iHop Pumpkin Pancakes

I'm sure the majority of you have seen the constant commercials for iHop's new pancakes. Most of the time, I ignore them. However, one day I was really craving pancakes, and since then, I had been wanting to try their pumpkin pancakes.

The last time I had pancakes was back in May, when I was visiting my sister. We went to this amazing place, and had red velvet and white chocolate macadamia nut pancakes. Since then, I've made my healthier version of pancakes a couple of times, but that's it.

This past weekend, my friend from Austin, Natalie, came down, and she and two of my roommates, Kayla and Julianna, and I went to iHop to have breakfast for dinner. I rarely go to iHop, and I try not to eat out often, but whenever I do, I try to look for healthy options. The past few times I've gone, I've ordered one of their Simple & Fit options. Since the pumpkin pancakes are not listed under those options, I decided to treat myself, while still making it on the healthier side.

First off, I planned ahead throughout the day, and also looked up the nutrition information. For one of the combos, with the pumpkin pancakes and sides, it came out to over 1,000 calories...before syrup! I saw the nutrition information for the option of ordering four, and it was actually less than I thought, at 630 calories. There's no way I could've, or have wanted, four pancakes, so I decided to order a stack of three. Since four of them came out to be 630, that puts three of them at around 473 calories. I didn't put any butter or other toppings on them, ordered water to drink, and didn't have any sides. For another huge calorie saver, I substituted my syrup for sugar free. For the regular syrups offered, all come out to 100-110 calories per serving. For sugar free, however, it's only 15! That's a BIG difference! In my opinion, and many I've talked to as well, there's not much of a difference in taste, or texture.

It was a fun night filled with wonderful friends, yummy food, and lovely cool weather. :) I don't have pancakes often, but these definitely satisfied my craving! What's your favorite type of pancake? I've always been one for plain or blueberry, but pumpkin has definitely been added to the list! I think next time I try my version of healthier pancakes, I might experiment with making them blueberry, or pumpkin. Have a wonderful day!

<3 Stephanie