Fresh Blueberry Crepes

I bought some gorgeous and huge Organic Blueberries the other day and this morning I asked my husband to make me Blueberry Crepes. We only started making Crepes about 10 years ago, it is so easy to do I have no idea why were so afraid to try it.

I looked at a few recipes and decided none of them were what I was looking for so I came up with my own filling. It was so delicious, the sweet taste of the bursting whole blueberries with the cream cheese and a bit of a tang from the sour cream, YUM. We will be making this again very soon!

This is a full crepe recipe, we only made a half batch which was about 10 crepes.

Crepes

4 eggs

2 1/2 cup 2% milk we had 1% and it worked fine

2 cup flour

2-3 tbl butter (melted)

1/4 tsp salt (optional)

Filling

1 brick cream cheese at room temperature

1 pint rinsed blueberries

1/4 cup sour cream

3-4 equal packages or you can use sugar

3 tbl blueberry Jam (I had homemade Jam from last summer thankfully)

Powdered sugar for presentation

In a medium bowl beat the eggs well, add the milk, flour, salt, butter and beat till smooth,

Mix the filling together until well incorporated, set aside.

Pre heat a non stick skillet and butter the pan well, pour about 1/4 cup of batter per crepe and swirl into a circle, it will cook very fast, about a minute per side. It should be very thin. Repeat until you run out of batter.

You can put the crepes into an oven at 170 degrees on a plate until you have them all cooked.

Place a line of filling down the middle of each crepe and roll, top with additional blueberries and powdered sugar if desired.

Classic Dinner Rolls

I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, the Williams Sonoma Essentials Of Baking.

The rolls were sooo yummy, soft and delicious. I made them the same day as my Turkey, Vegetable and Pasta soup, the combination of the two was outstanding!

This is really simple to make, in fact one of the easiest yeast breads I have ever made. I used dark colored cake pans and if you do so you need to cook them for only about 20 minutes.

Here is how ya do it!

1 package (2 1/2 tsp) Active Dry Yeast

1/4 cup of warm water (between 105 and 115 degrees, use your instant read thermometer)

1 cup whole milk

2 tbl sugar

2 large eggs at room temp, plus one egg beaten (the beaten egg you brush on before baking)

6 tbl butter at room temperature

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast and the warm water in your bowl or Kitchenaide mixer bowl, and let sit till foamy, about 5 minutes

Add the milk, sugar, 2 eggs, butter, flour and salt.

Attach the bowl to your mixer and use the dough hook on low, and knead for about 7 minutes or by hand for the same amount of time, add a bit of flour if it is sticking to the sides of the bowl

Work the dough until it is smooth and elastic, remove from bowl and shape into a large ball, and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, place some plastic wrap on top and let sit in a warm and dry place for 2 hours or until it doubles in bulk

You can make the balls of dough into any size you want, the book suggests cutting it into 8 pieces, which I did not, I did 10 and the rolls were huge. I would suggest about 14 dough balls.

Roll each dough ball into a nice circle and place them into the well greased pan of your liking, I used two cake pans, then let them rise for about an hour

Brush with the beaten egg

Bake them at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, check them at about 15 minutes or so

Remove from oven when done and brush with butter if desired

Scallops in a Lemon Cream Sauce

I am not a huge fan of Seafood, there I said it! I like Lobster, Shrimp and Crab and that's about it. I will eat Fish, but I tell my husband it is "punishment food". I noticed our local Haggen's had the large size Scallops on sale for a really good price, and decided to give it a whirl.

In my minds eye I imagined serving them with a simple Lemon Cream Sauce alongside Mandarin Rice. It was very tasty, the Scallops are so easy to cook and the whole meal came together very quickly!

1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1 tbl Butter

1/2 Large Fresh Scallops (remove that little white part, just pull it off)

1/2 lemon, zest and juice

1 cup white wine

Fresh Chives

Rinse Scallops and dry them well on a paper towel, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper

Quickly sear them in a screaming hot frying pan with the 1 tbl butter, it should take from 2-3 minutes on each side to get a nice crust, remove and set aside

Add half of the lemon zest to the pan and deglaze with the wine, reduce by half

Add the cream and stir well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes

Add lemon juice and cook for 1 minute

Plate the scallops and drizzle with the sauce and remaining lemon zest

Remove them from the pan and serve

Pear Butter

I did this post over the summer and forgot to post it! We don't have Pears in season in January, although I wish we did!

I had somehow thought that Pear Butter contained actual butter, luckily my Mother In Law explained otherwise. While we were on a family Peach Picking trip I also picked up a few pears. They were getting ripe and I had zero time to do much with them. I stopped by my Mother In Laws house and she was busy making Pear Butter, so I decided I would do the same.

It is actually quite easy and very Delicious. Being the wild child I am, I added a few extra ingredients to make it special!

6 pears, peeled and core removed, cut into chunks
1/4 cup Vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

Place your pears in a saucepan on low heat (do not add water or any liquid), add the sugar and spices and let simmer until it has reduced and become thick (this may take several hours)

Place in a blender or use an immersion blender until smooth

It will keep in the fridge for a few weeks, put on just about anything from ice cream to toast!

Stuffed Shells

I used to make stuffed shells all the time and I realized the other day that I had not made them in ages. I think because I realized tomatoes causes me major acid reflux.

I decided to make them anyway, and take a Pepsid before dinner, LOL! I started with Emeril's recipes then I went totally off the rail and did my own thing. I like my version much better!

tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
•2 teaspoons salt
•1/2 (12-ounce) box jumbo pasta shells (18 to 20 shells)
•2 cups finely chopped onion
•2 teaspoons minced garlic
•1 pound ground beef

1 tube of Jimmy Dean Sausage HOT
•1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
•15 ounce tub Ricotta Cheese
•2 large eggs
•1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
•2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
•1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
••1 teaspoon dried basil
•1 teaspoon dried oregano
•1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp Garlic Salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3-4 crimini mushrooms chopped

1 Jar of your favorite pasta sauce

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2-quart casserole dish with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pasta shells, and cook until al dente, 9 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally with a long-handled spoon to prevent the shells from sticking together. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Drain.

In a medium skillet, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until very soft, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the ground beef and sausage and cook, stirring, until cooked and browned. Add the squeezed spinach and mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the Ricotta Cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Add the spinach mixture, the extra-virgin olive oil, remaining teaspoon of salt, the basil, oregano, and remaining spices, and stir to combine thoroughly.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the spinach-ricotta filling into each cooked pasta shell. Place the filled shells in the prepared dish.

Pour the Red Sauce over the filled shells and top with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.

Bake, uncovered, until bubbly, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.