For Your Viewing Pleasure...

...Athena doing a hurkey.

Still In Love: Crepes

I'm not quite sure why I had this thought in my head, but I always thought crepes were difficult to make.  And then I saw Daphne Oz make them on The Chew and thought, "Hm.  Maybe I can do this too!"

My latest version is an apple-cinnamon crepe.

The batter came out very thin so I added some more flour.  Now, I'm sure crepe batter is supposed to be thin like that, but because my pan bows up in the middle, really thin batter will just pool in the outside of my pan.  Maybe it's time for a new pan??

My grandmother makes these amaaaaaaaazing fried apples and I tried to replicate that and failed miserably.  Well, maybe not miserably, but they didn't come out like hers do.  This is what happens when Nicole doesn't follow a recipe!  I just put the apples in a saute pan skillet with some butter and sugar and cooked until they reached a nice caramel color.  Which meant that I had some crispy parts due to the cooked sugar.  My husband liked the crispy texture, but I wasn't a huge fan.

I think I'll call my grandmother and see how she makes them.  To be continued...

Pizza Night!

The other day I had this brilliant idea to have a pizza night each week.  Turns out, a lot of people have pizza nights.  Haha!

I hate to be cliche and say pizza is my favorite food, but it really is.  Well, one of my favorite foods.  I could probably have pizza every night and not get tired of it.

So me being me, I gathered some recipes.  I found 50 Easy Pizzas from the Food Network and then asked my friends on Facebook what their favorite pizza recipes are.  Got a lot of reaaaally good suggestions that I can't wait to try out!

Last Friday I made your run of the mill salami and bacon pizza using store-bought sauce, mozzarella, and the dough recipe from the 50 Easy Pizzas article.  It says the recipe makes two pizzas, but my pan must be small or I just like a thinner pizza.  I think it could make four.

I'd really like to make my own sauce; must find a recipe!  I'm sure as heck not going to make my own mozzarella though.  I'll stick to store-bought for that.  :)

What's your favorite type of pizza?

Seriously?

The last time I posted was in March??  Wow.  Must've been busy.  I'll have to change that.  :)

Food.

Well hello there!

I've made a lot of recipes since my last recipe review so I'll just point out some of the ones I really liked.

This one (choose your mix-ins wisely):

Source: goodbyehousehellohome.com via Nicole on Pinterest

This one (though I don't know how they made them so pretty in this picture - I had chocolate EVERYWHERE):

Source: food.com via Nicole on Pinterest

LOVED this one:

Source: skinnytaste.com via Nicole on Pinterest

And this one:

Source: afarmgirlsdabbles.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Honorable mentions: butternut squash mac & cheese, basil parmesan quinoa cakes, and greek salad club.

Discovered: Crepes

Really?!  My last post was November 11th??  Geez.

Yesterday morning I decided to try my hand at making crepes.  And I...fell...in...love.  They are so easy to make and in my opinion, much tastier than pancakes and waffles.  Pancakes and waffles are just so heavy to me.

Yesterday's filling consisted of eggs, bacon, and spinach.  This morning I decided to go sweet rather than savory with a blueberry sauce.

Basic Crepes from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1.  Whisk all wet ingredients together in a bowl.  Whisk in salt and flour slowly so no lumps form.
2.  Heat lightly oiled pan (I just spray PAM onto a non-stick pan) over medium to medium-high heat.
3.  Pour enough batter onto pan so that when you tilt the pan in a circular motion, it covers the surface evenly.  You don't want so much batter that it looks like pancakes...these should be thin.
4.  Cook until the crepe is lightly browned on one side and then flip to brown the other side.

Blueberry Sauce from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries 1/4 cup water 1 cup orange juice 3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup cold water 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions: 

1.	In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/4 cup of water, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.
2.	In a cup or small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Thin sauce with water if it is too thick for your liking.

If you decide to try out the recipes, let me know what you think!