Vanilla Crepes with Strawberries and Vanilla Greek Yogurt

Sometimes I like to indulge in my five-year-old imagination and think about what the world would be like if I could control the way things worked.

Working weeks would last 2 days and weekends would last 5 days (for the same amount of pay, obviously), it would be mandatory to eat at least 5 pieces of chocolate a day to maintain a healthy diet and the hair fairy would stop by everyone’s house in the morning to ensure a fabulous hair day every day.

I would also jump out of bed super-early every morning just raring to make a breakfast like this.

We only eat breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I usually plan what we’re having a couple of days before. Except when I wake up on Friday all ready to make chocolate chip pancakes, I inevitably want poached egg on toast or a croissant. So I usually end up making both, just in case I change my mind again as soon as I sit down to eat, which is usually the case.

So I really eat breakfast six days a week. Or at least I eat almost a week’s worth of breakfasts in three days. The first sentence sounds much better, less embarrassing and is the one I’m rolling with.

The sweet, juicy strawberries and tangy Greek yogurt work wonderfully alongside the buttery, vanilla crepes in this recipe. And in my perfect world, you’d jump out of bed super-early tomorrow to make them….for me.

Vanilla Crepes with Strawberries and Vanilla Greek Yogurt

Serves 2

Ingredients

Crepes

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

¾ cup milk

½ cup flour

Pinch salt

Sweet Vanilla Greek Yogurt

½ cup Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Sweet Strawberries

6 strawberries

1 tablespoon sugar

Recipe

1. For the crepes, whisk together the sugar, egg vanilla and milk. Stir in the flour and salt. Heat a small amount of butter in a frying pan and pour about 1/3 cup of the crepe mixture in, making sure to spread it all over the pan. Cook on each side for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until golden brown. When cooked, fold in half and in half again. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

2. For the sweet vanilla Greek yogurt, whisk together the yogurt, vanilla and powdered sugar.

3. For the sweet strawberries, place the strawberries in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Sprinkle the sugar on top and leave to simmer until the strawberries are soft and the juices are released – about 5-10 minutes.

Serve the crepes with a few strawberries and a drizzling of sweet vanilla Greek yogurt.

Happy Friday! I hope you guys have a fantastic weekend J

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Chunky Bacon & Corn Pancakes

“Don’t touch these until I’ve had the chance to take some pictures. It’ll only take a minute.” Looking back, I can see where I went wrong.

Instead of leaving the kitchen for 20 seconds to grab my camera and leaving the pancakes unattended, I should have handcuffed My Official Treat Taster to a secure object at the other end of the room then went to grab my camera.

Contrary to what the pictures might suggest, this recipe actually makes about 8 pancakes. Not 3. Definitely not 3. However, by the time I returned to the kitchen with my camera, there were 3 and a half pancakes left on the plate.

Apparently breakfast had taken way too long and because we hadn’t had dessert the night before he was absolutely starving and was worried he was going to die from hunger. Yes – unfortunately – I’m being serious.

According to the pancake-devourer, having most of my breakfast gobbled up before I had a chance to take pictures is actually a compliment and not an incredibly rude, mean, childish thing to do. Who knew?

So I made up for the lack of pancakes by posting an obnoxious number of photos. I didn’t even know there were so many ways I could take pictures of the same 3 pancakes again and again and again…

I could go on and tell you how fantastic these pancakes are and how you need to schedule them in for your next relaxed breakfast or brunch, but I won’t. I’ll just remind you: he ate 4 and a half pancakes in 20 seconds.

Chunky Bacon & Corn Pancakes

Makes 8

Recipe adapted from Lori’s Bacon & Corn Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

4 strips bacon, chopped

4 tablespoons chopped onion

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

11/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt & pepper

1 teaspoon sage

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 cup sweet corn

Recipe

1. Fry the bacon and onion together until the bacon is crispy and the onion is translucent. Remove about 2 tablespoons of bacon and onions for topping the pancakes and place the rest into a bowl. Don’t get rid of the bacon fat!

2. In a bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, salt, pepper and sage. Pour in the milk and egg and stir well.

3. Mix in the corn, bacon and onion. Place a small frying pan over a medium heat and pour a little of the bacon grease in. Scoop about 1/3 cup of the pancake mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. Keep warm in a heated oven until ready to serve. Top with some bacon and onion mix.

Pancakes are so photogenic!

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Whole-Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes

It’s Monday morning and I need a good reason to admit that the wonderful weekend is over and get out of bed and perform my task as a useful member of society. After spending an entirely offline weekend – the first time I’ve ever done this – I was reluctant, to say the least, about rejoining the real world, packed with keyboards, monitors and decision-making.

Knowing that I don’t have to always be online and contactable felt great and is definitely something I plan on getting used to immediately. So after a super-fantastic weekend and scary Monday morning staring me in the face, I felt I deserved a yummy breakfast with my latest addiction incorporated – peanut butter.

Just like the Whole Wheat Nutella Pancakes, these bad boys are really filling so you only need 1 or 2. Serve with jam or jelly for a PB&J breakfast, or slap on some Nutella for the classic peanut butter and chocolate combo.

Whole-Wheat Peanut ButterPancakes

Makes around 6 fluffy pancakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

pinch salt

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/4 cup peanut butter

Recipe

1. Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

2. Pour in the wet ingredients and whisk until a smooth batter forms.

3. Add 1 teaspoon of butter into a small frying pan over a medium heat and swirl until it coats the pan. Thrown in another teaspoon and swirl again so you have a well-greased pan.

4. Pour in about 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes or until lots of bubbles have popped on the surface of your pancake. Flip over and cook for another 30-45 seconds. Remove from the pan and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Monday morning doesn’t seem to scary now, does it?

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Low-Carb Cream Cheese Pancakes

Cream cheese! You can get it low-fat, full-fat, mixed with herbs, peppers, ham, tuna or even blended with melted chocolate. You’ll find it frosting cupcakes, in the filling of cheesecakes, stuffed inside chicken breasts or even just spread on toast. But what about pancakes? Can you see the connection between cream cheese and pancake batter?

Until last week when I found myself with numerous tubs of cream cheese which were ready to go off any second, I wouldn’t have seen the connection either. But now I am going to open up the world of low-carb pancakes to you. A world where you can gorge on rounds upon rounds of pancakes without having to plough through that I-know-it’s-only-8.20am-but-after-those-pancakes-i-could-really-do-with-a-nap feeling. They lean more to the crepe side, but taste great and go with anything you'd usually pour on a pancake.

Try them for yourself – the ingredient list or recipe really couldn’t be any simpler.

Low-Carb Cream Cheese Pancakes

Inspired by I breathe...I’m Hungry

Makes 4 small pancakes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cream cheese at room temperature

1 egg

1 tablespoon sugar

Recipe

1. Whisk together all of the ingredients until smooth.

2. Pour ¼ of the batter into a hot greased pan and cook for around 2 minutes until golden. Flip and cook on the other side for about another minute.

3. Keep the pancakes warm in a preheated oven until ready to serve.

4. Repeat the previous steps with the rest of the batter.

Low-Carb Cream Cheese Pancakes are definitely near the top of the list of non-photogenic food. 

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Whole-Wheat Nutella Pancakes

Once again, it's Monday morning and once again I'm completely unprepared. My diary and to-do lists are always jam-packed on a Monday because I have the whole weekend to think of stuff that I need to do and write it down. It's almost 10.30am right now and I've only managed to complete 2/23 tasks for the day - and one of those was getting dressed. 

So, needless to say, Mondays aren't my favourite day of the week. But you know what makes Monday a whole lot better? Whole-Wheat Nutella Pancakes. See that large jar of Nutella in the background of the picture? Before these pancakes, not even a dollop had been used for a recipe or spread on toast. It's all been scooped up with a spoon and delivered directly to my mouth. My Official Treat Taster doesn't like nuts and has a big mind block when it comes to Nutella, so I argue that if I can't bake with it, I'll just have to eat it on it's own. Yum!

My Official Treat Taster was craving icky bacon grill for breakfast this weekend - in case you're lucky enough to have never heard of bacon grill, imagine what ham would be like if pigs were made of plastic - so I snapped up the opportunity to make something with Nutella. These pancakes are so thick, fluffy and filling, yet somehow light. The rich, chocolate flavour really shines through to make any Monday morning worth getting up for.

Whole-Wheat Nutella Pancakes

Makes around 6 fluffy pancakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

pinch salt

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/4 cup Nutella

Recipe

1. Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

2. Pour in the wet ingredients and whisk until a smooth batter forms.

3. Add 1 teaspoon of butter into a small frying pan over a medium heat and swirl until it coats the pan. Thrown in another teaspoon and swirl again so you have a well-greased pan.

4. Pour in about 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes or until lots of bubbles have popped on the surface of your pancake. Flip over and cook for another 30-45 seconds. Remove from the pan and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

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Best Buttermilk Pancakes

This has become my fool-proof recipe for making fluffy American pancakes with minimal effort. They're so easy to make, that you can easily whip them up before work for a satisfying weekday breakfast. Don't forget to keep an eye on these when they're cooking though - a few seconds too long and you've got yourself a pile of black, charred crisps.

I always eat my pancakes with thick drizzles of honey, whereas Boyfriend scatters sugar and squirts lemon juice on top. How do you like your pancakes? With fresh berries? Nutella? Ice cream? Let me know in the comments section!

This recipe makes enough for four portions and is adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.

Ingredients
130g flour
1tbsp sugar
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
250ml buttermilk
100ml sour cream
1 egg

2tbsp melted butter

Recipe

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. 

2. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, egg and melted butter.

3. Pour in the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and gently stir until just combined. Leave to sit at room temperature for around 15 minutes.

4. Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Scoop some butter into the towel and swirl it around the pan until it is covered in a thin layer of melted butter. 

5. Pour four small amounts of the mixture into the pan and cook until edges are set and bubbles on surface are just beginning to break. Flip the pancakes and continue to cook until second side is golden brown - 1 to 2 minutes longer.

Note - you must grease the pan with butter each time you add more batter or the pancakes will stick to the pan and burn.