Pumpkin Want-To-Be Pancakes

Weight update: I weighed in this morning (it being the first of the month); I'm back to 179 pounds. Fingers crossed - let's hope the weight gain part of this new lifestyle is over!

The ingredients!

Some of you probably already realize this, but I'm an avid user of Pinterest, an online bulletin board of sorts. I've been discovering a lot of fantastically healthy recipes. I've decided to post about my most recent one. I found a blog that belongs to a health-nut. She creates a lot of her own recipes (which, I have to say, I think is impressive). This morning, after my cycling class, I came home to my apartment ready to try her "Perfect Protein Pumpkin Pancakes." Here's her original recipe. I had to change the recipe because I didn't actually have flax seed in my pantry. The batter was probably soupier than intended. This led to pumpkin "crepes" instead of pancakes. So delicious and a totally welcomed accident.
In addition to my "pancakes", I measured six ounces of non-fat, plain Greek yogurt (some to spread on my crepes and some to enjoy by itself) and sliced six ounces of fresh strawberries. I put some of the sliced strawberries on my crepes, just atop of the yogurt. I didn't roll them up like a tradition crepe. This is mainly because I'm trying to teach myself to eat slower, using a fork and a knife. Doing this allows my body time to register that's it's feeling full.

The final product: 2 sugar and flour-free pumpkin "pancakes".

Did I mention these pancakes/crepes are sugar and flour free? And the whole batch is just one serving! It's a generous serving, ranging between 170 to 211 calories depending on which version of the recipe you choose to use.
Cassey Ho, the creator of the "Blogilates" (I embedded the link above), offers some suggestions for toppings. We all love peanut butter, but she found that it over powered the pumpkin flavor. Of course you can use syrup, but why add unnecessary sugar to an already delicious breakfast? Her favorite was cottage cheese. I thought the Greek yogurt was perfect. I know very few people actually each plain yogurt, so I would recommend a vanilla since the protein powder used in this recipe is also vanilla.
Speaking of protein powder, I was nervous to buy a can. Protein powder is such a workout cliche it seems. I thought, "I don't want a can of this sitting in my pantry. I'm only going to ever use this once." Wrong! I'm already starting my search for my recipes that include it. The one downside of this product is that it tends to be expensive. The cheapest I found it was at Hannaford's in Augusta, Maine for $14.99. It should last a while though.