Dontcha wanna, wanna Matcha... pancakes!?

I present you with "Matcha Green Tea Protein Pancakes, now say that ten times fast.(; Oh, wait the best part is they're HEALTHY!(:

So every morning I have a BIG ole cup of green tea. I prefer to get the jumbo box of Matcha Green Tea bags from Costco, it's Kirkland (Costco) brand. Regardless of what I have for breakfast, I always have my green tea. In fact, I've usually gulped gracefully sipped it all while making our breakfasts. 

We recently got some Gotcha Matcha Green Tea Powder and obsessed is an extreme understatement. Thanks Mama for the recommendation. Side note: I used to frequently order Starbucks' Skinny Green Tea Lattes... Well, though "skinny" means they used a sugar-free vanilla syrup to pump in it and fat free milk, the matcha powder they used was pre-mixed with the dreaded ingredient: straight up white sugar. #wompwomp Obviously that was the end of those for me. My relationship with Skinny Caramel Macchiatos is still very loyal... and truly skinny.(; Anyway. This Gotcha Matcha is purely just the tea, no sugar or additives. Now that you're officially wondering if I'm ever getting to a point, or more importantly a recipe for these pancakes, I am. Be patient young grasshoppa! hahaha, that's funny, because the pancakes are green, and so are grasshoppers, and well you get how this comes full circle with green tea right? 

Back on track, so I've been using the matcha powder in my smoothies all day, every day. When, finally, the light bulb went off; HELLO, USE THIS STUFF IN PANCAKES. AND BAKING. AND EVERYTHING IN LIFE! So I did, and it went like this... (brand I use/you can choose your own, though I always recommend stuff with real ingredients, no sugar, or any other additive junk!) 

-1/2 cup oats (Quaker Old Fashioned) 

-1/2 ripe banana 

-1 egg 

-1/4 cup almond milk (Silk Original) 

-1/2 scoop protein (Muscle Milk Vanilla 100% Whey, you can omit.)

-1 heaping teaspoon matcha powder (more or less depending on your love for the flavor & I use Gotcha Matcha.)

Mix it all in whatever blending device you have: food processor, vitamix, blender, etc. It won't work by hand mixing, you need something violent strong enough to pulse the oats into a fine flour like consistency. 

Heat pan to medium/6.5 and melt coconut oil (my preference over butter, but whatever melts in your pan, man.) and cook like normal pancakes (stoves vary) but you know when it starts to bubble; flip. Now the batter will be vibrant green, but you do want them to be a bit golden once that side is done, to make sure they're cooked. They're a bit more moist than typical pancakes, so don't be alarmed, just make sure it's not liquid inside. 

I alternated drizzling, okay slathering almond butter (Maranatha All Natural) and Mango Greek yogurt (Chobani) between the layers and paired it with kiwi, pineapple, and strawberries... Because for some reason I was feeling extra tropical. I want to be a mermaid at the beach! Then I graced it's presence topped it with a bit of (Bark Thins) Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Bark. Because well, I try to put that stuff on everything! 

There you have it, a home run of a recipe. I am aware that the chocolate has sugar/cocoa butter/other fatty goodness, however, it's dark, so it's actually on the top ten healthiest foods for you list. Also, everything in moderation, except almond butter, I pour that stuff on! The pancakes themselves, other toppings and fruit are all healthy, so a bit of a treat on top won't kill you. You can obviously omit it, if you're suffering miserably on a completely sugar free diet. 

It makes about 6-7 smaller cakes. The pancakes themselves are 352 cals, 9.9g fat, 43.2g carbs, and 26.6g protein. They're a great fueling breakfast pre-workout, and see boom! chocolate part taken care of!(;

Bon appetit!(: 

ps. If you've never had/heard of Matcha Green Tea/Powder, it's still your favorite green tea leaves, but you get all of them, instead of just steeping the ground leaves in water through a bag, you get all of the leaf ground into a fine powder. Meaning, all of those fantastic benefits you get from green tea to the power of like a billion. The taste is much better too, it almost has a sweet creaminess to it. And if nothing else, the vibrant color is gorgeous! It's incredible and you should definitely invest in some!(: 

pdoubles. I was not endorsed to promote any of these brands, but wouldn't say no if they wanted to send me free stuff!(; I truly just love and use these products.