Have you seen powdered peanut butter? PB2 is one of the brands. Costco now carries another brand in a HUGE container (for only $7.99). It is dehydrated peanut butter (after the majority of the natural oils have been extracted).
Soooooo it IS a processed food. And if you're familiar with this blog I'm typically not a fan of those things. But I've had a lot of patients using it so I wanted to give it a try. It contains 45 calories per 2 Tbsp and the same amount of protein as natural peanut butter, which contains 190 calories per 2 Tbsp (the calorie difference comes from the fat). No, fats are not a bad thing. But when you're trying to cut out a few calories for weight loss, this may be a product that you try.
You can mix the powdered PB with water, per the package instructions, and form "peanut butter". However, I did not find that this was a very enjoyable concoction. It was gritty and did not spread well.
So I started experimenting with mixing it dry into things.
I LOVE it stirred into my steel cut oats in the morning.
It's great in smoothies.
And it is delicious in these pancakes- and adds some protein!
Peanut Butter Protein Pancakes
Makes ~8 medium pancakes
1 egg
1 1/4 cups plain Greek yogurt (I used nonfat)
1 Tbsp natural peanut butter (for the fats)
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (more protein than AP flour!)
1/2 cup PB powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp sugar
Combine egg, yogurt, peanut butter, and almond milk in a mixing bowl. Whisk to mix well.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then whisk dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix until just combined.
Drop ~3-4 Tbsp batter onto a nonstick skillet heated over medium heat. Flip pancake when bubbles form on the pancake surface. Cook for additional 1-2 minutes. Repeat with all remaining batter. Keep cooked pancakes covered to keep warm until all pancakes are cooked.
Serve immediately (or freeze for later in the week). I topped mine with a small smear of peanut butter and homemade jelly.
Nutrition Info per 1 - 6" pancake: 144 calories, 4 g fat, 10 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber