Crepes and Buttermilk Syrup

Crepes:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp oil
pinch salt


Mix all ingredients in blender (we doubled, and it could have been tripled).  Heat pan so it's hot, spray with baking oil or add butter to pan.  Pour batter in by 1/4 cup increments, swirl pan around until batter evenly coats pan.  When sides start to bubble and peel away from pan, take out of pan and stack crepes on plate.


Buttermilk Syrup
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Bring first five ingredients to a boil. Remove from heat immediately and add Baking Soda. To avoid boil over I use a fairly deep, heavy pan

White Chili

3 (15oz) cans great northern beans with juice
3 (4oz) cans diced green chilies
1 pkg frozen shoepeg white corn
1/2 tsp cumin
2 Tbs lime juice
1/2 Tbs salt
1 tsp pepper
1-2 Tbs brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add sour cream and grated cheese in separate serving bowls.

Lettuce Wraps

I've been looking for a good lettuce wrap recipe for a long, long time.  I finally found one that I think I'll keep using.  It seemed like a bit of work the first time, but I think from here on out it will be a lot easier (it's really not that complicated though).  I found the recipe on AllRecipes.com, and it's supposed to be the P.F. Chang's recipe.  It did taste very similar too!

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup diced water chestnut
2/3 cup diced mushroom
(3 Tablespoons chopped onion-- I omitted these)
2-3 cloves minced garlic
head of iceberg lettuce

SPECIAL SAUCE:

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs rice wine vinegar (i substituted with 1Tbs white vinegar and 1Tbs water)
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbs red chili paste

STIR FRY SAUCE:

2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar (i used 1/4 tsp white vinegar and 1/4 tsp water)

First, dice your vegetables-- mushrooms and water chesnuts (and onions if you used them) into pea sized cubes.  Then, cook your chicken in a pan with some olive oil until cooked through.  Dice chicken as you did the veggies-- small pieces.  Add a bit of oil, the chicken, veggies, and stir fry sauce (mixed together beforehand), and minced garlic back to the pan.  Stir to coat with sauce and let simmer.

Then, make the special sauce.  You can also make it ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to serve.  To make the sauce, first dissolve the sugar into the water by stirring until the mixture is clear.  Then add the soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil and mix (whisk) well.  Wait to add the chili paste before serving and mix well.

Lastly, clean your head of lettuce- pat it dry, and then layer everything in.  We ate this with rice and fruit.

Zucchini Cookies

i made a batch of these this afternoon and they were quite a hit with the whole family!  the best part is they are definitely healthier than the typical chocolate chip cookie-- but, i have to make sure to give some away before i eat the entire tray!

1/2 cup butter, softened.
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup zucchini, (i used my magic bullet to puree it- you can grate it too)
2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350, spray cookie sheets with non stick spray.

2. Cream butter and sugar together

3. Add egg, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and flour into the butter mixture, mix well

5. Stir in zucchini

6. Fold in chocolate chips

7. Drop by tablespoons, about 12 cookies per cookie sheet. 

8. Bake 15-18 min until golden brown. Do not over bake.

*after you make the batter, it may be a little runny due to the wetness of the pureed zucchini.  i put mine in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden a bit.

*next time i am going to try using brown sugar instead of white to get a different kind of sweet in them.

Roquefort Pear Salad

via google images

i've made this numerous times for events, and it's so yummy that i decided i need it in my archives for future reference.  most times i just left the dressing on the side, but this last time that i made it i mixed it in and i think it made it better because all the flavors were able to mix together.  i obviously changed it up a bit, especially because i'm not a fan of green onions, so here is what i did:

head of romaine lettuce
1-2 green pears
2-3 avocados
bleu cheese
pecans (+ sugar/cinnamon)
craisins

shred lettuce, thinly slice pears, dice avocado, crumble bleu cheese, and candy the pecans.  (to candy the pecans i put a very small amount of olive oil in a skillet. add 1 cup pecans and 1/2 cup white sugar + dash of cinnamon.  keep the heat on medium and stir constantly until the sugar starts to diminish (melt), then pour pecans onto a plate to cool).

next make the dressing:

1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbs red wine vinegar
1.5 tsp white sugar
1.5 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, minced

combine all ingredients and mix in blender.  pour over shredded lettuce and mix well.  add pears, avocado, pecans and craisins and mix.  add bleu cheese on top and mix slightly. and then, eat... and eat.... and eat... because it's divine!

Cookie Bars (copy-cat)

I copied my friend Camille and made these cookie bars that she posted a while back.  Of course I changed it up a bit, as I usually do.  Thanks Camille for the great idea-- they were SO good, I easily could have eaten the entire pan!  Click here for the original recipe.

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup brown-sugar
*you can add 1/4 cup white sugar to make them sweeter
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 cup oats
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
2 cup chocolate chips

combine butter, sugar, an applesauce.  next add eggs, vanilla, salt, baking soda.  then flour, oats, flaxseed.  stir in chocolate chips.  bake in 8x8 dish at 325 for about 35min.

*basically i just substituted applesauce for butter, took out the white sugar, and added flaxseed.  these ones needed to bake longer, as the applesauce made the batter less thick. try them out! yum!
*next time i make these i am going to try using no butter and all applesauce to see how it works out.  i think it will work out fine! i'll let you know!

Spaghetti Squash Vegetable Goolash

do you like the name of this one? :)  that's what it basically is... only, the word goolash does make it less appealing.  i first saw this idea on mckensie's blog (i mentioned her in the previous post as well) and then i saw it on one of my favorite blogs, The Body of Mother.  they both had different ways of making it, and i made my own as well.  basically, the main idea is-- spaghetti squash substituted for pasta is divine (and healthy!).  this is what i did..

1 spaghetti squash
1 jar marinara sauce
2-4 cloves garlic
chicken

1 green pepper
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
broccoli (cut into small pieces)

first, cut the spaghetti squash in half (take out the guts),  lay it flat side down on a cookie sheet and bake for 45min- hour at 350.  when it's done, scoop out all the noodles and put into a bowl.  i added some butter and salt and pepper and let it sit.

while the squash is cooking in the oven, dice chicken and cook in frying pan until cooked through.  add diced/sliced veggies to pan with olive oil and a few cloves of minced garlic.  cook until veggies are tender.

finally, layer the "noodles", veggies/chicken, and top with marinara sauce.  now that i think back to it, we should have put some cheese on top- we'll have to add that next time!  :)   this is a delicious meal, and we were SO full afterwards!  definitely got our share of veggies for the day!

*sorry no picture