savory crepes

I've been craving swiss chard lately and trying to figure out different ways to eat it... at every meal. I sautéed it in coconut oil this morning along side of my eggs, I ate it for lunch in a protein "buddha" bowl (this recipe will be coming soon!), and I wanted it again for dinner. I told you, I'm on a kick!

I reached in the depths of my cupboard and found a Bobs Red Mill gluten free pancake mix, took a look in the fridge and found some mushrooms, (still) a large bunch of chard, onions, and some mozzarella cheese and thought: this will do. I love the mixture of mushrooms, caramelized onions and greens... and think of the antioxidants! Greens like chard, kale, beet greens, and spinach are packed with vitamins A, C, E, and K which all work well together to battle oxidation in our bodies. Crimini mushrooms are a source of trace minerals like selenium (an important mineral for the detox pathways in our liver) and vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6: all of these B vitamins are excellent to help our bodies deal with stress and energy levels.

Tony followed the instructions on the pancake mix package, just adding a bit more liquid so the mixture was more "crepey" and took care of the crepes.

I found a recipe that would serve as the backbone of our dinner (from a website called "Julia's Album) and then sliced up some onions, chopped the mushrooms, diced the garlic and chard and got to cooking.


Ingredients:
One package gluten free pancake mix
Handful of shredded mozzarella cheese
Caramelized onions:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 onions, medium or large, sliced
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  
  Adding mushrooms and chard:
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 or 15 small mushrooms, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• pinch of salt
• 3 cups chard (or spinach)

Instructions

Step 1. Caramelized onions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on high heat in a large skillet, when oil is heated, add sliced onions and cook on high heat for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring with spatula. The onions should start to brown, but without burning (a couple of onions may be burnt here and there, but overall they should not be charred).
2. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking onions for 10 more minutes, continuing to stir, as onions brown even more without burning. At this point add just a pinch of salt over onions.
3. Continue cooking for 10 more minutes on medium or low heat, stirring occasionally to make sure onions don’t stick to the bottom of the pan or burn. Total you should have cooked onions for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and sprinkle onions with a small amount of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan. Using spatula, mix the onions, scraping the bottom of the pan and coating onions with a pinch of balsamic vinegar you just added.
   
   
Step 2. Adding mushrooms and chard

5. After you have started cooking onions, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in another pan, and add sliced mushrooms and minced garlic. Add just a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook mushrooms and garlic covered for about 20 minutes, occasionally stirring.
6. Add cooked mushrooms to the pan with caramelized onions, add 3 cups of chard and stir on low heat just until chard wilts.
   
   Step 3. Making the crepes and assembling:
7. Cook the crepes on each side, and then add the mixture to one side then fold in half. 
8. Remove from heat and add a sprinkle of cheese (or skip for a vegan recipe!)
9. Serve immediately... we sliced up some tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese with basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar as a side salad.