This morning it’s dark, rainy, generally miserable and wet: yes, winter’s finally here. For me, this means making sure I don’t dive head first into sweet custards, tarts and cakes. I don’t do well in the cold, and my cravings for comfort foods go through the roof. I particularly crave pancakes, a left over from my dad making pancakes for us when we were little and surrounded by the snows of Europe. Of course, I can’t have my dad’s pancakes right this moment for various reasons; firstly because he’s not even in the same country as me at the moment, and secondly because of the flour.
Sometimes the things I can’t have get depressing and I go through a longwinded conversation with myself about why I’m putting myself through this and whether or not it’s okay to have just one more cheat day this week. 9 times out of 10 my common sense wins out: I want to lose this weight so I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and find alternatives. Luckily for me, there’s a variety of ways to make LC pancakes – none of them come close to the actual thing, in my opinion anyway, but they fulfil my needs adequately enough for it not to be a complete disaster.
My particularly favourite thing to do is to make Peanut-butter & Cream Cheese Pancakes. Yes, they’re as insane as they sound. The basic recipe goes like this:
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons of cream cheese – I like Philadelphia, but use whatever you feel like.
1 tablespoon of good peanut-butter – and by ‘good’ I mean the lowest carb count you can find.
Throw together in a blender and mix until light and fluffy. Have a hot fryingpan with melted butter ready. Pour in mixture in thin layer(s). Seal both sides and voila! LC pancake.
I usually just have one, mainly because the peanut-butter is a little higher in carbs than I’m allowing at the moment, and because they’re incredibly filling. I also prefer them plain so the PB can shine through, but if you leave it out you can have it with other LC things – you could go bacon, for example, or, if your carb limit will allow it, a tiny bit of thinly sliced apple in the mix as you cook it.
The other comforting thing I can make to fix my pancake craving is a really quick pan-quiche, for lack of a better name. It’s kind of like a fluffy omelette I guess.
2 eggs
Fillings – I usually pick spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes in the right amounts
1 cup Ricotta or 2 tablespoons cream cheese
Put your eggs and cheese into a blender with the spinach. Blend until mostly smooth pour into a hot frying pan and top with your other fillings. Pop a lid on once the base is set and let it go. It should rise up and become firmish. If you’re stuck, put the whole thing into the oven or under the grill.
The great thing about quiches is that you can make them in varying sizes, fill them with just about anything, and they make great party food.
The important thing is to make sure you don’t get bored with what you’re eating, so mix it up, try something new, do something you’ve never thought of trying before! If you get bored, hop online and search the wealth of recipes that are out there – some of which I’ll share on here – but there really is a lot of LC stuff out there and it’s just waiting for you to give it a shot, who knows, you might find something awesome!
Do you have any favourite recipes? Please feel free to share! I’m always looking out for new things!
Clear Skies,
Vee
Have a look at this blog for more inspiration!
Vee's Odyssey: A Low Carb Lifestyle 