Pancakes: Breakfast Chain or at Home?

3/10/2012 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

This morning was proving to be a rough morning. My car started giving me trouble last night and I was trying to get it fixed ASAP since I have to make that lovely 5 hour trip to MA on Sunday afternoon. The mechanic where we wanted to take my car isn't open on Saturday, so I was left with no choice but to rent a car. Who knew it could be so difficult to rent a car on a Saturday in the Poconos?! After calling a couple of different places, I finally found one that had a car available but they were closing in half an hour from the time in which I had placed the call. Rushing to put clothes on and waking my husband who didn't come home from his shift until 5am -- it wasn't a pretty scene.

We managed to get there on time and I have a rental for a week. Nice. Problem Solved. Next problem: It was now close to noon, and we hadn't eaten anything yet.

To make up for the fact that I had to wake up a very tired man, I offered to take him out to brunch at the breakfast chain that was across the street. At this point, I didn't care about Points or trying to lose weight. I was looking for some comfort food, looking for it fast, and I wanted my husband to like me again!

To my surprise, he declined the offer and said, "Let's just go home."

I am so glad that he made that decision. I was still in the mood for some pancakes, so as my hubby climbed back into bed, I threw my apron on and starting whipping up some breakfast. Not only did breakfast come out delicious, it was cheaper and healthier than what I was willing to devour an hour previously.

Here's is what I'd like to call:
Recipe:
Mini Pancakes
2 Cups of Heart Healthy Bisquick Baking Mix
1 1/4 cup of milk, fat free
1 egg
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1.) In a large bowl, measure out 2 cups of baking mix
2.) In a small bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, and vanilla
3.) Add egg mixture to baking mix and add milk.
4.) Stir until well blended
5.)  Using a small ladle (less than 1/4 cup),  pour pancake batter onto hot griddle, flipping after bubbles form on top of batter.

Using my small ladle, I am able to make about 20 mini pancakes (4 servings of 5 pancakes)

5  Mini Pancakes = 7 pts

Topping
1 banana per serving, sliced (0 pts)
1 tbsp of Nutella, or chocolate hazelnut spread - microwaved for about 30 seconds (3 pts)

So in total my pancakes came out to 10 points per serving. Not bad! I still have plenty of points left for the day to enjoy a snack and a good hearty dinner. I would say, this isn't even a cheat meal!

I did some quick research on the breakfast chain I had wanted to go to, and calculated that just a simple order of short stacks (3 pancakes), with NO additional toppings or side orders = 20 points! YIKES! I can't even imagine all of the fancy platters that also include eggs, bacon, toast, etc.

Not only did we save ourselves some money, but we might have just saved ourselves a heart attack!

Happy Saturday!