Dinner & Dessert Crepes

   This week, Owen wanted to watch  the Broncos game, which gave me an excuse to hang out with my friend Katie since she and her boyfriend, Andy, are the ones with cable. Since I have zero interest in watching anything football related, unless it's a Super Bowl commercial, I decided that we should make Katie's favorite food: Crepes! We really wanted the dessert crepes, but because we also needed dinner, we decided to make savory crepes too, and I'm SO glad we did!

While Katie mixed the batter, I got to work on the fillings. We wanted to try a bunch of different ones, so we decided on three savory crepes: Red Peppers & Mozzarella, Caprese (minus the balsamic), and Apples & Brie. I cut the ingredients as thinly as possible, to fit better inside a crepe. We also stole some fresh basil from her garden. For our dessert crepes, we went with Nutella (obviously!), Banana, and Strawberry, with various combinations of the three. In my excitement to eat the dessert crepes, I forgot to take photos of the prep, but you all know what bananas and strawberries look like. These are cellphone pictures anyway, so you're not missing much!

We used different recipes for the batter for the sweet and the savory crepe. They varied a bit in ingredient measurements, most importantly in amounts of sugar and eggs. We obviously wanted sweeter for the dessert crepes, but there is nothing wrong with using the same recipe for both types! There are also tons of crepe recipes out there, some with no sugar at all and some with fancier add-ins like lemon zest. This was our first go at it, so we went simple. We also didn't have a legit crepe pan, but they are just as delicious out of a frying pan.

Savory Crepes                                            Sweet Crepes
1.5 C Flour                                                   4 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 T Sugar                                                             1 1/3 C Milk
1/4 t. Salt                                                         2 T Butter, melted
1 C. Milk                                                             1 C. Flour
1 t. Vanilla                                                            2 T Sugar
1 T Butter, melted                                                 1/2 t. Salt
2 eggs                                           
via www.howsweeteats.com                                                                                      via www.allrecipes.com

Over medium heat, spray the pan with oil. Whisk the dry ingredients together with the wet ingredients until smooth. Spoon out 1/4 cup into the pan, and swirl to coat.

This is where it got a little tricky for us. The savory crepes were really thick and tiny. This was the biggest we could make our first one. So we added some milk to thin it out and they got better. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, flipping gently with a spatula.

While the second side cooks, fill part of the crepe with your toppings. This was the apple and brie crepe, which quickly became our favorite! In fact, I'm craving it right now...  Fold the crepe over once or twice and you're all set! Top the dessert crepes with some powdered sugar or drizzles of chocolate or caramel!

 What's a crepe night without champagne?? *Hey at least I didn't buy Andre. Movin' up in the world!*


~A

Pesto Caprese Pasta

They weren't kidding, this week has been crazy busy. Between interning at a local high school all day and then immediately going to my evening classes, I'm pulling 12 hour days! It's no wonder I'm already sick, and, unfortunately, I passed it along to the husband. So tonight for dinner, I wanted something fresh, simple, and easy on sore throat. I scoured the kitchen and this is what I came up with:

Since pasta is my typical go-to lazy dinner, and since I've been meaning to make a caprese salad with my poor, neglected basil plant, I decided to switch it up and combine them. 

First, I made the "salad" portion, so that it could marinate in the balsamic vinegar as long as possible. I halved the cherry tomatoes and the mozzarella balls, and removed the stems from the basil. I didn't count, but I probably had 20-30 large basil leaves. I tossed it all into a bowl of about 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar mixed with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

 Occasionally, I would stir up the salad while I cooked the pasta, to make sure it marinated evenly. You could skip this if you use a flatter dish. Add more balsamic if there isn't enough to go around. Now cook your pasta. I went with whole wheat rotini, but anything works. I'm in the habit of always cooking half the pasta box at a time for just my husband and I, so that there are some leftovers for lunches, so this recipes is based on that amount of pasta. Just double it for a full box.

 If you are using prepared pesto, take it out of the fridge at least 10 minutes early, so it can warm up and mix together again. Someday, I will make fresh pesto with my fresh basil, but today is not that day.

Drain the pasta and add the salad mixture. Be sure to strain out the excess vinegar first; I didn't and it made it a little soupy and brown, and the vinegar overpowered the pesto flavor. Mix it together while the pasta is hot, then add about 1/2 cup of pesto and stir to coat everything. Add more pesto if desired. Again, this is for half of a typical box of pasta, so alter the measurements to your preferences.

Ta-da! Yellow bowls were not my best choice for this photo, but there it is.

Pesto Caprese Pasta

*serves 3-4

6 oz Pasta

6 oz Mozzarella, preferably cherry sized, halved.

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes, halved

20-30 large basil leaves

2T Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 C Pesto

Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, mix vinegar, salt, and pepper with the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Set aside.

Set out the pesto to warm. Prepare pasta as directed, then drain.

Drain the vinegar from the salad, then mix with the pasta. Stir in the pesto, and serve warm.


Enjoy! - A

"Here are the 7 reasons why I believe this year of your graduate program is harder than last year." 

This was told to us by our professor this week in our first day of class. So, naturally, I decided that finally starting my blog at the same time was a great idea! Let it be known that I never claim to make the smartest decisions...

I've been wanting to start a blog for a few years now, documenting my attempts to master various life experiences and Pinterest posts. One part lifestyle, one part journal, one part comedic relief as I, inevitably, fail at duplicating some recipes, crafts, etc...

Then came the dreaded first blog post. That's a scary blank page staring back at you! What if I'm not funny enough? What if it's lame? What if people make fun of me? What if no one reads it?!

Well, I've put it off long enough. I suppose it speaks to my progress in my counseling program that I'm learning to just stop giving a crap about how others may see me and to start living life for me. And I want to start a blog! So bear with me while I find time to write, and teach myself how to make this blog into what I want it to be!

-Audrey