Banana Protein Pancakes

An ongoing battle with me and my diet is ensuring I get enough protein.

This might be a common issues among vegetarians and vegans, but my naturopath has advised me to go for a balance of 150g or so of carbs per day with 55-65g protein and up to 50g of healthy fats. I am under on both fats and protein fairly consistently.

Luckily, I’m not TOO low on protein (often falling around 50g), but one surefire way to power up my day is to start my day off with a good dose of protein.

On my naturopath’s recommendation, I have started stirring half a scoop of protein powder into my morning oatmeal. And my favourite part about this protein need is incorporating these beauties into my diet as often as possible!

Healthy, high-protein vegan banana protein pancakes.

This recipe provides two large pancakes per breakfast serving. I top mine with applesauce for some sweetness and a nice complement to the banana. Or of course, you can use maple syrup, lemon juice or your favourite topping.

In each two-pancake serving, you get just 250 calories, 5.5g fat (and this includes the oil they’re fried in!) and 14.5g protein. That’s what they call a winner, folks!

I’ve realized that to reach my protein needs for the day, I really need to get around 15g at each meal. Snacks like my lemon poppyseed protein muffins definitely help, but the bulk of it has to come from meals. This breakfast more than helps out!

Anna’s Banana Protein Pancakes

INGREDIENTS (serves 2 – making 4 pancakes):

1 banana, very ripe
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/16 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp flour (any kind, I use spelt or wholewheat)
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 scoop vanilla or unflavoured protein powder (mine provides 24g of protein per scoop)
1 tsp oil (for frying)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add banana, almond milk and vanilla to a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Mix dry ingredients (spices, salt, baking powder, flours and protein powder) in a mixing bowl.

3. Pour blended wet ingredients into dry and mix with a spatula.

4. Heat oil on a griddle and drop batter onto griddle. I use two heaped spoonfuls per pancake.

5. Fry until golden on one side and flip. Cook on other side; serve! Enjoy!

NOTE: I double this recipe and make 4 servings. I wrap two pancakes in parchment paper and put them in a sandwich bag. I then freeze three sandwich bags’ worth and just microwave them for breakfast the next day. They taste just as good warmed up this way and it saves you major time!

(As you can see, I like my pancakes pretty well cooked and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside ;)).

Nutritional information per serving of 2 pancakes (if recipe serves 2):

QUESTIONS:

• If you are a vegetarian or vegan, do you struggle to get enough protein in your diet?
• What’s your favourite breakfast? Pancakes, oats, cereal…?