Heart Healthy.
Or not so much. It’s ironic that—thanks to sugary sweets, fancy dinners, and rich desserts—a day devoted to matters of the heart can be so dangerous for your heart. Google “red velvet” and your results will be saturated with butter, eggs, heavy cream, and enough sugar to sweeten even the Grinch. Pretty, for sure. But healthy, it is not.
Until now.
Flipping through People Magazine last Friday, I stumbled across a recipe for “Jessica Alba’s favorite red velvet pancakes.” Red velvet pancakes?! I had to create a heart-healthy version.
Mission accomplished. These are like eating cake for breakfast!
Red Velvet Pancakes for One
- 2T flour (I used 20g whole-wheat pastry)
- 2T plus 1tsp oat bran (20g) (you can sub flour)
- red food coloring (For alternatives, see: Natural Food Coloring Ideas.)
- 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking powder
- scant 1/8 tsp salt
- 2T cocoa powder (I use regular, but if you want a more brownie-like taste, try dutch cocoa)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup plus 1T nondairy milk (95g, or more, if needed)
- optional: If you don’t like the taste of fat-free pancakes, be sure to add 1 tablespoon oil
- 1-2 T sugar, or 1 stevia packet (I left it out. If using liquid sweetener, decrease milk accordingly.)
Mix dry ingredients. Add wet and mix. Then make your pancakes! (Makes 5-6)
Nutrition Information:
(For the entire batch)
- Calories: 230 (130 if omitting oil)
- Fat: 14g (or less than 1g if omitting oil)
- Protein: 3g
- Fiber: 5g
I topped these with my Healthy Cream Cheese Icing.
Then, really fancy things happened. I dusted the pancakes with cocoa powder and swirled some of the chocolatey fairy dust into the frosting.
If you’re still hungry for pancakes (although I don’t know how that’d be possible, after these!), I have an entire recipe tab devoted to them:
Question of the Day:
What do you do to be Heart Healthy?
Get regular exercise? Eat healthy foods? Spend quality time with people who make you happy? The heart is an amazing little organ; be sure to treat it right!
Holy wow I need to have these ASAP!
To keep my heart healthy I exercise. Every time I get my heart rate checked people say “So I bet you exercise” guess it shows!
Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard… 😉
RV cake is favorite, this IS an awesome idea! Thank you People Mag 😛
Hello heaven on a plate. So that’s where you’ve been hiding.
Katie, these are gorgeous! Just made a batch and added in some raspberries so not quite red velvet but every bit as tasty 😀
Aw wow, Claire, you’re so fast! I’m so excited you liked them. And raspberry-chocolate is the BEST combination known to man. Seriously, even better than chocolate-coconut, I think. So I bet they were even MORE tasty than mine!
I want pancakes, now, please 🙂 haha
For me, I try to workout out daily as well as work on my stress levels to help my heart!
You come up with the most amazing recipes – I am always impressed! Thank you so much for sharing and keep it up!! 🙂
Did someone say Pancakes???? Bookmarked! 🙂
Glorious! Ever since my sister had her wedding cake made out of red velvet cake, I’ve been kind of obsessed with anything red velvet. Glorious!
To keep my heart healthy, I eat plenty of MUFAs (monounsaturated fats) like avocado and almond butter:)
Just made these and topped with maple syrup and blueberries. Loved it. I used normal skimmed milk as I’m not vegan, they worked well, were super yummy and made the perfect amount for one person.
Yay! Caro, I’m so excited you tried them! 🙂 🙂