Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pancakes

kicking off the cozy fall vibes!

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

I talk about this every single year, but I forget how much I love fall. I’m always so convinced I’m a summer girlie, but then autumn rolls around, and I’m always so happy. Maybe it’s the cozy vibes or the impending holiday gatherings, but I am becoming more and more okay with this transitional season.

I’ve also been finding a lot of joy in planning our trip to Japan. I love planning for a trip — researching and getting excited for activities, drooling over the food, and learning about customs. It’s one of my favorite things in the whole wide world!

And so I don’t leave you hanging, a little update to last week’s post about getting my recipes stolen. After much deliberation, I did end up messaging the person who was posting them, and she did end up giving me credit. However, she did not apologize, which was frustrating, but at least it won’t happen again in the future (hopefully).

I’m planning all my fall and winter recipes now, and it’s making me excited! As always, feel free to shoot over any requests in the comments!!

THINGS I’M LOVING!

I’ve been starting to pick up some items for my fall wardrobe (especially with our trip to Japan coming up, you know that pre-travel urgent to get new clothes), and I’ve been loving the trouser/tailored pant trend! I’m all for a pant that’s chic and comfortable. I got the Sloan Tailored Pant from Abercrombie and Fitch in black, and it has a great fit! Can be dressed up or down.

I’ve been obsessed with making Wishbone Kitchen’s Calabrian Chili Cod whenever we have guests over. It’s so easy and simple to prepare, it looks beautiful and is easy to make big quantities of. You can swap in any fish for cod, and then you just roast some shallots and tomatoes and make a sauce with tomato paste, butter, and Calabrian chilis. 10/10.

I’ve been trying to incorporate more cardio into my workout routine, anything that doesn’t involve running (hate it, sorry). I love doing the Mad Fit Dance Workout routines! A fun fact about me is that I used to be a dancer! I danced from age 4 to 18, and I even did pointe for a year! Although I wasn’t really the best ballerina if I’m being honest… However, I still enjoy dancing when I can, and Mad Fit’s dance classes on YouTube are so fun — especially the throwback ones! You can even do a Harry Styles or Taylor Swift routine.

RECIPE!

You might remember my Lemon Cottage Cheese Pancakes from earlier this year, and I’ve now given them a twist for the fall season! I’ve actually been making the old pancake recipe with chia seeds and oat flour, which gives me even more of a nutrient (and protein!) boost, and I thought I would continue on with these substitutions when developing the pumpkin ones.

I love how healthy these pancakes are! They’re made with so many wholesome and nutritious ingredients and provide a good dose of fiber and protein, making them the perfect dish to start your day. The “cheesecake” part comes from the use of cottage cheese, and the pumpkin comes from actual pumpkin puree!

These pancakes actually have no added sugar, and I developed them this way so that if you want to add maple syrup on top (because honestly, who doesn’t), that will be your only source of added sugar. But honestly, even without the maple syrup on top, the batter tastes amazing on its own, with the pumpkin adding lots of flavor as well as that burst of cinnamon.

All that being said, I do recommend serving the pancakes with some maple syrup and a little bit of butter — the combination is divine.

HOW TO MAKE OAT FLOUR

You might hear oat flour and get scared off — but fear not, you do not have to run to any specialty stores to scour the shelves for oat flour. You can prepare oat flour at home by simpling blending rolled/old-fashioned oats until it forms a powder! I found a 1:1 ratio usually works, so if you need 1 cup of oat flour, blend up 1 cup of rolled/old-fashioned oats. This will NOT work with steel-cut oats.

Healthy Pumpkin Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients (serves 2, makes 6-7 pancakes)

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

• 3 large eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp baking powder

• 1 1/4 cup oat flour

• 2 tbsp chia seeds

• 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Add the cottage cheese, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, oat flour, chia seeds, and cinnamon to a large bowl. Mix together until evenly combined

2. Heat up a small drizzle of olive oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Work in batches and add oil as needed. Keep pancakes warm in the oven/toaster oven at 200 F while you do the other batches. Serve warm with maple syrup and butter!