By Sara Baker
Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only am I huge football fan, but I love the cooler weather and I love the flavors of this time of year. Squash, pumpkin, apples, hearty soups..mmmm. I often work from home on Fridays and have a little more time to make food during the day. A few hours after my post workout shake I am pretty hungry for something filling and a little higher in carbs to help me continue to recover from my workout. For my second meal I usually do an egg white omelet and oat bran or oat bran with protein powder. I almost always change up my dinners but tend to eat the same thing during the day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then change it slightly for Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, I have been getting a little tired of the same old food recently and have been trying to experiment with my second and third meals.
I had some leftover pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling, just canned pumpkin) in my fridge and decided to throw it into my protein pancake. It turned out amazing and tasted just like fall. It also had a great nutritional profile. It is a bit higher in carbs so you would want to have this meal earlier in the day but it is great to help recover from a hard workout. Feel free to add a little sugar free syrup or even a little nut butter on top for extra flavor. Let me know what you think!
Below is the recipe, feel free to experiment with more or less cinnamon, nutmeg or even add pumpkin pie spice to up the taste of Fall.
Sara’s Pumpkin Protein Pancake
Serves 1.
¼ cup oats
¼ cup pumpkin puree
1 scoop protein powder (I used Lean Dessert Cinnamon Roll but Vanilla would work well too)
1 egg white
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2-4 tbsp water
Mix first 6 ingredients in bowl. Add water 1 tbsp at a time so batter becomes mixed, but not too running. Spray and heat pan on medium to high heat. Pour in batter. Flip pancake when small bubbles start to appear or when bottom of pancake is nice and golden brown. Cook other side until golden brown as well. Splash a little sugar-free syrup and enjoy!
