Crepes

This is my mom's recipe for Crepes. She says to make the batter the night before and let it sit but I'm not one to plan far enough ahead to do that. Now my mom doesn't use recipes or measuring cups so this isn't going to look like a normal recipe.

Eggs (I used six eggs)
milk: equal volume to eggs ( six eggs had a volume of 1 1/3 cup milk so I used 1 1/3 cups milk)
sugar: for six eggs about 1/4 cup (for 3 eggs use 1/8 cup sugar, 4 eggs 1/6 cup sugar ect...)
flour: equal to volume of milk or eggs ( for me 1 1/3 cup)
salt
vanilla (I think i probably used between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon of these last two)
Blend in a blender. Try not to over blend but just enough to remove and flour lumps.

Over medium heat preheat a 10 inch shallow skillet. The pan I used is almost totally flat and works perfect but any shallow pan should work. Also it's best if it's non-stick.

Pour probably about 1/2 to 3/4 cup into pan.

Pick up the pan and tip to spread the batter over the bottom. Immediately pour the excess batter off. If the pan is not hot enough then not enough of a layer will be left in the pan to form a crepe. If the crepe comes out too thick then either pour the batter off quicker or turn the heat down a bit.

Let sit just few seconds, maybe thirty or less. This is a good time to gut off the flap made by pouring off the excess batter. If this comes off the pan easily in one piece the crepe is probably done. If the Crepe is as thin as it should be you won't need to flip it over and cook the other side. But if the crepe is on the thicker side you may want to cook the other side just for a few seconds.

There is lot's of different fillings to put in crepes. Crepes can be sweet or savory. Ask anyone who has spent much time in europe and they'll say they see crepe stands all over with cheese filling, chocolate filling... My personal favorite is a fruit filling with whip cream. Using blue berry, cherry, or raspberry canned pie filling. I made my own raspberry filling.

Raspberry filling. (also works with blueberry)

6-8 oz of frozen berries
~1 Tbs. cornstarch
~2 Tbs. sugar

Place berries (still frozen) in a shallow microwavable bowl. Sprinkle sugar and cornstarch over berries. Cover with a paper plate. Microwave on 80% power, stirring every two minutes, until the juice from the berries if clear and slides slowly off the spoon.

I also didn't have any whipping cream so I creamed cream cheese, a touch of powdered sugar and a splash of milk. Place filling of your choice in the crepes and roll.

Brett also filled his with Nuttella and a touch of the raspberry filling. This was really good and tasted like Christmas.
Before I moved this from my other blog a friend left a comment saying she used this recipe and like it. It made me so happy I was sad I lost the comment...

GERMAN PANCAKES

When I was young my mom had to go to Pocatello (think) for ski patrol and I had to go with her. She took me out to breakfast before hand at Smitty's. (The best place for breakfast. IHOP/Denny's... everything pales in comparison) I got a German pancake with blueberry toppings. My mom told me that when her and my dad were dating they went to Smitty's for breakfast and she got a German pancake. Ever since i have loved German pancakes from Smitty's 1) because they are delicious and 2) because they remind me of my mom. I've always looked for a good recipe. I've never found anything as good but this recipe from Real Simple magazine's website is pretty close

picture from Real Simple's website
3 large eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter



Heat oven to 400 degrees

Whisk eggs to combine. Whisk in flour till smooth. Add milk, salt, and vanilla and mix. Add butter to a large cast iron skillet. Place in hot oven until butter is melted. Add batter to the hot skillet and return to oven. Back until puffy and golden brown, about 15 minutes. The recipe called for a drizzle of lemon juice and dusting of powdered sugar. It also recommended spreading jam over the top.

I didn't like the lemon juice as much but the powder sugar was good. I didn't have any jam so i used a little strawberry cream cheese. I also don't have a cast iron skillet so i used Brett's dutch oven. It turned out good. I think it was just a little thicker because i used the dutch oven. Also the recipe said the recipe yields four servings. Brett and I split one and it wasn't enough so.. maybe four very small not very filling servings.

SPUNKOS

Spunkos at work

When I was in fifth grade my best friend (also my neighbor down the street) started a business we called Spunko's F&H (or H&F i don't remember which). The F&H were from our last names. We started by selling random odds and ends in front of her house. Most of our customers were our own family members. One random guy bough a 25 cent sprite from us and gave us a whole dollar. Well as summer progressed my friends mom started giving us produce from their garden to sell. That sold a little better. But when her mom gave us some fresh Cinnamon rolls to sell we found our niche in the business world. Selling fresh bakes goods. Well we moved our business from a by the mailbox business to a delivery business. Every Monday afternoon we would call up some of the people from church as say: "Hi Sister/Brother _____ this is Margaret from Spunko's we were wondering if you'd be interested in buying some freshbaked goods which we will deliver on Friday. We would offer a couple different cookies, fresh bakes bread and dinner rolls. Looking back we offered them at pretty good prices too! In one summer we made over $100!!! Of course our parents "donated" all ingredients and gas to make the deliveries.
My favorite thing to do every Friday afternoon was to pretend we were on a cooking show. I don't know where i got this idea from. It was before we had food network on our TV. We would even premeasure ingredients into little bowls like they do on cooking shows. I think the reason I'm recounting this story is because I really enjoy posting recipes but I feel silly. So this is my explanation of why i post recipes, especially the recipes with pictures (which you'll see shortly in my next post): It is fulfilling my childhood dream of having my own cooking show.
So... if you like reading through the recipes I post, especially if you ever try one of them and like it (or don't like it), let me know. Here or some random picture of me and food growing up

Tapioca Pudding
Cream Cheese

Frosting Fresh Bread

A cake for my dad

Cookies (I really liked putting rollers in my hair as a kid)

Picking raspberries. YUM!

Mexican Mac-n-Cheese

I saw Rachael Ray cook this on her talk show. I didn't have the exact measurements for all the ingredients when I made it but it turned out really good. You can read Rachael Ray's exact recipe and even watch the clip from her show at
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/que-pasta-mexican-mac-n-cheese/

4 poblano peppers
Salt
1 pound bow-tie pasta
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used jack cheese)

Heat broiler on high. Roast the poblanos on all sides,12-15 minutes (I seeded them first but the recipe says to seed them after roasting). Let the peppers cool wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or place in a paper sack (I think i just let them cool on the counter). Once cooled peel (there is a clear film that you can peel off, you probably knew this film became evident after roatsting but it surprised me the first time i made it recipe), seed and chop.

Cook pasta till al dente in a large pot of boiling, salted water.

In a saucepan over medium heat cook onions and garlin on olive oil until tender (6-7 minutes). Add butter and melt (let bubble a minute (careful not to burn the butter though) so that the water evaporates out of the butter, this will prevent the flour from going lumpy). Stir in the flour and cook one minute. Slowly add stock and milk, wisking in. Simmer. Add seasoning: salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander. Cook sauce for about five minutes until thick. Stir in cheese to melt.

Drain pasta and combine with cheese sauce. Add chopped peppers. (This is all i had the ingredients for so I stopped here and it was still really good I'm going to make it again tonight and try using avacado and mild, chunky salsa.) Top with avacado (tossed with lime to prevent browning), tomatoes and scallions.