The Offset Spatula

Who said pancakes were just breakfast food? And who said pancakes can’t be made without sugar, butter and flour? Well, here to bust those myths is my own version of a sugar-free, gluten-free, protein-licious recipe.

The ‘Eat No Evil’ Pancake

Time: 20min | Makes 6 regular pancakes

Ingredients:

1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp whole milk
1/2 cup unsalted low-fat cottage cheese
1 scoop vanilla-flavored whey protein powder
Optional extras: Any flavoring you want other than vanilla
E.g Cocoa, Orange extract, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pumpkin Spice

Directions:

1. Spray some non-stick spray on a heated griddle or skillet.
2. While the heat turns up, blend/beat  all ingredients together to form a smooth  batter.
3. Using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake, cook until bubbly and a little dry around the edges.  (This is the perfect point at which to add some fresh fruit chocolate chips if you so desire)
4. Turn and brown the other side (this side browns quicker)

Being the sugar-fiend I am, I couldn’t not help but make a syrup to accompany my pancakes.

Blueberries in Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen blueberries
2 tbsp Agave nectar

Directions:

1. In a heated skillet, throw in the blueberries and the agave nectar and swoosh them around a bit (around 2-3 mins till they berries become soft).
2. The water from the now-thawing blueberries will mix with the agave nectar to make a nice syrup that will coat the berries with enough to soak the pancakes.

And voila! My ‘Eat No Evil’ Pancakes topped with Blueberries in Syrup- sugar-free, gluten-free and deeeelish!

After a long hiatus, I’ve decided to come back with a super-healthy, super-duper-easy dessert that you can whip up in just about 5mins!

I saw this post from Oven Haven on my twitter feed a couple of days ago and I was determined to do something about it this weekend.

There were a few challenges to work through though: the recipe called for both flour and sugar. I am currently trying to cut out all sugar from my diet and Raj is in the process of leaning out: which basically means he’s banned sugar and grains from his diet.

As I wondered how to adapt the recipe to make it gluten-free and sugar-free, I clicked through to Almost Bourdain‘s post on the same cake. This was an improvement (as the recipe called for gluten free flour) but still not acceptable . And I REALLY wanted my dessert!

To make things more difficult, I promised that the dessert would also be rich in protein! What was I thinking!

So on a limb, I just decided to do throw the following ingredients together and see what it resulted in.

5min Chocolate (Tea)cupcake

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk (I used whole milk)
1 whole egg
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 scoop chocolate-flavored whey protein

Directions:

1. Melt butter in the microwave or double boiler
2. When melted, add the milk, egg and vanilla extract to it.
3. Beat the mixture till everything is blended uniformly.
4. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat together till you get a lovely uniform batter.
6. Pour the batter into a microwave-able teacup and microwave on high for about a minute.
7. Keep an eye on the microwave as the batter will rise up pretty darn fast.
8. Garnish as you like (or not)

I dusted some Stevia extract on top but would have loved to whip up some cream to plop on top with a sprig of mint. Ah well.

Anyways, whipped cream or not, Raj and I got to finish a delicious, nutritious dinner on a super-healthy, sweet note. Win all the way.

The final result