Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Are you getting sick of things pumpkin yet?? Are you tired of pancakes yet?? Well, I am not!! I don't think I will ever get tired of pancakes and pumpkin.  I did decide to switch it up a bit this week and try some chocolate pumpkin pancakes.  With an extra boost of protein of course.

Now that is a big stack of pancakes! 8 total in case you weren't sure.  And like always, these were all for me.  That is a huge serving for under 300 calories.  I swear these are way better than any boxed pancake mix too.  I feel like the boxed mixes don't have much flavor...kinda boring.  These are certainly not boring! Pumpkin, chocolate, and cinnamon are amazing together.  I can also guarantee that mix stuff will not make pancakes as moist as these.

You really don't even need many more ingredients.  When you use the mix you still have to add oil and eggs.  Plus, these are 438,298 times better for you!

You will need canned pumpkin, egg beaters, chocolate protein powder, cinnamon, baking powder, a dash of salt, and sweetener of your choice if desired.

These are super easy too.  Everything can be mixed in one bowl with one spoon.  

Just dump all your ingredients in there and mix until smooth.  Gotta love that baby food looking batter again.

Get your pan nice and hot and use some non stick spray.  You will get 8 pancakes from this batter.  I made two batches of four.

Look for those tiny bubbles around the edges to tell you when to flip.  

Close up of my most round pancake ever!! I am getting good at flipping!

Can you see how soft and moist these are?! I topped mine with some sugar free syrup and a touch of cocoa powder just to make it look even prettier.  

In case you didn't catch it earlier, this whole stack is only 285 calories! That's only about 35 calories per pancake.  Not only that, but this breakfast is packing a whopping 44 grams of protein! Can your boxed mix do that?! Oh, and they are fat free too. That's because I used an egg white protein powder, but you can use any kind.  

Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

• 1 cup canned pumpkin (240g)
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (30g)
• 2/3 cup egg beaters (138g)
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon 
• dash salt
• sweetener if desired 

Simply mix all your ingredients together until smooth.  Cook like regular pancakes.  Eat the whole stack!! Enjoy!

285 calories for whole stack

0g Fat

44g Protein

23g Carb

Caramel Pumpkin Bars

Recently I have been experimenting with chickpeas in the kitchen.  Not so much in savory dishes, but in baking sweets! That's right, chickpea cookies and chickpea blondies.  You wouldn't think a bean would taste good in a sweet treat, but it is quite amazing! They have a really nice and smooth texture when pureed.  And when you add things like pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, peanut butter, you can't even tell there are chickpeas hiding in there! 

My husband, who is NOT the health freak like myself, even said they tasted good!!  I think he was quite surprised himself.

Enough rambeling...Let's get baking some Caramel Pumpkin Bars.  

WHEN you make these, see if someone can guess the secret healthy ingredient...I bet they won't be able to tell there is a 1/2 cup of chickpeas in there!!!

 And you will need...canned pumpkin, chickpeas (or garbanzo), egg beaters, MTS Caramel Sutra whey, cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla, and sweetener of choice.

You can absolutely use vanilla protein powder for this recipe! The MTS Caramel Sutra really is amazing though...you can order it here if you wish! Use code KH30 to save 30%

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!! 

First, drain and rinse the canned beans. You will find out that after getting rid of all the liquid, there is only a little over 2 servings of beans in the can.

Add all ingredients to blender or food processor and mix til smooth!! You may or may not need a tiny bit of water or milk to get it all blended.  I added about 1tsp of water to help it along.  

Once again...looks like baby food...at this point my husband walks in and says "Ew.." The same husband that later said they were suprisingly tasty!!

I used a small 5x7 glass baking dish.  You could use a round one, or easily double the recipe to fit a bigger dish.  I have also made these as cookies! They are best as bars in my opinion. Lightly coat with some non-stick spray and pour the batter in.  At this point you could get creative! I have added mini chocolate chips which turned out awesome! You could add any type of nut and I bet raisins would be tasty too!

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.  

And Voila!  Makes 6 nice sized bars.  The pumpkin in these makes them the perfect texture. They are amazing topped with a little cream cheese or peanut butter! Or just eat them plain.  Delicious AND healthy either way.  

Can you see that super creamy texture!? Oh gosh! Like most things I make these freeze great.  Although, at only about 45 calories a piece...they probably won't even make it to the freezer.  Who am I kidding...the whole batch is only 270 calories so I just eat them all! With more protein than most store bought protein bars, these are a great breakfast or snack!

Caramel Pumpkin Bars

• 1/2 cup chickpeas/garbanzo drained and rinsed (130g)
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (60g)
• 3 T egg beaters (46g)
• 1 scoop MTS Caramel Sutra whey (30g)
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 T cinnamon
• sweetener to taste (4-5 packets)

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.  May need to add a dash of water or milk to get it all mixed.  
2. Lightly coat dish with non stick spray and pour in batter. I used a 5x7 glass dish.
3. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 

Makes 6 bars - 45 calories each

270 calories for WHOLE batch

2g Fat

27g Carb

33g Protein

Pudding Oatmeal

I have been on a major oatmeal kick lately.  It's super healthy and a pretty quick meal.  BUT, a big old bowl of oatmeal is very boring.  Some people think of oatmeal as a yucky bowl of mush! Trust me, this oatmeal is anything but yucky! (Although it is still kinda mushy...) I have been playing around with different ways to jazz it up a bit.  My favorite so far is cheesecake oatmeal!

Old fashioned oats and sugar free fat free pudding mix is all you need!! I chose cheesecake this time! You can absolutely use any flavor of pudding here.  You can use vanilla, chocolate, white chocolate, banana cream (those are all the sugar free fat free flavors).  Of course you can also use regular pudding mix and have more options, but then you have a lot more sugar being added.

This is so quick and simple to make.  Just take 1/2 cup oats and about 2 T of the pudding mix.  You can also add some sweetener ( I add 3 splenda ) and a dash of salt.  Then add 2 cups of water.  The oatmeal container directions will say to only add 1 cup of water. We are going to let our oats sit for a while so they will absorb the extra water and expand.  This is going to give you an extra big bowl of yummy oatmeal!  Also, the pudding mix will need the extra water.  Feel free to substitute any type of milk instead of water. 

I recommend using a whisk to mix it up good because the pudding mix will clump together.  A spoon will work, just make sure you get all the clumps out.  You will also want to use a decent size bowl because your oatmeal will expand in the microwave.  Depending on the flavor of pudding you use, you could add some cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa powder, etc to the mix. Get creative! I kept it simple on this batch.

Microwave for 2 minutes.  Take it out and stir it up good.  Then microwave another 30-45 second.  Keep an eye on it!  At about 2 1/2 minutes it will start to boil and could spill over.  (I learned this the hard way) It is also nice to have a bigger bowl so you can go crazy with toppings!  

It already looks thicker.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes uncovered and then put it in the fridge.  I usually let mine sit overnight, but it really only needs a couple hours to let the pudding set.  When it is ready you can microwave it for a bit or just eat it cold.  I actually prefer it cold because of the pudding. Almost like a bread pudding texture.  Either way it is super yummy! 

This is the really fun part!! Toppings! You can get so creative here. I kept this one simple with just some sliced bananas and some sugar free syrup.

You can also do vanilla pudding mix with bananas, cinnamon, peanut butter, and whipped cream on top :)

Some other great topping could be strawberries, chocolate sauce, any nut butter, jam, dried fruit, apples, blueberries, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.  Play around with different puddings and toppings!

Pudding Oatmeal

• 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 T sugar free fat free pudding mix (any flavor)
• 2 cups water
• sweetener to taste
• dash of salt

Simply mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Microwave 2 minutes.  Stir.  Microwave another 30-45 seconds.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.  Enjoy warmed up or straight out of the fridge!   

What is your favorite oatmeal flavor?? 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am so in love with super easy AND super healthy recipes lately.  I recently posted my easiest cookie recipe ever.  I stand by the fact that it is the easiest EVER! This might be second easiest though.  Equally yummy and healthy! Get ready for some cookies!

I have been looking for new breakfast ideas lately and these are perfect.  They are so great to throw in a little bag and take with you to work or school or just to the couch while you sip coffee! Very easy to customize too.  You can make a single serving or a big batch to share.  

This is all you will need. And actually, you don't even really need the cinnamon or chocolate chips. They are super good with them though.   

Simply mix together 3/4 cup canned pumpkin and 3/4 cup quick oats.  Notice the handy dandy 1:1 ratio?! You can make more or less, just keep the amount of pumpkin and oats the same.

Mash it up good.  Feel free to get messy with your hands or stay clean with a spoon.

Here is where you can get a little crazy.  Feel free to add basically anything you want! Raisins, nuts, spices, chocolate, some protein powder... I kept it simple with some a lot of cinnamon and just a bit of chocolate... I also snuck in a few splenda packets...  

I bet white chocolate chips would be amazing!!! Making a note to try next time. 

Using these measurements you will get about 10 cookies.  Roll into balls and smash em down a bit.  

You can put them really close together on the pan because they won't rise or spread at all!

Bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes.  I only did 12 minutes because I like my cookies really soft.

And done!! They pretty much look exactly the same as they did in dough form.  Just a bit darker.  They are so soft and moist from the pumpkin.  I will make a few batches of these to freeze.  The entire batch is only 370 calories! Makes a nice breakfast to take on the go1

At only about 37 calories each (with 1 T chocolate chips) you can eat more than one all of them! No guilt!

 So that's it.  I would say second easiest cookie recipe ever! Healthy, tasty, easy, portable, customizable...what more could you want in a cookie?!

Pumpkin Cookies

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup quick oats
• 1 T mini chocolate chips
• 1 t cinnamon
• sweetener if desired

1. Mash together pumpkin and oats
2. Add any additional ingredients you want! You can even leave out the chocolate chips and cinnamon for an even easier recipe
3. Roll into balls and flatten
4. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes (use parchment paper or baking mat)
5. Enjoy!

Makes 10 small cookies

Entire batch - 370 calories
9F 66C 12P

Easiest Cookies Ever!

I know I know, there are a lot of very easy cookie recipes. I guarantee this is the easiest one out there!! All you need is two ingredients. And guess what?!? You don't even need an oven! A microwave will do just fine :) I told you...EASY!

Quick oats and a super ripe banana is all you will need. 

Simply take 1 cup oats and mix it together with your banana. Mash it up good! Hands work best for the part.

Your dough is ready to bake at this point! You can also get creative with add ins here. I chose cinnamon and raisins. 

Ok, up to four ingredients, but still! EASY! You could also add chocolate chips, crushed nuts, pumpkin pie spice, blueberries, cranberries, sweetener,  vanilla, a little peanut butter...use your imagination. Just be careful not to add too much or your cookies will fall apart. 

Form into balls and squish them down a bit. I got 7 little cookies. 

Put parchment paper down on a microwave safe plate. It would probably work without parchment but I haven't tried it. Now for the "baking". Microwave for about one minute. Watch them closely! Depending on add ins they might need a little more or less time. I did 1:20. 

And done!! Super easy and healthy cookie! Great for a breakfast on the go. They are so chewy and moist!

And yes, I ate them all! Only about 400 calories for the basic cookies. A little more depending on what else you add. 

Leaning tower of breakfast cookies!! So that's it!! Easiest cookie recipe ever :)

Easiest Cookies Ever!!

- 1 cup quick oats

- 1 very ripe banana

Mash together. Form balls and flatten. Microwave for about 1 minute. Enjoy!

Whole batch without raisins - 400 calories

6g Fat

80g Carb

11g Protein 

What's your favorite breakfast on the go??