Starting the day out right

Healthy pancakes can sometimes be hard to find.  Well at least tasty ones, that is.  I made these this morning with bananas as a tasting point, but that's just because my family likes nanner pancakes, and I had some very spotted nanners I needed to find a use for.  Normally I would toss them in the freezer and save them for later, but right now I have over a dozen bananas in there and I felt I should actually use these now.  The freezer's a little crowded.  I did not use oil or butter in this recipe.  Gasp now! Yes there were light and fluffy!  How did I manage to do that without using a fatty substance?  Dun ta Dun....pumpkin and Greek yogurt!  They saved the day, the healthy way!  You can substitute either one for oil, but not always equal amounts.  You may have to google to see whats recommended or do like I do, and just guestimate.  It usually works for me, but not always.  I tired to brighten up the picture using some great colorful towels my sister got me for Christmas.  My other sister gave the the coffee mug!  I couldn't put one in the picture without the other, I would never hear then end of it!  Love ya girls!  My little fruit compote I made, can be served on the side as I had in the picture, or you can do as I did after the picture.  I dumped it on my pancakes.  Why not?  I didn't want to use syrup and the fruit just added even more flavor with the banana in the pancakes.  It was a great mix!  If you want more protein without fat, you could add 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese topped with some juice from the fruit.  I came so close to adding it, but I hadn't figured out the nutrition info at the time.  I didn't want to go overboard.

Ready for the recipe?

Fruit compote

1 mango, peeled and chopped

1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries (I used frozen, thawed which is why everything turned pink)

1 cup chopped fresh pineapple, or canned in juice (not syrup)

1 large lime, zested

In a small bowl combine fruit and zest.  Cut lime in half and squeeze the juice from on half of the lime over the fruit and stir.  Cover with saran wrap, and let sit.

 

 

Whole wheat Banana Pancakes

 

1 3/4 cup PLUS 2 TBS ultra grain 100% whole wheat white flour
Flax Seed, 1 tbsp
1 TBS Wheat germ
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 large egg whites
3 TBS Pumpkin, canned
2 TBS Fage - 0%,Greek yogurt
1 TBS Granulated Sugar
Scant 2 cups Milk, nonfat (skim milk)
2 TBS Lemon juice
1 cup mashed ripe Banana

 

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and whisk together. In a separate bowl add pumpkin, egg whites, yogurt, and banana. In a measuring cup put in the lemon juice, then fill the rest of the way up to the 2 cup mark with skim milk. Add to the banana mixture. whisk until combined. *Will be slightly lumpy due to bananas. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined. Preheat a griddle or nonstick pan, sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Using a 1/4 cup per pancake, cook on griddle until edges start to look dry and pancake bubbles, flip and cook a few more minutes. Serve with fruit or lo cal syrup.

Serving Size: Makes 5 servings of 3 pancakes, each pancake is 1/4 cup batter (nutrition is for pancakes only)

 

Amount Per Serving
Calories		286.2
Total Fat		2.1 g
	Saturated Fat	0.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.7 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.3 g
Cholesterol		2.0 mg
Sodium		642.7 mg
Potassium		395.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate		55.8 g
	Dietary Fiber	8.2 g
	Sugars	13.4 g
Protein		13.7 g

Vitamin A	33.2 %
Vitamin B-12	6.2 %
Vitamin B-6	16.3 %
Vitamin C	11.6 %
Vitamin D	10.0 %
Vitamin E	1.3 %
Calcium	24.5 %
Copper	4.1 %
Folate	4.8 %
Iron	16.2 %

Again, I used the recipe calculator on Spark People to find the nutrition info on my recipe.  I love that tool!  Enjoy these pancakes!  Just remember, you want the griddle hot for the pancakes (about 350) but make sure you cook them all the way through.  They will have moist banana pieces in them, but you don't want gooey flour mixture!