Edible Things: Clean Eating Pumpkin Pancakes.

So - This last week, I decided to go all in on the clean-eating trend. I have a book that a dear friend gave me a couple years ago by Tosca Reno entitled, "The Clean-Eating Diet Recharged," and I have picked through it in the past, but never felt like I had the energy to do it full force (and you really can't half-ass this. It's not called "Kinda-Clean-Eating" for a reason). I bought the groupon for the clean-eating e-meals recipes and have been making super yummy and filling meals all week that include (to name a few) chicken parmesan, sage and pear pork chops with collard greens (I wasn't raised eating pork, y'all... This one was a surprise to me. DELISH), and today, I am making a stout beer pot roast with roasted veggies and brown rice. I am excited. AND I feel great. 

This morning, I awoke with a pumpkin pancake craving like no other. If you know me, this is a bit unusual because I don't tend to gravitate toward pancakes. Anywho, I think the craving consisted mainly of the need for pumpkin and dark chocolate. I went online and found a good basic, 4-ingredient clean eating pancake recipe (that also happens to be gluten-free) and tweaked it a bit. Check out Broke and Bougie's original post HERE.

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites 
• 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats 
• 1 banana
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
• 1 dash of pumpkin spice 
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 

(bold = my modifications)

Blend all the ingredients, minus the chips. Add the chips after blending. Use a coconut oil cooking spray on a hot skillet and make each pancake using 1/4 of the batter (In case you are math deficient like me, that makes 4 pancakes). Top with some maple syrup. Roger dodger, over and out.

Ive made gluten-free blender muffins before and was surprised at how delicious and perfect they were. I've also made the pumpkin/chocolate version of that muffin and loved it. That being said, I don't know why, but I was super nervous about adding the pumpkin into this recipe with the banana. Don't be dumb like me; it was perfect. Keep in mind, these are not your grandma's fluffy, light pancakes - these puppies are dense, but by golly, they are tasty. I only had one and was G O O D  T O  G O. Also, it paired rather nicely with my cinnamon-almond milk-coconut oil coffee. 

I like. You like? Tell me about your journey with clean eating.