Banana Chocolate Chip Protein Pancakes

I absolutely love finding recipes of some of my favorite foods and turning them healthy, or at the very least semi healthy food.  So what better food to do that with than good ole pancakes!  I love pancakes but I hate the sugar high and sluggish demeanor that follows when I eat them.  So I set out to find a better alternative to one of my favorite things and I came across this amazing blog and ultimately found my new protein pancake recipe!  I did modify the recipe a bit so I will list those below as well.

Banana Chocolate Chip Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 small banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese  (you can use yogurt in its place)
• 2 egg whites (or 1 whole egg)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place oats in blender or food processor and blend them until they are a gritty flour type mixture.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well.
3. If mixture is too thick add a bit of milk or water so that it is a medium to runny gruel mixture.
4. Heat griddle on stovetop and use nonstick spray or butter on griddle.  
5. Spoon pancake mixture onto griddle into medium size pancakes.
6. Throw a few chocolate chips onto your pancakes (5 per pancake is plenty!)
7. Flip when surface is starting to bubble.

A Few Side Notes:

• I also tried using a flavored yogurt the other day cause it was all we had on hand (happened to be strawberry) and it was delicious!
• This is a much more dense pancake but still takes care of the craving, fills you up, and there is no sugar high afterwards.  Bonus- because they are much more dense and moist than a regular pancake, you can use very little syrup and cut down your calories and sugar intake as well.  It simply doesn't need all the syrup the fluffier pancakes just continue to soak up!

My guaranteed way to know if a modified healthy recipe is a winner or not is if I get the chef's approval and he did indeed enjoy these and so did our little Sous Chef.....

Do you have a favorite dish that you've found a way to enjoy and still be healthy?  I'd love to hear what it is! 

Bon Appetit! 

Bridget