Student Cooking Series #1: 100 Calorie Pancakes + Homemade Blueberry plumb compote.

Hey guys, I'm back!

Its been an absolute whirlwind of university applications, exam preparations and YouTube videos but iv finally made a comeback to this blog and I promise ill be on here alot more now that iv sorted out my schedule.

I made these pancakes today for myself and Dan and they were absolutely amazing and they're only 100 calories per pancake! I don't know if you know this about me but im super into recipes that are free of all the nasties like fats, sugars, gluten etc and although these arent completely angelic they're at least halfway there. Whilst making them I also knocked up a decent quick blueberry and plumb compote so i thought id share that info too. If you try these id love to see your own versions so tag me on Instagram/ Tumblr (@Celestialmoonrock) or Twitter (@Kaycia_) and let me know what you think!

I made six pancakes for myself and Dan and the portions are 100ml of batter per pancake and 3 pancakes each. If you want any less or more just half or double the quantities and it works just the same.

Ingredients for Pancake Batter(6 Pancakes):

• Two Bananas (the softer the better, theyre going to be mashed)
• 4 Tablespoons of any kind of flour
• Four medium eggs (Dont bypass the yolk, its packed with protein!)
• 120 ml of milk (1/2 an American cup measurement)
• Cooking spray or oil, Im using Frylight spray.
• Optional extras: Small or chopped fruits, Raisins, Oats, Chocolate chips.

Ingredients for Blueberry Plumb Compote:

• Blueberries
• Plumb(s)
• a sprinkle of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon water

Equiptment Needed:

• Frying pan, griddle or hotplate
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring jug
• Spatula, Spoons + Measuring spoons, fork or rolling pin for mashing.

Start by chopping the bananas in a bowl, it doesn't matter how you chop them you could chop them into tiny pentagrams for all it matters, they're about to get smashed into oblivion anyways so don't worry about it! 

As you do this next step remember "Beauty is only skin deep" and chant it as a mantra as you smash the bananas into looking like some weird devil baby food/sick type lumpy concoction which makes you question how reliable this recipe is. (Very reliable I swear, as reliable as a person on the internet can be to another person on the internet while making pancakes)

Add the flour in to the alien banana mush. Don't bother sifting unless it really bothers you because lets face it, who has time to sift. Oooo just had a thought, if you wanna vamp up the health-nut vibe on these pancakes use coconut flour or whole-wheat flour, or any other kind of flour that sounds impressive when you tell your friends about your knew lifestyle choices as they groan into their Mcdonalds. Mix the flour in well until it starts to go abit dough-like but still pretty much spawn of Satan at this point.

It says "Tip: for fluffier pancakes beat the eggs before adding them". This is my way of telling you all that i forgot to beat the eggs before adding them and that you should probably do that, although they came out more or less the same so if you can be bothered do it, if not don't, its all comin up pancakes.

So now it should look less terrorising and more child-friendly, it should be a bit frothy from where you tried to salvage the fact you didn't beat the eggs by whipping the whole mixture, it will still have lumps in it from the banana mush but that doesn't matter cause it will make the pancakes nicer in the end.

Now add the milk (Health-nuts its time to get the soy/almond milk out) and whatever else ingredients you want in your pancakes. I went for blueberries cause im super into blueberry muffins and I figured pancakes and muffins arent all too dissimilar so what the hell. If you're going for chocolate chips then im wholly jealous of you, we never have chocolate in the house, booo!

TURN FRYING PAN HANDLES IN! The amount of times iv jumped back from an almost deep fat fried foot incident has been too many for a 17 year old so don't even take the risk (I'm not liable if you scald yourself, I warned you). I also once made a really nice pasta sauce then knocked the handle and tipped the entire contents onto the floor, the dog apparently enjoyed it very much. Dont cry over spilt milk but spilt pasta sauce is different, there's more ingredients wasted.

Saying that Dan doesn't like healthy food is like saying that Kim Jong Un was kinda mean, an understatement. He was only just allowing the fact there was blueberries in it (he likes some fruits) so I halved the batter and put cherries in my half, yay more for me.

Turn the pan on a low heat and spray it with cooking spray until its mostly covered. Then measure out 100ml of batter and pour it in the middle of the pan. These pancakes are quite thick and fluffy but if you want proper american style ones then put a pancake ring in the pan (if you're fancy enough to have one evidently im not)to make a perfect deep pancake circle. Cook it between 2-3 minutes, check it at two though because I didn't and you don't even want to see a picture of that hot(cake) mess.

Now we separate the chefs from the "ill give it a go"-ers. If you can flip pancakes then you deserve a medal and a certificate that says "i can flip flipping pancakes me" because in real life who can actually flip pancakes, really, honestly, actually though, without help. If like me you're flippedly challenged use a spatula instead to save splattering the walls with half cooked blueberries. 

A compote is abit like a jam only less painstaking at you don't have to add loads of sugar or sieve it. Mash up some blueberries and put them in a small pan. I cant judge how long it took me to make this part cause i spent a good ten minutes getting my head around the fact that blueberries are green inside.

I only needed a handful of blueberries and one plumb because like I said earlier Dan didnt want anything he didnt like so he piled strawberries and honey on his pancakes. If youre using plumbs be super careful when cutting the stone out because i litterally nearly took my fingertip off. Sprinkle a bit of sugar over the top to sweeten it up abit and to make it abit syrupy so you can pretend its unhealthy when its not.

Cook it on a low heat and keep stirring it till the juice from the blueberries starts to stick to the pan a little bit, if its not syrupy enough add 1/4 teaspoon of water, if its too syrupy you're lying to yourself. Never too syrupy.

Now you can go all "child let loose with the decorations" and make it look all fancy. I put the compote on top then honey and milk cause im lying to myself that its cream and a spoon of fat free Greek yogurt on top.

Yaaaaay, you should have made pancakes by now and if you followed this it should look like Gordon Ramsey bobbed over for breakfast, if not you've obviously done it wrong or you've attempted a pancake flip when i warned you not to and its on the ceiling/walls/floor/your brother/your dog, in either case you're missing out.

PS. Dont be offended by any of this by the way, im not targeting you personally im litterally targetting whoever is reading this so its not personal, okay?, we okay?, we good? good.

Thanks for reading, comment with questions, experiences, any old rubbish really I like reading comments.
Ciao xx

Healthy Living - Blah.

Lecture Lecture Lecture blah blah i know healthy eating is a crap topic and youve heard this before through countless means of educational lectures but trust me.

Iv always been concerned about my health and weight in particular, since last February my weight has been up and down between obsessive healthy eating and militant exercise to laying on the sofa eating candy bars around Christmas  I always used special occasions as an excuse to eat junk food but then I wouldn't stop, it seemed that all the hard work I had done in the months before had reached equilibrium with my weight gain and general sloppiness and I decided to do something about it.

Being a student and trying to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle is also a hard task. juggling work with cooking meals and exercising can sometimes feel impossible and as-if all the time in the world couldn't solve it but it is possible.

If you don't know what tumblr is its an on-line blogging platform and as with most websites or personal pages there are plenty of different genre's. It was only when i started to be interested in healthy living and eating that i discovered what a strong and supportive health community tumblr has. Plenty of people are in the same boat as you and give countless tips and advice through In-boxing and reblogging or sharing photos of progress and animated tips. Posting about a weight loss would equal in countless messages of congratulations and inspirational messages. Even a weight gain would conjure messages of tips on how to not be discouraged.

The way that the tumblr fitness community has taken the platform and changed it from a personalised expressive art to a worthwhile and fulfilling blog is astounding. 

I believe that my knowledge and interest of nutrition and fitness stemmed from the tumblr fitness community and their support that allowed me to make a change.

As i mentioned in my first post i am a pescatarian (vegetarian but will eat fish), although this isnt purely based on nutrition or weightloss purposes it still had a contributing factor. 

If you need any advice or knowledge on health or fitness or the foods to eat the recipe pages to look at, really anything! please do ask either through my tumblr or facebook or here. 

Quick Tips: 
Eat white meats
Drink as much water as you can - it increases metabolism
Same for Green Tea
Try to eat vegetables or fruit in any way possible
keep chocolates or candies for special occasions or failing that once a week or as a treat.
Fry food in Frylight or cooking sprays.
Exercise Tips:For weight loss - 
aerobic exercise is best but some light lifting and stretching exercises such as yoga are also key.
For Muscle Gain-
start slowly and only lift light dumbbells  first for around a month before you decide to go higher.

Checkout Blogilates on youtube for good workouts without the effort!


Try to get support from your family and friends too or you may find yourself in a rut.