Healthy Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Okay, so as you know I’ve been on this healthy kick lately, and intermingled with that, I have found myself experimenting with substitutions. This idea was first generated as I was reading through the recipes listed in the back of the health book I finished reading. As I was looking at the different recipes a lot of them were classic entrees with a slight twist, a few changes in ingredients and you can take something that was decidedly unhealthy and actually make it good for you! What a novel concept, right? So I opened up my classic recipe book and thought it would be nice if I could make pancakes for my darling husband, especially since I had a banana in the cupboard that had seen its day for regular consumption. Well, one look at the ingredients list and I knew a few alterations would have to be made!-

Here’s the original Pancake recipe:

1c all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 beaten egg

1c milk

2 Tbsp cooking oil

Here I would like to mention that after much research, all-purpose flour has been officially banned from my kitchen, so an obvious change would be made there! I do not drink cow’s milk (if I can help it), I prefer Almond Milk instead and it bakes the same as cow’s milk! My husband, however, will only use cow’s milk in his cereal or to drink but in baking he can’t tell the difference. Almond milk although lacking in protein, has none of the fat or calories as cow’s milk, but still has all the nutrients. The missing protein is okay because I will add it to my pancakes another way. There’s also the matter of the beaten egg, here I substituted ¼ c egg whites, you still get all of the protein but none of the fat or cholesterol. As I replaced all-purpose for wheat flour I also replaced granulated sugar for brown sugar. For this recipe I decided to let the oil remain, it’s a small enough reasonable quantity.

So far I’ve just had some basic substitutions, but here’s the fun part: In addition to substituting wheat flour, I also took ¼ c of the wheat flour and switched it to vital wheat gluten flour, which is packed with protein instead of carbohydrates. Then, I added 2 Tbsp of ground flaxseed to pack in some Omega-3.

Thus, My Healthy Banana Pancakes:

¾c whole wheat flour

¼c vital wheat gluten flour

2 Tbsp ground flaxseed

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ c egg whites

1c unsweetened Almond milk

2 Tbsp cooking oil

1 med softened banana

0-¼ c unsweetened Almond milk- add until batter thins to manageable consistency

I did find that my batter was a little thick, so I added up to ¼ c additional Almond milk to thin it out a bit.

I wish I had a good nutrient calculator tool so I can actually write out the nutritional impact that was made here, but alas, I do not. Therefore, you’ll have to take my word for it- they are much healthier! J And don’t they look yummy!?

This is the first of many postings to come of my new mini-series of Healthy Recipe substitutions! Give it a try & let me know what you think!