Pumpkin Crepes (with Whole Wheat)

I've mentioned before that we usually eat breakfast for dinner at least once a week. It saves money, time, sanity--that sort of thing. And it can be perfectly nutritious and well-rounded if you make, say, a breakfast casserole or an omelette with veggies. Unfortunately for us, we usually end up making something that can have a syrup of some sort drizzled upon it. Sometimes I worry about this and thus worry about my qualifications as a nice healthy mom in general. But then I go to the gym and see that half the parents have left cheeseballs and crackers in their kids' cubbies for a snack and I get back on my high horse. (Don't you just love your high horse. I know I do. Until it bucks me off.)

Anyway, so Mark noticed a jar of (generic) Nutella in the cupboard this week and was bugging me to make crepes for dinner. Crepes. Which really shouldn't even count as a breakfast, only a dessert. At least the way we eat them, which is with jam or syrup or Nutella and then topped with whipped cream. Yup.

But I made them anyway. However. I put in a cup of whole wheat and added some pumpkin. I wasn't sure how they would turn out. I consider crepes a little persnickety in that you can't just go messing with the recipe willy nilly and expect them to have that crepe-y texture and taste. But I figured that since they were going to be slathered in Nutella, now was as good a time as any to do a little experimentation.

I was richly rewarded. They were delicious. No one--even super tasting Mark--could tell they had had anything done to them. And I felt a little better about myself as a person. I was so proud of myself that I even sauteed some mushrooms for myself so I could have a savory crepe before moving on to the dessert course. Mushrooms and pumpkin. High horse--I do love you.

Oh, and when I found Emma on the floor after dinner, licking out the Nutella jar, well, that sound you heard was me falling off the high horse.

Pumpkin Crepes (with Whole Wheat)
Makes: 20-ish large crepes (truthfully I always lose count--all that crepe flipping)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes flipping crepes
Cost: $1.35
eggs: .10, milk: .60, pumpkin: .15, flour: .20, whole wheat flour: .20

Whip together:

4 eggs
3 C milk
1/4 C pumpkin

Add (and whisk in): 

2 Tbsp sugar
2 C flour
1 C whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Whisk in:

1 C milk
1 tsp vanilla (optional, but I love it)

Heat skillet on medium heat.

Spread a large (I think a 12-inch) skillet with a generous amount of butter. Pour about 1/2 C batter into pan and tilt the pan around so that your batter spreads out in a thin circle (or circle-like shape). It should be quite thin, but not paper thin or anything--a couple millimeters tops.

Allow it to cook so that there is just a touch of not-quite-cooked batter at the center. Then flip it and let it cook another 30-60 seconds more.

Put it on a plate. For some law of cosmic whateverlyness, the first crepe always comes out a little funny. Don't worry; you're second one will be better.

Add more butter, pour more batter and keep going.

When you're done, top it however you like, roll it up, and eat it.

PRINTABLE RECIPE