Hi all, welcome to July!
You might be thinking, Danielle, back-to-back posts?!! What’s going on here? My personal goal is to post a new recipe every week. But since this is a holiday week (the 4th of July is Wednesday and I’ve decided to treat the entire week as a holiday!), I wanted to do something a little special. Hence, these breakfast crostinis!
Breakfast for me is usually something on the go. Which is so sad because I really love sitting down and making my meals an event. But I love sleep way more. I’ve found that portable toasts/crostinis solve this dilemma for me, because they are super easy to make and very satisfying. And the star ingredient is bread. Which is obviously one of the greatest things ever invented (apologies to all my gluten intolerant friends, you really are missing out!).
Since I also normally work out before eating breakfast, I tend to look for a breakfast option that has a good amount of protein and carbs to help with my recovery. These crostinis fit the bill perfectly. On days when my sweet tooth is in overdrive, I make the caramelized banana and almond butter crostini. Topped with superfoods like goji berries and caco nibs, this crostini is more dessert than breakfast to be honest, but that’s fine by me. When I want some healthy fats, I make the avocado toast crostini, and opt to slice my avocados instead of mashing them to maintain a little more texture. Then there’s the smoked salmon and crispy capers crostini aka the “fancy” crostini. It’s is a simple crostini that relies on high quality ingredients and classic pairings to make a bold statement. Also, see what I did here? There’s a vegetarian crostini, a vegan crostini (if you use dairy-free yogurt for the crema), and a pescatarian/meaty crostini. The moral of the story is that there’s a crostini for everyone!
And to anyone who might be wondering how come breakfast crostini’s are on a blog that’s supposed to be about Caribbean-inspired flavors, the answer is simple: Caribbean food is not limited to “exotic” fruits and spices. Ingredients like bananas, toasted coconut, and avocados are commonplace in the islands! One of the goals of this blog is to broaden people’s view of what Caribbean food is. I hope that by reading this blog, readers will discover traditional Caribbean recipes and also learn how to take island flavors to new places! Let’s adventure together.
P.S. Since crostinis are pretty customizable, I’ve opted not to include strict directions. Instead, below are the ingredient lists and some guidelines on how I made the crostinis featured here. Don’t be afraid to play around with the ingredients!
CARAMELIZED BANANA AND ALMOND BUTTER CROSTINI
- half of a ripe banana
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp honey (or agave or water)
- bread of choice (I used a buckwheat sunflower loaf)
- nut butter of choice (I used almond butter)
- toppings (e.g. chopped amonds, goji berries, toasted coconut…)
Caramelized bananas: Slice the bananas and saute in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until the bananas caramelize. Then remove from heat and add vanilla and honey (or substitute). Stir to coat the bananas in the vanilla-honey mixture.
Assembly: Top toasted bread with nut butter and arrange caramelized bananas on top. Drizzle with the remaining vanilla-honey bananas juices and garnish with your choice of toppings. Then devour!
AVOCADO TOAST CROSTINI with CILANTRO LIME CREMA
- half of a medium haas avocado, sliced
- cilantro lime crema (recipe here)
- bread of choice (I used a buckwheat sunflower loaf)
- toppings (e.g. chopped cilantro stems, hemp seeds, chia seeds…)
Assembly: Top toasted bread with cilantro lime crema and sliced avocado. Garnish with your choice of toppings. Dance when you realize it will take you longer to eat this crostini than it did to make it!
SMOKED SALMON CROSTINI
- smoked Atlantic salmon
- capers (for extra crunch, fry the capers)
- choice of cheese (I used a soft garlic herb cheese)
- toppings (e.g. thyme, cracked black pepper, Himalayan sea salt)
Assembly: Top toasted bread with cheese and smoked salmon. Garnish with your choice of toppings. Then make another, because this crostini is soooo good!
There you have it! 3 breakfast (or lunch? or dinner?) crostinis that are delicious, healthy, and super easy to make. If you try any of these crostinis, be sure to tag #SweetandSorrel on Instagram!
