Recipe: Oatmeal Pancake, sweetened with Stevia. Bonus Stevia Buying Guide!

I have been a member of Weight Watchers for a number of years. I think it is a great program! I get great ideas and lots of support every time I go to a meeting.

I like the Simply Filling plan on Weight Watchers. On this plan,  you eat Power Foods. These are mainly fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins. Things that fill you up without triggering you to eat too much.

Some people on Weight Watchers use a lot of artificial sweeteners, to avoid the carbs in sugar. I prefer to use Stevia, which comes from the naturally sweet Stevia plant. I'm going to tell you about 3 different ways that I use Stevia, which is available at Lori's Earth Friendly Products. The first is a recipe, and the others are simple ideas.

Oatmeal Pancake

In our Weight Watchers meetings, our leader Val has given us ideas on how to make an Oatmeal Pancake. I have come up with my own variation, which is made up of Power Foods, and is very filling and satisfying. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:
1 egg
a small piece of banana, mashed up (less than 1/4 banana)
a small amount of Skim Plus or skim milk (less than 1/4 cup)
a few shakes of cinnamon
a few shakes of Stevia
1/3 to 1/2 cup of plain old fashioned oats

Optional Toppings:
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I use the 6-packs of 4 oz unsweetened applesauce from Target)
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese
Blueberries, cut up strawberries, any other fruit you like

Directions:

• Mix the egg, mashed banana, and Skim Plus in a measuring cup.
• Add the oats, cinnamon, and Stevia, and mix well.
• Let it sit for a few minutes.
• Meanwhile, spray a non-stick pan with oil, and heat it to medium heat.
• When it is hot enough, give the mixture one more mix, and add to the pan.
• Shake the pan to evenly spread out the mixture.
• Cover, and let it cook until you see some bubbles, and the edges look a little browned.
• Flip over, and cook uncovered for a few minutes.
• Put on a plate, and add any of the optional toppings. When I am really hungry, I add all three.

I find that this keeps me satisfied for at least 2 hours.

Other ideas for Stevia:

Coffee:
To go with the oatmeal pancake in the morning, on days when I haven't had enough sleep (too many days in recent times), I will have a cup of coffee. I sweeten it with Stevia, and then add Skim Plus.

Yogurt:
And finally, for an afternoon snack:
I take 1/2 cup of fat free Greek yogurt, mix with a few shakes of Stevia, and add fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, peaches, or whatever you like). 

Limitations of Stevia in baking:
You can't always replace sugar with Stevia. It doesn't brown the same way sugar does. If you try to bake with Stevia instead of sugar, your cookies will come out more like munchkins.

Stevia Product Guide

• Sweet Leaf: Many Sweet Leaf products are Kosher (Shaker and packets are Apple K). Convenient shaker, or individual bags equivalent to 2 tsp each
• Nature's Answer liquid stevia is kosher (Kof-K)
• Stevita: also high quality, although not kosher certified.
• You can search for Stevia to find all the different types of Stevia that we carry.