Healthy Valentine Pancakes

   I shared a Greek yogurt pancake recipe on the blog recently for a good, healthy pancake day, but I had a bit of a play around with the recipe last weekend to try something else. I get paranoid about carbs from time to time, which is silly because I exercise so much I can't afford to go too low-carb, but regardless I decided to put together a high-protein, low-carb pancake recipe by swapping out just one ingredient. But I was also in a really good mood, so I made them into hearts, and so a clean Valentine breakfast was born.

High-protein Valentine pancakes

Serves 1; makes 4-5 small pancakes

235cals; 30g protein; 8g carbs

Ingredients:

80g Greek yogurt (I use FAGE Total 0%)

1 medium egg

1/4 cup strawberry protein powder (I use PhD Woman Exercise Support)

2 teaspoons baobab powder (I use Aduna)

1 tsp baking powder

   Mix the yogurt and egg together, then mix in the protein, baobab and baking powder. Spoon into a greased pan (I used coconut oil; it didn't leave even a little coconutty taste) and use the back of the spoon to shape into a heart (it may help to take the pan off of the heat to do this for each pancake). If the mixture seems too thick, add a little water to the mixture in the bowl. Cook on one side until little holes or bubbles start to form on top, then flip it over and cook for half the time on the other side.
   No need for sugar, syrups or anything else!

   As you can see if you compare this recipe to the previous one, the ingredient I got rid of was the flour, and ingredient I added in its place was the protein powder.

   I use Aduna because it's the most ethical brand of baobab that I've tried, and the packaging and customer support is brilliant. I used PhD Woman Exercise Support because it's the protein I add in my porridge, along with the baobab, so I also already had that on hand - it is expensive as a tub, but you can buy individual sachets of it in places like Holland & Barrett and Boots. I buy the tubs because I use it every day. And I use FAGE Total 0% because it's the best and cleanest brand of Greek yogurt and is high in protein. It's fat-free, and that's not something I usually go for because, despite the use of the word 'fat', it is necessary in a healthy diet. But in this case, I do opt for fat-free.

   All of this creates a clean and delicious pancake recipe, and, as shown above, this recipe serves 1 person, so it's easy to increase it. 80g is typically half a pot of the Greek yogurt (I always buy the smallest, 170g pot), so you don't need to buy anything extra to increase the recipe to serve 2!

   Oh, and adding a sprinkling of mini marshmallows to it like I did on my birthday pancakes gives it a prettier and sweeter touch, and you can remain confident that the only sugar in the breakfast will come from the marshmallows themselves!

   I'm going to make these again for Valentine's day! And I hope you do, too! It's a good clean start before those chocolates arrive from your secret admirer - assuming your secret admirer was brave enough to do it. If there are no little declarations of love from a mysterious individual come Sunday, odds are he was just too nervous to do it.