My first encounter with crepes was 9th grade French class.  We ate them with some butter and powdered sugar, then with some Nutella, identifying each flavor an ingredient en français.  I was in heaven.

In high school, my friends and I would have “crepes party,” making plates stacked high with paper-thin crepes to fill with Nutella, strawberries, bananas or sugar.

In January, I was reading through a list of food holidays.  I got all excited that today was National Crepes Day, and came up with a crepes recipe with strawberry chai sauce.  Last night, I went to confirm and saw that it is indeed National Crepes Day…in France.  I probably should have noted that before putting the day on my calendar. So to all my French readers, Happy Crepes Day!  To everyone else, make these this weekend, even if you aren’t French. You won’t regret it.

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Sweet Crepes

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Yield: About 12 crepes

These sweet crepes can be served for breakfast or dessert. Fill with strawberry chai sauce (recipe follows), Nutella, or butter and powdered sugar. For a savory version, remove the sugar and add a pinch of salt and another tablespoon of flour.

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup skim or low-fat milk

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Instructions

Whisk all five ingredients together until smooth. The batter should be very runny. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. It sounds like a long time to wait, but if you don't, there will be too many bubbles and your crepes will tear when you flip them.

Preheat a greased griddle or skillet over medium-high. Pour a little under 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan, then lift and swirl the skillet in a circular motion to spread the batter. Do this quickly before the batter begins to set.

Nudge the edges of the crepe with a spatula. This will make it easier to get the spatula underneath the crepe to flip it.

After about 40 seconds, peek under the edge of the crepe every 20-30 seconds. If it is beginning to brown, it is time to flip. Carefully slide a spatula under the center of the crepe and quickly flip. Cook for another minute or so both sides are slightly firm. Remove to a plate.

Repeat with remaining batter. You may need to re-grease the pan after every few crepes.

Serve warm with your favorite fillings.

Make Ahead and Storage

Batter can be made up to 48 hours in advance. Cooked crepes can be covered tightly with plastic wrap, then reheated on a griddle or skillet for a few seconds on each side before serving.

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http://www.savvyeat.com/crepes-with-strawberry-chai-sauce/

Copyrighted by Julie Grice and Savvy Eats

My favorite way to make grilled cheese calls for only three ingredients: sourdough bread, sharp cheddar cheese and sungold tomato preserves.  No butter required.

It goes like this: 2 slices of fresh sourdough.  Spread preserves on one slice… and don’t be stingy.  You’ll regret it and your sandwich will be sorely lacking that rich, sweet flavor.

Thinly slice some cheddar and double layer it on top of the preserves. Sandwich the second slice on top and grill.  You have two options here: a Foreman grill/panini press OR a cast iron griddle/skillet.  If you go with option 2, just be sure to cook on both sides and press down on the bread with a spatula.

Sadly, you may not have sungold tomato preserves.  I’m sorry — it is a very sad occasion.  I know how it feels — I didn’t get enough sungolds out of the garden to make more this summer, so we are carefully rationing out the last two 4 ounce jars from the year before.

If you don’t have sungold preserves (which you can also buy here), you can also use a different preserve or jam.  I’ve used strawberry red wine jam, and loved the richness it adds.  You could also use a cherry preserve or strawberry spread.

Slice your sandwich in half and savor every cheesy, sweet and fruity bite.

I’ve made some changes to the navigation around here!  First, you may have noticed the new “smart life” tab in the menu bar:

From now on, all of my non-food posts will go directly to that page, reserving the front page solely for food-related posts.  This means book reviews, home DIY projects and Little Things posts will all show up on the “smart life” page.

If you are subscribed to my RSS feed (via a reader or email), everything will still show up, food and non-food alike.  If you aren’t, then be sure to click over to the smart life page regularly to see what’s new!

AND, you can still navigate and find posts from certain categories from the sidebar buttons:

Happy Monday!

When we were in elementary school, Mom packed healthy lunches for my sister and I to take to school.  As a treat, we were allowed to choose a day or two each week to get hot lunch from the cafeteria.  Mom would hang the calendar, torn from the school’s newsletter, on the refrigerator door.  Whenever French toast sticks were on the menu, I’d count down the days.

The French toast sticks were soft and sweet and dusted with powdered sugar. We dunked them in syrup.  They were served alongside triangular pieces of hash browns, which we dipped in ketchup.  It was all perhaps a bit more sugar than my little eight year old body needed, but it was a treat, a break from the healthier peanut butter and honey sandwich, boxes of raisins and carrot sticks.

Occasionally, Mom would decide to support the school and treat us to a box of the French toast sticks ordered from Market Day, just like the ones from the cafeteria.  She’d bring us to the cafeteria after school to pick up the white cardboard box covered with the green and red logo.  When Dad worked late or was away on business, we girls had breakfast for dinner, French toast sticks.

On our long drive back from the midwest earlier this month, we passed a Market Day delivery truck, no doubt delivering boxes for another school’s fundraiser, and I’ve been craving the French toast sticks ever since.  I finally decided to make a (slightly healthier, more grown-up version) of them, and they are just as wonderful as I remembered.

If you braise a single pork shoulder this Sunday and follow it with just an hour of prep work, you’ll have a week of great dinners ahead of you.

As it turns out, I didn’t need to go to an Asian market to get the ingredients I needed for ramen.  I was able to find everything I needed in the international aisles of Wegman’s.

I picked up a bottle of mirin, some kombu and some shiitake mushrooms.  And then I put them back on the shelves, for two reasons:

1. I have so many bottles of oils and vinegars in my pantry already.  Maybe I should use some of them up before adding to the collection.
2. I wanted the stock to be fairly simple one that uses ingredients we all have on hand.

So instead of mirin, I used rice vinegar and a bit of sugar.  It may not be the perfect substitution, but the ingredients of mirin (at least the bottle I found) were water, rice and corn syrup, so it seemed like a reasonable move that would give a similar end result.

Instead of shiitake mushrooms and other “traditional” Asian vegetables, I used leftover roasted vegetables.  Shiitake mushrooms are expensive! Maybe I need to buy them dried?

I did stick with the noodles designated for ramen, if only because I was able to find them for a reasonable price.  But you could also use rice noodles instead.

I think Monday has become one of my favorite days of the week.  Here’s why:

1.  My Pilates class is offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  Going on Monday morning is a refreshing way to start the week off right.

2.  I found an exciting new volunteering opportunity: teaching elementary-aged kids how to cook as part of an after-school program every Monday.  I’m meeting with the organizer today to go over logistics, and we start next week!

3.  I actually really love my work.  I’ve recently taken on more responsibility (and hours) at my part-time job, and even when I’m answering the same question for the fifth time or fighting with our website, I’m happy.  I feel so, so lucky to have this job.

4.  Did anyone else watch the series premier of Alcatraz last week?  Halfway through, I turned to Dan and said “we’re totally going to get sucked in and watch every week, aren’t we?” I’m excited to cuddle up on the couch with Dan and the dog tonight to watch the next installment.

5.  Meals made of leftovers from Sunday dinner are awesome.  Not in the “let’s reheat this container of leftovers” sense, but in the “let’s make something new and different with these leftovers” way.  With the leftovers from this braised pork, I’m making a hearty side dish or vegetarian entree.  All I need to do is cook up some quinoa in the leftover sauce (supplemented with a little water if necessary), then tossing in the remaining vegetables.  That’s all it takes!

When it comes to weeknight meals, I’d much rather throw something in the crockpot in the morning to cook for 8 hours while I work than stand near the stove for 2 hours at a time.  Especially if I’m going to get back on a regular workout schedule, rather just fitting it in on light work days…not exactly conducive to health or developing good habits.

One of the items on my 101 in 1001 list is to practice Pilates twice a week for four months.  I fell out of practice over the holidays, and lost any progress I may have made in my first few lessons back.  But twice a week for four months means practicing at least 36 times before May 18.  Which means that on 36 days, we’ll be depending on my preplanning super star skills!  I’m going to be relying on crockpot meals or quick dinners so that I have time to work, workout and, you know, relax on the occasional evening.

And when the end result is creamy, spicy lentils, that’s even better.  To make this a full meal, I roasted some cauliflower and baked up some naan in the last half hour, after adding the butter and milk.

I don’t know if I’ve ever made enchiladas with actual enchilada sauce.  This is probably due to the fact that anytime I’ve eaten enchiladas with authentic sauce outside of a decent Mexican restaurant, the sauce has tasted tinny, clearly coming from a can.  The tortillas are always soggy and over-saturated with the metallic taste.

But when I saw Jessica’s recipe for BBQ Chicken Enchiladas, well, I just couldn’t resist.  So I set about making my own.

Wonder of wonders, I do like enchilada sauce.  Just not when it comes from a can.  Bonus: not only is it made from scratch, but making it doesn’t take any more time than opening a can does.

This would be the perfect dish for a party.  Something like a Superbowl party.  One of which we would have hosted if the Packers hadn’t given yesterday’s game away.  Did any other Wisconsin fans have flashbacks to the Rose Bowl during the game?

On the bright side, caramelized onions + mozzarella cheese + pasta + meat sauce = brilliance. I can’t think of a single hearty dish that is more comforting than one filled with pasta an melted cheese that gets crispy around the edges.  Can you?

So it is kind of a bummer that we won’t get to cheer our team on during the Superbowl.  But perhaps we’ll have a party anyways, if only to spend time with friends and eat more baked rigatoni.