Saturday, October 12, 2013

Breakfast: Oatmeal Crepes


When I was growing up in Peru, I got so tired of breakfast food.
Our options were eggs, toast, puffed rice (with canned evaporated milk, ugh), pancakes, and when we felt creative, crepes.We called the crepes "Panqueque de Huevo," or egg pancakes. They were pretty wonderful.

I thought breakfast cereals were the greatest. I thought I'd eat nothing but cornflakes when I got to the States.
Well, I have eaten a few bowls of cornflakes, and lots of Cheerios and Rice Krispies. But we don't go for fancy breakfast cereals in our house. When Julia got to college, her roommates brought Cap'n Crunch. It was ridiculously delicious, she hadn't had it in years. Anna Kate doesn't even know what it is. We'll keep it that way.
These crepes are our favorite breakfast these days. My husband loves them, they're easy finger-food for the baby, and they're healthy and filling.
We've been trying to cut down on wheat, even whole-grain organic wheat. So this recipe is made using oatmeal. To get a fine, flour-like mill on the oats, use a coffee grinder.

This recipe isn't exact, because I don't measure. If you need exact measurements, an online crepe recipe is your best bet.

Oatmeal Crepes

2 eggs
2/3 cup ground oatmeal (the amount that fits in a coffee grinder)
about 3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together all ingredients.
I like a thin batter. If the batter is too thick, it won't cover the bottom of the pan.
Add milk if needed to thin batter.

Melt 1 tsp. butter in a crepe pan or a non-stick 10-inch frying pan (on medium high heat)
Pour in about 1/4 cup batter, depending on how thin you like your crepes. I like mine quite thin.
Tip the pan so batter goes to the edges.

The first side takes the longest to cook, about 2 minutes.
Flip crepe, finish other side, tip onto a plate, and garnish as you like. We use peanut butter and jam, or just jam. Fresh fruit and whipped cream taste great, but are way more work.




A sunny morning and two fresh crepes.


If you can find a small whisk like the one on the left, buy it.
This one is from Dayton's (back in the day), they don't have them anymore. It's a wonderful whisk.
You will need to keep whisking this oatmeal batter, as the heavier particles want to sink.


It was difficult to take these pictures with a baby grabbing at the plate.
He ate more than I did.

If you make these and have recommendations about the measurements, let me know!


6 comments:

  1. This is a fantastic idea. I think I will try making them in the blender. That's an easy way to keep giving them "a whisk", and also an easy, contained way to grind the oats.

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    1. Great idea. You can also add a pinch of baking powder and a dash of salt, but I usually don't. Let me know how the oats mill in the blender. If it works I'll do that instead.

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  2. MEA weekend is coming, and this will be the first breakfast I make - after we all sleep in! (I know "sleeping in" isn't part of your vocabulary - with our without a baby! ;-)

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  3. Yup! Made these tonight for Shawn and me for "Sunday Supper." I cooked them in my Cuisinart stainless frying pan with coconut oil instead of butter, and they came out GREAT. I used the blender to mix up the batter and it worked really well. The second batch (I started with a half recipe, which was not nearly enough), the blender was already wet, so I didn't bother to grind the oats first, and it didn't seem to make any difference. We ate them with almond butter and raw honey, peanut butter and jam, applesauce and cinnamon... and one may or may not have gone down with Nutella. Thanks for a great idea, Laura! We love these!

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    1. Oh good! Great idea for Sunday Supper. Your sound great with the coconut oil and almond butter and honey. I will have to try the blender idea. They would be easy to pour.

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