Basic Pancakes with Strawberries and Bananas

Excuse me while I share a boring meal. Basic pancakes topped with strawberries and 1/2 a ripe banana with a little maple syrup. My weekends sometimes are "use it up" kind of meals, and this one was definitely one of those!

Last weekend I made a batch of basic pancakes. I always split the recipe in two, then freeze the other portion. Because the recipe calls for 1 egg and it's hard to split an egg, I use fat free egg substitute in this case. It also has a lot of oil in the batter so next time I make them I might substitute unsweetened applesauce for half the oil. In Weight Watchers world, that saves a point per serving, or about 30 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. It isn't much, considering I use canola oil instead of butter for its healthier fats, but that's extra calories I could use for more syrup, which is the best part if you ask me.

To freeze, I let them cool, then lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once frozen I transfer them to a freezer bag. To reheat, run them through the toaster on a low setting for a couple of cycles, or pop them in the oven. Put them flat on a cookie sheet, cover with foil, and bake about 8 to 10 minutes at 350 until hot.

I topped these with bananas and strawberries because both were on their last days. Sometimes produce goes bad before I have a chance to eat it. So this was an excellent way to avoid waste.

For activity today, I burned 500 calories according to my heart rate monitor for 30 minutes or so on the elliptical and lower body strength training. I also did my normal Sunday deep clean in my apartment. I suppose if I truly kept up with it through the week, it wouldn't take so much time on the weekends, but that would require me to do something other than crashing after work. :)

Here's the eats for today:

Breakfast: Three basic pancakes topped with a couple of strawberries and 1/2 a banana, 2 tbsp grade A maple syrup, 2 tbsp 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee

Lunch: Giant sandwich with 4 slices of deli turkey, lettuce, tomato, red onion, slice of 2% cheddar and deli mustard on a whole wheat bun with 1/2 a grapefruit on the side

Snack: 1 cup fresh pineapple leftover from last night's dinner

Dinner: Zucchini and cheddar soup and a grilled cheese sandwich

Snack: chocolate pudding while I watch Desperate Housewives. It's finally new!