Trim Down Tuesdays: Q&A + Passover Pancakes

Welcome to Trim Down Tuesdays with Karen Moreno, RD, CDN!  Each Tuesday Karen will post answers to questions that you, the readers, ask about diet and/or nutrition AND of course, she'll post one of her own recipes.

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Here’s the question and answer for this week!

Now that Spring is in the air, and people are starting to think about swimsuits and the beach, what are some tips on how to kick-start feeling great, both mind and body?

June 21^st is the first day of summer-that’s exactly 10 weeks to get your body into bikini shape!

Here are my top 3 tips to whip your body into shape!

1. Start with a cleanse, both for you and your cabinets.  Throw out any foods that may be tempting you-whether it’s that big bag of potato chips, those chocolate Milano cookies, or even those all natural licorice that seem to be healthy. Replace all the processed junk foods with healthy alternatives such as fresh fruits and vegetables, natural peanut butter, and some healthy fiber bars (I like GNU flavor and Fiber Bars).
2. Now that you have your kitchen cleaned up and ready to go, start by making smart choices when dining out and cooking at home. Try to eat Omega 3 rich Salmon at least 2x a week and opt for grilled chicken breast instead of red meat on most other nights of the week. Studies show that eating 1 serving of fatty fish a week such as salmon can decrease your cardiac risk by up to 50%. Also, switch from white rice to brown rice and try to make all the grains you eat 100% WHOLE WHEAT. Snack on baby carrots or cut up fruit during the day and fill up on veggies both during lunch and dinner (along with 3-4 oz of grilled chicken or fish and ½ cup of brown rice, whole wheat pasta, or baked sweet potato).
3. Exercise-now that you’re avoiding sweets and trying to be more conscious of what you’re putting into your body set an exercise goal for yourself. Since summer is coming try to set a goal of 3-4x a week of working out, and that can be consecutive or spread throughout the day. However, if that’s impossible, always remember that something is better than nothing. So if you can already run 30 minutes, aim for 40 minutes at your next workout. If you can’t run at all, then try alternating three minutes walking with one minute of a light jog, and when that gets easy, challenge yourself with a two minute jog in between. Also do pushups and planks. Those are great ways to tone your whole body in very few minutes. Check out this new great FREE website, www.gainfitness.com, which gives you access to hundreds of free full body workouts that will get you beach body ready by June 21^st!


Here's Karen's recipe for this week! Enjoy!

Passover Pancakes

Serves: 4-6 (Makes 10-15 pancakes)

Time: 20 minutes

Pancakes

3 eggs

4 tbsp matzoah meal

¼ cup orange juice

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ cup chopped walnuts

Sugar Drizzle

1 cup water

1 cup sugar (or Splenda)

Whisk all the ingredients for the pancakes.  Spray non stick oil onto a pan, over low-medium 
heat and pour batter to make mini pancakes. 
Let them sit on pan for 2-3 minutes, then flip over for another 2-3 minutes until lightly 
browned 
and fully cooked.

To make the sugar drizzle: In a small pot, pour water and sugar. Mix it until it boils and 
is hot.

Take off of flame. Let cool. Serve pancakes with sugar drizzle or see healthier 
options mentioned above.

Nutrition Content:

Per 3 mini Pancakes: 105 calories, 6.4 g fat, 1.2 g sat fat, 7.14 g carbs, .6 g fiber, 
4.8 g protein

*If using sugar drizzle: Add on about 100 calories, per 1/4 cup

—Karen Moreno, RD, CDN

Pumpkin Pancakes

When I got home from work today, I was craving something sweet yet filling, and I remembered I had a little pancake mix left in the pantry.  I also had a can of pumpkin that I've been saving to make a pumpkin bread pudding.  I had just come back from the store and had all the ingredients for the bread pudding so I began to prepare it.  Then I had an idea to take a little of the pumpkin puree and mix it into the pancake batter.  I've seen recipes for pumpkin pancakes around the web but never tried it. So, I went for it! 

Pancakes were the perfect sweet and filling meal to have!  I'm considering it as my dinner...because who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?!  And I even saved one for lunch tomorrow! Now I'm pretty sure you can use any pancake mix that you have on hand and just follow this recipe.  I added chocolate chips to mine but you don't have to. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc.  Also, if you want more of a pumpkin taste, try adding more pumpkin and let me know how it comes out!

Pumpkin Pancakes

(makes 4 large pancakes)

1 cup of any pancake mix

1 egg

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

2/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

chocolate chips, about 1/4 cup (optional)

Mix all ingredients, except the chocolate chips, together in a bowl and whisk until smooth.  If the batter seems too thick for you add a little more milk and whisk it in.  Place a non-stick pan greased with non-stick spray or butter over medium heat.  Pour about 1/4 cup of batter  in the pan and let cook until bubbles form, 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for an additional 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.  (If you are using chocolate chips, sprinkle them on pancake after pouring the batter but before bubbles form.)   Enjoy with your favorite syrup!

An Elia Pancake

Regular Oatmeal with 2 egg whites, 2 Splenda, and 1 mashed banana.

The Elia Pancake after the flip, see how brown it is???

Voila! The final product that was so enjoyed by me!

I started making these pancakes, now dubbed the "Elia pancake," when I was in Aruba over winter break. They are super healthy and low in calories and ridiculously easy.

Here's what you need to make Elia Pancakes:

1 package of instant oatmeal (any flavor, I use regular flavor and add 2 splenda, total of 100 calories)

2 egg whites (about 40 calories, 6 grams of protein)

*(A Large egg can be substituted for the 2 egg whites, that's 70 calories and 7 grams of protein.)

Mix together in a bowl, spray a small pan with Pam spray, and pour batter in. Let cook on each side for about 2-3 minutes till golden brown. Put on a plate and enjoy plain (since you put the splenda in it, it's already sweet) or with syrup, agave nectar, or I sometimes eat it with peanut butter. Make sure to measure out the peanut butter, I think 1 tablespoon is the perfect amount (90 calories).

So to recap, this whole breakfast is just 220 calories, if you do it my way. I tried adding a mashed banana into the batter and it was even more yummy than the plain one (total calories would be 320)! This breakfast leaves you with another 100-200 calories for a mid-morning snack at like around 10 or 11am. This is when I'll eat a fruit or a greek yogurt to boost up the protein count for breakfast. If you put a banana in the pancake don't eat another fruit for your mid-morning snack, stick with the yogurt!

The only negative thing is that these pancakes are best eaten right off the pan. You can make them ahead and keep in the fridge for a couple of days. I have tried reheating in the microwave and they are fine, just not as soft as they were when they were fresh. The same issue arises when you toast them. So stick to eating them fresh, they literally take 5-8 minutes to prepare and make!