Crofter's Organic Superfruit Crepes

I didn't have to work on Good Friday, and I wanted to make something special for breakfast to celebrate. So off I went to my kitchen to make crepes for the very first time.

There were two reasons I chose to make crepes:
1. A while ago I received a coupon to try Crofter's Superfruit Spread, and I wanted to do something more with it than put it on toast (though that's a perfectly fine option).
2. I've been wanting to eat at an expensive little crepe trailer in South Austin for several months. Making them at home took care of that craving.

I started with my jar of the North America Superfruit Spread and went to work making the crepes. I made 2 servings, which ended up yielding four crepes. What you see below are basically the ingredients you'll need: an egg, all-purpose flour, milk, water, and (not pictured) butter. I added a touch of vanilla because I already had it out, and who doesn't love vanilla? I mixed those together in my bowl and then stuck it back in the fridge. I read in another recipe that if you let the batter settle in the fridge for an hour, it will make the crepes less bumpy and lumpy.

But I didn't let it sit for that long. I kept it in there for as long as it took me to make some whipped cream (or as we say in my family, "whip cream." Maybe it's a Southern thing.)

If you've never made your own, you really should. It's easy and tastes so good. I probably should've cut this recipe in half, but I didn't. I piled lots of whip cream inside and on top of my crepes and had plenty left over for an impromptu fruit salad.

Once the whip cream was ready, I went back to making the crepes. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I switched up things with the butter. I was supposed to mix melted butter into the batter, but I think I used it all to oil my frying pan. No wonder it seemed like SO MUCH butter. Ha! The crepes tasted just fine though...

I was worried that it'd be tricky to flip the crepes, but that was actually pretty easy because they curled up at the edges. The tricky part was spreading the batter quickly (quickly!) and evenly in the pan before it could really start cooking.

Assembling the crepes was fast. I spread a line of Superfruit down the center, layered some whip cream on top and folded it over burrito style.

Of course I loaded more whip cream on top too. Yumm.

They were rich and filling, so I only ate half of my three. I saved the leftovers for Henry, and when he got home, he said, "These are good. Where'd you get the berries?"

I will definitely make these again. The mix of blueberries, cranberries, red grapes, and morello cherries is on the tart side, so the whipped cream balanced it out with a little (or if you're like me, a lot of) sweet. I liked using the Crofter's Superfruit Spread because I didn't have to prep anything for the filling, yet it packed an antioxidant-filled, flavorful punch. I wish I could have some right now.

No. 28: Skillet Chicken Vesuvio

 

I made this for dinner on Friday. Simple to make, but very flavorful. It got a "pretty good" rating from Henry, which means we'll probably have it again.

And here's a picture from today (taken by Henry):

Love.

Meatless Monday: Quinoa Edition

So first in what will hopefully become a series of Meatless Monday posts is my discussion of quinoa. After some Internet research and discovery of Forvo, the pronunciation dictionary, I learned that it is pronounced KEEN-wah.

I first heard about quinoa on a blog (I almost feel like that should be a given), and for whatever reason I wanted to try it. Again, I'm late to the party. Apparently, "it has been an important food for 6,000 years" in South America. At least someone on Wikipedia thinks so. It's a winner because it is high in protein (it's considered a "complete protein"), dietary fiber, phosphorus, lysine, methionine, cystine, magnesium, and iron. Did I mention that it is also gluten-free?


I picked up about 1 1/4 cup of quinoa in the Whole Foods dry goods section (not sure if that's what it's really called, but it was on the aisle with the self-serve grains/beans/dried soup mixes/etc.) for a couple bucks.

These are teensy tiny seeds you're dealing with here, so it was somewhat difficult to wash them per Whole Foods' instructions. I do not have a strainer with teensier tinier holes, so I attempted to rinse them in my 1/4 measuring cup. That turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, so I ended up just plopping them all down in my sauce pan. I only saw one black thing floating around in the water, and I was able to get it out. Conclusion: I think you can skip the washing step if you don't have a strainer with holes that are teensier tinier than quinoa.


Cooking the stuff couldn't have been more easy. You bring water to a boil, turn it down to medium heat, and let it bubble for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.


Draining the water, again, was hard. I did the best I could with my wooden spoon against the side of the pan. Next time I might try using my rice cooker or I might invest in a strainer with teensier tinier holes...but probably not. It turned okay the way I did it.

It had the fluffiness of rice, but with what people describe as a "nutty" flavor.  I added a frozen vegetable mix to mine, and voila! Lunch was ready.

I will definitely be making some again because I have a lot of it left over, but I won't be adding this particular veggie mix...after one bite of cauliflower I remembered how much I detest it. But really, the possibilities are endless if you just think about using quinoa in place of rice. I'm thinking it'd be good with a yummy stir fry. Mmm.

Hungry Girl: Twice-as-Nice Guapo Taco

We also made these Taco Bell knockoffs from Hungry Girl on Easter weekend.

I'd give it a B+. We basically followed the recipe this time, except we didn't get low carb tortillas or fat free refried beans (is there really such a thing? couldn't find any at our local HEB). I added a dollop of Greek yogurt on top as a substitute for sour cream. That was a good move.

In the process of making this recipe, I found out that my husband does NOT like soy crumbles. I have to admit that I didn't care for the way the crumbles tasted either. It was like they were overly seasoned. Next time I'd probably just use ground turkey or use less of the taco seasoning packet.

Hungry Girl: Upside-Down Chocolate PB Cheesecake

For most of my life I've joked about being somewhat domestically disabled. I didn't learn how to prepare a meal (beyond boxed spaghetti) or do my own laundry until I went to college. Growing up, my mom always worked full time, and she'd usually prepare our one home-cooked meal of the week on Sunday while my dad and I were at church.  It worked for our family, but I wish I had taken more opportunities to assist her with preparing family meals.

I feel like now I want to make an effort to learn how to cook for my family, and as part of that, one of my goals for the year is to get in the kitchen more to try to make new things. In the last few weeks I've tried some new recipes! I'll try to post some of the ones I liked on here. Have you heard of Hungry Girl? I recently saw a TV segment with the author and decided to check out her site. It seems to me that her mission is to find ways to make foods that she enjoys eating a little healthier yet still tasty.

For our Easter dinner I made Hungry Girl's Upside-Down Chocolate PB Cheesecake. It was an incredibly easy recipe, no bake, and Henry and I really liked it. I took it to work and made another batch for my book club meeting too, and everyone loved it and wanted the recipe. I definitely recommend it if you are a fan of chocolate and peanut butter. It had more of a pudding-like consistency than cheesecake, but that didn't matter so much since it tasted good!

Upside-Down Chocolate PB Cheesecake from Hungry Girl

PER SERVING (1/8th of recipe, about 1/2 cup): 143 calories, 3.5g fat, 320mg sodium, 19.5g carbs, 1g fiber, 6g sugars, 6.5g protein -- POINTS® value 3* Super-rich, peanut-buttery, chocolate cheesecake filling topped with a layer of chocolate crunch!?! Yup... Ingredients: 1 packet Swiss Miss Sensible Sweets 25-calorie diet hot cocoa mix **I couldn't find this at the grocery store, so I just used the regular hot cocoa mix I already had at home** One 8-oz. tub fat-free cream cheese, room temperature 2 Jell-O Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding Snacks 1/3 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated) **used regular sugar*** 2 tsp. vanilla extract 2 cups Cool Whip Free, thawed, divided 3 tbsp. reduced-fat peanut butter, room temperature **used regular peanut butter** Two 100 Calorie Packs Oreo Thin Crisps or 3 sheets (12 crackers) chocolate graham crackers Optional: Fat Free Reddi-wip Directions: Dissolve cocoa mix in 2 tbsp. hot water. In a medium bowl, combine cocoa mixture with cream cheese, pudding, Splenda, and vanilla extract. Using a handheld electric mixer, whisk until smooth. Fold in 1/2 cup Cool Whip. Transfer mixture to a large pie pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine remaining 1 1/2 cups Cool Whip with peanut butter. Whisk until smooth and uniform in color. Spread over the "pie." Cover and refrigerate until chilled and slightly firm, about 2 hours. Meanwhile, crush Oreo Thin Crisps or chocolate graham crackers into fine crumbs, and set aside. Once ready to serve, top pie with crushed cookies/graham crackers. If you like, top each serving with a squirt of Reddi-wip. Enjoy with a spoon! MAKES 8 SERVINGS