Clean Eating Recipe: American Style Pancakes

Pancakes have to be one of my favourite breakfast foods ever. I used to love going to Frankie and Bennies (or anywhere) that served pancakes for a bit of a treat. I didn't do it often, but when I did, man it was good! So when I began eating clean I definitely prepared myself for not having pancakes for breakfast for a good long while. But that was before I opened my Clean and Lean Cookbook and saw this wonderful recipe.

I've tried to find healthy American style pancake recipes before, and they are out there but they often include buying expensive ingredients or ingredients that aren't readily available in my nearest supermarket (namely buckwheat flour). Thankfully, these pancakes are made out of three (yes, three!) cheap and simple ingredients that you could find almost anywhere!

Clean and Lean Pancakes (serves 2):

♥ 100g porridge oats

♥ 200g cottage cheese (!)

♥ 4 eggs

♥ a teaspoon of cinnamon

♥ fruit toppings of your choice (I usually go for strawberries, blueberries and a bit of maple syrup)

Method:

♥  Blend the oats, cottage cheese, eggs, cinnamon and you're ready to go.

Calorie Count (approx):

♥  Total - 774

♥  Per Serving - 387

♥ Per Pancake - 129

♥ + whatever fruit and syrup you use

And it's that simple.

Absolutely delicious! 

Also, it's worth noting that I absolutely hate cottage cheese with a fiery passion so I was dubious the first time I gave these a go but I can confirm that they really don't taste like cottage cheese. I mean I can't guarantee that if you didn't have the toppings there wouldn't be a slight taste there but with the fruit and syrup you really have no idea you're eating anything other than fluffy American pancakes. 

I also think these would be pretty easy to adapt, perhaps putting some vanilla essence in rather than cinnamon, just egg whites if you wanted to lower the calorie intake, or even some protein with the oats. I'm not someone who has ever taken a protein supplement before so I don't know how that would work exactly but I'm sure there'd be a way!

Clean Eating Recipe: Cauliflower Pizza Crust

The idea of cauliflower substitute for carbs is one that's been around for a while. As a self-confessed carb-aholic it's always been hard for me to get my head around why on earth anyone would bother.  However, conveniently I'm also self-confessed cauli-aholic, so now I'm on the clean eating wagon cauli pizza (and cauli rice) was something I had to get on board with and try.

For the crust, I used this recipe and didn't change anything at all. It was my first attempt and I definitely wasn't confident enough to mess with it. I think it turned out ok, a bit burnt around the edges, which I think was down to my rubbish rolling pin action. The recipe was good, easy to follow and tasted gooooood. Although, I think the next time I make this, I'll tone down the amount of herbs used in the base. I like herbs but in this case, they were just a little bit over powering for me.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust - The Breakdown:

♥  Level of ease: 7/10. It's not particularly hard but it is fiddly and frustrating so you need to have your patience hat on when making this! It is possible to make the crust without a food processor (I used a blender), but I believe it would be much easier and quicker with a processor. Also, when the recipe says squeeze the water out, it really means squeeze the water out. This bit was the most annoying and took the longest but is completely essential so don't skimp on it. 

♥  Time: 6/10. It probably took me about 1 hour from start to finish (that's prep, making it and cleaning up afterwards), not too bad and most likely something that could be sped up once you get used to making it.

♥  Taste: 8/10. When it comes to this point it is essential you keep an open mind. No it's not going to taste like your favourite take away pizza and sadly, the cauliflower doesn't magically take on dough like properties whilst in the oven. But what it does do is act as a marvellous conduit for pizza toppings with significantly less calories and without making you feel naughty, fat and bloated. Plus it doesn't taste like cauliflower which is a bonus for all those out there who aren't keen on the veggie. Obviously you can top with whatever you like, and next time I think we'll go for something chicken based but this time, since I was already convincing Nick to go crazy and accept cauliflower as a credible pizza base I didn't want to stray too far away from the topping comfort zone. I went for basically what we would order from a take away - pepperoni, jalapeños, onions and mushrooms (I also put some goats cheese on there as it's meant to be one of the best cheeses for you).

♥  Chances of making again: 10/10. Definitely will be making this again, but for me it's a weekend meal, I wouldn't be doing this after work!

♥  Chances of serving to people who aren't clean eaters: 7/10. Although I think most people would like this after they got over the idea of cauliflower as a pizza base, I don't know if I could be bothered convincing them!

Before the toppings went into the oven:

After:

Clean and Lean Diet - Week One

So this past week has seen me embark on the Clean and Lean, or the Bodyism 'diet' from James Duigan.

The basic premise of the diet (I hate calling it that...) is to basically cut out all processed food and the majority of sugar (the unnatural kind) and cut down on the carbs. I've had the cookbook for years but apart from making the occasional recipe from it I've never really got into it. There was always a million reasons why I didn't fully commit to clean eating before - either I thought it would be too expensive, or too difficult when Nick and I still lived at home, that it would impact negatively on my social life etc etc. The thing is that when you're looking for an excuse you'll always find one. So after coming back off holiday both Nick and myself decided to give it a proper go. Granted, we didn't start straight away - we waited to get my birthday out of the way first, but on 1st of June we started eating clean.

Side note: I've also decided to combine the clean eating with the 5:2 diet (which everyone and their dog knows about so I won't bore you). But sadly I don't think the two go hand in hand - primarily because clean eating is centred around eating non-processed food which often contain high calories  whereas the 5:2 diet relies wholly calorie counting and eating low fat foods. It has been do-able but it has taken a lot of prep and forward planning that I'm not sure I can commit too long term.

I wanted to document some of my 'journey' (ewww) on here as I actually found it quite difficult to find any reviews of the clean and lean / bodyism approach to healthy eating before starting. I have the books and there are lots of interviews with James Duigan online but I struggled to find anything solid in terms of review.

I'll update more over the next few weeks and months - I may even include some recipes - but for starters my first week looked a bit like this...

♥ Breakfast - On a normal day it's a coffee and a smoothie and on a 500 day it's snacking on a few nuts until lunch and lots of water / green tea

♥ Lunch - On a normal day it's a salad, usually using avocado and either chicken or smoked salmon. On a 500 day it's a home made serving of ratetouille (I use this recipe) and a tiny amount of parmesan on top.

♥ Tea - On a normal day I've been working through the recipes in the clean and lean diet cookbook. So far my particular favourites have been Cajun Chicken and Salmon en Papillote with Ginger and Lime (I've also cooked a couple of things from the Hairy Dieters books - as long as the ingredients are clean it works!). On a 500 day I've been going through some 5:2 diet books and websites, so far we've had a pickled cucumber and prawn salad (here - not so good), halloumi and vegetable skewers (from a recipe book - amazing) and a prawn and courgette pasta dish (from a recipe book - pretty good!)