Holy Crepes!

I peer into the frig. Hmmmm, what to make, what to make. I need to grocery shop. I see a few eggs, bits of cheeses, a bunch of asparagus, leftover mashed potatoes...that's it! Crepes!

Jan's Basic Crepe Batter 
2 C. milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 C. flour
pinch salt, 2 TBS. oil

I'm not sure why everyone quakes at the thought of making crepes. You need a non-stick saute pan, wire whisk, spatula and simple techniques (and of course, filling). Fillings can be just about anything, sweet or savory. Experiment! I'm using leftovers; as grandma used to  say--waste not, want not!

Whisk together milk, oil and eggs. All at once, add flour/salt and whisk the dickens out of it.  Use a ladle and pour a dollop of batter into a small, non-stick saute pan preheated to med-high. As soon as the batter hits the pan, swirl to coat evenly on the pan's hot surface by tipping up and around (pic below).

No need to flip, just turn the pan upside down over the plate and they'll flop right out. You'll need to help just a bit by loosening the edges with a rubber spatula just as they look cooked through. The batter shouldn't have any gooey-ness on the surface of the crepe if it's done. Cover the stack with a damp paper towel and set aside while you assemble the filling.
 Don't worry, they won't stick together.

I've peeled the asparagus stems and foraged fresh, spring dandelion greens. Both get lightly steamed, drained and chopped.

I've cut up a medium sized onion, caramelized in butter and deglazed with my current favorite white wine (Moscato--fabulous!!)

Now, for the leftovers. I grated all the cheese bits from the cheese drawer with some shredded mozzarella and combined the above ingredients with the mashed potatoes. I seasoned with garlic powder and nutmeg. One at a time, fill the crepes and roll up. Place them seam side down into the baking pan.

I made a little white sauce to nestle and top the crepes into the non-stick sprayed baking dish. Bake crepes, covered with foil, at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until just heated through.White Sauce: melt 2 tablespoons butter over med-high heat, add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk for about 3 or 4 minutes. Add about 4 cups milk gradually as you whisk. When it reaches the lump-free gravy consistency you desire, stop adding milk. Add salt to taste.

Beside seared leftover meatloaf, crepes are most nom nom nom-ful!

Grilled Stuffed Peppers

Aaaah, if not for the 50- and 60-degree days in January, no on would live in Texas.

Feeling an urge to soak up some midwinter sun, yet still craving the comforts of an open fire? How about some tiny, sweet peppers in all the colors of sunshine, wrapped in bacon, and grilled to tasty perfection?

Sunshine? Check.

Fire? Check.

Tasty? Check, check, check!

Courtney's Grilled Stuffed Peppers

Assume 4-5 per person

This recipe stuffed about 30

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I used French bread)

1 cup shredded cheese (I used a colby/jack mix)

4 oz cream cheese, at room temp (1/2 package)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

2 large eggs

Dulcetta (small sweet) peppers, split from top to tail and any present seeds removed

Thick-cut bacon, one slice for every three peppers

Wash, split, and de-seed peppers (it is not necessary to remove the stem- in fact, leaving it on will enable
you to more completely close in the stuffing and prevent leaks while grilling).

In a medium-sized bowl, combine cream cheese, eggs, shredded cheese, garlic powder, and onion powder.

In a food processor, pulse 3-4 slices of fresh bread until a coarse
crumb is achieved (you are looking for about 1 cup crumbs). Add
crumbs to egg/cheese mixture.

Mixture should have a thick and relatively dry texture.

Carefully scoop filling into cleaned, split peppers, being careful not to break peppers apart.
My peppers held an average of 2 tsp of filling per pepper.

Once peppers are filled and squished closed, cut bacon
slices into thirds and wrap 1/3 piece of bacon around each pepper.
Slide on to skewer*, making sure skewer pierces overlapping
bacon ends to ensure a good wrap.

Place skewers of peppers over heated coals (avoiding open flames like in photo, unless super-charred is your style).
Peppers are ready when bacon is crisp, pepper skin is slightly charred, and filling is hot and gooey.

These peppers are a crowd pleaser, and a for-sure hit for any Super Bowl party that may be coming up, so put a pin in this and enjoy!

*If no grill there be, you can use toothpicks and your broiler!

Muffy Muffins and The Muffin Formula

When it comes to baking from scratch, I think whenever you can do it--do it. But sometimes a shortcut or two to save time, money or energy, is practical and acceptable. The following recipe, which is really a formula of sorts, was a tried-and-true go-to for when I was a young mom. It's become a staple and for my now grown kids, a taste of home.

Jan's Muffy Muffins

1 C. Pioneer Baking Mix, no substitutes!
1 C. quick oats
1 C. milk

1/2 C. sugar, plus a bit more for sprinkling
1 egg
3 TBS veg oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk into a mixing bowl, add oats and go fold some laundry for 15 minutes or so. Add sugar, egg, oil and vanilla. (To the bowl, not to the laundry!) Using a fork, beat mixture like a crazy person for about 30 seconds. Stir in Pioneer just until incorporated thoroughly. Pam spray a muffin pan for a dozen muffins. Get a big serving spoon or small ice cream scoop and evenly fill pan. Sprinkle muffin tops with sugar and bake for 20 minutes. Voila, muffins! Now for the best part, besides eating them of course, the formula...

Fill muffins with a two part pastry tip (available at crafts store) attached to a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. 

Jan's Muffin Formula

If you have 1 cup of Pioneer Baking Mix
1 cup of any other dry ingredient 
1 cup of wet (milk, buttermilk, mashed banana/sour cream, yogurt/almond milk, canned pumpkin/1/2&1/2...) and the rest of the above mentioned ingredients, you have muffins.

 Here are some suggestions for dry ingredients to accompany the Pioneer:  All Bran cereal or pretty much any cereal as long as it has been run through a blender to make a flour-like consistency, rye flour, rice flour, pecan meal, another cup of Pioneer, buckwheat four, coconut flour...you get where I'm going with this.

Your flavorings can change as well. Instead of vanilla, add almond extract. Throw in a pinch or two of nutmeg and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Add raisins or mini chocolate chips to the batter. Mix up a filling of softened cream cheese/powdered sugar and fill the muffins when they're done baking. Play with your food! You can make them as simple as Muffy Muffins or come up with your own crazy concoction. Have fun!

Court's pumpkin muffins (yummmmm)  for our most recent catering job

Mushroom Strudel

My baby girl is 30 years old! Listen, when "old people" tell you that time flies--believe it! So we had a little family get-together over at casa de Kinney to celebrate the wonder that is Courtney. The menu was brunchy and casual with not too many leftovers leftover. Along with a big veggie tray and melon platter, I made Cinnamon Knots, Cheesey Potatoes, Maple Glazed Chicken, Mushroom Strudel, Lemonade Cake and Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes. Here is the recipe for Mushroom Strudel; but you can make a filling out of just about anything and pull this off.

Jan's Mushroom Strudel

1 lb. of your favorite sausage (vegetarian this time)
1 lb. raw mushrooms (I used good 'ole white button)
1/2 C. chopped celery
1 large onion, chopped
ghee or olive oil for sauteing
rubbed sage, salt and pepper to taste
1 pkg. frozen sheet puff pastry (2 sheets per pack)
Your favorite sauce/gravy (e.g. white sauce with Gruyere)

As soon as you get home from the store with puff pastry in hand, place the package in the refrigerator. Puff pastry must be thawed but cold when you put this together. I gave it two days in the frig. In the mean time for the filling, saute sausage until lightly browned. Set aside, drain off fat. Wash mushrooms and slice. Chop onions and celery. Use the same pan with either a little of the sausage fat, ghee (clarified butter) or olive oil and saute celery and onions with a pinch of salt. Throw them into a medium sized bowl. Saute mushrooms in the same manner, browning after natural liquid has evaporated and cooked down. You'll know they're at the browning stage when they start to squeak as they're moved around the pan. Add mushrooms and drained sausage to the bowl with the veggies. Season, stir thoroughly, cover and refrigerate filling until completely cooled.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.To assemble, use the plastic wrap method* rolling puff pastry sheets to about half-again their original length/width. The dough will be very thin. Using the best kitchen tools you own (your hands), slightly compress and place half of the filling mixture in the center of that first pastry sheet, leaving enough of a border to wrap the filling burrito-style. Brush the bordering pastry lightly with water before overlapping/sealing edges. Place strudel in a Pammed baking dish, seam side down and repeat with second sheet. Poke a couple of holes in the top surface of each strudel for steam release. Since the filling is already precooked, you need only watch for the pastry to turn golden, about 30 minutes. If you want a super shiny strudel, brush with egg yolk/cream mixture. Personally, I don't want to waste a perfectly good egg! Serve sauce on the side or pour sauce at the ends and a bit down the middle right before serving. Carefully transfer to a nice platter (before sauce) or be lazy and use a fancy party dish like I did below!

* That's Just How I Roll any pastry, pie crusts included--between sheets of plastic wrap. You can move the plastic as you roll,  your rolling pin and counter stays clean, you're not adding too much flour and toughening the pastry, you can quickly chill thin pastry in the plastic wrap, and after you remove the top layer of plastic you can easily slip your hand in the center of the underside and flip your pie plate over pastry to center...so many reasons to use this method!

Perfect Weekend Pancakes

There are two things my Mama taught me that have really served me well in the kitchen over the years: gather all your ingredients before you start cooking/baking, and clean as you go. By gathering all your ingredients before you begin a recipe, you can make sure you don't leave something important out (and by putting them all away after using them, you can insure you don't double anything), and by cleaning as you go, you get more time enjoying what you've made and less time cleaning up after yourself.

Brilliant.

I follow those rules every time I find myself in the kitchen, be it for an elaborate family meal, a simple summer afternoon lunch, or a Sunday morning, when no one wants to clean up, everyone's hungry, and the kiddos are crying for pancakes.

And cry for pancakes they do, especially these.

Note: don't be intimidated by the amount of ingredients in this recipe- together they make a moist, fluffy, wholesome pancake that any picky eater will enjoy, and they're easy to boot!

Courtney's Perfect Weekend Pancakes

Makes around 2 dozen pancakes, which freeze beautifully, by the way

1/2 C whole-wheat pastry flour (unbleached all-purpose flour works too)

1/2 C oat flour*

1/2 C rye flour*

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 C buttermilk

3/4 C nonfat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 generous TBS honey (maple syrup works well too)

2 large eggs

2 TBS canola oil (or melted butter)

Any add-ins you might enjoy, like blueberries, walnuts, chocolate chips, etc.

Combine flours with baking powder, baking soda, and salt (aka the "dry" ingredients) in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine milks, eggs, vanilla, honey, and oil (aka the "wet" ingredients). Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and mix until just combined (don't over-mix, or pancakes will not be as fluffy!). Heat a pan or griddle to a medium-low heat, rub hot surface with a little butter, and cook pancakes (I use a 1/4-C ice cream scoop to measure the batter) until bubbles form and don't fill back in on the surface of each 'cake. Flip and cook ~1 min more (if using add-ins like blueberries, etc., sprinkle on the top of each pancake just after you pour the batter onto the pan/griddle,). 

Serve warm with butter and syrup, butter and powdered sugar, warm fruit compote, or my daughter's favorite- cinnamon applesauce.

Enjoy!

*You can substitute almost any type of flour in this recipe- you can leave out the rye and double up on all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour, you can do the entire recipe with all-purpose flour, or you can sub buckwheat for the oat flour... whatever you have on hand!