Baked Apple-Cinnamon Crêpes and Chocolate-Strawberry Crêpes

Tags

Apple-Picking, Food, Fruit, Local, low-calorie, Sweets

Part two of using all those gorgeous apples I got apple-picking brings me to a favorite of mine – crêpes. Crêpes are really popular back home in Germany, especially during the upcoming holiday season – we’ll have little wooden food shacks pop up all over town that prepare crêpes to go. Typical toppings on the sweet side (which is what you tend to get at these shacks; restaurants will also serve savory versions) are cinnamon-sugar, Nutella, banana-chocolate, strawberry-chocolate and Grand Manier.

I get cravings and homesickness attacks, but most of all, my wife fell in love with the crêpes in Germany. We had to find a way to make them without fancy crêpe plates and knives, and preferably find a way to make them low-calorie!

So here’s what we came up with, a wonderfully delicious, easy crêpe recipe that my wife (she’s the crêpe-maker in the household) makes at least once a week:

Ingredients:
for the crêpes:
– 1 cup skim milk or light plain soy milk
– 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
– 1/3 cup all-whites eggbeaters (or 3 large egg whites)
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp nutmeg

for the toppings:
– 4 apples (I used Golden Delicious and Red Delicious)
– 16 oz strawberries
– cinnamon to taste
– 1/2 cup sugar-free syrup
– 4 tbsp sugar-free chocolate syrup
– Splenda or other sugar substitute to taste

Steps:
1. Combine all batter ingredients in a small mixing bowl and whisk until bubbly and no clumps remain

2. Let stand for 15 minutes and use that time to slice fruit and pre-heat a griddle or large non-stick pan
3. Spray the hot griddle with PAM (don’t be shy, otherwise the crêpes might bake to the griddle!), pour 1/4 cup of batter in, swirl to get a thin layer

4. Cook for 2 minutes, flip, cook for another 2 minutes

5. Meanwhile microwave the slices apples for 4-6 minutes until soft
6. Top 4 crêpes with strawberries, sprinkle on Splenda and top with 1 tbsp chocolate syrup per crêpe

7. Top 4 crêpes with hot apples, sprinkle on Splenda and cinnamon and pour on 1/8 cup syrup

Yields 8 crêpes (4 apple-cinnamon & 4 strawberry-chocolate). One untopped crêpe comes in at only 45 calories using milk, and even less using a light non-dairy substitute. So dig in! 🙂

(Notes: When you sprinkle on the cinnamon, make sure it’s cinnamon, not ground, roasted red pepper. Yeah. Also, we once used red curry powder instead of nutmeg in the batter. Let me tell you, either mix-up makes for surprising first mouthfuls. What are some of the worst kitchen accidents you’ve had?)

What are some of the things you crave during the fall from when you were growing up?

Spicy Flavor Beans at Yusty’s in Chengdu

Tags

Chengdu, China, Chinese, CSA, Food, Recipe, Vegetables, Yusty's

While in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, we decided to take the day off and just laze. We ended up seeing Pirates of The Carribean 4 in a theater in Chengdu, since we failed to find a place showing one of two commemorative movies dealing with the Sichuan earthquakes released for the 2nd anniversary of the catastrophe. Fortunately, most movie theaters in China let you choose between dubbed and subbed versions!
Regardless, we had dinner afterwards in one of the many restaurants in the mall next to our hotel. The place was called Yusty’s and consisted of a very long hall with different stations serving themed foods (seafood, sushi, desserts, noodle soups, etc.), and I ended up at the traditional vegetable dish station.

Here is what was advertised:

The dish translated roughly as “Spicy Flavor Beans” and a large pot came for 16 yuan, or $2.51. Food in China is wonderfully cheap.

What arrived looked a bit different, but was SO tasty!

Now, spicy in Sichuan means hot-as-hell on average, but this was actually very pleasant. The metal pan stayed sizzling hot and the flavors were wonderful. I loved it so much, I had to try and recreate it at home!

Spicy Flavor Beans Yusty’s style:

Ingredients:
1/2lb green beans (I used heirloom beans from my CSA haul)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic
peppercorns to taste
Sichuan peppers to taste (alternatively use jalapenos)
2/3 cup water

Steps:
1. Slice the peppers thinly, chop the garlic.
2. Spray a pan, preheat to medium-high heat.
3. Add garlic, peppers and peppercorns.
4. When browned, add the green beans, stir-fry briefly.

5. Add water, soy sauce and vinegar, turn heat to high and bring to a boil.
6. Lower the heat, simmer for 20 minutes stirring frequently until liquid is mostly reduced.
7. Enjoy as a side or main course!

What are some dishes you’ve encountered on your travels that you just had to recreate? Where you successful?

Apple-Picking and All-Natural Applesauce

Tags

Apple-Picking, Apples, Fruit, Local, Recipe, Sugar-Free

I’m German. I only came to the U.S. in 2005, and there are many traditions I’ve never experienced, many foods I’ve never tasted, that make up a significant portion of U.S. American culture and everyday life. One such thing is apple picking at an orchard (and no, I have never been to a pumpkin patch, I haven’t been to a haunted hayride, and, alas, I’m too old to ever trick or treat), which my wife and American friends informed me could simply not be tolerated.

My first ever apple-picking adventure thus happened last weekend at Patterson Fruit Farms, in medium heavy rain and shin-deep mud, but we had an absolute blast. I got 15lbs of apples, a nice mix of Idared, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious apples. Regardless of the variety, the price for U-Pick apples was 96 cents per pound. My wife was hoping for tarter varieties such as Granny Smith, but we seem to have missed their season. Nevertheless, the apples we did get were wonderful!

When we got home, I immediately had to get going with applesauce making using my Idared haul, while the rest of the gang attacked the baking of apple pie! All in a tiny kitchen courtesy of our chauffeuring friend Larry, but it was a very fun afternoon.

So here goes, basic all-natural, no sugar added applesauce!
Ingredients:
– 6 lbs apples
– 3 cups water
– 2 teaspoons cinnamon
– 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
– half a lemon

Steps:
1. Get peeling, coring, and roughly cubing! If you like your apple sauce with some bite, leave up to half the apples unpeeled.

2. Add the apple cubes to one or more large pots, slice the lemon and add the slices, pour water into pots and add cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. Turn heat to high to get a good boil going:

4. Cover, reduce heat to medium and boil for 20 minutes (apples should be soft) with frequent stirring. The end result should look somewhat like this:

5. Fish out the lemon slices and process everything else in batches to a food processor or blender if you like your applesauce smooth, otherwise use a potato masher.

And that’s it! Yields about 12 cups of sauce, and you can easily half or double to recipe according to your needs and kitchen space.