Dinner Cakes

Tonight, Mr. Light and I enjoyed a classic dinner favorite: Brinner!
For some reason, I have all the confidence in the world when it comes to cooking breakfast food, but with anything else...it takes a lot of self-encouragement to help me find my kitchen-bravery. So dinner tonight was on me! (JD is usually the dinner cook)
One particular food that I have shied away from for much of my journey has been pancakes. I LOVE pancakes, but I do not love how high in calories they are. However, recently I have been seeing a lot of recipes for "protein" pancakes, and decided to try them for myself. There is a MULTITUDE of different ways these pancakes can be put together, usually with oats or protein powder, and rarely with flour. Calorie score!
On my first try, I used oats, but found the recipe a little runny and hard to flip. It seems the oats kept the cakes from firming before getting to the point of burning. Next, I tried it with protein powder, and the way I put it together was...not awesome. They turned out really spongy, for some reason, but I also remember taking a few liberties with the recipe I saw. Whoops!
In the end, my trials led me to realize that the first oat recipe tasted great, but just needed some help in the firming department. That's when the idea hit me: refrigerate the batter! This minor change made quite the difference. It's unfortunate that you have to make the batter the night before (or a few hours), but if you're anything like me, you already do anyway! (It's also possible that my first pancakes were just too big, so maybe refrigerating isn't totally necessary?) Anyway, here's the recipe:

I topped my egg whites with sauteed spinach and onions, and salsa!

Flour-less pancakes

1/4c oats (I use quick)- 75 kcal
1 egg white (42g)- 22 kcal
1 sm tub plain yogurt (85g)- 65 kcal
1t cocoa powder- 4 kcal
1/2t ground cinnamon- 3 kcal
5-8 drops liquid Stevia (or other no calorie sweetener)

Heat a skillet on medium/low, and spray with Pan or similar greaser (I use my Misto!). Spoon two spoonfuls onto the pan (you want to keep the cakes fairly small, as they can be tricky to flip), and let simmer until batter becomes firm enough to hold together (about 1-2 minutes). Flip! Let simmer for another minute or two, and that's it...it's ready to plate!

This recipe yields about 2 pancakes, and only costs 170 calories for both!

It is important to note that because of the makeup of these cakes, they tend to be a bit on the dense side...but in a good way! They're healthier, heartier, grainier, and delicious! I topped mine with blueberries, but a sprinkle of powdered sugar would have made them even better.

Try them out and tell me what you think, and/or leave your low-cal pancake recipe in the comments!