Multi-tasking Pimped Yellow Squash Pancakes OR Multi-tasking Yellow Squash Smoothie Part II

OK so the cat's out of the bag...

In the last post about the Yellow Squash Smoothie, I alluded to the fact that the Smoothie could be multi-tasking. Like a pupa transforming into a butterfly (and yes, the smoothie was about as attractive as a pupa), the smoothie becomes a batch of Protein-Pimped Yellow-Squash Pancakes.


Let's see...I'm curious, is there really a comparison between my smoothie and a bunch of larvae? Here's my smoothie that did not win over the hearts and minds of all readers:

Only its mother can find it beautiful

And here are some pupae: It is confirmed- they are almost as hideous-looking as my smoothie...

This photo is from another food blog- HONEST! And you think Heabs and I eat weird stuff!

Did I digress? Did I make you lose your appetite for those yummy oats-in-a-jar? Sorry. But it was fun, no?

As usual the smoothie discovery was a complete accident. It basically happened when I stuck my finger in the batter before adding the whipped eggs whites and exclaimed " OMG!! THAT IS SO YUMMY! IT'S A SMOOTHIE IN A BOWL! YOWZA, where's my spoon?!"

So here is the recipe in it's entirety, starting with the Smoothie:


By the way, the idea for the summer squash came from a reader named Heather @ Get Healthy With Heather. She was suggesting zucchini to add to pancakes, but all I had on hand was yellow squash. Great idea, Heather!




Ingredients:

• A Yellow squash, microwaved
• Ice
• Splash water
• Sprinkle Stevia
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut flour
• 1/4 c Wheat Bran
• 1/2 Tsp Baking powder (not important for smoothie, important for pancakes)
  
• Sprinkle of thickeners (xanthan, guar gum or here: Marie Calendar's thickening Mix)
• Protein Powder- one scoop (not important for smoothie, very important for pancakes!!)
  
• 3/4 c pasteurized egg whites
• 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar (though I am not sure it helped much)
  

Method:

• Microwave squash for a minute on high
  
• Add ice and a splash of water because you realize you do not want the squash to be hot when you add it to the whipped eggs. Otherwise you'll have scrambled egg-whites, and not pancakes.
  

Obviously if you plan ahead a little bit, you can cook the squash another time and skip the ice. In that case you might need to add some water to the batter to thin in out a little. Or skip the water for thicker pancakes.

Marie Callender's Quick Mix Thickener- don't kill me I can't remember the ingredients...I think Maltodextrin and one of the gums (guar? xanthan?) You can sub your favorite thickener.

• Add rest of ingredients: Coconut flour, thickener, wheat bran, protein powder, baking soda

If you want a smoothie, stop here and grab your spoon. If not, proceed to pancake heaven with reckless abandon

• Now whip your egg whites & cream of tartar (optional).

Note: Some readers asked me about options for whipping egg whites in the last pimped pancake post (say that fast three times) using sweet potatoes. Sadly, you really can't use a whisk and elbow grease unless you are Lindsay Wagner, the Bionic Woman. You MIGHT be able to use those little coffee frothers, but I doubt it. Immersion blenders don't do much of anything- skip those. You have a pretty good chance with a little blender like a magic bullet, but you can't get huge crazy volume because the container is not very large. You CAN use a Vitamix, but if you let it blend too long you will have cooked eggs (no kidding, there's a recipe for cooking eggs IN the vitamix here...in 8 minutes the blades cause so much heat that they literally cook the eggs). The best way to whip eggs to stiff peaks is with a handheld electric mixer. A cursory look on Target.com found this little guy for $15. But they can go over $50.

• Add the Concoction Formerly Known As the Smoothie to the egg whites and stir gently so that you don't pop all the zillions of little air bubbles you just created.
  

• Heat up your griddle

These were about 1/3 cup of batter per cake

I cover it so that it can "cook" from both sides

Oh NO!! Trouble in Paradise! What happened?!?!

I realized I forgot to add the PROTEIN POWDER...DOH!!

Once I added the protein powder to the remainder of the batter, the pancakes behaved themselves perfectly!

The dark ones in the front were Protein Powder Pimped Pancakes (whew). The pale, fragile ones in back were devoid of the protein powder.

No joke- this batch made 17.5 pancakes- YES IT DID!! They were more crepe-like and even a tad crunchy on the outside unlike the Sweet Potato Pancakes that got more air than Kobe. I don't have the exact stats, but ALL of this was UNDER 400 cals.

Notice TWO place settings?! Derek saw the pancakes, smelled them and asked for them! BTW, cell phone was place there by Derek because apparently I "always put my cell phone in food blog photos for size comparison!" :-)

Oh no, more trouble in paradise... Now only one place setting: Derek didn't know about the Stevia (gag, cough, barf), so he up and left. Naturally, I had to drown my sorrows (and pancakes) in some Greek Yogurt Lovin. What else is a girl to do?

Thanks to Heather @ Get Healthy With Heather for the great idea to use squash in pancakes!

Q: What is your favorite type of pancake? Have you pimped your pancakes with fluffed egg whites?