Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Dubious Spring

I was all set to write a post continuing in my recent theme of hot days and impending summer. I had planned to share a recipe for a unique tuna salad that is not only healthy and delicious, but heat-free in terms of preparation. I wanted to show you how I've been enjoying my lunches -- out of doors, soaking up the sun along with a good story, like so:

-- but I'm not. The fickle Montana weather has changed once again, and we've been plunged back into the almost-warm (but not quite) winds of early spring or fall. Bummer. Not only am I cold once again, and sad at the fact that I can no longer wear shorts and skorts to work, but I also feel tired. Tired of shivering, tired of feeling drained of vitamin D due to lack of appropriate sun exposure, not to mention tired from lack of sleep (my own doing, I know). I wants summer!

To combat these gray sky blues, yesterday I decided to make some comfort food for dinner. Luckily Nick the Peanut Butter Boy offers a recipe that counts as comfort food in my book while remaining nutritionally redeeming -- the platecake, otherwise known as banana pancakes. He blends oats, eggs, banana, cottage cheese, and a little milk, then pours the batter into humongous pancakes the size of a plate, hence the dish's name.

While I had out my spiffy new blender to make smoothies this weekend, I had the foresight to throw together the ingredients for my own version of the platecake and refrigerated the batter. When my chill-induced pancake itch arrived, I was able to succumb to it in a healthy fashion. Thank goodness for rare but timely meal planning!

My own platecakes are actually small pancakes because I have trouble with the flipping of said pancakes otherwise. My banana pancakes also depart slightly from the original pancake as I use oat bran instead of regular oats, egg substitute, fat-free cottage cheese, and just one banana. Nick cooks chocolate chips, walnuts, and banana slices into his platecake. My rendition had carob chips and blueberries, and some went boldly nude. I topped my serving of pancakes with chocolate PB2 and sugar free maple syrup, and the hubby had boysenberry syrup on his. Not much says "warm and cozy" to my belly like banana pancakes, so this dinner did the trick for perking up this chilly chicky. Now let's cross our fingers for the return of the sun!

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― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King