If you’re like me and have already tried the packaged protein pancake mixes and found them lacking and also tried the Paleo version of protein pancakes where you mix the egg with the banana and hope for the best and they turn out an utter disaster, then this recipe is for you! I decided to make my own protein pancake recipe which I have now perfected and today I took my gluten-free protein pancake recipe and combined it with one of my favorite comfort foods to make these Peanut Butter and Jelly Protein Pancakes. Before I get into today’s recipe, I just wanted to have little heart to heart with everyone. I know I really don’t open up that much on my blog, but I’m going to change that. I really want to try to connect with everyone on a deeper level so here goes nothing! Oh, and if you found this post on Pinterest and came here just for the recipe I won’t be mad, just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the post 🙂 Truth be told, I have been really, I mean really unmotivated (or not motivated, apologies in advance my grammar is very poor) lately. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the Winter slump finally catching up with me, but I can’t snap out of it. It’s not just with the blog, but with working out, cleaning, and even just with little chores around the house. I’m having a very hard time finding the motivation to get things done and when I do get things done I’m normally scrambling to get them finished on time and I have been skimping on my workouts and keeping up with my blog. With the blog for example, I sit down to write and nothing comes out. Then I push the computer aside and I start to have a conversation with myself and I answer myself ekk! Luckily just in my head though. I also get easily distracted and forget what I was just talking to myself about LOL. Also during this whole conversation with myself I am absent-mindedly eating Andes Mints (you know the little green ones–I keep them in the freezer they are delish!) and by the time I finally remember what I was supposed to be thinking about I’ve already eaten 10! Yes, I am a dietitian and I am not perfect. I eat chocolate… a lot of it and I mindlessly eat at times (I am trying to cut down on this in addition to talking to myself— seriously easier said than done!). Now what was I talking about? This is awful, remember the whole conversation I had with myself where I was thinking about what I was going to write this blog post about, I cannot remember. It’s gone! It flew the coup! I can remember bits and pieces like the mindlessly eating Andes Mints and being super unmotivated parts, but I had some really good dialogue worked out in my head but I cannot think of it! That basically sums up how I’ve been feeling lately. Also, as I write this my brain is pretty fried from a long day at work, not in the sense of hours worked but just how the day went. It started off perfect, sleeping in with the mister, then I got up and made us protein pancakes, chicken sausage, red onions and free range over easy eggs while he was getting ready for a long day at work 10a-11ish pm. It’s so rare that we get to eat breakfast together other than on his day off, and it was just a nice change to get to have this nice experience together. Then after breakfast all of my motivation was gone. Today is Valentine’s Day too, but we don’t really celebrate it. Having both worked in retail I’m a bit over the exploitation of the holiday’s and I’d rather just us show each other that we love each other every day instead of having to buy each other gifts on a certain day of the year to tell that person how much he or she means to one another. We instead spent yesterday together and had a day trip! We finally made it to Donnies Donuts, a little mom and pop donut shop that recently opened up and they have mad to order donuts along with many other creative combos! We got a maple bacon donut, s’mores donut and peanut butter chocolate explosion donut. See my instagram photos below for the awesomeness.
After our amazing breakfast adventure we headed up to Ponte Vedra Beach to have lunch with my cousin Jess and her Fiancé Andre who were in town from Tampa. Lunch was great and it was so nice catching up with them since I hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving. It feels like Jess and I are sisters (I lived with them for a while during college too), we can go months without seeing each other, but when we see each other in person it’s like no time has passed. Do you have any friends like that? With both our crazy schedules and life never showing any signs of slowing down it’s so nice to be able to sit down and catch up with friends and family. These are the days that I cherish. After that, we headed to the huge outside mall up in Jacksonville to get a few last-minute items for our road trip vacation (Savannah, Charlotte, and Beech/Sugar Mountain) with our good friends Abe and Erica. I am a baby when it comes to the cold so I got some heavy-duty snowboarding pants, a super insulated jacket, hot chillies for base layers and I’m still on the hunt for some good socks and gloves. REI surprisingly failed me. I guess that’s because I live in Florida and it’s almost Spring. So even though I told the mister not to get me anything for Valentine’s Day since we are going on vacation THIS WEDNESDAY, he didn’t listen to me and bought me 2 things I would have never expected, but am completely in love with. One is the book Mini Farming (which I started reading last night and I had to put it down so I could get some sleep) which is all about you guessed it farming–but farming in small spaces and farming to provide enough for your entire family. I started reading it and I am all gung-ho about it. We had previously talked about making a garden in the back yard but that was basically the end of it. Reading this really rekindled my affinity for gardening and made me realize how much I missed my old one since I moved back into my old place. The other gift was another book (I’m a book-worm if you didn’t already know) called Food Photography From Snapshots to Great Shots. I only took a peek at this book since I was so engrossed with the other book, but it looks amazing. Since getting my DSLR camera, my photography has greatly improved but I’ve only been shooting on auto and not in manual. This book looks like it covers every aspect of food photography and I can’t wait to get my hands on it and start practicing! Whoa, so I guess the whole point to this really long post is to let you all know that I will be taking a little break from blogging while I go on vacation to get a little breather and to hopefully come back refreshed and ready to kick it into high gear and pump out some really awesome recipes and workouts! I’ll probably still be posting on Instagram because I’m a little addicted and it’s my social media of choice. I just love how easy it is and I love to see everyone’s beautiful pictures and read their stories! Also, you can follow me on snapchat (LaraLynne). Any who….I didn’t take a picture of the protein pancakes I made for breakfast today, but I made them a few days earlier and added apricot preserves and PB2 on top so I will share those with you!
Peanut Butter & Jelly Protein Pancake Recipe
Peanut Butter and Jelly Protein Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
- 1 scoop of protein powder ~25g protein per serving
- 1/2 cup egg whites
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- A pinch of salt
- 4 Tbsp PB2
- 4 Tbsp sugar free apricot preserves
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients and cook over medium-low (these will not bubble on top like typical pancakes so be sure not to burn them!).
- Top with 4tbsp PB2 (mixed with 3 Tbsp water) and 4 tbsp sugar-free apricot preserves
Nutrition
Wow I really didn’t mean to write this long of a post, but I just had to get some things off my chest. Hopefully when I come back from vacation next Wednesday I will have as much motivation to get my chores and blogging done as I have to reading my 2 new books. The crazy thing is that I have around 20 recipes already made and shot, they just need to be edited and worked into a blog post. One thing I have been doing once I publish a post is adding them to Yummly. It’s a cool new recipe site that allows you to add recipes to your own recipe box and makes shopping lists for you. Neat huh?
Side note, can you believe I took all of these photos with my phone? The power of daylight bulbs LOL. Also when I come back, be on the lookout for a newish direction of my blog. I will still be doing recipes and workouts, but I want to start incorporating more personal aspects into the blog, traveling, and eventually mini farming!! Plus a lot more videos! I hope you will follow me on my adventure!
Do you ever feel as if you lack motivation? Do you ever get burnt out doing the things you once loved? What do you do to overcome these struggles?
Looking good. I love protein pancakes and these sound very good!
oh my goodness those look yummy! Creative with the apricots and pnb
Those pancakes look great! I’ve got to find my motivation to run so I can eat a big stack!
Those donuts!!! ERMAHGAWD YUM!! The pancakes also look delish! I’ll have to try them with almond butter.
Those donuts look absolutely delicious. There’s nothing wrong with balancing a healthy diet with some delicious treats every now and then, especially when we’re feeling a bit down.
I’m not sure which looks better – the pancakes or the donuts LOL. I just want you to come over and make them for me though. ;o)
I get it. I’ve been feeling a little burnt out lately too. A lot, actually. Hoping to find my mojo back with this Big Sur training. Hang in there.
We all go through motivation slumps…though not everyone admits it. Chin UP!! And, holy cow…those donuts and those pancakes 😉 Major eve candy LOL
YUM!! My entire family would LOVE this recipe!! Your pictures are making me hungry!! 🙂
You had me at the donuts, lol. Truthfully, I don’t like peanut butter. I know that is so un-American of me, haha. But my kids would LOVE these pancakes!
I got, those pancakes look amazing, my husband would love them!!!!
oh yum!! This looks so tasty! Thanks for good!
I loved everything about this post! Those donuts looked incredible and Peanut Butter protein pancakes! These would be so great for all of the running that I am doing!
So yummy and a nice change from everyday plain pancakes.