Palatable pumpkin protein pancake

Sploosh

With fall here and a chill in the air, I thought I needed to switch my usual protein shake to something that would give me the warm and fuzzies. Enter the protein pancake! I’d seen variations of protein pancakes made on Twitter, but my pancakes always fell flat (Get it? Flat?). So I trusted my gut and came up with my own recipe because I’m a home cook and they are fitness instructors and who wants a pancake recipe from a gym rat?

So here’s what I came up with:

Put in a blender:

1 cup almond milk

3 egg whites

1 whole egg

½ cup pumpkin purée (plain, canned)

1 scoop protein powder (optional)

½ cup white whole wheat flour

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

BLEND!

It’ll keep a few days in the fridge. Pour on a hot pan in the morning for a quick pancake that’ll fill you until lunch. Top with your favorite fruit and maple syrup.

I'm not tellin' her, Nutella!

Molly and I had just bought some Nutella, so I decided to put that chocolaty goodness to work and make crêpes this morning. Molly helped with the photos (see the “flip” with Junius the cat watching.) I got out our usual crêpe toppings, which include, but are not limited to: sour cream, our grandmother’s jam, Nutella, fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, etc.), lemon and sugar (<--so British!).

The finished product you see here is a Nutella crêpe in the middle and a lemon and sugar one on each side. It’s drizzled with my grandmother’s raspberry and red current jam (from her garden) and a dollop of crème fraiche. I usually use The Joy of Cooking recipe, but this time I tried a slightly different once from my crêpe cookbook written by Lou Seibert Pappas:

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon rum, cointreau, amaretto, or brandy

2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus 2-3 teaspoons for coating the pan

Mix in food processor or, if by hand, sift the flour into a med. bowl and add sugar. Whisk the eggs until blended, mix in mild, water, vanilla, and liqueur and whisk this into flour; stir in melted butter. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour then gently stir if separated.

Heat a seasoned 7-10 inch nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Wipe the pan lightly with butter and pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter or 1/4 cup for larger crepes. Continually tilt the pan to coat surface, cook for 1 minute, flip, then cook for another 15 seconds. Cool on tea towel or eat immediately.