Maple Pecan Protein Pancakes

Most protein pancakes are little too dense and un-pancake-like for my taste. My secret? Add in a little baking powder to lighten up the mixture. Event better? Throw in a few pecans and some maple syrup to make them even more decadent. The hubs tried these and deemed them delicious BEFORE finding out that they were in fact protein pancakes and not a traditional recipe.

If your goal is a healthy breakfast, maybe don't drown them in maple syrup the way I have in the pictures above. Otherwise, have at it and enjoy!

Maple Pecan Protein Pancakes

1 banana

1 scoop protein powder

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 cup roasted, salted pecans, chopped

1 tablespoon maple syrup, more as desired

Mash the banana until a paste is formed. Add the protein powder and egg to the banana and mash and stir until really well combined. Mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Heat a nonstick pan over low heat, then spray with coconut oil cooking spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan for each pancake. Cook low and slow until brown, flip and cook briefly on the other side until firm. Serve with additional maple syrup and pecans as desired.

Omelette Aux Fines Herbes

When the Easter Bunny (aka my friend Caitlyn) brings you fresh eggs from the chickens she and her family keep in their backyard, you make omelettes. And, if you're a culinary school grad trained in classic French cooking, you make Omellete Aux Fines Herbes.

The French way of making omelettes is a far cry from what you'll find at a typical American diner. They are delicate, completely colorless (meaning no brown marks from a hot pan) and if they're filled, it's a dusting of ingredients, not a mountain of filling that prevents the omelette from being rolled (the traditional way of serving them).

The standard diner omelette does little for me, but a delicate, rolled omelette with a slightly runny curd is the definition of satisfaction.

The folds in a chef's hat are meant to represent the many varied ways he or she can prepare eggs. Master this omelette and you're well on your way to grasping the fundamentals.

Here are the keys:

1. Low and slow - be patient with your eggs. High heat is the enemy of a tender, colorless omelette.

2. Nonstick - I use stainless steel pans 99% of the time, but when it comes to working with eggs, use nonstick. It's what they were made for.

3. Fat is your friend - you don't have to use a lot, but the pan should be slicked with fat. Since the temperature stays low, butter and coconut oil are great options.

4. Move and then don't - after you add your eggs to the pan, use a spatula to move the curd around occasionally for the first minute or so and then stop. Let the eggs set for the remaining cooking time.

5. Undercook - the best omelettes have an ever-so-slightly runny curd on the inside. Once you roll the omelette the interior curd will continue to cook from the carryover cooking so trust me and pull it off the heat before it's completely finished.

The step-by-step recipe and image tutorial should get you started, but as with all things in the kitchen, practice makes perfect. Try it a few times and you'll get the hang of it. As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Omelette Aux Fines Herbes

Serves 1

2 eggs

2 tsp butter or coconut oil

2 tbsp mixed, chopped herbs (traditionally parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives)

Kosher salt

Preheat a nonstick pan over medium-low heat.

Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk until no white streaks remain. Add a pinch of salt or more to taste and stir.

Melt the cooking fat in the pan and add the eggs. Use a rubber spatula to stir the eggs as they cook, pushing the cooked egg off the bottom of the pan and allowing uncooked egg to fill in the space (as in the image below).  Stir in this manner for the first two minutes of cooking, then tilt the pan from side to side to make sure the base of the pan is fully covered and let the mixture cook, undisturbed until almost set (see note above about undercooking).

Remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle most of the herbs down the middle of the omelette.

Use the spatula to fold a third of the omelette over the center.

Then continue to roll the omelette onto a plate. Sprinkle with remaining herbs and a touch of salt and serve. 

Chia Porridge Breakfast Pot

Morning food needs to be easy food. Somewhere between meditation and showering I try to find the time to throw together a quick breakfast for my husband and I. His is always the same - sausage, eggs and maybe some sliced avocado. The only variety comes in whether the eggs are scrambled or fried and whether he gets a sprinkling of aged white cheddar on the scrambled eggs.

I need more variety. The tricky part is that variety takes creativity and time - two things I'm running very short on most mornings. My only hope for a good breakfast is to make things in advance.

More often than not I have some sort of overnight oat (also known as Muesli) in the fridge and if I'm really on top of things on Sunday afternoon (my usual prep time), I will have made some protein pancake batter to keep on hand as well. Lately, to make the overnight oats a little more interesting, I've been experimenting with different chia puddings and porridges. This beet version is one of my more successful concoctions and not only makes mornings interesting, but also a lot more colorful.

For this breakfast pot I've layered the oats and chia porridge with fresh kiwi and strawberries. Get creative and try some yogurt and nuts, or honey and granola thrown in the mix. With the oats and chia porridge made in advance, all that's left is to slice some fruit and throw everything together.

Note, these recipes make much more than you will need for one serving. I keep these in the fridge and use them to layer a number of breakfasts throughout the week.

Basic Overnight Oats*

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp maple syrup

Place all ingredients in a mason jar with a lid. Secure the lid and shake to ensure the ingredients are combined. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

*If you like more protein in the morning, mix in a scoop of protein powder and add more almond milk to thin out the mixture as needed.

Beet Chia Porridge

1/2 banana (I use frozen)

1 small beet, peeled

1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 dropper full of liquid stevia

1/4 cup chia seeds

Place the banana, beet, almond milk and stevia in a blender and blend until completely combined. Pour beet mixture into a bowl and stir in chia seeds. Mix well. Cover and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

Chia Porridge Breakfast Pots

To make the pots, alternate layers of porridge and oats with fresh fruit, nuts, granola or yogurt.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Bananas truly are the ish if you're trying to eat healthy. Their natural sweetness and ability to add a creamy texture when blended into dishes make them an ideal ingredient when you're trying to create healthier versions of dishes that would usually remain off-limits.

If you have a high powered blender (yes, we all mean Vitamix when we say, "high-powered blender") you can throw in a couple frozen bananas with any flavoring of your choice and make something surprisingly similar to ice cream. They're great for making protein shakes seem more like milkshakes (check out this recipe if you love chocolate) and you can also use pureed bananas to replace some of the fat in baked goods they way you would with apple sauce.

I purchase two huge bunches at a time, remove their peels, break them in half and store them in the freezer until I need them (which is almost every day). 

I'm including two more delicious recipes to use up those frozen bananas (in addition to the shake recipe linked above). The cookie dough is intended for eating as is, not cooking and it's the absolute best. You can finally eat cookie dough without feeling guilty.

If you've never made a protein pancake before, start with this recipe. It's from the ladies over at Tone It Up and it works beautifully.

Seriously Healthy Cookie Dough

Makes 1 serving

1/2 banana

1 packet or scoop of vanilla protein powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of kosher salt

2 tbsp unsweetened carob chips

Liquid, organic stevia to taste

If banana is frozen, defrost in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mash banana, add protein powder, baking powder and salt and mix until combined. If the mixture is still really wet, you can add more protein powder until a cookie dough consistency is reached. Taste and use the liquid stevia to adjust sweetness (protein powders vary a lot in sweetness so add as much as you need). Stir in the carob chips and enjoy. This also tastes delicious after spending some time in the freezer to firm up.

Protein Pancakes (From Tone It Up)

Makes 3 pancakes (1 serving)

1/2 banana

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/4 cup egg whites

1 tbsp almond milk

1 tsp cinnamon

If banana is frozen, defrost in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mash banana, add egg whites and almond milk and stir. Add protein powder and cinnamon and stir until combined. 

Preheat a nonstick pan over medium low heat. Spray pan with coconut oil cooking spray and poor batter into pan in three circles. Cook until lightly browned, about four minutes per side. Serve with fresh berries and a touch of maple syrup.