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.

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.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Several months ago one of the ladies in our Creating Heartstrings group made this dessert!  We cook dinner for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Dallas every other month.  It is always fun to see what people make for dessert.  We have to make everything there from the main course to the dessert, they have a wonderful commercial kitchen! 

One of our ladies, Jan made this dessert and it was a hit, everyone wanted the recipe!

This is pretty easy to put together and they really look like cinnamon rolls!  What you do is drop a butter mixture that has cinnamon and sugar onto the cake batter and swirl with your knife giving you the look of a cinnamon rolls!

This is a great recipe for Company during the Holidays...... this also reminds me a lot like coffee cake!  I didn't even use a mixer it just mixed it by hand, easy peasy!

mix everything together except the butter

 

 

Stir in melted butter and pour into a greased pan

 

make the topping mixture then drop by the spoonful it onto the batter and swirl with a knife

 

 

this is what it should look like after you make the swirls...place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 28-32 mintues

 

make the glaze

 

 

 

pour glaze over warm cake

looks like cinnamon rolls!

 

goes well with coffee :)

  

 

 

Cinnamon Roll Cake

 Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Egg in the Hole

I was watching Pioneer Women a while back and she was making "egg in the hole's".  They a quite simple and so easy to make but taste sooooo good!  Basically all you do it make a hole in your bread by using a biscuit cutter, glass or anything you have that can be used to make a hole.  Then you add butter to a skillet add the bread with the hole and crack an egg then put it in the middle of the hole.  Add the circle you took out and place it to the skillet next to the bread, make sure there is enough butter. Season it with salt and pepper on both sides.  Flip the bread, you might need to add more butter then cook it to your liking (the egg).

My Grandmother Harvey used to make toast in the skillet and I loved it.  This brought me back to my Grandmother's toast with an egg added to it!

I have used wheat bread, Orowheat Oat Nut bread and Texas Toast... I love them all but I'll have to say I like the Texas Toast best!

melt butter and add bread then add the egg

 

 

Flip the bread and cook the way you like it and until the bread is browned

 

I like mine mostly done with a little bit of the yolk runny.

 

Peanut Butter Granola

I saw this recipe on Pinterest the other day and decided to make it last night.  It took all of 5 minutes to combine it together (if that long) and all of 10 minutes to bake it!  Wow!  The longest part of this recipe is letting it cool so it will crisp up because it comes out of the oven soft, still tasty but soft. Granola should be crispy so the wait began! 

You could easily add some m & m's, dried fruit, nuts to this if you wanted. 

This has to be good for ya because it only has oats, peanut butter and honey along with some vanilla and cinnamon. 

*I just wanted to add a day later  that I picked up some M&M's and all I am going to say is mmmmmmm!!!!!  I then wished I had some dried fruit...I might have to go raid the pantry and see!

Just melt the peanut butter in the microwave for about 20 seconds

add vanilla and cinnamon (I just sprinkled a little didn't use the 1/2 tsp it called for)

add Oats to mixture

Stir until combined well

Pour onto a buttered pan or you can spray it with non-stick spray,  I used parchment paper

Just out of oven, now the waiting game!

Delicious peanut butter granola!

Peanut Butter Granola

¼ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ cup honey

½ tsp cinnamon  (I used less)

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups oats

Preheat oven to 325

Butter or spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray (I used parchment paper).

Combine peanut butter and honey in a bowl and place in microwave for about 20 seconds until peanut butter melts. Stir

Stir cinnamon and vanilla into mixture then add oats stirring until combined.

Spread oat mixture onto prepared cookie sheet and back for 10 minutes until granola is slightly brown.  Let cool until granola is crunchy

Granola Bars with Dried Fruit

These truly are delicious!  They have a nice buttery taste to them with a hint of a salty taste then all the sudden you get this sweetness from the fruit!  Great for a snack, breakfast or even dessert. 

I added dried apricots, dried blueberries and craisins but you can really add any kind of fruit you would like!  I just happen to have all three of those at home.  I have made this before with just apricots but I do love the three together!  I have also made them thinner using a larger pan but I think I really do like them thicker. If you are making a single recipe use a  9 " pan but if you are doubling it use a 9X13 " pan.

I do like to double the recipe when I make these because it's a great thing to grab and take with you for now or a snack later.

Store in an airtight container.

Melt butter in a saucepan or in the microwave. In a bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and dried fruit.  Pour melted butter over mixture and stir well till combined.

Pour into a butter pan ( I doubled recipe so I  used a 9X13 pan) and press down. Bake for about 35 minutes.

These truly are delicious

Look at all that goodness

Oatmeal Bars with Dried Fruit

Ingredients:

·    12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

·    2 teaspoons soft butter for greasing pan

·    ½ cup chopped dried apricots

·    1/2 dried blueberries (optional)

·    ½ cup dried craisins (optional)

·    1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

·    1 cup all-purpose flour

·    1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

·    1/4 teaspoon salt

·    1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·    1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Put the 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter in a small saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir with the wooden spoon until the butter is melted, about 2 minutes. Using a pot holder, remove the saucepan from the heat and set it aside to cool.

Preheat an oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease the bottom of pan with soften butter use a  9-inch square baking pan.

In a bowl, combine the rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended and no lumps of sugar remain.

Add apricots, blueberries and craisins, melted butter and vanilla to the bowl. Stir until well blended. The dough will be moist and crumbly. Dump the dough into the prepared baking pan. Press the dough into the pan with your fingers.

Bake until the top is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven, set on a wire cooling rack and let cool completely.

Waffles

 I really love waffles and pancakes!  There is a place here in Waxahachie that is called Cancun's, they have Mexican food, American food and Breakfast!  They have the best pancakes and waffles so when I go it's so hard to decide what to get because they serve breakfast all day!  They have really good Mexican food and American food but 1/2 the time I end up with pancakes or waffles!!

I got this recipe from my Aunt Carolyn several years ago.  I can remember having waffles at her house years ago and it's one of those things I always remembered because they were so fluffy and good!  I asked her for the recipe many years ago then misplaced it :( then about 3 yrs ago I was catering for a women's breakfast and they wanted waffles so I thought I have to get that recipe again!

These waffles are so fluffy and make a great size waffle!  You can freeze them which is nice because you can just pop one or two in the microwave or if your toaster oven is wide enough you can toast it. 
So much better than buying frozen waffles from the store!

My Aunt puts some vinegar in the milk to sour it....basically it becomes buttermilk!  So you can do that or even use buttermilk.  I was out of vinegar not sure how so I just used plain ole milk.  Actually I was trying to make some kind of paste to clean my pans with vinegar and I used it all last week!

What you will need...I was out of vinegar so I just used milk

Add dry ingredients then milk and combine

add melted butter or oil

Turn on your waffle maker then when your maker lets you know it ready pour in the batter.  Every waffle maker is different so use the amount it shows on your instructions.  I use  1/3 a cup or less for each waffle slot.

Large fluffly waffles!

Drizzled with syrup and melted butter....

This makes 10 large waffles so you can freeze what you don't eat then just pulled out what you want when you want!

Waffles

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons of sugar

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk ( I sour the milk with vinegar)

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil or butter melted

Mix dry ingredients; mix eggs with milk; then add oil/butter...

Add as much to your waffle as your machine instructs.

Can make ahead…freeze then pop in toaster oven or if they are to thick for your toaster you can pop in microwave!