VillaWare Grand Crepe Maker

Cinnamon Sugar Crepes with Strawberries, thanks to my VillaWare Grand Y

It's Maker Monday :) Introducing the VillaWare Grand Crepe Maker -- this was a Christmas present from dh in 2005. I picked it out, which he always insists I do since he doesn't know what to get me, that is fine though, I get something I want and he doesn't have to shop, win-win situation. I was so excited to finally get a crepe maker! I love crepes but am no good at making them in a regular pan, and instead of getting a crepe pan, my love for things you plug in took over and this baby was on the way from amazon. I debated for only a second between getting the 'grand' which makes 10 inch crepes, or the smaller regular model which makes 7 1/2 inch crepes, come on, who wouldn't want 2 1/2 more inches of crepey goodness ready to be filled, rolled, folded, or layered?


The first time I used the 'grand' I followed the directions about spraying the cooking surface with cooking spray to insure the crepe wouldn't stick, that was a bad idea, as soon as I started my crepe stuck but only for a second, not long enough to do the flip, and my just starting to cook crepe fell down into my dipping dish, where all of the batter is stored, made a big splash mess, and ruined the rest of the crepe batter. :( It took me a while before I even wanted to attempt to use my crepe maker again and I even considered returning it. I'm so glad that I gave it another chance, this time not oiling or spraying the cooking surface, just dip and flip then release, so easy!

Ready to dip...

See the steam? Get ready for some yummy crepes!

The VillaWare Grand Crepe Maker has to be one of my favorite small kitchen appliances, it does exactly what it was designed to do, makes crepes much easier than the old fashioned method, and is very easy to use!

Golden Peanut Butter Bars

2 cups flour
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
1 cup chopped peanuts
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, sugar and beaten egg, cut in batter until crumbly.

Stir in peanuts.

Reserving 2 cup crumb mixture, press remaining mixture on bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan.

Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, with mixer, beat sweetened condensed milk with peanut butter and vanilla.

Spread over prepared crust; top with reserved crumb mixture.

Bake 25 minutes longer or until lightly browned around edges.

Cool. Cut in bars. Store covered at room temperature.

The recipe for these bars comes from "The Cookie Bible" which is a nice cook book with a variety of cookie and bar recipes. The book has photos of just about every recipe, which is always appreciated. There is even a kids cookie section with lots of fun recipes to make with or for your kiddos. I've made probably five or so cookies from this book, which even has the classic Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe -- makes me really miss Friends :)

These bars were just okay for us, I mainly made them for my husband who was asking for something sweet. He liked them but didn't love them. Even the kids weren't crazy for these, I got one handed back after a few bites were taken, "I'm all done with this bar," said my three year old. They were more crunchy chewy than soft and gooey. I would not make these again unless someone specifically requested them, and I doubt that will happen. Too many other delicious bar recipes out there to try. They were very easy to make though so that is a plus, I'd say give them a try if you are a real peanut lover, not peanut butter because you don't really get the 'peanut butter' flavor from these, even though it's in there.

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread -- Barefoot Bloggers

This is my first Barefoot Bloggers post and I'm so excited! I made Ina's Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread yesterday and it was amazing! This bread was the perfect pair for the slow cooker potato soup we had for lunch. I am so glad I got to try this recipe thanks to Barefoot Bloggers, and Sabrina and Alexander of Cooking with the Kids who picked this super yummy cornbread.

I really loved the texture and flavor. For the extra-sharp cheddar I used regular sharp cheddar, since we had a ton, and I also added some Tabasco Jack cheese which added an amazing kick, maybe a little too much of a kick because my three year old said it was 'too spicey' it really wasn't that spicey, but it did have some bite.

ready to go in the oven

Look at that amazing custy top! I baked the full 35 minutes, then broiled the top for about 45 seconds to get it a little browned up, perfect :) Also, I used parsley instead of scallions, personal preference.

My husband did not like this, he said it was nothing like 'cornbread' (we are used to a sweeter recipe with more cornmeal) and had no flavor except for spicey. I had to roll my eyes at that comment because I thought this bread had a TON of flavor from the cheese and pepper and cornmeal and can't forget all that butter :)

My only complaint with the recipe is that is said "8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, divided " which I think means get an 8 ounce block of cheese and grate if for this recipe. At first I thought it meant 8 ounces of grated cheese which would be one cup unless going by weight but then after I read through the recipe I noticed it said you need to add two cups of cheddar to the cornbread batter, then sprinkle the rest on top. Kind of confusing since I don't have a kitchen scale (yeah, I know, need to get one) and I shred all of my cheddar from a huge chunk that we buy at Sam's Club...so I wasn't too sure on the ammount. Not a really big deal at all in the scheme of things but it was just a little bothersome. I ended up putting the two cups of cheese in the batter and then sprinkling what I thought was appropriate on top.



Would I make this recipe again? You bet, not exactly the same since no one cared for the peppers except for me, I might add in some sweet corn, add a little more sugar, and drop the peppers. That would be perfect for our family.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

I knew I wanted to make a potato soup, mainly because I was planning to make Ina Garten's jalapeno cheddar cornbread recipe today (for Barefoot Bloggers -- more on that tomorrow) and potato soup and cornbread are a favorite combo here. I haven't used my slow cooker in a while but really wanted to, so as soon as I had a minute this morning I googled "slow cooker potato soup" and got this recipe from About.com: Southern Food ...

Crockpot Potato Soup

Ingredients:
6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup chopped onion

2 carrots, thinly sliced (used 4 or 5 small ones)
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced (used 4 or 5 small ones)
4 cups chicken broth (used vegetable broth)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste (used seasoned salt and less 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon pepper (did not use)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups cream or half-and-half
real bacon bits, optional (did not use)

Preparation:Combine first potatoes, chopped onion, carrots, celery, chicken broth, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper in a slow cooker.

Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours, or until vegetables are tender.

Stir together flour and cream or half-and-half; stir into soup. Cover and cook 30 minutes longer or until hot. If desired, sprinkle bacon bits over each serving. Makes about 2 quarts.

This was a really easy recipe and pretty forgiving if you want to change around the ingredients like I did to make it vegetarian and have more veggies. The soup really needed about 4 hours in the slow cooker, but it was delicious! All three of my kids loved it and so did I, picky husband doesn't like veggies but he liked the potatoes and broth and said it would be good with just corn and potatoes like a corn chowder. I will be trying it like that just for him, I could have added a couple more veggies like mushrooms and green beans, also I bet lentils would be great in this, it's so basic but really flavorful after cooking in the crock pot.

My two year old especially loved this potato soup :)

Double Crusted Blueberry Pie -- Tuesdays With Dorie

Overall review, I loved this pie, it was a wonderful, simple, blueberry pie. I absolutely love blueberry pies in general, so maybe I'm biased. I remember one early spring going on a Maine road trip, bottom to top, all the way up to Lubec, the easternmost point of the United States. I love Maine, I think it is my favorite state to visit, it is just so clean, and fresh, and beautiful. I think that every restaurant we stopped at, if they had it, I ordered a piece of blueberry pie. So with that in mind I have tasted some awesome blueberry pies, but to me there are only two kinds of blueberry pies, bad or good. Dorie's falls into the good category, thank goodness, because I did have some trouble with that pie crust and it was nice to eat a pie that made that trouble worthwhile. Sometimes bad blueberry pies look good, I remember going to a get together and there was a beautiful blueberry pie sitting on the dessert table, I just could not wait to get myself and extra large piece, and I did, and after one bite I think the rest got tossed, yeah, it was that bad.

I stayed almost 100% true to the recipe, my only change was that I didn't add the breadcrumbs, sorry! I meant to, I really did, I knew I had two containers of breadcrumbs in the pantry and thought one was plain and one Italian seasoned, well I never checked until I was ready to use them in the recipe, and my plain container of breadcrumbs actually was "cheese" breadcrumbs! Now I'm a fan of cheese with just about anything, I love love love some creamy baked brie with blueberry chutney, but I knew that these cheese breadcrumbs would just ruin my perfect pie. I remembered reading about some people subbing graham cracker crumbs so I got out my graham cracker crumbs they had gone bad, trust me, I think they expired in '06 -- oops. And to be completely honest, I have graham crackers in the house, but it didn't even cross my mind to crush them myself. I had a one track mind and that was get my pie in the oven! So, no breadcrumbs in my pie, sounds like a great idea, and I'm sure I'll try it sometime, just didn't happen this time around.

I took a ton of pictures of the whole pie making process -- hope you don't mind...

look at all that butter!!

yeah, need to get a bigger processor...

had to pat it down just a bit, it was a fussy dough for me

ahh, beautiful blueberries, how I love thee

zest zest zeztin'

ready for a top crust

my big mess

see, I topped it with a heart, aww, it wasn't too visible after baking though :(

My dough was a little difficult to work with, and I've done pie dough many times, I'm not amazing at it, but I know how it goes and I do a nice crust. I've never done it in the food processor but did this time and I think that was my mistake. I sometimes have a problem judging how things will fit, sure, that shirt isn't too small, sure, it can fit in my trunk (accord, yeah, not happening) sure the pie dough ingredients will fit into my joke of a food processor. Well it fit, but it was really tight, and I think that caused me to over pulse it, but you know what, it ended up working out just fine, so it's not that big of a deal. It did have me yearning for a new food processor though. If I were to try this dough recipe again, and after reading so many rave reviews on it I think I want to, I would just do it with my pampered chef pastry blender by hand.

Baking time, just fine...I did my foil tent after the first 30 minutes when you drop the temp, just to be safe, ended up taking it off again for the last 10 minutes. Beautiful crust!

First taste, after letting sit one hour, honestly I thought it was REALLY sweet. I was kind of sad it was that sweet. The kids devoured and thoroughly enjoyed every last morsel though, nothing is too sweet for them. After it sat for about half a day we had some company, a friend had a slice and loved it and has requested the recipe, said it was amazing...then my mom had a slice, and said it was really good, she loved the crust, but she wasn't sure what the whiteness was and said it looked like under done raw dough...I had to assure her that my crust was perfectly done and that the whiteness was just from the flour that was tossed with the berries before baking. After she closely examined her piece she delcared that I should have cooked the filling first to get rid of the unappetizing whiteness from the flour. Okay. Whiteness aside she loved it and had a second slice at the end of her visit.

See the whiteness I mentioned? Did anyone else have that? I know I measured correctly and that my pie was 'done' so that must just be from the flour and sugar mixture mixed with the berries...didn't bother me and you couldn't taste it, just visually a little odd.

Now my husband, poor guy has the worst tastebeds, doesn't like blueberries. Before I started this recipe I was so excited and thought that maybe this recipe would be so amazing that it would make him fall head over heels in love with blueberries and blueberry pie and have me make one every night (well, not literally, but you catch my drift) no such luck. He took one bite, he didn't really WANT to, I asked him to please try it, he said, "the pie is good but way too sweet," he blamed it on the blueberries and say that one of the reasons he doesn't like them is because they are way too sweet. Now this bite was after the pie settled for half a day and the sweetness was not as biting as when it first came out of the oven.

All in all it was a good blueberry pie, would I make this exact recipe again? I don't know. There are so many amazing sounding recipes out there that I think I'd want to try a new one, especially since husband didn't like it. Before I married boring food man I made an amazing blueberry crumble pie that had a crumb topping, I think that one is still my favorite blueberry pie, but I am really glad that TWD gave me the excuse I needed to make another delicious pie with one of MY favorite berries. I just adore blueberries and in my "first kitchen" -- in the little house we rented after we got married -- I had a blueberries and teddy bear themed kitchen, it was so country and so cute. Now my kitchen is a lot bigger but it is simple, no fun fruity theme, just stainless and boring. I do still have my blueberry cookie jar, it is on a table in the dining room now, and used as a bookend.

Presto Homeade Lemonade Maker

Today I will share one of my many 'makers' -- a "homemade" lemonade maker! How appropriate for the middle of summer, right? I know there are a few different models of lemonade makers out there on the market, I happen to have the Presto Homeade Lemonade Maker. I love it, I've had it for quite a few years, not quite sure when or where or why I bought it, well, we all know why, just can't kick the maker habbit. If I see some cute and totally not necessary kitchen goodie I can't pass it up.

The best part is that the kids love it and they get to help make lemonade! It is so easy and safe. Really this product is just a glorified electric juicer with a pitcher and stirred underneath the rotating juicer top. So simple. The juicer/stir combo comes off and you can top the pitcher with a seperate lid for storing in the fridge. I love to use this with my children, and they LOVE making lemonade with the lemonade maker, and going shopping for "yelwoah lennons." They can hold down a lemon half while the juicer spins and watch some juice drip down into the pitcher. Daddy loves his lemonade too! We just keep tasting until it's perfect, and I do mean perfect, we were at a fair for the 4th of July and we tried lemonade from three different lemonade stands, and they were all subpar, three seperate stands, so dissapointing. We always thought that you can't beat fair lemonade, but I think we've just been so spoiled by the fresh lemonade from our maker that we are now lemonade snobs. Hehehe.

If you found this website while searching for instructions for the Presto Homeade Lemonade Maker please, click here!

Just because everything tastes a little better with an umbrella :)

Summer Corn and Tomato Pasta

Rachael Ray's Summer Corn and Tomato Pasta

Salt
1 pound bow-tie pasta (I used the new mini farfalle by Barilla, so cute!)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed (I used garlic powder)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 ears fresh corn, kernels cut off (I used frozen, I know, so bad -- I actually did by fresh for this recipe, then we decided to eat them on the cob)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente; drain.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn, raise the heat slightly and cook until the corn is heated through and golden, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt.

3. Add the vegetables, butter and basil to the pasta and toss.

This is a Rachael Ray recipe that was shared as a 'cook along' on a cooking board. I was excited to try it because I love corn and pasta and am just learning to love tomatoes! I've always been a fan of tomato sauces, soups, etc. but never whole or pieces of tomato, cooked or raw I just didn't like them. This is actually the first time I've cooked with fresh tomatoes (other than turning them into a soup or salsa). When my husband saw me unpack the little adorable carton of cherry tomatoes from my grocery bag he looked puzzled, we never bought tomatoes! When I told him about the cook along and how I was excited to try this and see if I like them he looked so defeated, "but tomatoes were a food we could dislike together," he said sadly. Poor boring food man :(

not my picture, taken from naturesweettomatoes.com

I really enjoyed this recipe! I cannot believe I've been missing out on delicious *cooked* cherry tomatoes for so long. I did try them raw and am still not a fan, just a texture thing I think, but sauteeing them really brought out the flavor and killed the globiness that has deterred me from raw tomatoes in the past. I hated hating tomatoes. They are in so many delicious looking recipes that I used to shy away from because of the misunderstood tomato. Now I won't be so scared to give those recipes a try! :)