I recently had to keep a food diary for a week, in preparation for a fitness consultation. To say that it was a wake-up call would be a huge understatement. The fitness part wasn’t too bad, however my diet was a total shambles. Three whole days passed without a vegetable crossing my lips. The worst part was that, for me, this seemed totally normal.
So, I have vowed to make more effort to incorporate veggies into my diet. I am doing this in much the same way as one might fool a five year old into eating something other than white carbs with cheese and ketchup – by sneaking greenery into things I might actually want to eat anyway. And I ALWAYS want to eat pancakes.
Right now I’m training for three 10k runs, a half marathon and three triathlons (not entirely sure I remember signing up for all of these, but anyway…), so I need all the help I can get. These pancakes give a you a delicious start to the day, especially if topped with smushed avocado and a poached egg, and are robust enough to sustain even the most active person until lunchtime. They are also lovely cold.
Check teeth after eating.
Popeye Protein Pancakes
approx 100g spinach
0.5 cup rolled oats
0.3 cup Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese
1 egg
large pinch of ground nutmeg
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Blend all the ingredients together until you have a pourable batter. I use frozen spinach that has been defrosted overnight, mainly because I’m lazy not prepared to get up any earlier in the morning in order to pick the stems off the fresh stuff, but do whatever works for you.
Heat a small dab of butter or a teaspoon of oil in a non-stick frying pan. You can use a piece of kitchen paper to ensure that the surface is evenly coated.
Pour pools of batter onto the hot pan and fry until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip each pancake over, perhaps creating some modern art as you go, and cook the other side.
Stack ’em up, top with healthy bits and bobs, devour, feel the green goodness, get stuff done. Boom.
Makes 4-6 pancakes depending on diameter.
