We love a good pancake! Our Mom used to make her homemade pancakes every Sunday morning, and they were so satisfying and delicious and they always remind us of some of our favorite times (the weekend!). We have to admit though (sorry Mom, we do love your cooking! 🙂 ) that as much as we were crazy about our Mom’s pancakes, they were super dense and sat in our stomach, leaving us sluggish for hours as the blood stayed in our stomach for digestion and left our brains and muscles without much blood or oxygen, so we felt exhausted.
These days we still love a good pancake, but we also want to feel light and energetic and have energy to fuel our workouts and our day without breaking the calorie bank. So we’re always creating recipes, like these Cinnamon Protein Pancakes and our 3 Ingredient Weight Loss Pancakes — one of our personal faves because they are just so easy to make for a yummy pancake, Choconilla Oats and Quinoa Swirl or our Overnight Berry Parfait that are a good mix of protein and carbohydrates to fuel our workouts and keep us satisfied and on track all day long so we won’t feel the need to give in to every craving or food whim that hits us.
This is one of our favorite things that we teach our clients to do, too when it comes to choosing a healthy, weight loss breakfast because we LOVE watching them loving what they eat and seeing the awesome results! Here are our top breakfast tips for a long-lasting, satisfying energy boost (Please share this link https://nutritiontwins.com/cinnamon-protein-pancakes/ with a friend if you think she’d like these tips):
•The breakfast needs to include:
• Protein (like a hardboiled egg or Greek yogurt) for staying power to keep you feeling satisfied and keep your blood sugar stable, (ideally 15 grams or 20, less than this and you’ll be hungry too soon) combined with:
• High-fiber carbohydrates to fuel your brain and your muscles. By choosing fiber-rich carbohydrates like fruit, oatmeal or quinoa, you’ll prevent energy highs and subsequent crashes that not only bring on exhaustion but also create sugar cravings as the brain looks for the quickest pick-me-up it can find—Sugar! (You don’t need loads of carbs—a half cup of cooked cereal usually does the trick!)
• And…don’t just stop at breakfast—use our weight loss, long-lasting energy guidelines (above) for all of your meals and snacks (just in smaller portions) to keep you feeling satisfied and prevent hunger, overeating and cravings.
Enjoy these cinnamon protein pancakes and prevent snacking later!
Cinnamon Protein Pancakes:
Start off your day right with protein with these pancakes! Most people get carried away with yummy pancakes and overdo it on carbs and forget they need some satiating protein. No more! — These pancakes are a perfect way to leave you feeling satiated all morning long. With 9 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber per pancake, you can’t go wrong with this breakfast!
Ingredients
½ cup quinoa flour
½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 ½ scoops vanilla flavored protein powder (like Garden of Eatin’ Raw Organic Protein or Tera’s Whey)
½ cup sugar free maple syrup, optional (we suggest finding one with stevia rather than artificial sweetener)
Directions
1. Preheat a large skillet to about 375 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the quinoa flour, yogurt, almond milk, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and protein powder.
3. Lightly spray the skillet. Pour the pancake mixture in skillet making each pancake about 5 inches in diameter.
4. Lightly sprinkle cinnamon on top. Enjoy!
Yield: 8 pancakes
*Freeze the extra pancakes to use for your breakfast meals throughout the week!
Nutritional Information Per Pancake (without syrup):
We suggest eating two pancakes with some berries or fruit and test how you feel to see if the serving is right for you:
Calories: 85
Carbohydrates: 8 grams
Fat: 1.6 grams
Protein: 9 grams
Cholesterol: 40 milligrams
Sodium: 40 milligrams
Sugars: 2 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
- ½ cup quinoa flour
- ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ scoops vanilla flavored whey protein powder
- ½ cup sugar free maple syrup, optional (we suggest finding one with stevia rather than artificial sweetener)
- Preheat a large skillet to about 375 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together the quinoa flour, yogurt, almond milk, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and protein powder.
- Lightly spray the skillet. Pour the pancake mixture in skillet making each pancake about 5 inches in diameter.
- Lightly sprinkle cinnamon on top. Enjoy!