Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Ever Elusive "Paleo Raspberry Crepe"



Funny thing... as i'm sitting here just spoiling myself on these paleo raspberry crepes, watching the snow fall outside, it occurs to me that we've entered into a kind of symbiotic relationship ;-) You all tune in now and then for PZ recipes and I eat like a king (umm... i meant caveman) in my effort to post recipes that are worthy - thank you. This blog turned into more than i thought it ever would. Well anyway, my daughter really enjoys crepes and we've been trying for some time to re-invent them using paleo ingredients - we nearly gave up. They were always kinda crumbly thanks to almond flour that i kept adding. Then i saw a recipe at www.freecoconutrecipes.com. I had to nix the whipped cream (darnit) and I made some other minor tweaks but dang if these aren't some darn good crepes! I can't tell them from the "real" thing. I hadn't heard of coconut flour until a few months ago - it's weird. Don't think you're just gonna substitute it for regular flour and be on your merry way - I think you could patch concrete with this stuff. But, use just a little, and it works magic. Here's that recipe. Fancy breakfast lovers shalt suffer no more....




Paleo Crepes (enough for 3 crepes)

2 eggs 10F 14P
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil - melted - 28F
1 Tsp Agave 5C (kinda optional)
2 Tablespoons Coconut Flour - sifted - 12C 2F (can get at Whole Foods)
3 Tablespoons Coconut Milk - 7F 3C
2 Tablespoons Water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 Cup raspberries 15C (filling)
1.5 Tablespoons Agave 22C (topping)

Beat the eggs and the rest of the ingredients together. I don't have a sifter so i just put the coconut flour in a little wire gizmo ...... little embarrassed that i even have one of those ;-)
Melt the coconut oil in a nice non-stick pan and, after it's just melted, add it to the ingredients and mix well.
Pour 1/3 Cup of the batter into the hot pan and tilt the pan around so you get about a 6" diameter crepe. Now the hard part - flipping it. Honestly, i stopped trying to use a spatula. I shake the pan around a bit and just wrist flip it. This is very convenient if you're on a 2X or 3X fat plan cuz you get to eat your mistakes ;-) Wrap up 1/3 C of raspberries, sprinkle some coconut flour on top (this is for "looks"), and drizzle with 1/2 Tablespoon agave. Prepare to be impressed! ;-)

This is not quite balanced of course. For me, shooting for a 5 block breakfast, I added 4 oz banana and 9 egg whites to ONE of the crepes above. Believe it or not, this meal is 30:40:30 balanced (I know, hard to believe U can say that and "crepes" in the same breath!)

... now a little off-topic jibberish....on the importance of weighing your food. Recently I noticed i was feeling hungry a lot during the day and was having a hard time waiting for my meals (I try to eat one lunch at 10:00 and one at 2:00. Then i took a close look at my lunch and, SOB!, I was short-changing myself! Traditionally, I've kinda focused on protein and seldom short change myself there. Fats and carbs though, well they're bad right? ;-) I was getting skimpy on both. I got out the scale and started weighing again - now I feel better and can put the scale back for a bit. So, even if you went through the 2 weeks or 4 weeks of measuring your food, break out that scale now and then to make sure your eyeball hasn't gotten a little tweaked. Cuz, if you're doing straight PZ, relative to most people, you're on a low fat, low carb eating plan. Any lower, is not optimum, IMHO.

Eat Well! Steve "Paleo"

12 comments:

  1. Hey Steve,
    I too, use my food scale. Even after maintaining a 60lb weight loss for over 8 years now, I still feel it crucial. I tend to find that I under eat and short change myself. It's nce to know I'm not alone.

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  2. Just made and ate these with my family... too fast to take any pictures. Next time I will document.

    My two and a half year old liked the berries. My wife loved the crepes! I loved them too. It brought a bit of Saturday energy to this Thursday morning.

    Substitutions: almond milk for the coconut milk (going with what was to hand); almond extract instead of vanilla extract (same problem); honey for agave (heat it, like the coconut oil; same issue).

    I wasn't sure how you did the berries. I heated a couple of cups of plain frozen mixed berries (blackberry, raspberry, blueberry) in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of honey and some water. It was plenty sweet for me.

    GREAT RECIPE!

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  3. Hey Matt - I think the almond milk and extract are really good ideas btw. I've kinda forgotten about almond milk - think i'm gonna get some. Coconut milk is pretty rich. Also - i just had fresh berries that i literally threw in...damn i'm getting hungry now!

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  4. Jackpot find today.....Its a spread called "cacao bliss". Coconut butter, agave and cacao butter. Had it on some strawberries for dessert tonight. Would be great on the crepes or in a cookie. I'll let you know if I have success!

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  5. Wow Angela - that sounds REALLY good! Where did you find it?

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  6. Here in Houston at a place called Central Market. Its a lot like whole foods. I was very close to breaking down and buying some nutella....but then I saw the cacao bliss and my diet disaster was saved! I'll look on the label later and send you their web address--if you can't find it in the stores maybe you can buy online.

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  7. Yes...and once you find out, let me know! I only found it online. BTW...the crepes are amazing!!

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  8. Thanks so much for this! It was delicious. It made 3 crepes but for some reason my mix was off and I couldnt flip any of them until the 3rd one. Maybe I just need practice? I had to make the 3rd one thicker in order to flip it and it wouldn't fold pretty like you have in your picture. I topped mine with a smidge of almond butter, half sliced banana, tbs of agave nectar and cinnamon. SOOOO amazing!

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  9. I just had to say, I eat these all the time for breakfast, just an incredible crepe!!!

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  10. Made these this morning for myself and two kids, ages 6 & 10. As we are slowly moving to paleo, I often get a lot of resistance from the girls. They loved these and were asking for more. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

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  11. Thanks for all of the great recipes and posts. I made these this morning except with blueberries. I found an easy way to flip the crepes. I have a small ~6" pan that I started to cook the crepes. When they were ready for a flip, I just used the pan to flip them into a larger pan. Perfect everytime. Unfortunately I did not get to eat any mistakes this morning. I am definitely going to make these again. Thanks.

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  12. Somethings are obvious only after someone says it Joe! Thanks for the feedback - think I might make these today! Steve

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