A Favorite Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes!

After a diabetes diagnosis, breakfast can become a frustrating affair. Following the Atkins plan? Plan on giving up your cereal, toast, muffins, most fruits, and even your coffee. Following a low-fat plan? Well, again, plan on giving up most breakfast fare. After my diagnosis, I insisted on a very low-fat meal plan, one which had 20% calories or less per day from fat. So breakfast was often dry toast or bland cereal. BORING. How many times can you eat the same puffed rice cereal before you want to scream?

So, one February, I forget when, I got a copy of Diabetes Forecast in the mail with a recipe in it for silver dollar pancakes with apples and raisins on top. Chocolate Chip pancakes.  I decided to make them and was completely enchanted. The taste was wonderful and the smell couldn't be beat! It's become one of my favorites and as I made it today, I decided I had to share. It's not fair to keep this wonderful breakfast alternative to myself!

Pancake Ingredients:

1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar (no artificial sweeteners)
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 egg white
1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Sift the white flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in mixing bowl. Add oil, egg white, and milk and whisk until blended. Carefully fold in the mini chocolate chips, stirring until mixed thoroughly.

Heat a nonstick griddle or skillet over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles on it. Drop pancakes on skillet, 1 tablespoon full for each pancake. Pancakes are ready for flipping when they look like this:

Cook on each side.

For the apples, simply cut up the apples -- for a single serving, use a 3 1/2 oz - 4 oz apple, like you would normally eat. Place apples in small pot, add a small amount of water -- just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. If you want, add a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg, or any of your favorite spices. I also add a drop or two of vanilla, which I find enhances the flavor of the apples. Cook on medium high heat, allowing the water to boil, though taking care to not allow all the water to completely boil off and the apples to burn.

Slide pancakes onto plate, pour apples over top, serve with your favorite breakfast meat!

I love good coffees to go with this breakfast -- ones that are aromatic and flavorful. It's a colorful and low-fat breakfast that is easy and fast to make, healthier than the boxed pancake mixes, and of course, it's chocolate chip pancakes! It's a great change of pace and especially good on a weekend.

Till next time!