Gluten-free Ricotta Strawberry Crepes

I get hungry all over again just when I look at them.

I grew up eating 'blintzes,' which is basically Cottage or Ricotta cheese enclosed in a crepe, sometimes with fruit. We bought them frozen, and heated them up until cooked through. I loved those blintzes. So much, that in later years, I would buy them frozen, and heat them up. Definitely brought me back to my childhood. Comfort food.

Well, no need to do **that** anymore. While these are not quite the same as the paper thin crepe folded around sweetened Ricotta cheese, these are even better! This 'recipe' is really just an invitation to get creative with your own Ricotta fillings. Just make it up! That's what I did.

I used the crepe recipe I blogged a while back. Very quick prep, and no special equipment needed.

For this recipe, I wanted to keep the refined sugar content down - keeping it a little more savory than sweet. But you can adjust the amount of sweetener to your own taste. I diced fresh strawberries to incorporate into the mixture, which ensured strawberry in every bite. Yum!



Use your favorite crepe recipe, or mine

Here's what I did for the filling:

Strawberry Ricotta Cheese Filling for Crepes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Ricotta Cheese (I used skim)
• 2 Tbs Greek Yogurt
• 2 tsp Organic Agave (or your choice of sweetener)
• 4-5 Strawberries, diced and then placed on a paper towel

Directions:

1. Wash and dice the strawberries first, and put them on a paper towel to dry out a bit.
2. Whisk together the cheese, yogurt, and sweetener
3. Add in the strawberries and mix gently.
4. Place a crepe on a plate, and put a few tablespoons of filling on one side, leaving about 1/2 inch border (don't put too much or it will be hard to roll).
5. Roll it up from the filling side, ending with the seam side down.
6. Repeat, eat, enjoy!

Now it's your turn.. how are you going to make your Ricotta filling?

Wheat-Free Strawberry Muffins

Like many of you, I've been collecting recipes for years. But now with the open and free exchange online from food blogs and forums everywhere, it's simply gotten out of control. I spend a lot of time looking at recipes and pictures of food, trying out some as they are, and modifying some to meet my taste.





This recipe is an original. It's the peak of strawberry season, and I happened to have a lot of strawberries that needed to be consumed sooner rather than later. Having played with a lot of 'wheat' recipes to make them wheat-free, with some success, I felt I could make the leap to an original recipe and turn these strawberries into something wonderful (before they.....ummm....rotted). Oh - and if it matters to you, this recipe uses all gluten-free ingredients.

I love baking muffins and quick breads. You can take a basic recipe, and change it up on a whim, adding whatever ingredients suit your mood. This is one of those recipes - add blueberries, raspberries, cherries. Go ahead - get crazy! Me - I'm all about the dark chocolate!




They baked up wonderfully, and the extras did great in the freezer. I think if you didn't know, you couldn't even tell they are wheat-free.

Makes about 18 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients:

• 2 + cups fresh ripe strawberries, diced
• 3 cups wheat-free mix (see note below)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp Xanthun Gum
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cups chopped pecans, optional
• chopped up chocolate or chocolate chips, optional
• 2-3 Tbs milk, as needed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin tins or use paper liners. Spray paper liners with cooking spray.

1. Dice strawberries, and place in medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
2. Combine wheat-free flour mix, sugars, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, baking powder, and Xanthun Gum in large bowl: mix well.
3. Blend applesauce, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Add to flour mixture. If batter is too thick add a little milk to thin slightly.
4. Add strawberries to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in optional pecans and/or chocolate. Divide batter into muffin tins.
5. Bake for 18 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Remove muffins to rack to cool.

Relax. Pour tea. Eat muffin.

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