Buckwheat and Linwoods Flaxseed Berry Crepes

Summer is undoubtedly here, and I'm very happy! I enjoy our boiling hot summer. Yes, I love hot weather and long days. But, what I love most about this season of the year, is summer fruit. I know strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and all kind of berries are available all year round, but let's be honest, the flavour of freshly picked local strawberries is incomparable. And just imagine a smooth and flavoursome apricot or peach, that's the true taste of summer!

So when I got my package of Linwoods' Milled flaxseed, cocoa & berries, I knew instantly what I was going to make. I wanted to create a recipe that would complement a nice strong flavour of cocoa & berries in this Lindwoods' mix. We got some of Linwoods' products last year in our Food Blogger Connect 2009 goodie bags, and I mostly enjoyed them in my morning yogurt or fruit crumbles.

Crepes with fresh fruit sounded fairly good to me. I paired Milled flaxseed, cocoa & berries with buckwheat flour, which has a nice nutty flavour, to create very flavoursome and gluten-free crepes. Served with sour cream and fresh berries, these crepes make a wonderful summer treat!

Buckwheat and flaxseed berry crepes

Makes about 6 crepes

1/2 cup (65g) buckwheat flour

1/4 cup (30g) Linwoods flaxseed cocoa&berries

1/4 cup (45g) cane sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup (315ml) milk

2 eggs

2 tbsp (25g) melted butter

vegetable oil for frying

2 cups fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup (250ml) sour cream

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the buckwheat flour, Linwoods flaxseed, sugar and salt. Whisk in milk and add the eggs. Add the melted butter and whisk until fully incorporated.

2. Heat a lightly greased frying pan over a medium heat. Ladle or pour a little batter (depending on your frying pan size, just enough so it will thinly coat your pan) into the pan and tilt and rotate the pan until the batter coats the bottom evenly. Cook over medium-high heat until the edges start to brown. Flip the crepe and cook the second side for a few more seconds.

3. Remove the cooked crepe from the pan and place it on a plate. Fold each crepe into quarters and fill with sour cream and fresh berries.

Cherry and Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Good news today. I think I'm back in game and I feel much more inspired again. I took a few days off and kept telling myself that I don't have to produce anything beautiful and great every single day! It helped. I have to learn to accept that, but it's working. I want to say a BIG thank you to all of you for your supportive comments on my last post! They mean the world to me and help me keep going! Thank you my foodie friends!

Another good news is, that it is a Food Blogger Connect time this weekend, and I am going to spend wonderful three days with fellow food bloggers and friends, and eat a lot! I am looking forward to seeing everyone there! I think there are still a few tickets left for Saturday, so if you are the "last minutes decision" kind of person, there is still a chance to join us. I'm sure we are all going to have a blast.

I hope you will like my today's recipe, because I didn't cook much this week as I'm home alone gain. I finally got first cherries at the market last week. They were surprisingly very sweet, so I enjoyed them raw, added some in morning yogurt, and the rest I mixed with strawberries, honey, apple juice and homemade yogurt into a smoothie. If you like ice smoothie, put your fruit in the freezer for 2-3 hours before blending. It makes a wonderful refreshing smoothie.

Cherry and strawberry yogurt smoothie

Serve 1 glass

1 cup fresh, pitted cherries

1/2 cup fresh strawberries

1/2 cup apple juice (I used Copella)

1/2 cup home made plain yogurt

1 tsp honey

1. For ice smoothie, freeze strawberries and cherries for 2-3 hours.

2. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Pour into prepared glass and garnish with a fresh strawberry.

I love Summer Time: Strawberry Crumble

The fact, that we didn't have a single piece of vegetable at home, made me go to our local market despite bad weather. Although it's summer, I can't count on weather as I live in London. I was originally going to buy vegetable, however as I saw those lovely strawberries - just £1 for two punnets, I couldn't leave them there. I knew instantly what I was going to use them for. I've already had another two punnets of strawberries in the fridge from the last week, and the apple crumble was so delicious and it had such a great success... so why not to try a strawberry version?

I think crumble became my favorite dessert, it's delightfully quick and easy to make and almost any fruit at home can be used. I like combination of strawberries and rhubarb but I didn't get any rhubarb at the market.

Strawberry Crumble
Serves 8

Note: when I made Apple Crumble last time it was too sweet for us so I decided to use less sugar this time - about 150g and I reduced the butter in this recipe as well to 180g. Actually I replaced porridge oats with our breakfast muesli again - it was great success last time!

Crumble:
200g plain flour
100g porridge oats
175g demerara sugar
180g unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
1 handful raisins
Knob of butter for greasing

Fruit Base:
450g strawberries (halved if they are big)
50g demerara sugar (optional, depends on strawberry sweetness)

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas 4.

2 Mix the flour, porridge oats and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and rub between your fingers until it is the texture of breadcrumbs.

3 Place the fruit in a large greased ovenproof dish, sprinkle with the sugar and the raisins. (You can mix the raisins with the crumble mixture if you like instead of sprinkling them on top of the fruit.)

4 Top the fruit with the crumble mixture.

5 Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until the crumle mixture is starting to brown and the fruit mixture is bubbling.

You can serve the crumble with ice cream or custard. But I prefer it on it's own!