Whole Wheat Crepes

For some reason, crepes have always intimidated me. To me, they were the high maintenance and delicate sibling of the pancake. Maybe it's because they are French. The French are high maintenance and delicate, right?

 

(Sorry if you are French and I offended you. If it makes you feel better, Americans are fat jerks.)

As usual though, I have to try to make crepes a little bit healthier. I did find one recipe that was SUPER healthy. Like it used bananas and oats and agave. I am not going that far. I just used whole wheat flour, egg whites, and almond milk. It definitely made them a bit lighter, but not taste like grainy bananas. Unless you like grainy bananas.

 

What I found in making crepes, is that you really want your batter to be pretty thin. If it is the consistency of pancake batter, then it needs to be thined out. Other than that, its really not that easy to mess up crepes.

 

It also helped me to watch a couple YouTube videos. Seeing other people make them helped my confidence and lessened the intimidation. I also didn't try to be fancy and flip them like a pro. I used my fingers and flipped them over. There was no one around to judge my lack of flair and none of my crepes ended up on the floor.

 

 

The amazing thing about crepes is that they can be filled with anything. I love crepes filled with Neutella and strawberries. These crepes are filled with vanilla Greek yogurt, strawberries, and bananas then topped with blueberries. If B were around when I made these, I would have filled his with eggs, bacon, and cheese...like a little crepe breakfast burrito.

And if you are wondering, the plate featured above can easily serve 2 people. But I ate all four because I am a fat jerk.

What is your favorite crepe filling??

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Mini Berry Tartlettes

For B's and my little picnic this past weekend, I wanted to make a fun but easy dessert that could travel well.....and I was lazy and just wanted to use whatever we had in the fridge. I think it was just all the stars aligning, because seriously, who just keeps marscapone and Nutella on hand at all times. Not me. Okay, except for the Nutella. It just doesn't last very long.

 Sorry, got of track. Nutella will do that to a girl.

I ended up making little raspberry and strawberry tartlettes. And while you may think of tarts as being complicated or time consuming, these were anything but. These little guys require 5 or fewer ingredients and can be made in less than 30 minutes.

Easy right?

I made two different kinds: a Nutella-marscapone filling topped with a strawberry and a vanilla-marscapone filling topped with a raspberry.

I love Nutella and strawberries together, so this was a no-brainer for me. I used 1 part marscapone to 1 part Nutella. If you prefer a stronger Nutella flavor you can add more Nutella or even add a drop of hazelnut extract.

Even though I love Nutella, these vanilla and raspberry tarts were my favorite. I used about 1/4 cup marscapone, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp vanilla for the filling. Obviously, you can add more sugar or vanilla to suit your tastes.

The little tart shells are made using refrigerated cookie dough. You can make your own dough if you have the time or don't like the taste of refrigerated dough. To make the shells, I just pressed about tablespoon of dough into a mini muffin tin and baked until they were golden brown.

Mini Berry Tartlettes
Ingredients
Shells:
-1/2 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough

Nutella filling:
-2 tbsp Nutella
-2 tbsp marscapone cheese
-6 strawberries, cored and sliced in half

Vanilla filling:
-1/4 mascapone cheese
-1 tsp sugar
-1/8 tsp vanilla
-12 raspberries, rinsed and dried

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Press about a tablespoon of cookie dough into a mini muffin tin to form a small cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
3. While shells are cooking, mix together the Nutella filling and vanilla filling in two separate bowls. Set aside.
4. Remove shells from oven and let cool on a wide rack.
5. Spoon filling into cooled shells, half of shells with Nutella and the other half with vanilla filling.
6. Top the filled shells with fruit. 

I am telling you, these came together in less than 30 minutes. They would be the prefect last minute dessert to make for a party or picnic. And the options are endless. You can use different fruits and berries, or different flavors all together.

What flavor combination would you make?

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Salsa Fruta

This recipe truly couldn't get any easier. Basically dice up a bunch of fruit and a little mint then toss with lemon juice. I let my salsa sit overnight to really get those flavors to marinate, but it can be served and eaten immediately if you want. 

I used strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, and mango. I added in about 5 finely diced mint leaves and the juice of one lemon. Essentially I created a finely diced fruit salad.

The obvious vehicle for salsa is a tortilla chip. I just made my own with whole wheat tortillas sprayed with a little oil and some sugar sprinkled on top. Cinnamon sugar pita chips or cookies would also make wonderful fruit salsa accompaniments.

But I didn't stop there. This salsa can be added to lots of things to jazz them up. Like wine. 

I let the fruit sit in the wine for a few hours (overnight would be even better), then added in some lemon lime soda water to make a quick sangria.

I also used it to top off some vanilla ice cream.

Which was probably my favorite use of the salsa. If you want to be "healthy" you could top off some Greek yogurt, which is almost as delicious!

If you do try out the fruit salsa, I encourage you to try out your favorite fruits. Like peaches, oranges, or even pomegranate seeds. You could also use lime juice instead of lemon, or even spike it with a little rum or tequila. Just a thought. ;)

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Spinach and Berry Salad

We found a new store this weekend, Pour Olive, where we picked up a bottle of cranberry white balsamic vinegar. It is so wonderful, you could drink the vinegar straight.

I am not kidding.

I knew I wanted to make something with it this week, and I didn't wait long. I decided to make a salad. I know...obvious. But I am not sorry. It was delicious.

I made a large batch vinaigrette and used part of it to marinate the chicken before I cooked it. Then I used the rest to dress the salad.

The actual ingredients of the salad were kind of improvised. I knew I wanted to throw in some cranberries and strawberries. I just happen to have feta cheese, pine nuts, and asparagus on hand. And that is how this salad was born.

Ingredients:
Dressing/Marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (cranberry or raspberry preferred)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Salad
2 cups spinach
2 cups arugula
1/4 cup dried cranberries
5-6 strawberries, tops removed and quartered
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces and blanched
2 tbsp feta cheese, crumbled
1 chicken breast, cut in half lengthwise

Directions
Dressing/Marinade
1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk until combined.
2. Pour 2/3rds into a shallow dish. Place chicken breast halves in dish and let sit for at least 15 minutes.
3. Reserve the other 1/3rd for the salad.

Salad
1. In a saute pan over medium high heat, cook the chicken about 3 minutes on each side. Once the chicken has cooked through, reduce heat, add the rest of the marinade and let reduce.
2.  In a large bowl, combine the spinach, arugula, cranberries, strawberries, pine nuts, asparagus, and feta. Drizzle the reserved dressing on top, and toss to coat.
3. Once the chicken is cooked and the marinade has reduced to glaze the chicken, remove from the pan and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.
4. Place chicken slices on top of the salad and serve.

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