Savory Protein Crêpe

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Pancakes have a bad reputation healthwise, but they don’t have to be so. Here’s a very healthy crêpe recipe, with around 20g of protein per serving (which is about how much protein most people’s body’s can use at one sitting) and a healthy dose of fiber too:

You will need

Per crêpe:

  • ½ cup milk (your preference what kind; we recommend oat milk for this)
  • 2 oz chickpea flour (also called garbanzo bean flour, or gram flour)
  • 1 tsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp ras el-hanout (optional but tasty and contains an array of beneficial phytochemicals)
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • ⅛ tsp MSG or ¼ tsp low-sodium salt

For the filling (also per crêpe):

  • 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Small handful baby spinach
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Mix the dry crêpe ingredients in a bowl, and then stir in the milk, whisking to mix thoroughly. Leave to stand for at least 5 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a skillet, add the tomatoes and fry for 1 minute, before adding the spinach, stirring, and turning off the heat. As soon as the spinach begins to wilt, set it aside.

3) Heat a little olive oil either in the same skillet (having been carefully wiped clean) or a crêpe pan if you have one, and pour in a little of the batter you made, tipping the pan so that it coats the pan evenly and thinly. Once the top is set, jiggle the pan to see that it’s not stuck, and then flip your crêpe to finish on the other side.

If you’re not confident of your pancake-tossing skills, or your pan isn’t good enough quality to permit this, you can slide it out onto a heatproof chopping board, and use that to carefully turn it back into the pan to finish the other side.

4) Add the filling to one half of the crêpe, and fold it over, pushing down at the edges with a spatula to make a seal, cooking for another 30 seconds or so. Alternatively, you can just serve a stack of crêpes and add the filling at the table, folding or rolling per personal preference:

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

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  • Broad Beans vs Green Beans – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing broad beans to green beans, we picked the broad.

    Why?

    It’s quite a straightforward one today:

    In terms of macros, broad beans have 2.5x the protein, and slightly more fiber and carbs, so we pick the broad beans as the more nutrient-dense option here.

    In the category of vitamins, broad beans have more of vitamins B1, B3, B9, and C, while green beans have more of vitamins A and B6 (with comparable margins of difference for both beans’ winning vitamins), so another win for broad beans, based on the 4:2 numerical advantage.

    When it comes to minerals, broad beans have more copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while green beans have more calcium and manganese. Again, comparable mostly margins of difference (except for broad beans bing 5x richer in selenium, which is a bit of an outlier, but it’s not because broad beans are an amazing source of selenium, but rather, that green beans have only a tiny amount), so it’s a clear 7:2 win for broad beans.

    Adding up the three wins for broad beans makes an overall win for them, but by all means, enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen

    Enjoy!

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  • Veg in One Bed New Edition – by Huw Richards

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    We all know that growing our own veg is ultimately not only healthier on the plate, but also a very healthy activity. Cheaper too. So why don’t more of us do it?

    For many of us, it’s a matter of not having the skills or knowledge to do so. This book bridges that knowledge-gap.

    Richards gives, as promised, a month-by-month well-illustrated guide to growing a wide variety of vegetables. He does, by the way, assume that we are in a temperate climate in the Northern Hemisphere. So if you’re not, you may need to make some adjustments.

    The book doesn’t assume prior knowledge, and does give the reader everything we need from an initial basic shopping list onwards.

    A particular strength of this book is that it’s about growing veg in a single raised bed—this ensures keeping everything very manageable.

    Bottom line: if you have ever thought it would be good to grow your own veg, but didn’t know where to start and want something practical for a beginner, this is an excellent guide that will get you going!

    Click here to check out Veg In One Bed; you can do it!

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  • All of your hepatitis B vaccine questions answered

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    Hepatitis B is a viral infection that can cause liver disease in people of any age or background. Vaccination is 95 percent effective against the virus. But in recent years, false claims, rumors, and myths about the hepatitis B vaccine have become increasingly common.

    Here’s everything you need to know about the lifesaving hepatitis B vaccine.

    What is hepatitis B?

    Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. The virus attacks the liver, causing severe short-term and long-term infections. 

    Short-term hepatitis B infections may cause “fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movements), and pain in the muscles, joints, and stomach,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

    A long-term hepatitis B infection occurs when the virus stays in the body beyond the initial infection, causing chronic illness. Hepatitis B infections become chronic in 90 percent of infected infants, half of infected young children, and between 5 to 10 percent of infected adults. 

    “Most people who go on to develop chronic hepatitis B do not have symptoms, but it is still very serious and can lead to liver damage (cirrhosis), liver cancer, and death. Chronically infected people can spread hepatitis B virus to others, even if they do not feel or look sick themselves,” says the CDC. 

    How does the hepatitis B virus spread?

    The hepatitis B virus is spread through body fluids, including blood, semen, and saliva. It can also be transmitted from birthing parent to child during pregnancy and childbirth. 

    “While hepatitis B is an infection that lives in bodily fluids, it can survive outside the human body for several days, which means that sharing contaminated household products is a possible source of infection,” said Dr. Christopher Labos, a McGill University cardiologist and epidemiologist, in a 2019 article.

    In 2022, over 250 million people worldwide had chronic hepatitis B, and 1.1 million died from the disease. Most of the deaths were from liver damage and liver cancer. Less than 15 percent of people living with hepatitis B have been diagnosed. 

    How well does the vaccine protect against hepatitis B?

    Hepatitis B vaccination is up to 95 percent effective, providing lasting—and possibly lifelong—protection against the virus. Depending on when the first dose is given, the complete vaccine series consists of two to three doses. 

    The vaccine is most effective for infants and children. The CDC recommends that infants receive it at birth for the most protection. 

    The first dose is followed by two to three additional doses administered before 18 months. Children, adolescents, and adults who weren’t vaccinated as infants should also receive the vaccine. 

    Vaccination is particularly important for high-risk groups, including health workers and those who are in close contact with individuals living with chronic hepatitis B, people who use intravenous drugs, and people receiving blood transfusions, dialysis, or organ transplants. 

    Is the vaccine safe?

    Vaccines against hepatitis B were first developed in the 1980s, and they have been proven safe for decades. They have a low risk of serious side effects and are safe enough to be given to newborns, pregnant people, and immunocompromised people.

    We also know hepatitis B vaccines work: “Between 1990 (about the time when universal hepatitis B vaccinations started) and 2006, the rate of hepatitis B infection fell by 81 percent to the lowest level ever recorded, and the decline was greatest among children,” added Labos. 

    Hepatitis B rates have continued to decline across all age groups, with the U.S. exceeding its goal of reducing new hepatitis B infections by 20 percent.

    Why do doctors recommend the vaccine for babies?

    Hepatitis B vaccination helps protect infants from a lifetime of potentially life-threatening infections and complications. Nine out of 10 unvaccinated infants infected with hepatitis B will develop chronic infections, which increases their risk of liver failure and liver cancer. 

    The hepatitis B vaccine is administered at birth to help prevent the virus from being transmitted from birthing parent to child. It also helps protect infants who might be in close contact with someone with hepatitis B. This is particularly important because most people who have hepatitis are undiagnosed. 

    Have more questions? Talk to your health care provider to learn more about hepatitis B vaccination.

    This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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    Indian food is wonderful—a subjective opinion perhaps, but a popular view, and one this reviewer certainly shares. And of course, cooking with plenty of vegetables and spices is a great way to get a lot of health benefits.

    There are usually downsides though, such as that in a lot of Indian cookbooks, every second thing is deep-fried, and what’s not deep-fried contains an entire day or more’s saturated fat content in ghee, and a lot of sides have more than their fair share of sugar.

    This book fixes all that, by offering 80 recipes that prioritize health without sacrificing flavor.

    The recipes are, as the title suggests, vegetarian, though many are not vegan (yogurt and cheese featuring in many recipes). That said, even if you are vegan, it’s pretty easy to veganize those with the obvious plant-based substitutions. If you have soy yogurt and can whip up vegan paneer yourself (here’s our own recipe for that), you’re pretty much sorted.

    The cookbook strikes a good balance of being neither complicated nor “did we really need a recipe for this?” basic, and delivers value in all of its recipes. The ingredients, often a worry for many Westerners, should be easily found if you have a well-stocked supermarket near you; there’s nothing obscure here.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to cook more Indian food and want your food to be exciting without also making your blood pressure exciting, then this is an excellent book for keeping you well-nourished, body and soul.

    Click here to check out Chetna’s Healthy Indian, and spice up your culinary repertoire!

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  • Chickpeas vs Black Beans – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing chickpeas to black beans, we picked the black beans.

    Why?

    They’re both great! But we consider the nutritional profile of black beans to be better:

    In terms of macros, black beans have a little more protein, while chickpeas have more carbohydrates. Generally speaking, people are not usually short of carbs in their diet, so we’ll go with the one with more protein. Black beans also have more fiber, which is important for heart health and more.

    In the category of micronutrients, black beans have twice as much potassium and twice as much calcium, as well as twice as much magnesium. Chickpeas, meanwhile are better for manganese and slightly higher in B vitamins, but B vitamins are everywhere (especially vitamin B5, pantothenic acid; that’s literally where its name comes from, it means “from everywhere”), so we don’t consider that as much of a plus as the black beans doubling up on potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

    So, do enjoy both, but if you’re going to pick, or lean more heavily on one, we recommend the black beans

    Further reading

    See also:

    Enjoy!

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  • Nori vs Wakame – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing nori to wakame, we picked the nori.

    Why?

    It was close, and both of these seaweed options are great!

    In terms of macros, nori has more protein while wakame has more carbs; they’re about equal on fiber. While the difference in protein and carbs isn’t big, out of the two we’ll prioritize protein, and thus say nori gets a notional win here—but as it’s so close, one could just as easily call it a tie.

    In the category of vitamins both are very rich in many minerals, but nori has more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12*, and C, while wakame has more of vitamins B5, B9, K, and choline. Thus, a 6:4 victory for nori.

    *Yes, nori is one of those rare vegan foods that naturally contain vitamin B12; it’s because of the composition of the algae that this seaweed is made of, which includes some beneficial B12-making bacteria. Meanwhile, wakame is “just” a kelp, so it doesn’t have B12.

    When it comes to minerals, nori has more potassium and zinc, while wakame has more calcium and magnesium. They’re equal on other minerals, except: it’s worth noting that wakame is moderately high in sodium, while nori has very little sodium. So, either a tie-breaking win for nori, or just a tie.

    Adding up the sections gives nori the overall win; it’s only the margin of the win that’s reasonably debatable. Still, enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

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    Enjoy!

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