Crepes, Brocolli Salad, Coffee Cake, Blackberry Crisp, Meatballs, and Mac & Cheese

One of the things I've really enjoyed since arriving is all the cooking I've had the time to do. A few things I've made that have been fun are:

Crepes/Blintzes--

Crepe batter is .5 cup flour, 3/4 cup water/milk (it was supposed to be 1/4 c. milk and 1/4 c. water, but that's too little and the proportions don't seem to make a difference), 1 t. salt, 1 egg, and 1 T. melted butter. It's easiest to mix all the wet ingredients and then add the flour slowly. It's pretty simple-- then you just pour a 1/2 cup of batter into the medium heated pan and voila!

I fill it with some combination of fruit and honey and cottage cheese. What a tasty weekend breakfast! Anyone know the difference between a blintz and a crepe? Is a blintz made with a crepe?



Broccoli Salad--

I wanted to make pasta salad, but didn't want the carbs. I found Paula Dean's recipe for broccoli salad and figured I could alter it.

Her recipe was-- 1 head broccoli, 6 to 8 slices cooked/crumbled bacon, 1/2 cup chopped red onion, 1/2 cup raisins, optional
8 ounces small chunks sharp Cheddar, 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes, Salt and freshly ground black pepper ...Trim off the large leaves from the broccoli stem. Remove the tough stalk at the end and wash broccoli head thoroughly. Cut the head into flowerets and the stem into bite-size pieces. Place in a large bowl. Add the crumbled bacon, onion, raisins if using, and cheese. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, stirring well. Add to broccoli mixture and toss gently.

I didn't have all the ingredients... I used broccoli, salami chunks (rather than bacon), cheddar, balsamic vinegar, and mayonnaise, with a sprinkle of sugar. It was tasty!



Coffee Cake--

I had apricots... so I made this Bisquick coffee cake recipe with apricots instead of blueberry. It was very tasty, though the cooking time was a bit "off".

Cake--2 cups Bisquick mix, 2/3 cup. sugar, 1/3 cup. sour cream, 1 egg, 1/4 c. milk, 1 c. canned blueberries, drained & rinsed. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 x 2 inch pan. Mix sour cream and egg; stir in milk gradually. Stir in Bisquick just until moistened. Spread half of batter in pan and sprinkle with half of streusel. Spread remaining batter over streusel and sprinkle with blueberries. Sprinkle with remaining streusel. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Streusel--1/3 cup Bisquick, 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (I like to add a bit more since I love cinnamon!), 2 tablespoons of margarine or butter

Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes
Baking Time: 30-40 minutes

Blackberry Crisp:

Berries--4 cups blackberries, 1 Tb flour, 3 Tb brown sugar, a bit of salt, 1 t vanilla, and a heaping Tb of sour cream... preheat oven to 375 degrees; toss berries and other ingredients together and pour into greased glass pie pan

Topping-- 1/2 cup unbleached white flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/8 tsp salt, 6 Tb unsalted butter...Combine the 1/2 cup flour, 6 Tb brown sugar, spices, and salt. Cut 4 Tb of butter into small pieces; then cream it into the flour mixture with the bottom of a tablespoon. Continue creaming the mixture until there is no loose flour. Distribute the topping over the berries.

Put in oven. Bake. After about 20 minutes, slice the remaining 2 Tb of butter onto browning top. Bake until the top is lightly browned, and the juices have risen around the edges, about another 10-20 minutes.

Yum, yum, yum... definitely serve with whipped cream.

Turkey Meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs, salt and pepper, 1 T. Italian seasoning, 1 t. garlic powder... mix ingredients together; shape into balls; cook in skillet over medium heat until meatballs are no longer pink in the center

I used these in meatball sandwiches because I decimated them trying to cook them evenly... the "ball" part of the meatball didn't work for me, although they tasted great!



Macaroni and Cheese:

This is my next to try... this is Brynne Evans' recipe and I've had it when she makes it... it's fantastic. We have some spicy sausage that I might cook on the side and then have this.

2 cups elbow macaroni; 1/2 stick butter; 2 1/2 cups sharp cheddar; 1 can cheddar cheese soup; 1/2 cup sour cream; 1/2 tsp ground mustard; 1/2 tsp salt (+ extra salt for boiling the macaroni); 1/2 tsp pepper; 1 cup milk

Boil macaroni in salted water, but do not completely cook (about half the recommended time for cooking). Melt butter and cheddar cheese on stove top. Add to crockpot. Add cheddar cheese soup, sour cream, mustard, salt, pepper and milk to crockpot. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Stir in macaroni. Put crockpot on low for 3 hrs.

If you like when there is a little bit of the overcooked cheese that gets brown and kind of crunchy, then try this (because it doesn't always happen when cooked on low for the whole time). So if you want the overcooked, crunchy cheese or if you have less than 3 hours to cook it, turn the crockpot to high for about a 1/2 hour and cut the overall time by about a 1/2 hour. Then just keep an eye on it.