Picture Perfect

Have you ever looked at some of the more popular healthy food blogs and marvelled at how they could make healthy food look fantastic?  Or a decadent dessert suddenly become healthy?   I’m sure it’s quite an art, because my healthy creations, although very tasty, often end up looking like a dog’s breakfast.   Finally, and very quietly, sometimes I’m not sure how “healthy” these creations are when I line them up to what I consider to be good for you.

However, I have been a little bit bored with my eats of late and I was having a discussion with a friend on Facebook about coconut flour, of all things.   She had been using it in her cooking and I was intrigued as to how to use it effectively.  I’ve always been a bit cautious about trying all of the gluten free ‘flours’ because although I want my meals to be healthy, my number one priority is that they taste good.    I didn’t give it another thought until I came across another blogger using coconut flour in some protein enriched, Paleo endorsed muffins.

Curious, I decided that I’d hit the local health food store after Cycle on Saturday and invested in a packet.  The stuff aint cheap – the 500g packet I bought cost ten bucks, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a go.  Coconut flour is very high in fibre and reduced in carbohydrates and of course, gluten free.

Thanks to another friend, I found a really good American blog, called “Dashing Dish” and found a recipe for Peanut Butter Cake Coconut Flour Pancakes.   These look amazing on her blog – and I wondered if I could replicate the look with my own Aussie ingredients (see above) – I did use PB2, courtesy of my beautiful friend Fi, who’s an Aussie expat in the US – but you could sub with peanut butter or whey protein powder I am sure.

Anyway here are some shots of how they turned out.  According to Calorie King Australia,  a serving of these bad boys is only 270cals 36.3g pro, 24g carb, 3.9g fat and a whopping 10g of fibre.  I used 28g of coconut flour and 15 g PB2  I served mine with grilled banana fingers and some sugar free syrup.  Next time, I’ll probably make a berry coulis as I am not a big fan of sugar free syrups.   It did make it look good and yes, I ate the lot, and double yes, I am still quite full   The good news is that they are sugar and gluten free and high in protein – a definite winner in my book!

Here are the money shots!

Most definitely a good idea for an indulgent Sunday breakfast, methinks (or a “back into the swing of it” Monday lunch)!  I am now a big fan of “Dashing Dish”

Can you get your meals to look this good?   I think aesthetics can be as filling as the food itself

Happy Monday!

Tagged as: Dashing Dish website, Peanut Butter and Coconut Flour Pancakes