We generally have a huge 4th of July Picnic but this year Marc had to work and Erin and Jon had plans elsewhere. We will be going up to a picnic at our church later but for now? Very low key.

I made lemon butter bars to take to the picnic, and will be making a red, white, and blue heirloom potato salad using the Southwestern Potato Salad recipe I posted. The butter bars use a cake mix, and you can substitute any flavor mix to have a variety of butter bars…and lets face it, folks, the world NEEDS more butter bars…desperately.

Anyway, here is the July 4th version of Saturday Surfing.

• Have you ever had Italian Wedding Cake? I am not even sure where it gets it’s name but the one by Emily at Sugar Plum looks delicious.
• What would the 4th be without Macaroni Salad. This one from Life’s Ambrosia looks fabulous.
• Courtney has a yummy sounding chocolate, banana, and cinnamon infused jam on her blog. My oh my.
• Everything anyone could want to know about food and probably much that they don’t want to know. Food Reference.
• Cathy is just so cool. I scan her blog, Noble Pig, once in awhile because I love her wit, photography, and majorly awesome recipes…like these Firecracker Cupcakes with Poprocks.
• The Purple Foodie has a recipe for Banana Nutella Crepes and a cookbook give away going on now. It ends the 25th of July so you have some time.
• Passionate About Baking is one of my favorites. These chocolate, walnut, and dried cranberry bar cookies look amazing.
• foodiePrints has been fun to get to know on twitter, and I have more and more been furtively visiting his blog. Check out these peach and yogurt muffins…those will wake ya up in the morning.
• Donna is a fellow Texan (except she has an accent, y’all) and I have actually met her. What a sweetie. Just like this Raspberry Margarita Smoothie.
• Kahlua Carrot Cakes with Maple icing on Worth the Whisk. Sigh.

O.k..and that is it for this week. Hey, I will be announcing a cool giveaway next week, reviewing some eco-friendly disposable items, AND posting a recipe for Snicker Bar Blondies, a cool chopped salad and some other goodies.

Have a great holiday weekend!

image:maryeaudet

Post from: Baking Delights

So, this morning I had the urge to fix breakfast…sort of.  O.k…so it wasn’t an urge exactly it was more like the sound of my children in the last, painful moments of starvation because it had been a few hours since they had eaten.

What is it with families and their need to eat on a regular basis?  My family, with the exception of me, has the metabolisms of hummingbirds on amphetamines.  Seriously.

Anyway, I thought that cream cheese crepes sounded like something everyone would eat.

Wrong-o.

Kyrie just wanted the *real kind* of pancakes.  With syrup.  However after a tentative bite of the crepe she decided she could live with it, just this once.

Whew…First bullet of the day dodged, only five hundred more to go.

Crepes are fantastic because they are quick, easy, and cheap….and you can make them ahead and keep them in your freezer.  Just keep a piece of waxed paper in between each crepe, then freeze them flat in an airtight freezer bag.  They only take a few minutes to thaw and they are ready to use.

Don’t ya love easy things that make you look good? Yeah, me too.

I used turbinado sugar to sprinkle on the crepes when they were done, mostly because it gives them a nice sweet crunch and looks really good.  Powdered sugar will work too. You will notice in the recipe below I use water, where most crepe recipes call for milk.  There is a reason for this.  Once when I was out of milk I just used water and noticed that the crepes were much more tender.  You can use milk rather than water if you like.

Crepes are great for almost any meal.  You can put almost anything in them.  They are a brilliant way to get rid of leftovers…and when you have a batch in the freezer, c’mon! You can have crepes anytime.

Crepes

• 2 eggs
• 1 water
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt

1. In a blender combine eggs,water, flour, and salt. Process until smooth.Set aside for one hour if possible to give the gluten time to relax.
   
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and brush with butter. Pour 1/4 cup of crepe batter into pan, tilting to completely coat the surface of the pan. Cook 2 to 5 minutes until golden and set, no need to flip. Repeat with remaining batter.

Cream Cheese Filling

• 16 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1 tsp vanilla
• A little cream if needed to make a soft consistency

Warm the cream cheese until it is easy to stir.  Add the rest of the ingredients.

Peach Compote

4 cups frozen peaches, thawed and chopped (or fresh)

Agave or sugar to taste

1 tbs GMO-free, organic cornstarch, (unless the peaches are not juicy, you will need this for thickening)

1/2 tsp grated ginger if desired

Mix ingredients and microwave until thickened.

Assembly

Lay the crepe on a flat surface.  Add a spoonful of the cream cheese and roll up.  Place on a plate and sprinkle with turbinado. Add compote.  Sprinkle with turbinado.  Repeat with all of the crepes.

Serves 8

images:maryeaudet (c)2009

Post from: Baking Delights

  This morning I made crepes for breakfast. I don’t do that often because it always seems in my head that they take a long time..But the truth is that crepes are really quick to do, impressive and delicious.

I make lemon curd in the microwave when I am pushed for time. It is quite easy to do..altho the finished product does not have quite the same silky texture as the kind on top of the stove. Use your lemon curd recipe, put all together except the butter..microwave on highfor 3-5 minutes stirring every minute until thick, remove..whisk inbutter a little at  a time until smooth.  I have a lime curd recipe here,

and you can easily substitue lemon juice for key lime.

Be sure your crepe pan is good and hot before pouring the batter in.and if you are like me the first one is a gift to the dog.

Crepes

1 c flour

1 c milk

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs butter melted

2 eggs

whisk the eggs until foamy

add the rest of the ingredients and whisk gently until you have a thin batter. Do not over whisk as it will cause the finished crepe to lose it’s delicacy.

put your pan on high heat and let it get good and hot..melt a small bit of butter in it, pouring out the exces into a bowl..do not let the butter start to burn.I also usually spray my pan with PAM just to be sure that there is no sticking.

Pour the batter in with a 1/4 c measure, simultaniously swirling the hot pan so the batter flows in a thin layer over the pan. Cook until the top side has popped bubbles and is no longer shiny

flip carefully and cook a few seconds…remove from pan to plate.

At this point you can stack them with waxpaper between and freeze, refrigerate, or set aside. I usually roll mine as they come off the stove because I am a whiz at multi tasking.

Take a couple of tablespoons of the curd and place it in a line down the crepe about 1/3 of the way in…Conversely, you can cover the whole crepe wih the curd..a little messier but delicious..Carefully roll the crepe to enclose the filling, sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar, garnish, and serve.

8-10 depending on size of crepes

Post from: Baking Delights