Low Fat Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

These low fat whole wheat banana pancakes are low in calories and fat, but not in taste. If you like, you can add blueberries (I recommend wild blueberries, you can buy them frozen and put them directly into the batter frozen). I haven't tried the pancakes with both blueberries and the cocoa powder, so you may want to remove the cocoa powder from the recipe below if you add blueberries. (New addition: I tried them with double the cocoa and using frozen raspberries and they were even better. I broke the frozen raspberries up into smaller pieces after adding them to the batter.) I've actually never used sugar in this recipe--I've always used Splenda. If you prefer thicker pancakes, you can lessen or eliminate the water in the recipe completely. My kids (5 and 2) like to help with this recipe. I have them each mash one of the bananas, and then pour half of the wet ingredients into each of their bowls to mix. Then, when they're added to the dry ingredients, they each get a turn to mix them into the dry ingredients. Also note: I really like vanilla; if you don't, reduce it to 1/2 tsp. FYI--My wife and I lost 45 lbs each recently, and this is one of the recipes I made regularly during our diet.

• Ready In: 20 mins
• Serves: 5
• Yields: 10-15 pancakes

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1⁄4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2  tablespoons sugar or 2  tablespoons Splenda sugar substitute
• 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1⁄2 cup skim milk
• 2  ripe bananas
• 2  egg whites or 1  egg substitute

Directions

1. Combine the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cocoa, and salt, sift in the flour (to remove some of the larger pieces particularly in whole wheat flour), and mix.
2. Mash the bananas.
3. Add the water, skim milk, vanilla, and egg to the mashed bananas and mix.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir.
5. Heat the griddle to medium/medium-high, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
6. Pour the batter into the griddle. Flip when bubbles appear. Cook until golden brown on both sides.