eliminate the walnuts which added and additional 185 calories, it’s up to you. The nutrition facts are based on the exact products I used, so yours may differ. I also am not 100% sure that my quinoa stats are accurate. I used half a cup of quinoa flakes and the nutrition stats on the box are for 1/3 cup…I’m no mathematician and after about 15 minutes of being confused I think I accurately figured out the half cup stats. I’m almost embarassed to admit this. I think I need a fraction refresher course, it’s been a minute since I’ve been in school!
The final product:
These came out really good. Better than my first attempt. The first time I made quinoa protein pancakes I did a batch without the banana and walnuts for a plainer pancake. These were good but only with toppings, I wasn’t crazy about them plain. I also tried a batch with blueberries and for some reason those did not work at all. They weren’t really cooking and were sticking to the pan horribly. I’ll have to train the blueberry ones again because I like blueberry pancakes a lot.
The banana pancakes are delicious as they are but even better topped with some peanut butter. I LOVE the combo of bananas and peanut butter. Even better bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate! (I may have to try chocolate protein powder or cocoa powder to make chocolate banana pancakes) Since I don’t have any PB & co. dark chocolate dreams (which I love and purposely am not buying because I will want to eat the whole jar in one sitting) I had to settle for just peanut butter. My peanut butter of choice lately…
Confession-I do not like natural peanut butter. I LOVE good ‘ol Skippy (super chunk to be exact) but am using this in an attempt to get more acquainted with natural peanut butter. This isn’t as sweet as Skippy but is still a bit sweet due to the evaporated cane juice and molasses. Baby steps right?
What is your favorite brand of peanut butter? Or any type of nut butter?
I still want to try almond butter and cashew butter. For peanut butter I love Skippy super chunk and PB & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams.
Beauty and the Beef 