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Christmas Crepes

Posted in Breakfast, Christmas, Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holiday Recipes, Holidays, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on December 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

On special occasions or the rare days when Captain Cavedweller and I can enjoy a leisurely breakfast, I like to make crepes. Our favorite filling is fresh fruit with whipped  cream. Captain Cavedweller loves bananas while I tend to favor berries.

I’ve had this recipe for crepes since I was in the seventh grade. Our teacher decided to give us all some culture and let each of us a select a country to study up on and do a presentation complete with props. While I got stuck with India (when you are next to the last to get to choose, there aren’t a lot of countries left!), one of the girls choose France. Her mother brought in a hot plate and helped her make crepes for the class. They were delightfully wonderful and so different from anything I’d eaten. When she passed out copies of the recipe, I immediately went home and  begged my mom to let me make them. She did and I’ve been making them sense. Although my dad always called these flat pancakes, Captain Cavedweller does enjoy them!

These are light and delicious – just right for a morning brunch before a big holiday meal!

 

Ingredients

 

Mix the ingredients until it is smooth and there are no visible lumps.

 

Cook in a hot pan, lightly oiled. It just takes a minute or so for each side.

 

You want each side to be a nice golden brown.

 

Fill with berries and whipped cream.

 

Cook in a hot pan, lightly oiled. It just takes a minute or so for each side.

Enjoy!

Crepes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon  sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs until broken down. Add milk and vanilla extract and beat well. Beat in flour mixture until mixed then add in melted butter.

Lightly oil a hot griddle, frying pan or (if you have one) a crepe pan. Pour about two tablespoons of batter in the pan and thin it out by swirling the pan around. Tip and rotate until the batter is as thin as possible. Cook until each side is a light, golden brown.

Fill with fruit and whipped cream and roll. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar and enjoy!

Serves about 12.

She Who Loves Crepes!

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Pasta Ribbon Salad

Posted in Christmas, Easy Recipes, Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, Recipes, Salads, Sides, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 

If you are looking for a colorful side dish to serve this holiday season, try this easy Pasta Ribbon Salad.

 

Ingredients

Cook pasta according to package directions.

 

Slice Olives

 

Toss everything together.

 

I finished the salad off with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan and a sprig of dill.

Pasta Ribbon Salad

1 package Ribbon Pasta

1 can sliced olives

1/4 cup sliced Mazanilla Olives

1/4 cup sliced Kalamata Olives

1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup Italian Salad Dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions. Cool completly. Add in olives and cheese. Toss with dressing. Chill and serve!

She Who Loves Pasta Salad

 

 

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Easy Cucumber Appetizers

Posted in Appetizers, Christmas, Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, Recipes, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I hosted a little get together at my house last week.

It was a finger-food kind of gathering and I decided amidst the butter and sugar and cream, we needed something that resembled a vegetable.

These little cucumber appetizers were so easy to make and pretty tasty if the empty tray was an indication of how well they were received.

Ingredients... plan on two to three of these per person and use ingredients accordingly.

Slice the cucs into 1/2-3/4 inch slices. Uniformity is not my specialty.

Layer, plate and enjoy!

Easy Cucumber Appetizers

Cucumbers

Proscuitto

Mozzarella

Italian Dressing

Dill

Wash the cucumbers and slice into about 1/2 slices. I used mini cucumbers and they were bite-sized perfection. Lightly salt and set aside while you get everything else ready.

I cheated and purchased pre-sliced Mozz cheese and then cut each slice into four little pieces. I layered it on the cucumber followed by just a tiny bite of proscuitto then drizzled with a bit of Caesar Italian dressing. Top it off with a sprig of dill and you are ready to serve.

I made these several hours ahead of time, covered in plastic wrap and left in the fridge until party time. This gave the dressing time to work its magic on the meat and cheese.

Enjoy!

She Who Loves Easy Recipes

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Holiday Cake Balls

Posted in Cake, Christmas, Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Holidays, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been dying to make cake balls for a couple months. Don’t ask me why. It’s just one of those weird things that  infiltrate my brain at 3 a.m. and won’t let me rest.

I decided to make a batch for a holiday party and I will state the following about the process:

1. It was easy

2. It was tasty

3. It was messy

4. It took a little bit of time

Overall, a very fun project and one that would be great if you had an afternoon to spend with your kiddos, dipping the balls.

For the sake of easy handling, I decided to put the balls on sticks and now, I guess, I should really call them cake pops.

Ingredients

Once the cake is baked and cooled, you are ready to start the process. I forgot to include a can of frosting in the ingredient list!

Dump the entire cake into a large bowl and break apart.

Add in half a can of frosting and mix together until ball starts to form. It will feel moist and sticky.

Form cake balls. I made mine fairly big because I wanted to have fewer to dip. I'm a lazy slug that way. I'm also incapable of making perfectly round balls, so pardon my somewhat oddball shaped creation.

 

Cover a styrofoam block with foil.

 

Melt the candy coating then dip in ends of lollipop sticks.

 

Harpoon cake balls with sticks and let rest until candy has hardened.

 

Cover cake balls with candy coating. I used a spoon to drizzle over the balls. Gently tap stick on edge of bowl to get off excess coating.

 

While candy coating is still warm, decorate balls with your choice of sprinkles, crushed peppermint, chocolate shavings or whatever tickles your fancy. Poke sticks into foam and let set until coating has hardened.

 

Serve and enjoy!

 

Holiday Cake Balls

1 cake mix (baked according to package directions)

1 can frosting

1 package candy coating (I used Almond Bark)

Sprinkles or other decoration

Lollipop sticks

Bake the cake according to package directions. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, break up entire cake then mix in 1/2 of the can of frosting. I used chocolate just because I need chocolate like most people need air, but you could choose any flavor cake and frosting.

You may have to get your hands into the project to get it thoroughly mixed and you most definitely will get hands-on- involvement when you form the balls. The size is totally dependent on how big you want to make them. I’d stick in the ballpark of between one to two inches diameter.

Once the ball are formed, melt the candy coating. I did just a few bricks at a time so the whole bowl of coating wouldn’t get hard before I was done. You can just pop it into the microwave in 30-second intervals until it is melted. Do not reheat it as it gets gunky and icky quickly. Use it up then melt the next round.

When  the candy coating is ready, dip in the ends of the sticks then stab them into the balls. Let them sit until the coating is nice and firm. This is very important. If you don’t do this, your sticks may fall out and that would be tragic.

Once the balls are ready for dipping, use a spoon to swirl coating over the balls. Tap the edge of the stick lightly on the bowl to get off excess coating. Cover the ball in sprinkles, crushed candy canes, whatever sounds good and looks tasty. Then poke a hole with the stick into the foam black and let rest until the coating is good and firm.

Repeat until all balls are coated. You can put these in the freezer, wrap in individual cellophane bags or share them for devouring as soon as you are finished.

Enjoy!

She Who Liked These Way Too Much

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