Hello friends! I hope you’re been having a spectacular week. I’ve finally been getting out and about to enjoy some sunshine and do some pondering. I find I do my best thinking when I’m out in the woods without any distractions around and that’s exactly where I came up with the concept for this recipe. It’s inspired by the Banana Pancake recipe by Ashley over at Wheat Clean, but I’ve added my own little spin to it.

Most of my family probably know that I’ve been on a real pancake kick lately what with all the pictures I keep texting them, but since I don’t typically eat any grains or dairy it can be pretty hard to find one that satisfies the craving. I also don’t like eating a ton of carbs for breakfast (or lunch or dinner), so I wanted to come up with a recipe that covered all your protein needs, gave a good dose of antioxidants, and froze well for convenience. And let me tell you, these bad boys check every box! I froze a batch to see how they would hold up after defrosting and they came out delicious. I didn’t even reheat them, just ate ‘em cold and they were still great as a grab and go snack. So if you’re someone who has pretty hectic mornings whip up a double batch on Sunday to make enough to have a couple on hand for breakfast all week!

Alrighty, lets get to the good stuff and see what these pancakes are packin’!

Some of our delicious ingredients! I was experimenting with whey protein this week and turns out, not for me. But if you can handle dairy then it tastes great in the pancakes!

Pumpkin

Pumpkins, and other members of the winter squash family, are a fantastic source of beta and alpha carotenes, lutein, zeaxanthin, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body, while the rest of these nutrients act as awesome antioxidants in our bodies, protecting us from free radical damage and keeping us looking young and fresh. Though pumpkin does contain a fair amount of carbohydrates, the specific type of polysaccharides can be incredibly beneficial for us, containing antioxidants and having insulin-regulating properties. Check out the details from World’s Healthiest Foods

These polysaccharides include pectins—specially structured polysaccharides that in winter squash often include special chains of D-galacturonic acid called homogalacturonan. An increasing number of animal studies now show that these starch-related components in winter squash have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, as well as anti-diabetic and insulin-regulating properties.

Eggs

Eggs may be one of the most versatile and health-promoting foods you can keep in your pantry, so long as you’re not sensitive to the protein in the whites. Even then you can still take advantage of all the sweet nutrients available in the yolks but separating them and adding them to your smoothies, making them into custards, or turning into sauces. Eggs are a fantastic source of highly absorbable protein, which will help us start our days with balanced blood sugar preventing the dreaded afternoon crash and burn. Eggs are also an excellent source of choline, a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is an important player in the proper functioning of our autonomic nervous system (ANS), somatic nervous system, peripheral nervous system (PNS), and central nervous system (CNS). We need all these systems functioning optimally to ensure proper motor function, digestion, stress responses, and arousal. So eat your eggs to ensure excellent sexy times! 😉

 Cinnamon

Any of my regular readers are likely quite familiar with cinnamon and its role in blood sugar balance and cellular insulin sensitivity (my god that’s a dull sounding sentence…), but did you also know that it is chock full of nutrients that can help keep your blood flowing smooth as silk? Cinnamon contains an active component called cinnaldehyde, which prevents platelet membranes from releasing arachidonic acid (a fatty acid that plays a role in the inflammatory response in the body) thereby reducing the formation of an inflammatory messaging molecule called thromboxane.  

 Coconut Milk

Coconut in all its forms contains tons of beneficial fatty acids, specifically medium chain triglycerides, which help us burn our body fat and capryllic and lauric acid, two fatty acids that have excellent antimicrobial and antifungal actions in the body. By their powers combined we will be lean, mean fat burning and totally bacterially in-balance machines! (Awkward, but I’m going to roll with it)

Turmeric

I’ve added this spice just because it’s such a great antioxidant and liver-supporting nutrient that I figured, why not? It doesn’t really have a strong flavour unless you use too much in your recipe at which point it begins to taste like dirt. Adding a teaspoon or so to most recipes won’t typically affect the flavour but can have excellent health benefits in terms of helping decrease inflammation in our bodies thanks to curcumin and increasing Phase 1 liver detoxification to keep us purring along like kittens.

Ingredients

If you look closely you can see the bubbles starting to form, meaning it’s about time to flip!

• 2 eggs, separated yolk from white
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp. arrowroot starch
• ¼ cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. allspice
• ½ tsp. ginger
• ¼ tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1.5 tbsp. honey or maple syrup—if your protein powder is unsweetened
• ½ scoop protein powder of choice (I like Vegessentials)
• ½ tsp. sea salt
• 3 tbsp. butter or coconut oil

Optional

• 1 scoop greens powder of choice
• 1 tbsp. maca powder
• 1 tsp. Ashwagandha
• 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger for an extra kick!

Directions

1. Get two bowls, preferably glass, but metal will do, and separate the egg yolks from the whites, placing the whites in the glass bowl. To separate the eggs break in half and pour yolk into your hand, letting the whites run off into the bowl. You can also pour the yolk back and forth between the shells until the white is completely separated. See these videos. Place the yolks in the second bowl. *See Below
2. Add pumpkin, arrowroot starch, coconut milk, spices, protein powder, greens, maca, and Ashwagandha to the bowl with the yolks. Set aside.
3. Using a handheld mixer, whip the egg whites until they’re firm and form stiff peaks. This means when you pull the beaters out of the mix, the whites stand up straight and tall without falling over.
4. Once whites are firm, use handheld mixer to combine other bowl of ingredients until smooth and luscious.
5. When finished blending ingredients, slowly and gently fold into the egg white mixture until fully combined.
6. Heat a frying pan over medium heat (4-5) and add ½ tbsp. of butter or coconut oil.
7. Once heated use ¼ cup measure to spoon out pancakes.
8. Let cook until they start bubble, approx. 4-5 minutes.
9. Flip over and cook another 4 minutes.

10. Remove from pan and serve! You may wish to top them with walnuts, maple syrup (only the real stuff!!!), pecans, coconut milk whipped cream, or simply coconut oil or butter.

Makes 9 pancakes 🙂

*Sometimes I’m lazy and I leave this step out. In that case just combine eggs with all other ingredients and add 2 tsp. baking soda. The pancakes won’t be quite as fluffy, but they’ll still be delicious and jam-packed full of nutrients!

So that’s all for today friends! I hope you enjoy eating these pancakes as much as I’ve enjoyed developing them (and eating all the sweet sweet test batches!). Have a wonderfully whimsical day!

Cheers,

Cait