Tasty Snack Tuesday - Oatmeal Pancakes

Yes, pancakes.  Delicious pancakes.

But, pancakes that have almost no sugar, are packed with protein, and yet still taste great!  And I will not give you the side-eye if you decide to make these and toss in a few chocolate chips (which I would love to do after my chocolate fast).

I of course found these pancakes on trusty Pinterest.  They belong to a collection of Biggest Loser recipes, which I would usually pass right over due to certain brand endorsements of theirs that I don't care for, but after taking a look at the specs of this recipe, I thought it was worth it to give them a try.  And I am so glad I did!

As you can see in the picture, I added peanut butter and strawberries to mine.  I LOVE peanut butter sandwiches, and they taste unbelievably phenomenal when you put fresh strawberries on them instead of the jam of your choice.  So, I really wanted a PB and strawberry sandwich today, but wanted a non-sandwich.  That makes sense, right?  Of course it does.  Anyway, check out the recipe and then I'll give you a few more details about it:

Biggest Loser Oatmeal Pancakes

3 egg whites
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 teaspoon sugar
cinnamon (the recipe says 1 teaspoon, you know me, I just dumped some in)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients and stir with a fork until everything is nicely combined.  Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to drop batter onto a griddle or skillet that has been heated to medium.  When the pancakes are nicely bubbling, flip them over and cook a couple of more minutes, until they're golden brown.  The recipe above yielded 6 pancakes for me.  Enjoy with your choice of topping!

I know what some of you may be thinking - cottage cheese?!   That was my thought too, and I love cottage cheese.  I can assure you, these pancakes do not taste like cottage cheese.  If you're afraid of the texture, you could always blend the cottage cheese with an immersion blender or put it in your food processor for a few pulses to make it completely smooth.  However, I didn't notice any lumps of cottage cheese.  I think the oatmeal really takes over for that.

If you make these, you can eat 3 pancakes, and save the other 3 for a snack, or have the whole stack for a super healthy hearty meal.  3 pancakes (if you use 1% cottage cheese) will give you 150 calories, 19 carbs, 2 grams of fat, and a whopping 14 grams of protein.  And these aren't baby-sized pancakes!  I nibbled on one and then used 2 more for my "sandwich" pieces with the peanut butter and a few strawberries, and that made for a great lunch.  Also, I put the teaspoon of sugar in the recipe, but honestly, its so little that I don't feel like it was even necessary.  I would probably just add more cinnamon and an extra splash of vanilla when I make these again, which I will definitely be doing!

I hope you are having a great week so far!  Stay tuned for a great workout post later this week... I'll give you a little tidbit... it contains burpees.  A lot of burpees.  So the bad news is it will kick your booty, but the good news is it will kick your booty!

Recipe adapted from Biggest Loser Recipes