Healthier Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I'm not delusional enough to tell you that chocolate chip pancakes are healthy, but I can give you are recipe that cuts down the fat and calories! Once in awhile, these pancakes are a nice alternative to my usual bowl of whole grain/high fiber cereal.

Doesn't that look delicious?!

1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1/2 c low-fat buttermilk
1/2 c whole-grain oat flour (I used unbleached all-purpose, which eliminates any fiber, but it's all I had!)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbs mini chocolate chips
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Whisk egg white, buttermilk, flour, baking soda, vanilla, and salt in a small mixing bowl. Stir in 1.5 tbs water until well incorporated. Then stir in the chocolate chips and let stand for 10 min.
3. Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When a spritz of water causes the skilled to sizzle, working in batches and respraying between each batch, mist the skillet with spray and pour ¼ c of batter per pancake onto the skillet.
4. Cook until there are bubbles on the top and bottom is golden brown, about 2 min. Flip each pancake and cook until lightly golden brown on the bottom, about another 2 min.
5. Transfer the finished pancakes to an ovenproof plate, cover with foil and keep them warm in the oven until they are all cooked. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 pancakes, which was perfect for my daughter and me.  You can easily double or even triple the recipe if you need to.  Each pancake has 105 calories, 4 g protein, 16 g carb, 3 g fat, 1 g sat fat (assuming you use the whole-grain oat flour).  Go by your gut, if you are satisfied with one pancake, don't eat two!  I served two of these with a side of fruit and a glass of milk (I've switched to skim), and that amount was perfect for me.  I think my daughter could have eaten all four though...

Today I'm going to share just a few tricks I've learned on how to use less and get the same taste, just like we did when using the mini chocolate chips rather than regular sized chips in these pancakes.  

1. Finely shredded reduced-fat cheese

Look for that word "finely."  When you use finely shredded vs. regular shredded you can cover a much larger portion with less cheese.  Looks matter when it comes to food.  Create the appearance of using much more cheese than you really have.  You'll still get cheese in every bite, and use much less.

2. Brushing or spraying on oil

Instead of frying with oil, lightly brush the foods or spray the foods with oil (there are actually spray bottles designed for this, so don't think I'm talking about Pam here).  It will still make your food moist and give it that richer flavor, but it's a lot healthier.  I always brush on a light layer of olive oil when I bake plain chicken breasts, or oven fries.

3. Half oil and half applesauce

Some of you may have heard that you can replace oil with applesauce, specifically when baking.  I find that sometimes that really takes a certain quality out of things, not as moist, different texture.  However, many times I have done half oil and half applesauce and that really seems to improve things.  Not only do you get the fat-reducing quality of the applesauce, but you still keep close to the same texture in your baked goods.

4. Egg whites

You can use egg whites to replace a full egg in a lot of different things, but I'm just going to give the example where I use it the most.  To me, replacing egg yolks works the best when you are just eating eggs: scrambled, egg salad, omelets, etc.  If I make an egg salad, I use some sort of light dressing and 2 whites for every 1 yolk.  I use that same ratio for other cooked eggs, and it works really well for me.  I actually prefer the taste of egg whites anyway, but you do get a lot of nutrients from the yolk, even though it has all the fat, so don't completely eliminate it from your diet.

Eating right can be very hard when you first get going.  I was quite addicted to high-fat/high-sugar foods.  It was extremely difficult to start eating right because I craved those foods all the time.  They have addictive qualities.  Once you get them out of your system you won't crave them so much.  Now it is much easier for me to eat healthy than it was 6 months ago.  I didn't get more willpower, I just got all the crap out of my body.  

I wish I would have known then that you can ween yourself off, and this is a great way to do it!  You don't have to cut out all the foods you love.  Start by making small changes in the foods you already eat, and soon fat and sugar won't have such a hold on you.  You'll be able to eat highly nutritional foods most of the time, and have the willpower to treat yourself on occasion.