Crepes

Crepes

My Mom LOVED crepes!  Years ago at NorthPark Mall in Dallas there was a restaurant called The Magic Pan which was a San Francisco based eatery.  They served over 27 varieties of crepes filled with savory things like specialty eggs crepes, spinach crepes, mushrooms crepes, cheese crepes, chicken filled crepes, lobster crepes and many more. Then they had the sweet filled ones with ice cream in the middle with chocolate on top and a pecan crème.  There was a apple filled crepe, crepe beignet strips served in a basket with a Brandie’s apricot sauce. But the famous one was called Crepes Suzette it was served at your table with a flambé brandy which the brandy cooked out of with the flame as my Mom would say.  It was fun to watch them make it at your table with the flame and all.

It opened in Dallas in 1974 and closed in 1991. I believe there is one still at the Denver Airport and Washington National Airport.

The Magic Pan was one of my Mom’s all time favorite restaurants!

I bought this awesome crepe maker on Amazon 2 1/2 years ago and love it!  It’s so fun when you have people over to go around the table and let everyone make their own crepe.  I will say the trick is to put the crepe maker into the batter and quickly take it out.  If it’s in there a few seconds too long it starts to cook and messes up like it basically leaves the crepe in the batter so you have to scoop that layer out.

 

Once your crepe maker is hot, dip in the white plastic dish it comes with kinda pressing down quickly so that it covers the hot service then pull out.  Wait till it basically falls off holding it at an angle to fall onto your plate.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled it out to use with friends and family.  It’s truly a lot of fun!

I set out some cut up strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries then some Nutella that I first put in a small bowl then I place that bowl in the microwave for like 10-15 seconds so it’s easier to spoon out and spread.  I whip up some whipping cream and put a little powder sugar in a bowl. 

My sister Julie gave me a lazy Susan once which works well for this!  Oh and I get out a long extension cord so the crepe maker can go around the table.

I didn’t use strawberries this time because they we were outrageous in price.  Like almost $9 for 2lbs! 

Recipe - Makes 7-8 Crepes

Basic Batter

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Place ingredients in blender container in the order given. Blend 30 seconds, stop and stir down sides. Blend 30-60 seconds until smooth. Or, mix in bowl with wire whisk or mixer, first combining flour and eggs, adding liquid gradually. Beat until smooth; add other ingredients. Makes about 16 crepes.

NOTE: Measure flour and liquid carefully, since consistency of batter is Important. (It should be about the consistency of thick, heavy cream.] Spoon flour into 1 cup measure and level off with straight edge of knife or spatula.

These fold or roll well, and keep for weeks in the freezer, days in the refrigerator.

Batter can be used immediately. However, an hour or two standing time will produce slightly more tender crepes. Or, refrigerate batter up to three days for use as needed.

Bang Bang Chicken

I found this recipe earlier this year and have made it at least 12 times.  It was a good find for sure!  I also double the bang bang sauce (which I think  is also called yum yum sauce at some restaurants) almost always and sometimes I even triple it like today.  I have some medal skewers that I use but I have used wooden ones before, if you are are using wooden skewers make sure you soak them in water for at least 30 minute’s because they will catch on fire possibly not all of them but let’s just say I’ve had it happen. 😅

Trader Joe’s is a great place to get the Sriracha and Sweet Chili sauce!  They have a Thai one but I generally just get the  Sweet Chili sauce. They are good and much cheaper than the grocery however you can get both at a grocery store.

Bang Bang Chicken 

2 lbs Chicken breasts, boneless skinless - cut into medium size cubes

2 tbsp Honey

1 1/4 cups Mayonnaise

2 tsp Sriracha

2/3 cup Thai sweet chili sauce

1/2 tsp Black pepper

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tbsp Olive oil, extra virgin

Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes

Marinate chicken cubes for at least 2-4 hours or over night.   Use part of the sauce for marinating then reserve part for dipping. 

Add marinaded chicken cubes to the skewers about 5-6 to each skewer then grill till they are done.  

Right before you take off grill brush some more marinade - yum yum sauce on the chicken while hot. I let it set there a few minutes before I take it off the grill. 

You can also keep the chicken in the marinade for a couple of days before you grill it or like today I grilled half of the chicken and I’ll grill the other half in a day or 2. 

Yum Yum sauce

I placed my chicken in a ziplock bag to marinate and placed the bag in a bowl 

Place chicken pieces onto skewers

                Grill then when the chicken is done add the sauce to the chicken with a brush or spoon. 

Carrot Cake

                     

                             As you can see I am not a cake decorator I tend to always be in a hurry! 

I made a Carrot Cake for a friend over the weekend it reminded me of my Mom.  She made this recipe below many many times, along with Italian cream Cake.  I learned too cook from my Mom,  she would say if you can read you can cook.  My Mom passed away in February, 2022, it’s hard to believe she has been gone so long.  This blog has many of her recipes, some passed down to her and some she created or found.  I named this blog years ago because it truly is All About A Good Recipe!

You can also add 1 cup of crushed pineapple . My friends husband gave me her recipe so I added the pineapple.  Honestly they both taste about the same.

I went ahead and made some cupcakes too after finding out how many would be there. This recipe makes 19-20 cupcakes!

I also added some chopped pecans on top!

                                Carrot Cake

 

2 Cups Flour

2 cups Sugar

2 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

3 cups grated carrots

1 ½ cups Wesson Oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice - to be honest I don’t always put the allspice

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8oz cream cheese softened

2 sticks of butter softened

Powder sugar about 2/3’ of a bag

1 tsp vanilla

Chopped pecans

Cream together softened cream cheese and butter then add powder sugar a little at a time then add vanilla.

*Add a couple of tablespoons of water or milk too thin it.

I make this as a 3 9” round pans.

 

Prepare Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans with Crisco and flour and set aside.

2. Combine flour, soda, cinnamon and allspice in medium bowl. Place eggs, granulated sugar, oil,  and vanilla in large bowl; mix with an electric mixer on low until blended.

3. With mixer running, add flour mixture and then carrots. Mix until blended. Pour batter evenly into pans.

4. Bake 30 minutes or until cakes test done. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

5. Prepare Frosting: Place cream cheese and butter in medium bowl; beat with an electric mixer on medium speed 1 to 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; blend until smooth.

6. Assemble cake by placing one layer onto plate. Spread with some of the frosting; top with third layer. Frost top and sides with remaining frosting. Garnish with walnuts, if desired.

    

Pastor Appreciation Breakfast

Pastors Appreciation Day

Creekwood Church

This is our 4th year to do a Pastor/Staff Appreciation Breakfast at my church, National Pastor Appreciation Day was October 13th this year.  We did our Pastor/Staff Appreciation Breakfast on Monday, October 14th.

It's a day to say thank you for all that you do, it doesn't go unnoticed.  Like most churches the staff gives a lot of themselves and not only do they meet deadlines every week but they support, love and comfort people even after hours. 

I am blessed to be apart of my church for over 16 years.  I see the behind the scenes scheduling, planning, prepping part of it and I see how they truly give of theirselves to help others.

I have a Life Group at church called, Creating Heartstrings- Random Acts of Kindness.  We throughout the year do Random Acts in our community but once a year (4th year) we  have done the Pastor/Appreciation Breakfast. 

I pick a theme then I find gifts for the Women, we buy everyone the same thing like this year we got  a bag with their initials on it then we each bought blankets to put inside. For the men we bought a nice cooler bag and put snacks inside.

It's something to say we appreciate all that you do.

This year I happened upon some great printable for tags and art prints on Etsy.  Our church moved into our new location officially in September of this year. The church offices have been out there since 2018 or 2019, then covid happened so it delayed the build but it was finished totally in September.  It's beautiful out there!  I often still this today say,  who left this place?  There is 108 acres with a lake in view from every building, it's just beautiful out there.  It had been someone's house which is now that house is the church offices.

Anyway for our Pastor/Staff Appreciation Day I send out things that we need like 19 blankets and people sign up to purchase one.  I got the Ladies bags on Shein then the 13 Mens Coolers came from Amazon then people signed up to bring snacks for the men...you know beef Jerky, candy, protein bars, crackers and etc.

A couple of weeks before the actual day,  I send out a sign up for the Breakfast from Breakfast Casseroles to butter and Jam.   We all enjoy blessing our staff, this year we decided to have the tables to eat outside so I did a nature theme this year.

Here is this year's breakfast, gifts and decor

This is what the ladies gift’s looked like with the cute bag, bee tag and the great printable.  We also had a table with black mats if they wanted to frame their picture.

Getting things ready, we used greenery from the bushes outside!

The picture of the view outside doesn’t do it justice and we didn’t take a picture of the bags for the men with the tags on them.

The items on the bench are for the part-timers who couldn’t be there.

              It’s fun to see what everyone brings, we even had homemade yogurt in two flavors this year ! 

                                                                       This is our first year

                       This was our 1st Breakfast “ Thank you for Being the hands and feet of Jesus!

                      Some great food and yes those are homemade donut twist my friend Mitchy made!

A good friend of mine, Wendy painted these cards, she is so talented!

This is our 2nd year

                  This is our 2nd year, the Lord Bless you and Keep you and Make His face shine upon You!

I’m used my Cricut to make these….I edited their last name for the blog.

I have an embroidery machine and love to stitch out Scriptures! 

See the pears, I’m always looking for things that look good but are not expensive!  

We had some tags left over so we threw them on the table.

I love to gift wrap, one of my favorite things so we wrapped each gift! I love to make bows and have a ton of Ribbon, I bought a roll of black butcher paper on Amazon to wrap the gifts with.

This is our 3rd year

 For the gifts we gave each one a coffee cup, candle that my friend, Joanie made and a journal for each.

We snagged the pumpkins from someone’ office and cut some greenery outside off some bushes. I wished we had covered the sink!

When you’re giving a gift for over 40 people, you have to get creative budget wise!  

Our group is blessed with people who love to give and serve.

Chicken & Dumplings

 

Here in Texas the temperature's have finally dropped some, hallelujah!  August and September have been hot but the last couple of weeks some coolness has come in the mornings and evening, then like today it's in the 70's mid day!

Of course we Texans at the hint of cooler weather get out the stock pots to make something like Chicken and Dumplings.

I found this recipe at least 12-15 years ago, it's been my go to since.  It's pretty easy and if I'm honest I often use a rotisserie chicken. I also generally just use the chicken breast, I know it's a waste but I do that for other things to.  However I always make sure to use that good juice which sometimes turns into a jell consistency at the bottom it adds so much flavor.

I just made this on Monday of this week but decided to make it for a good friend of mine who turns 89 tomorrow.  Her name is Lenora and she loves Chicken & Dumplings so today  I took some chicken breast with the bone in out of the freezer and will use that this time..  I'm going to bake it but you can boil a whole chicken, chicken breast or thighs and legs.  I like the baked flavor and the drippings to incorporate into the soup, makes a great broth when water is added, I still add the chicken base and bouillon cubes.

I also use Chicken Base, I love the flavor it adds, it gives a heartiness to what ever you are making.  I also like Knorr Chicken bouillon cubes too they are soft and crumble easy plus have a good flavor.  I sometimes use both the chicken base and Knorr bouillon cube especially if I am making a big pot of something like Chicken and Dumplings.

 I keep on hand Beef Base plus the Knorr beef bouillon cubes and tomato bouillon cubes plus chicken bouillon always, I add the tomato to things like Tortilla Soup or even Spanish Rice.

This is the Chicken Base from Sam's Club but Costco has some plus pretty much every grocery store.  I just love the Sam's price even like everything it's gone up in price but  I do like the flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 Rotisserie Chicken, cut or shredded OR you can boil or bake 3 chicken breast then cut or shred.  (I shred mine)
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To Make The Dumplings:

• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 heaping tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1 cup HOT water
• 1 cup plus 4 tbsp all purpose flour
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Soup base:

 .  12  cups of water ( you can use chicken broth in carton)

• 3 tbsp Chicken Base or 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 3 tbsp flour into 1 cup hot water
• Salt and Pepper to taste 
• Lawry’s Garlic Salt with green lid

If you boil a chicken of course use that chicken stock or  if you use a carton that is fine too however I would still add 1 tbsp of the chicken base or a bouillon cube make it a little bit hardier. 

Instructions

• In a stock pot heat 12 cups of water and put in 3 tbsp of chicken base or 3 chicken bouillon cubes. Take the chicken off the rotisserie chicken and shred it or cut into bite size. If you boiled or baked chicken, do the same, add chicken to the base and let boil. Oh and if using a rotisserie chicken use the good stuff at the bottom for flavor, the juice or jell)

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• While chicken stock is coming to a boil, make the dumplings. In a large bowl, using a pastry blender, mashed potatoes smasher or two knives, cut the shortening and salt into the cup of flour, until shortening is the size of small peas. Add 1 cup HOT water, stir  and work the mixture until a soft dough ball forms firm enough to roll , let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into about 4 portions. 
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Generously flour a work surface. Roll each dough ball out one at a time sprinkling with flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking to work surface. Roll out to about the size of a large pie crust. Cut dough into strips about an inch wide using a knife. Repeat process for remaining dough balls.

Drop dumplings a couple at a time into hot boiling chicken/broth mixture until all have been added to pot; add butter, and continue cooking.  Stir so that the dumplings do not stick together.

 To thicken it add 3 tbsp of  flour to about 1 cup of hot water. Stir well to combine, then add to pan, and stir well. Cook an additional 10 minutes on high to fully cook dumplings. Taste test broth, and add additional salt and pepper or I add Lawry's Garlic sea Salt.

Less is more when it comes to salt.  You can always add more but you can’t take it out if you add too much.  So a little salt at a time and taste .  I mainly use the Lawry’s garlic salt just a few sprinkles here and there.

If it isn’t as thick as you want add another 1tbsp of flour to 1/4 or 1/2 cup of hot water, stir then pour in. 

Enjoy!