Dessert Crepes

I actually had a crepe for the very first time when we were in Paris on our honeymoon. Wow are they good! For those who aren't familiar with crepes, they can be either sweet or savory. Your basic (savory) crepe is usually used like a sandwich wrap. But my favorite are the sweet crepes. When we were in Paris, we actually bought a package of crepes, heated them up in our little apartment toaster oven, and ate them for breakfast with some nutella. It was a great way to start the day! But you could also have them for dessert. Or a snack. Or whatever. :)

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, flour sugar and salt until smooth.

2. Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Lightly grease pan with oil spray or a small amount of butter.

3. Using a serving spoon or small ladle, spoon about 3 tablespoons crepe batter into hot pan, tilting the pan so that bottom surface is evenly coated (this part takes a little practice). Wait until crepe looks solid and fully cooked before flipping it. Cook until golden brown (this only takes a few minutes per side, less for the second side). It should look something like this:

4. Serve however you chose! They are fantastic with fruit and nutella, but there are many things you can add to make a delicious dessert.

Craft Project: A Reversible Bag

Today's DIY post is actually my mom's mother's days gift!  I hope she likes it. :)

There are lots of tutorials out there for simple bags like this.  I found the most clear instructions in this tutorial by Very Purple Person.  So if my instructions aren't clear, just go look at hers.

I began by making a pattern.  I just traced one of my own reusable shopping bags and then edited it a little (made the strap longer and the body shorter).  It was just easier for me to visualize what the finished product was going to look like that way!  I didn't have any paper large enough, so I traced onto cardboard, made my changes, cut it out, then traced the cardboard pattern onto the fabric.  It worked pretty well, although the cardboard was kind of hard to cut.  For future pattern making, I think I'll try to find some butcher's paper or something.

You'll need two yards of fabric (1 yard each of two fabrics).  I chose to make one side patterned, one side solid.  That way mom can have a fun, bold bag and a more toned down bag in one. :)  Note that you'll be able to see the "inside" fabric along the strap of the bag, so make sure you pick two fabrics that look good together.  Place your pattern on the fold of your fabric and cut out four pieces (two in each color).  Darts are optional, but I think they help give the bag a nicer looking shape.  If you have good scissors, you can do what I did and just lay all four pieces together and cut the darts out at once.

Then sew in your darts, right sides together, on all four pieces.

Sew both of the matching pieces of fabric together, rights sides together, around the bottom edge of the bag (where I drew the dotted line).

And you will end up with two bags that look like this:

Turn one of these bags right side out and put it inside the other.  Make sure everything is lined up then pin the outside bag to the inside bag.

Sew the outside bag to the inside bag along the edge of the straps, but only about half way up.

Then you have to turn everything right side out through the opening in one of the straps.  It is tricky, but don't worry - it will work!  When you're finished, it should look something like this:

Sew the ends of the matching straps together.

Then press the edges of your straps under and pin.

Top stitch them together.

I ironed the body of the bag so that it would look nice.  And that's it!  You now have a nifty reversible bag!

Avocado Salsa for Cinco de Mayo!

There are few things I love more in life than delicious fresh salsa.  This is a fantastic, simple salsa recipe I've been making for years, and it seemed appropriate to share it on Cinco de Mayo!

INGREDIENTS

3 ripe avocados, chopped
5 large roma tomatoes, chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper, diced
1 banana pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Hot peppers, as desired, diced*
Large handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Mix it all together and enjoy with tortilla chips and a nice cold Corona!

*A note on the hot peppers: I like to experiment, and try a different assortment of hot peppers just about every time I make this.  It really just depends on how spicy you like your salsa!  A couple of jalapeños are a pretty safe choice to start with.  I tried adding an orange habanero once - that was a little too hot for me.  Just be careful and wear disposable gloves whenever you handle them!  I had an unfortunate incident once where I handled some hot peppers with my bare hands.  Hours went by, and I washed my hands numerous times, but I discovered there was still some hot pepper oil on my hands when I went to take my contacts out later that night.  It wasn't fun...

Craft Project: Changing Pad Clutch

So I've decided to add yet another feature to my blog: craft projects.  In addition to cooking, I LOVE to make things and I thought blogging about them would be fun!  I also plan to do my best to put together tutorials for anyone who wants to try these projects themselves.

My friend Taryn (blogger over at Mr. Jones and Me) recently had a baby shower, and I decided I wanted to make her a present myself!  I've always thought baby crafts looked like so much fun to make, but I've never attempted one.  Until now! :)

I found a number of tutorials online for portable changing pads that rolled up to look kind of like an over-sized clutch.  I thought they were pretty cute, and definitely something a new mom could use.  Most importantly, the instructions looked easy enough that even a novice seamstress like me probably couldn't screw it up too badly.  So I decided to give it a try!

I basically followed this tutorial from Small Fry and Co., except that I only rounded the corners on one end, and instead added a pocket at the other end like in this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. 

I used a patterned cotton for the outside, and a nice soft flannel for the inside, with organic cotton batting in between.  I'm sure the tutorials I linked to above do a much better job explaining how this is done, with nicer pictures than my camera is capable of, so I'll just give a quick run through of what I did.

The first step is to lay your fabrics out, right sides together, with the batting on top.  Trim to your desired size, round the corners if desired, and pin everything in place.

Sew around the edges, except leave one section unstitched (a little wider than your hand).  If you decided to round your edges, clip the corners.  Then turn it right side out and press the edges flat.

Make sure the edges on your unstitched section are folded in.

Fold the pocket up, pin in place, then top stitch around the entire edge (this will help keep the batting in place).

The final step is to add the velcro closure.  If I was going to make this again, I'd use a bigger piece of velcro as my little piece didn't seem super secure.  But anyway, in order to decide where to place the velcro, you need some idea of where the flap will hit when the pocket if full of diapers and things.  I don't have any diapers, so I just used some wash clothes and estimated how big it would be.

I pinned the velcro in place, sewed it down, and that's it!  Pretty cute, no? :)

Mango Glazed Salmon

I've been a bad blogger this past month. :(  I got a nasty cold just as spring arrived, and then for awhile after that I just didn't feel like much like cooking.  But I am excited to be back with this fantastic recipe!  I actually got this recipe from a cookbook that my sister Katie got me for Christmas called Cook Yourself Thin.  I guess there is a Cook Yourself Thin show on Lifetime, although I must admit I've never watched it.  But this book is very cool!  Lots of delicious looking, low calorie, most importantly - fast and easy - recipes.  I'm sure I'll be using it a lot this summer!  I especially like all the big, color photographs.  Pictures are must-have for cookbooks, in my opinion.

This recipe jumped out at me right away when I first flipped through the book.  Plus I needed a healthy fish entree for Fridays in Lent - something other than the old box of frozen fish sticks, you know?  I made just a couple small changes based on personal preference (and trial and error), but I think this is a FANTASTIC recipe!  I've made it three times already. :)

INGREDIENTS

5 ounces mango nectar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced ginger [I easily doubled this]
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick [I just used a couple sprinkles of ground cinnamon instead]
1 teaspoon rice vinegar [I didn't have rice vinegar, so I used red wine vinegar instead]

2 6-ounce salmon fillets, about 1 inch thick 

DIRECTIONS

So here's what the book said to do...

1. Stir together the first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until reduced by half. Pour mango mixture through a wire-mesh strainer; discard solids. Return mango mixture to saucepan; keep warm.

2. Place salmon on a rack in a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 5 minutes. Brush fish with half of mango mixture. Broil 3 more minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Spoon remaining mango glaze evenly over fish.

And here's what I actually did...

I'm not sure why, but every time I try to broil something in my oven, I end up setting off the smoke detector.  Not sure if it's just my oven, or I'm doing something wrong, but that is exactly what happened the first time I made this and tried to follow the instructions as written.  Plus all that delicious mango sauce just gets burnt, and the fish wasn't even done!  

So the next time, I just baked the salmon at 450 for about 12-15 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork.  Worked like a charm!  Then I just added the mango mixture at the table.  Plus this way, you can bake your fish while you're making the sauce, and be done in half the time!  

The recipe suggested serving the salmon with a spinach and pear salad.  I'm not even going to bother writing out that recipe, because I hardly followed it at all.  They have a home-made dressing recipe, but I just used a light raspberry vinaigrette that I had in the fridge.  They also said to add bean sprouts and shredded carrots, but that sounded gross to me.  I instead just topped the spinach with the pear pieces, sliced walnuts, and a little feta cheese (which probably doubles the calories, but I don't care - I love feta!).  It was really, really good!  Even my husband, who was a bit skeptical about putting pears in a salad, loved it and asked me to make it again. 

Shepherd's Pie

I wanted to make something Irish for dinner on St. Patrick's day, so I decided to try making shepherd's pie.  It was quite a tasty little Irish treat!  My 3/8th Irish husband gave it two thumbs up. :)

INGREDIENTS

4 large potatoes, cubed
2 lbs lean ground beef
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1.5 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
12 oz bag of frozen peas
12 oz bag of frozen carrots
2 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
1 packet of beef gravy mix
1/4 cup Worcestershire
2 Tbs ketchup or tomato paste
Milk as needed
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1.  Basically, step one is to make mashed potatoes.  So if you have a tried a true method, just do that.  Otherwise, follow my method: bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15-20 minutes.  Drain as much water as you can (if a little is left in the bottom, it's okay).  Put pot back on the still hot burner (but turn burner off).  Add butter and a little salt and pepper.  Once butter is melted, mash with a potato masher or a hand blender.  Keep adding milk, one splash at a time, until potatoes are nice a fluffy.  Then add 1 cup of the shredded cheese.  Set aside.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Meanwhile, cook ground beef, onion and celery in a large skillet until beef is well browned.

3.  Drain off excess grease, then transfer to a mixing bowl.  Add flour, gravy mix, Worcestershire, and ketchup or tomato paste and mix well.  

4.  Spread ground beef mixture in an even layer on the bottom of a large casserole dish.  Next, layer on frozen peas and carrots.  Finally, spread mashed potatoes over everything and top with remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.

5.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until top is golden brown and filling is boiling rapidly.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Gumbo

In honor of Mardi Gras, I decided to try my hand at this New Orleans classic - gumbo!  I'm not going to lie - it was a lot of work, so I probably won't make this one a regular menu item.  But in our opinion, it was totally worth the effort for a special festive occasion like today!

Be warned - it is spicy!  But I didn't find it uncomfortably hot.  If you're nervous, just cut down on the spices the first time you make it.

INGREDIENTS

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of flour
2 chicken breasts, chopped into rather small pieces
1/2 pound of pork sausage links, thinly sliced
1 pound of shrimp (raw, peeled and deveined)
6 stalks of celery, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (including liquid)
1 can regular diced tomatoes (including liquid)
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
4 (14oz) cans chicken broth
12 oz beer (I used Guinness because it has such a nice flavor in soups!)
1/4 cup of cajun spices
2-3 garlic cloves, minced

DIRECTIONS

1.  Begin with making a roux.  Although I've never made a roux before, I've read that a great roux is the key to gumbo, so I didn't want to mess this up!  I found some great instructions here.  To sum up, you melt your stick of butter in a small sauce pan.  When it gets good and hot, slowly begin to whisk in your flour.  Then you just cook it until it turns dark brown (add the minced garlic to this when it's a dark-medium brown, then continue to cook until it turns dark brown).  It does take a while to turn dark brown, but if you get it started cooking first, it will be ready just about the same time you've got everything else ready to go in the pot, so don't worry!

2.  While you're roux is cooking, cook your sausage in a skillet until it's evenly browned.  Then transfer to a large stock pot.

3.  In the same skillet (in the left over oil), cook your chicken pieces until no longer pink.  Then transfer chicken to the stock pot too.

4.  When the roux is ready, combine with the meat in the stock pot.  Add the chicken broth and beer, and bring to a boil.

5.  Stir in all the remaining ingredients - EXCEPT for the shrimp - to the stock pot.  Reduce, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

6.  Finally, add your shrimp.  Raise the heat a little and cook for about 5 more minutes, until shrimp shrink up and are an opaque pink.  As soon as shrimp are done, remove the pot from the heat so your shrimp don't overcook and turn rubbery.

Happy Fat Tuesday!