PB and J Pancake

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It's Friday, which means the weekend is right around the corner.  When I woke up last Sunday morning, I had pancakes on my mind.  I love Sunday morning pancakes- those mornings when I have a little bit of extra time to create a delicious breakfast for my family.  Pancakes can be relatively unhealthy - take a look at these Egg Nog pancakes from IHOP.    1000 calories for breakfast?  No, thank you. For reference, a 2,000-per-day calorie diet would typically indicate about 350 calories for breakfast, and 66 grams of fat for the whole day.  This meal is half of BOTH.  RUN.  (Actually, if you eat this, go run a 1/2 marathon afterward to burn it off). I decided to make some whole wheat pancakes and stepped the nutrition up a notch by adding some healthy foods.... introducing, PB and J Pancakes: 

The Pancakes:  I borrowed the original recipe from carrotsncake.com and substituted all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.  I also used cottage cheese instead of yogurt since I had this on hand.

The PB: All natural peanut butter- providing some healthy fats and protein.

The J: Homemade fruit spread.  I mashed up some blueberries and raspberries with a drop of honey for some added sweetness- much less sugar than traditional jelly or jam.

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Each pancake was about 1/4 cup of batter and it makes about 4 servings. Nutritional statement: These nutritionals include 1 tbsp of peanut butter and 2 tbsp of the fruit and honey mix.  Looks good on the calories front and has enough protein to sustain me until my next meal (for reference, the average person needs about 15-20g protein at each meal).  This is a win nutritionally and deliciously speaking! The result was delicious, healthy and  kid-friendly.  Let your child help mix the batter or mash the fruit.  Happy eating :)