Vegan Coconut Pancakes & Tropical Salsa - RC Week 3

Having heard great things about Mr. Mark Bittman and his fabulous healthy eats, I was so happy to see one of his pancake recipes in this month's Bon Appetit.  In addition, the fact that they are made with whole wheat flour made them a must try.  The tropical salsa here is the true star of the show.  It was a fabulous breakfast!

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 13 1/2-ounce can light unsweetened coconut milk (about 1 2/3 cups)
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
Tropical Fruit Salad (recipe to follow)
Additional pure maple syrup
Chopped natural unsalted pistachios (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 250°F. Whisk first 6 ingredients and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Whisk coconut milk, 11/4 cups warm water, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, and vanilla in medium bowl. Whisk coconut milk mixture into dry ingredients until batter is pourable.

Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat; brush with vegetable oil. Working in batches, add batter by 1/4 cupfuls. Working quickly and using back of spoon, spread each pancake to about 4-inch round. Cook until small bubbles appear on surface and bottoms of pancakes are golden, reducing heat if browning too quickly, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn over; cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet. Keep warm in oven.

Place 2 to 3 pancakes on each plate. Top with Tropical Fruit Salad, maple syrup, and chopped pistachios.

For Tropical Salsa, mix the following ingredients up to 2 hours ahead of breakfast (or lunch, or dinner, or snack...)

1 cup diced peeled pitted mango
1 cup diced peeled cored pineapple
1 cup diced peeled banana
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

The result?  Holy yumminess!!  And enough batter leftover for several more fabulous mornings with less work.

And my husband got to christen one of his Christmas gifts.  Oh yeah, I totally wanted this and bought it for him since Christmas was a good excuse to make the purchase.  :-D

3 days later with nanners and nuts.  Still stinkin' yummy:

I gotta say, I feel so sophisticated in my eating this week.  Bon Appetit subscription ordered.

Coconut Macadamia Buttermilk Protein Pancakes

Whew, that's a mouthful!  And you'll want mouthful after mouthful of these little guys.  They are delicious and a great way to get in that RDA (and more if you are in some sort of training program) of protein.

Here's how I did it today:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup egg whites
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup macadamia pieces, ground
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2-3 tbsp low fat buttermilk

In your blender, chop macadamia nuts.  Add remaining ingredients (starting with 2 tbsp buttermilk) and blend until it forms a batter consistency.  Add additional buttermilk if batter is too thick.

Drop onto your heated skillet and cook like you would traditional pancake mix.  These have a nice little sweetness to them so not too much syrup is needed.  I love maple though, so I had to have some with mine.

For the hubs - with a little chicken breakfast sausage:

A Yummy Way to Eat Cottage Cheese!! Finally

Cottage cheese - yeah, I'm generally not a fan, but it's hard to pass up the low fat, high protein and extra calcium.  This morning I finally tried the "protein pancakes" I've been reading about on the P90X forums.  Well, lemme tell ya, they ROCK!  They look just like pancakes too so the kiddos dove right in without question - who doesn't LOVE when that happens.  Anyway, here is how I made them today.

1 cup regular oats
1 cup egg whites (from the carton)
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 tsp baking powder

Drop the ingredients in the blender and blend until it looks like pancake batter.  And guess what?!  It is pancake batter!  Use just like regular pancake batter (although I found they take just a bit longer to cook).  Makes about a dozen decent sized cakes.  When done add a bit of maple syrup - or not.

Some other great variations:
cinnamon & vanilla
macadamia nuts & coconut
vanilla & mashed banana
diced apple
spinach & tomatoes
grated carrot
blueberries
any diced fruit
top with unsweetened applesauce
use to make a pb&j
the list could go on and on...

I'm so happy to find I enjoy these (and the kids ate them too!).  Pancakes with butter & syrup were a morning staple around here until I started this healthy lifestyle makeover.  I was missing my flapjacks!

Would love to hear if anybody else has tried these yet.  I'm seeing us eating these a few times a week.

6/21 - adding nutritional info:
(Calculated for three ¼ cup pancakes with ¼ cup strawberries)


Calories: 254.5
Total Fat: 3.3 g
Saturated Fat: 0.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat: 1.0 g
Cholesterol: 2.3 mg
Sodium: 280.0 mg
Potassium: 297.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 33.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.3 g
Sugars: 2.5 g
Protein: 21.3 g