I love weekend breakfast/brunch. If I had to pick one meal to eat for the rest of my life, it would be breakfast. This is, of course, due to my being a carb addict. So many breakfast foods are carby, sugary goodness. The problem with this (yes, I said problem) is that your blood sugar crashes after eating a heavy pancake breakfast and you're a bump on a log for the rest of the day. Unless you have nothing to do, this is a problem.
Oatmeal pancakes to the rescue! I first discovered this recipe when I tried the South Beach Diet (which works great, but for me, is too difficult to sustain--the carb thing). These pancakes use oatmeal which has a low glycemic index and cottage cheese along with egg whites to create a pancake with high protein and no sugar crash later. This fact would also probably make the recipe a better choice for diabetics.
I found this recipe submitted by The South Beach Diet on Allrecipes.com. I've gotten between 4 and 6 pancakes from this. That's 1 serving, or 2 small servings.
1/4 c cottage cheese (or tofu--I've never tried that. I HAVE used ricotta, which also works nicely.)
1/2 c. old fashioned oats
4 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract
(You can also add cinnamon and/or nutmeg or other spices as desired. The recipe calls for 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg. I've put more, I've left out--it's up to you!)
Couldn't be easier. Heat a pan as in making pancakes. Put all the ingredients into a blender (maximum easyness is a stick bender or Magic Bullet...I'm sure a small chopper/food processor would also work). Blend. Make as in making regular pancakes. Serve.
I eat these with regular maple syrup, because I don't trust sugar free stuff. But, the real South Beach thing of course requires that you don't use sugar. I should also note that I've made these with 3 egg whites--this makes them slightly thicker (see below for pictures of that time). I imagine you could also get creative and do some mix-ins: dark chocolate chip pancakes, blueberry, pecan...whatever you like with regular pancakes. The pancakes don't taste like regular pancakes...but in some ways, I like them MORE. They're very substantial. And I'm not catatonic afterwards.
They look good! I read recently that people who crave carbs (like you & me) metabolize food differently than those who don't, which accounts for the cravings. That made me feel better - it's not my fault that I crave cookies! Ha!
Posted by: Kim Fleming | February 06, 2011 at 08:26 AM
Yeah, Kim, I have to say when I was on the South Beach Diet, my cravings for carbs went away! It was actually pretty amazing. The problem is that once I started introducing them back in, I tended to lose control a bit.
Posted by: Christine | February 06, 2011 at 11:39 AM