Spicy Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

I am finally back on track with regular workouts after our move to a new apartment in January.  And the new building has a fitness room, so we have decided to take advantage of the space... we can spread out our mats and even jump up and down if we want to, without having to worry about making too much noise.  There are lots of machines and equipment that I haven't even had a chance to check out yet!

On days when I am going to do a mid-morning workout, I like to add some carbs to my breakfast to make sure I have enough energy to finish. Usually I would be happy with some fruit blended into a protein shake, but it has been raining monsoons here the past couple of days so something warm seemed much more to my appealing.

I decided to use the last of my North Coast Naturals vanilla Vege Pro-7 protein powder and make some spicy pumpkin pancakes... I had only half a scoop left and I knew just what to do with it.  I am really sad to see the bottom of this container.  I was given this protein powder to try some time ago and have really enjoyed it... it has great body and is really quite filling.  I will need to get more!

I mixed all the ingredients with my immersion blender and then cooked the batter in 3 batches.  It takes a bit longer to do them this way, and the batter really needs to cook completely through, otherwise you have doughy centres in the pancakes, and who likes that?  Not me, for sure.

I did the calculations and the batch of 3 cakes comes out to 6 Smart Points on the new Weight Watchers program... add a bit of sugar-free syrup for another 1 Point or some 0 Point fruit if you like. I chose to have half a navel orange alongside instead...  I really enjoyed them and hope you will too.

Make sure you are using gluten-free oats if that is an issue for you.  And yes, I know that the coconut oil is saturated fat, but I happen to believe it is good for me and I love the taste!

Spicy Pumpkin Protein Pancakes
Makes 1 serving of 3 cakes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 2 Tbs egg whites 
• 5 Tbs water
• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Blend all the ingredients together till batter is smooth.
2. Cook pancakes in 3 batches and keep cakes warm till ready to serve.
3. Serve with syrup or fruit.

Per serving of 3 cakes without topping.

WW Smart Points = 6.

Calories 200; Saturated Fat 4g; Sugar 3g; Protein 17g.

Mix the ingredients till smooth with your blender.

Make sure the cakes aren't too thick or they will take much longer to cook through.. and don't forget to flip and cook the second side!

Plated and topped with sugar free syrup. Mmmm!

Printable Recipe

Do you save your pumpkin for Fall recipes, or are you like me and enjoy it year-round?

What is your favorite vanilla protein powder?

Pumpkin Protein Cake with Turmeric

I just wanted to share another one of my latest breakfast recipes that uses turmeric... Pumpkin Protein Cake with Turmeric...  you know I love turmeric, and am working it into my food plan more and more lately.

This is a great high protein and low carb breakfast treat... and it is delicious and very filling!  This cake is dense and doesn't rise much, even with the baking powder.

I used North Coast Naturals Vege Pro-7 protein powder in this recipe. Feel free to use your own favorite.

Pumpkin Protein Cake with Turmeric
Makes 1 cake, and divide into 2 servings.

• 1/2 cup cooked pumpkin
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp turmeric
• dash of cinnamon
• 2 Tbs vanilla unsweetened Almond Breeze
• 1 Tbs chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Beat all ingredients together and allow to sit for a few minutes till chia seeds begin to swell.
2. Pour batter into a microwave safe dish which has been lightly coated with a non-stick spray.
3. Cook on HIGH for 3 minutes, then check that the batter is not rising too high and running over the edge of the baking dish. 
4. Then cook on HIGH for another 3 minutes.
5. Remove from mike and let rest 4 or 5 minutes.
6. Remove cake, divide in half and place into 2 serving dishes.
7. Top as you like.

Per serving of 1/2 of the cake, without toppings.
Weight Watchers P+ = 3.
Calories 130; Protein 14g; Carbohydrate 7g; Fat 4g; Fibre 3g.

Printable Recipe

Just look at the beautiful color of this batter!

Ready to pop into the mike.

Halved, plated and topped.

MMMMM!  Enjoy!

Have you broken out the pumpkin yet?

Pumpin Protein Waffles with Turmeric and My Golden Milk

A week or so ago, I joined a new fitness blogging group on Facebook and one of the first conversations I read and took part in, was about turmeric... it's health benefits and how to add it into our diets.

I knew that turmeric has long been considered a superfood by many in the healthy living community, and I have thought from time to time that I would like to start using it more often, but it was this FB chatter that really prompted me to act.

I purchased a 100-gram bag of pure turmeric and that same day made my first cup of Golden Milk. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have been making it every couple of days since.  I did use a recipe that I found online, but changed it a bit.   The author does not take credit for it and said that this recipe and variations have been around forever, so I am taking the liberty to share my own version.

If you don't use Stevia, you may want to put a spoonful of honey into this mixture.  It will counteract and bitterness you may taste in the turmeric and make you feel like you are having a luscious treat!

Golden Milk

Makes 1 serving.

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 tsp tahini
• 1 tsp turmeric
• healthy dash of cinnamon
• small dash of black pepper
• bit of Stevia to sweeten

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan on the stove over MEDIUM-HIGH heat and stir till well-combined.  Do not let boil.
2. Remove to cup and enjoy!

Per serving.

Weight Watchers P+ = 2.

Calories 73; Protein 2g; Carbohydrate 3g; Fat 6g; Fibre 1g.

 I was pleased, too, that The Captain liked the taste and texture of it. It is quite thick and creamy.

And now I am working on coming up with more and different ways to add turmeric to our diet.  It has a very brilliant orange color, so it seems a natural to me that it would go more readily into dishes we already expect to be orange.  Don't you agree?  And because the mornings are getting cooler here, well at least a little bit cooler, I pulled a can of pumpkin out of the pantry and set about to making some pumpkin protein waffles... I knew that I could easily hide the turmeric in this batter because it is already orange with pure pumpkin....yup, pumpkin season is about to launch, and so Pumpkin Protein Waffles with Turmeric were born!

Just make sure that if you are using canned pumpkin that you select pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling in this recipe.  As for me, I cannot wait till fresh pumpkins are in the local markets as I do love baking and cooking with them.

I recently received some Vege Pro-7 Protein Powders from North Coast Naturals, so I chose to use the vanilla flavor in these waffles. Vege PRO-7 is very tasty and it features super foods like organic bio-fermented whole grain brown rice, organic sprouted chia, organic Canadian hemp protein, organic pumpkin seed, and other nutrient-dense proteins.  And it has no added artificial colours, sweeteners or flavours. Vege PRO-7 is also made without wheat, soy, dairy, egg, gluten or pea.  And I love it because it is also low fat and low carb, too.  But of course you should use your favorite protein powder.

I also used North Coast Naturals Ultimate Daily Cleanse to add a bit of bulk and more nutrients to my batter. You can use ground flax seeds if you like.

And, one more thing.... I understand that some people find the taste of turmeric a bit bitter, so add a sweetener to this recipe if you must. I didn't, as I think the cinnamon negates any bitter taste, and I topped my waffles with a bit of sugar free syrup and a couple of banana slices.

My recipe makes 2 servings so either share with your friend, or freeze some for another day.  You could also cut it in half.

Pumpkin Protein Waffles With Turmeric
Makes 2 servings

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup pure pumpkin
• 1/2 cup egg whites (4)
• 2 large fresh eggs
• 2 Tbs Ultimate Daily Cleanse or ground flax seeds
• 1 heaping tsp turmeric
• dash of cinnamon

1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit for a couple of minutes.
2. Cook in your waffle make according to directions... I used half for each of 2 double waffles.
3. Keep covered and warm till ready to serve. 
4. Top as desired.

Per serving, without toppings

Weight Watchers P+ = 5.

Calories 195, Protein 25.1g; Carbohydrates 10g; Fat 7g; Fibre 6.3g.

\

Printable Recipe

Are you ready for pumpkin season too?

Do you add turmeric to your diet?  What is your favorite way?

Happy Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Yes, a gluten-free Thanksgiving Dinner can be done and in a very HAPPY way that the whole family will enjoy…

We celebrated our first gluten-free Thanksgiving a couple of years ago… just the thought of it was very daunting. But with a bit of research and some planning, it all came together in a very easy and DELICIOUS manner. 

Here is what is on the menu:

Roasted turkey and potatoes

Turkey gravy

Quinoa dressing

Homemade cranberry sauce

Steamed carrots

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Pinot Grigio/ice water

 

Check out the pictures and the recipes on my original blog post… and get cooking!

 

Is this your first gluten-free Thanksgiving?  What are you preparing?

My Tasty Pumpkin Microwave Breakfast Cake

It has been a few weeks since I have had any almond meal in my pantry so when I finally purchased some a few days ago I started thinking about something new to make with it  I have several cans of pumpkin on hand (thanks to The Captain who brought home 2 dozen of them a few weeks ago when he found them on sale!) and decided to come up with a treat for our Saturday morning breakfast… a treat being anything different from our usual breakfast of some kind of eggs!

If you want to lower the fat count in my cake, leave out the coconut oil, and of course you could use a sweetener or maple syrup instead of the honey.  It isn’t a very sweet cake at all, so add more if you like sweeter!

I am eating Greek yogurt again these days, so I chose some fat free plain for our toppings, and added vanilla to mine, and vanilla and a bit of sweetener to The Captain’s.  It was really good… and really filling!
It powered me through my run a few hours later, that’s for sure.

I think nut butters or a slurry of protein powder and almond milk or fresh berries would be really good on this cake, too.  Or, how about some ice cream?  For breakfast... why not?

Pumpkin Microwave Breakfast Cake
Makes 2 servings

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 2 tsp liquid honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or healthy dashes of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt the coconut oil and add to pumpkin in a medium bowl. Mix well.
2. Add the almond meal and combine well.
3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
4. Spoon batter into a microwave safe cooking bowl and cook on HIGH for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from microwave oven and allow to rest 5 minutes.
6. Divide in half and serve with topping of choice.

Per serving, no topping.
Weight Watchers P+ = 7.
Calories 255; Protein 11g; Carbohydrate 18g; Fat 17g; Fibre 7g.

Mixing the ingredients together

The batter will be wet, but should not be runny.  If it is, add another tablespoon of almond meal

It will change color as it cooks and should be firm to the touch, but still moist

My serving with Greek yogurt and a dash of cinnamon... Mmmmm...

Printable Recipe

How about you?  Still eating pumpkin or have you had your fill?

My New Flax-Coconut Pancake… you’ll see why

The main thing on my shopping list when we visited the Trader Joe’s in Silverdale, WA earlier this week, was pumpkin butter.  I love this stuff and I happen to think that TJ’s is the very best.  Each 1 tablespoon serving is only 40 calories, and it’s all carbs… no fat, no protein… but does have lots of Vitamin A. 

It’s not health food, folks.  But it is truly delicious!  And for you fellow Weight Watchers, it is only 1 P+ per serving.  Yes, I have made pumpkin butter and sweet potato butter myself… and it is really easy to do and it is very good.  But when I finally get an opportunity to get across the border and find a TJ’s, especially in the Fall, I do stock up!

In honor of opening the first jar this morning, after our run, I made up a new grain-free pancake!  I wanted to have something tasty to spread that lovely, spicy pumpkin butter over… I thought it would be a little more elegant than just eating it out of the jar with a spoon, or my fingers!

Flax-Coconut Pancake
Makes 1 serving

• 1 Tbs ground flax seeds
• 1 Tbs coconut flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• splash of vanilla
• dash of cinnamon

1. Mix all the ingredients till well blended and then pour into prepared skillet over MEDIUM heat.
2. Cook till the mixture bubbles, about 5 minutes.
3. Then flip and cook second side about 2 or 3 minutes.
4. Remove to serving plate and garnish with your favorite toppings.

Per serving, without toppings.
Weight Watchers P+ = 4.
Calories 185; Protein 15g; Carbohydrate 8g; Fat 9g; Fibre 5g.

If you want something a little lower in fat, just replace the whole egg with 1/4 cup of egg whites.  And of course you can double the ingredients... and make two cakes instead of just one!

Printable Recipe

Are you a pumpkin butter or sweet potato butter fan?  Have you ever made it?

If you haven't, but would like to, check out my recipe… it is so easy!  

Pumpkin Protein Paleo Cookies

One day this past week, The Captain announced that one of our local markets was selling canned pumpkin puree for 87 cents per can and that he was planning to pick some up for me the next morning while I was at work.

I was sure they wouldn’t have any left by the time he got there, but when he arrived to drive me home after my noontime Weight Watchers meeting, he quite proudly gave me the news that he had bought 2 cases…. 24 cans of pure pumpkin puree! 

So what am I going to do with it all?  Well, there will be pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin souffles, pumpkin smoothies, and of course I had to come up with some pumpkin cookies!

These are not your ordinary sweet, dessert cookies, though.  These are cookies that I am going to keep in the freezer and have them pre-workout in the morning. I like to have a little nibble of something nutritious before I do my strength workout in the morning and this will fill that bill quite nicely… but they also do taste great! 

They are not too sweet but if you want a treat, they are certainly that as well.  I have been experimenting for months now with almond flour cookies, and these are pretty good.

I used liquid vanilla Stevia as my sweetener. If you use plain Stevia, or a powdered sweetener such as Splenda, add a spoonful of vanilla extract, too.  And you can use any kind of nuts you like.  I thought pecans would taste good with the pumpkin and they sure do!

Pumpkin Protein Paleo Cookies
Makes 35 cookies

• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin pure pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 dropper liquid vanilla Stevia
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups almond flour
• 4 level scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 Tbs coconut flour
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 2 dashes allspice

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, protein powder, coconut flour and spices.
4. Mix in the raisins and pecans.
5. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, and Stevia.  Then add the mixture to the dry ingredients.
6. Combine well.
7. Using a 1Tbs measure, scoop the batter into mounds on the parchment paper and bake for 14 minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the sheet and leave on a cooling rack for several minutes to let them set.  They will be quite soft till they cool a bit.
9. Repeat #7 and #8 with the remaining batter.

Per serving of 1 cookie.
Weight Watchers P+ = 2.
Calories 85; Protein 5g; Carbohydrate 6g; Fat 5g; Fibre 2g.

You don’t need to leave much room between the mounds as they don’t spread much when baking.

Printable Recipe

What do you like to eat before you work out?

A Variety of Tasty Egg White Bites

I have been making versions of these delicious little ‘bites’ ever since Gabby posted her recipe for 2-ingredient Sweet Potato Bites when I was doing my first Whole 30 Paleo Challenge in January.

I am so thankful to her for introducing me to these wonderful little morsels!

I didn’t have any sweet potatoes in the pantry when I first read the recipe, so I opened a can of pumpkin and used that instead.  I loved them immediately… and I really enjoyed them for a quick snack with a dab of almond butter on top!

I know my Weight Watchers buddies are going to want some details...

I didn’t have a  mini muffin tin at the time so I just used my regular sized silicone muffin cups.
I made 9 regular muffin-size 'bites' instead of the 18 minis that Gabby made and they came out to only 12 calories each.

Then I made them with a whole mashed banana and enjoyed them just as much.  I think the banana makes them a bit sweeter, too.  Again, 9 regular muffin-size 'bites' and these were 19 calories each.

Since then I have made them with sweet potatoes but I changed things a bit.  I used only 2/3 of the ingredients but made 9 again, and they were 24 calories each.

But then I finally bought a mini muffin tin!

And Saturday morning I was making a batch of Bacon and Egg Muffins, so I decided to do a batch of ‘bites’, too…. I had about 1/4 cup of mashed sweet potato in the fridge so I mixed 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce with it and made up my ‘bites’…. wonderful!

So it worked out to only using half the prescribed amount of the ingredients but I made 12 mini muffins out of it and they are 9 calories each.  You can see the size difference between the mini muffin tin and the regular size muffin cups that I used for the Bacon and Egg Muffins.

So now mine truly are just little ‘bites’.

They do make wonderful little snacks… a perfect mix of protein and carbs.  Of course they need to be stored in the fridge, but are very portable and handy…. and it is so fun to see what combos you can come up with.

Check out the original recipe at Gabby’s Gluten Free and then get cooking!

What other combinations do you think would work?… kabocha squash perhaps, and maybe some pureed strawberries.

Pumpkin Protein Cake

I have been craving pumpkin lately.  It probably has something to do with the power of suggestion.  Everywhere I look on the internet or in magazines, the pumpkin recipes are truly a display of creative genius... not to mention just plain old eye candy.  I wanted to get in on the action, too.

So I decided to make something like the Banana Protein Cake, but I used 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree instead of a whole banana, and also added some more spices.  It was delicious.... like having pumpkin pie for breakfast.  Of course you can halve the ingredients if you like.

I suggest cooking it in 2 stages to make sure it is not running over the edges of the microwave dish during cooking. If you just set it for 3 minutes and leave it, it is likely to end up on the bottom of your microwave oven!



Pumpkin Protein Cake
Makes 2 servings.

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 Tbs chia seeds
• 2 Tbs almond milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Mix all the ingredients together and place in a shallow microwaves-safe dish that has been lightly coated with a non-stick spray.
2. Cook on HIGH for 2 minutes.  Then cook on HIGH 1 minute more.
3. Remove from the mike and let rest 5 minutes.
4. Divide between 2 bowls and top as desired.

Per serving, without toppings.
Weight Watchers P+ = 5.
Calories 175; Protein 19g; Carbohydrate 14g; Fat 8g; Fibre 7g.

 

Stir everything together in a large bowl.

The batter should be fairly thick.

 

Let it rest and finish cooking after it comes out of the mike.

 

Place half into a cute serving dish and top... vanilla yogurt and pepitas for The Captain.

and for me, too.



Printable Recipe

#Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies

I haven't baked anything sweet for what seems like ages, and lately The Captain has been hinting that he would really like me to make some cookies.

I made these up because there was a cup of canned pumpkin in the fridge that I wanted to use up and thought they would fill his need for a sweet... well, they didn't quite, unfortunately. But I really like them so I am going to share them with you anyway.

They are not very sweet.  The Captain actually ended up putting a little dab of apricot jam on his and then he did enjoy them... and whilte the last few were baking I was thinking about how I could salvage them and I realized that they might really benefit from a bit of sweetened Laughing Cow Cheese.  So I did try that with a couple and it was quite delicious! 

One wedge of the cheese, sweetened with a bit of Stevia or Splenda will easily perk up 6 cookies.  I didn't include it in the N.I. but overall, it won't make much difference.



Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies
Makes 22 drop cookies.

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 egg
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup fat free milk milk
• 1/4 cup honey

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and stir till combined.
3. Using a Tbs measure spoon, drop the batter onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  You can bake a bit longer if you would like a crispier cookie.
5. Remove to a baking rack and let them cool for 5 minutes or so before eating or a bit longer if you are adding the 'icing'.

Per cookie.
Weight Watchers P+ = 1.
Calories 44; Protein 2g; Carbohydrate 4g; Fat 3g; Fibre 1g.

Mix all ingredients together.

 

Drop onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

 

Bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool.

If you like, put a bit of sweetened Laughing Cow cheese on the top of each one.



Printable Recipe

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes... It's the Season!

It's pumpkin season!  I couldn't resist making my flourless whey protein pancakes with canned pumpkin instead of mashed banana this morning. 

They were wonderful!  And while I was in the kitchen, cooking away, The Captain was checking his email in the bedroom and he called out to me about the lovely aroma coming from the kitchen.

Give them a try... and perhaps use pumpkin pie spice in place of cinnamon for even more flavor!  And use your favorite protein powder.... I know that soy or egg will work well here too.

I served them with a bit of maple syrup... Mmmmm.  Fall in Canada, yup!  I used to make 4 pancakes out of this batter but now I just make 2 larger ones.  It gets breakfast on the table faster.

 



Flourless Whey Pumpkin Protein Pancakes
Makes 2 servings

• 2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 2 Tbs vanilla unsweetened Almond Breeze
• 2 Tbs ground flax seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1. In a medium bowl, mix the protein powder, egg whites, Almond Breeze, flax seeds, canned pumpkin, and cinnamon
2. Stir until well combined. The mixture should not be too thick... add a tsp or 2 of water if it is.
3. Coat a saucepan with non-stick spray and set over MEDIUM heat. Pour 1/2 of the mixture into the warm pan and spread till it is a circle about 7 - 8 inches in diameter.
4. Let cook several minutes. You will see a bit of bubbling from underneath and the batter should lose its shine as it cooks. Leave till most the shine is gone and then gently flip over. Cook a couple of minutes more.
5. Remove pancake to a plate and cover to keep warm.
6. Cook the second pancake in the same manner.
7. Top with your choice of syrup to serve.  

Per serving, without topping.
Weight Watchers P+ = 5.
Calories 211; Protein 32g; Carbohydrate 10g; Fat 4g; Fibre 4g.

Mixing up all the ingredients.

 

Look at the color of the raw batter.

 

And the cooked!

Nice fluffy texture.  Yummo!



 

Printable Recipe

 

 

Do you love pancakes too?