The Hungry Swimmer: Upgrade Your Pancakes

If you’re looking to up your quarantine breakfast game look no further. It’s time to take your pancakes to the next level!

There’s no need for boxed mix. You can make a perfectly delicious and more nutritious pancake mix from things that you most likely have on hand. This 3 ingredient pancake recipe requires a banana, ½ cup of rolled oats and 2 whole eggs (I like to add cinnamon too for extra flavor!). You can throw all the ingredients in a blender to mix them up or combine them manually. Mash the banana and whip the eggs with a fork and fold in the oats for a thicker pancake texture. It’s that easy! Either way, you will be craving these pancakes every morning, so why not get creative?

These are some of my favorite ways to upgrade my pancake game, taking a simple 3 ingredient stack and transforming them into the breakfast of champions!

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 Banana
• 2 Eggs
• ½ c Oats
• Dash of cinnamon
• 1 small Apple
• Almond Butter

It may be June, but it’s never too early for cinnamon apple flavor!

First, you will want to prepare the warm cinnamon apples for the batter. I recommend using a small macintosh, honey crisp or pink lady apple, as these are the best (in my opinion). Cut up the apple into tiny, 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp of cinnamon on top and use your hands to mix, ensuring each cube is coated in cinnamon. Next, microwave the bowl of apple pieces for about 1:00-1:30 so the apples are soft and fragrant.

As the apples cool, start to prepare the batter. If you have a blender, add in the banana, eggs, oats and cinnamon and blend until smooth. If you are preparing the batter my hand, start by mashing the banana in a bowl. Then, combine the mashed banana and the eggs and fold in the oats.

Pour the batter into a greased/spray pan and cook over Medium Low- Medium heat. As the batter cooks, bubbles will form along the edges of the round pancakes. At this time, gently place a few apple cubes in the center of the batter. Cook the pancakes for about 1-2 minutes before flipping. Repeat this process until all of the batter is cooked and about half of the apple cubes and used up. Assemble the pancakes however you want and top with leftover warm apple cubes and a drizzle of almond butter. Enjoy!

Chunky Monkey Stuffed Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 ½ Bananas (1 for batter + ½ for layers)
• 2 Eggs
• ½ c Oats
• Dash of cinnamon
• Peanut Butter
• Drizzle of Honey

Move over French Toast, pancakes can be stuffed too!

Start by preparing the 3 ingredient batter plus cinnamon and cook in a frying pan over Medium Low- Medium heat. After the first pancake is cooked, transfer it to a plate, spread a thin layer of peanut butter on top and place thin banana slices in the peanut butter layer as the second pancake cooks. After the second pancake is done, stack it on top of the first pancake and repeat the process. As pancakes are directly transferred to the plate from the hot pan, the peanut butter will begin to melt and the banana slices will become warm. Continue the cooking and stacking until all of the batter is used up. Top the stack with leftover banana slices and a drizzle of honey. Enjoy!

Berrylicious Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 Banana
• 2 Eggs
• ½ c Oats
• Dash of cinnamon
• Strawberries + Blueberries
• Almond Butter
• Drizzle of Honey

Upgrade your pancake game by adding in some fresh berries. Just in time for berry season, this recipe offers a light and refreshing flavor combination.

Prepare the 3 ingredient batter (plus cinnamon) as mentioned above. Before you start to cook the batter, rinse and slice your berries. Pour the batter into a greased/sprayed pan and cook over Medium Low- Medium heat until some bubbles form along the edges. Gently place the strawberries and blueberries in the center of the formed pancakes and cook on that side another 30 second or so. Flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes on that side. Repeat this process until all of the batter is used up. Top pancakes with almond butter and honey drizzle and leftover berries. Enjoy!

Check out my page for more recipe inspiration and be sure to share your student athl-eats with me @whatzoeeeats.

About Zoe Gregorace

Zoe Gregorace is currently studying Nutrition Policy at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and recently graduated from Tufts University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and was a proud member of the Tufts Swimming and Diving team (Go Jumbos!). During her 16 year career as a competitive swimmer, she developed a passion for sports nutrition. She enjoys writing on the topic of nutrition, health and wellness and posts her meal creations on her Instagram page @whatzoeeeats. As a former college swimmer, she strives to share recipes and nutrition tips to promote balanced eating and optimize sports performance.