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RD, newlywed, and wanna-be foodie in Pittsburgh, PA
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I’m super excited to be Matt’s featured blogger this week. He always has amazing meals, new foods, and great advice for athletes (and those of us who wish we were).
There’s something about leisurely weekend breakfasts.
I woke up on Saturday morning and made my way to the kitchen for coffee and to make my husband pancakes before he had to leave for work.
I’m still loving the Kodiak Cake mix that I got for such a great price. The simple, natural ingredient list and the fact that all you have to do is add water.
When I started pulling items out of my “baking” basket in the pantry, I tried to decide whether my husband would want coconut, walnuts, bananas, or chocolate chips in his pancakes. They all ended up in the batter.
Two large, fluffy (somewhat healthy) pancakes, made in minutes.
As good as his pancakes looked, I was still thinking about the pumpkin butter and goat cheese combination I’ve been enjoying on toast recently.
Then I thought about the sweet and savory blintz/crepe-like nalesniki I had in Poland. Traditional crepes often contain more butter and egg yolks than regular pancakes, which makes the batter more moist; the batter is also much thinner than a regular pancake batter, which allows you to make them very thin.
I didn’t feel like making a real crepe batter with extra fat and calories, so I just thinned out the Kodiak mix.
It worked beautifully.
I got 4 crepes from 1/3 cup of dry mix, which has the following nutrition stats:
[source]
Pretty good, right? A savory blintz or crepe filling often has some kind of mild soft cheese – typically cream cheese or ricotta. I wanted to keep the filling calories to a minimum too, so I substituted a mix of cottage cheese and 0% fat Chobani (both of which make this breakfast packed with protein), with a dash of cinnamon and a few drops of vanilla stevia.
Each crepe got spread with a thin layer of pumpkin butter…
Then topped with the “cheese” mixture…
Rolled up and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Sweet, savory, and most of all – simple.
Approximate nutrition facts (3 crepes, with filling): 290 calories, 2 grams fat, 21 grams carbs, 25 grams protein (!)
1/3 cup of the mix made 4 crepes – and 3 had the pumpkin butter filling.
The last one? Dessert of course!
White Chocolate PB&Co and a few dark chocolate chips.
Rolled and eaten by hand. 🙂
Questions for you:
Can you enjoy pancakes plain? I need to have something in the batter / topping to really enjoy them!
Crepes, or hearty, thick pancakes? I think there’s a time and place for both!
Nope – no plain pancakes for me. I do like both pancakes and crepes though, so thanks for the recipe!
It’s not much of a recipe since I used the mix, but there are plenty of crepe recipes out there! 😉
i love crepes! i’ve been making buckwheat crepes lately and stuffing them with greek yogurt and fruit
I make nalesniki all the time! The way my mom always made them they didn’t have any butter in them; just milk, egg, and flour – no measurements just enough to get the right texture and amount. The butter or oil only came to play when on the pan to avoid sticking. So I always thought of it as a healthy breakfast 😉
So good to know! I only had them at a restaurant so I wasn’t quite sure how they were made.
Yes it’s super easy to healthify! I have a post with my family’s recipe here: http://loftyappetite.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/cheese-filled-crepes-with-fruit/
Thanks for the link!
Great idea! I’m a huge pancake fan – I usually add banana or pumpkin to them. Syrup or “melted” fruit on top is also a must.
I’m saving my pumpkin – down to 6 cans (gasp)!
These look delicious! I’m with you- I need some sort of flavor either in the mix, on top, or both. Favorites include bananas, peanut butter, pumpkin, or walnuts. The best pancakes are thick and fluffy.
I’m a big fan of crepes! Thanks for sharing this recipe, those crepes look so yummy! 🙂
Loved your protein cookies today – I wasn’t able to comment though! My computer is being funky. 🙂
I’m not a huge fan of crepes, so give me the full on hearty pancakes 🙂
I’ll throw some in the mail this afternoon! 🙂
OH these look awesome!! Thanks for posting the recipe. I gotta get my crepe ON 🙂
You have a nice blog. I loveeeeee all the stuff you added to the pancakes, normally I do banana walnut or banana choco-chip, never thought of adding coconut, such a great idea.
I love crepes with butter, cinnamon and sugar, but I also LOVE big, fat, fluffy pancakes with extra maple syrup.
I actually prefer savory crepes. Scrambled eggs, spinach, and gruyere is my all time fav!
I don’t think I’ve ever made a crepe before! These sound great, Claire!
i like my pancakes with just a little bit of syrup, but crepes are so fun to put toppings on and roll them up!
how much water did you put in them to thin them out?
I added about 1.25-1.5 times as much water as liquid; ie, 1 cup mix and 1.25 cups water. The batter should be the consistency of melted ice cream. 🙂 Hope that helps!