Crepes: Easy to do at home

always fun and delicious

I've noticed at the local farmer's markets, watching the popular street food vendors, that crêpes are fast gaining a following of enthusiasts here in the Pacific Northwest. There's almost always a line at these informal crêperies, drawn by the aroma and the flames as crêpes are cooked to order on-the-spot.

Since crêpes are delicious, versatile, fun to eat, and guaranteed to impress your family and friends, I thought we could talk a bit about how to make your own crêpes, anytime, in your own kitchen.

Here's an easy and very flexible recipe I got from a friend:

Ingredients:

  • 2 large, fresh eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon melted, unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt (for savory crêpes )
    • OR
  • 2 tsp raw sugar (for sweet crêpes)—You can also use Grand Marnier or honey or another sweetener of your choice. Experiment. It's better than half the fun of cooking!

Procedure

Beat the eggs until they become frothy Combine eggs with milk, flour, butter, and salt or sugar

Beat the batter until it seems very, very smooth, and then beat it some more. And then beat it some more after that. The batter will very likely seem too thin to your American, pancake-accustomed eyes—it's not really too thin. I promise.

If you have time, pour it into a container with a cover and let your batter sit overnight in the fridge. Trust me. All those little bubbles settle out and the result is a positively silky texture.

Lightly oil a nonstick skillet. Cooking spray is nasty. If you don't use butter, then use a nice light oil. Preheat on high

Pour a scant 1/4 cup of batter directly in the center of your hot skillet, then lift the skillet, tilt, and rotate so the batter spreads thinly and evenly in a circle. Cook until lightly browned, probably about a minute or a little less, then turn with a spatula. (You can flick the skillet to toss the crêpe and flip it in the air if you're extraordinarily coordinated and a show-off—or if you don't mind crêpes on the floor.)

The best part of crêpes, of course, is the filling. Have fun with it! Try different cheeses, eggs, meats, or herbs. For sweet crêpes, experiment with cream or ricotta cheese, creme fraiche, whipped cream, fresh fruit, or homemade compotes or preserves. Consider experimenting with citrus zest, fresh vanilla bean, and other flavors instead of the Grand Marnier for sweet crêpes.

Here's a link to Superstar Chef Eric Ripert's crêpe recipe, for crêpes Suzette. If you want to do something especially showy with your crêpes, here's a nice demonstration of crêpes Suzette:

Image Credit: Antilived

The Incredible Shrinking Food

Have you noticed the size of your cans lately? Don't look in the mirror - check your pantry! Manufacturers are cutting corners by reducing the size of their containers, while keeping prices the same.

The New York Times is calling it "food inflation," and profiles a woman who bought three boxes of pasta for dinner as usual - only to come up short. Turns out those 16 ounce boxes of pasta are now only 13 or 14 ounces.

I have noticed this, too; Barilla boxes are the worst culprits. The box stays the same size, but it's only half full.

Even more insulting is when companies shrink their product size, and claim that they are doing you a favor. I have long felt this way about "100 calorie packs," because they cost about ten times as much as the regular product, and have more packaging to boot. Other examples cited in the NYT article include Saltines being marketed in "fresh packs." Instead of four long columns, the box has eight shorter columns - but fewer Saltines overall.

This ongoing shrinkage just makes it all the more important to evaluate your purchases correctly. Conventional wisdom is that off-brands, bulk foods, and larger packages are always cheaper. But this is definitely not the case! In fact, manufacturers have been sneakily playing off those beliefs for years.

Three real-life examples from my own grocery shopping experiences:

1. Granola
A few months ago I actually priced out the bulk granola in the bins, versus the boxed granola on the cereal aisle. It was exactly the same price per ounce!

Given which, I opted for the boxed cereal. Even though it has more packaging (and I hate packaging), I have been waging an ongoing war with pantry moths for the last few years, and bulk foods always carry that risk.

2. Oatmeal
I buy quick oatmeal (the kind you can microwave in 2 minutes). The price per ounce for bulk oatmeal, store-brand oatmeal, and genuine Quaker oats is constantly in flux. This is where it pays to really comparison shop, because the oatmeal containers are not all the same size!

Every time I buy oatmeal, I have to do a bit of quick calculation. Take the price and divide it by the number of ounces in the container, and there's your per-ounce price. Last week the Quaker oats were cheaper, because they were on sale. The week before, store-brand oats were cheaper than either Quaker or bulk food. It's never the same price twice!

3. Walnuts
I put walnuts in my oatmeal every morning. Usually I buy whole walnuts, and chop them myself, to save money. This week, big bags of whole walnuts and small bags of chopped walnuts were both on sale. When I did the math, I found out that chopped walnuts were (mysteriously) cheaper.

As is so often the case, a calculator is your best friend in these situations. I bought a calculator for about five bucks at an office supply store, and it has paid for itself many times over!

Less Food for More Money


 

Consumers need to be aware that food prices are expected to rise this summer and have already started to climb. As the NYT reports, food producers use different packaging to disguise higher prices.

 

The article gives the real-life example of a 33-year-old woman struggling to feed nine children; each time she cooked meals after going to the grocery store, she noticed that she wasn’t getting enough yield to feed all of her children. As soon as she noticed that something was wrong, she began inspecting the amounts in products ranging from pasta to tuna fish and found a striking similarity: most of the pre-packaged food on the aisles in the grocery store had smaller amounts in the packages.

 

The smaller packages often come under the guise of new and improved packaging, with some design changes that are supposed to be great improvements for the consumer. Unfortunately, the reality is that the design improvements often just result in smaller packages with less food.

 

It could be argued that this is a good thing because of the large portions Americans typically eat and the concerns about obesity. But if you consider the smaller packages from the point of view of a mother or father trying to feed a family, smaller amounts of food per packages means you have to buy more packages just to feed your family (which is the probable goal of the companies). 

 

Even items like ketchup and diapers have gone up in price. As Professor Gourville, the expert interviewed by the NYT, observes: “For indulgences like ice cream, chocolate and potato chips, consumers may say ‘I don’t mind getting a little bit less because I shouldn’t be consuming so much anyway.’” That argument doesn’t hold water, however, for household necessities and staples.

 

What can consumers do?

 Look at how much you are paying per ounce. Pay attention at the grocery store. If the amount per ounce isn’t included on the package, calculate it so you can effectively compare the prices between brands. (Often, grocery stores will have the price per ounce listed on the shelf below the item.) 

Consider buying in bulk. If you are feeding a family, shop at Cost-co or other wholesale food stores to save money. 

Don’t fall for the new and improved packaging. It’s usually the exact same food at higher price in a fancier package.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Convenience

Convenience, where would I be without you? We live in a world where convenience comes at a cost, but I am finding more and more that with a busy lifestyle it is simply a price I am willing to pay. I have noticed more and more in the past few shopping trips that the prices at the grocery store by my house have been sky-rocketing. Produce, the healthiest option in the store is out of control, but I pay it because it saves me time and energy at home. There are quite a few lower cost places to shop and with the economy in the situation it is I think those stores are becoming more and more popular. (Aldis, Save A Lot, Etc.) It seems to me though that those places don't offer enough healthy options. Try going to local produce markets, not only are you supporting your community but sometimes you can find some really great deals on the season market items.

Those places sometimes involve more driving, and more time though, so often I get caught in the trap of letting the chain markets soak up my money on their overpriced goods. I think with the addition of gas perks, and double coupons, it has actually hurt the basic cost of items, but I pay because it is convenient. Sure the giant jar of fruit cocktail could be divided into individual servings, but that sounds like a lot of work and if it is not readily available I simply will eat garbage. I could buy my chips in large bags, and then divide those up as well, but then I may lose my battle with portion control, as well as the time it takes to weigh and bag each portion.

Lately I have even gone as far as buying the vegetables that are washed and cut, or prepared for servings now. Yes this can be expensive, but if it makes my weight loss journey easier, I am willing to spend the money. On the days I visit the market and I get ambitious I go home and cut up the melon, the peppers, and I bag it all, even my lean lunch meat, by point serving. That way I know what I am grabbing on my way out the door, and that is also convenient. I guess my battle is with myself and that you have to make time for the things you care about or in the end you pay one way or another.

Calm Coat Omega Chews and EFA Fatty Acid Shampoo Combo Pack

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Treat your dog to a full, shiny coat, smooth skin and healthy immune system today - on the cheap of course.

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Neo Soul: Taking Soul Food to a Whole 'Nutha Level

ISBN-10: 1583332715

Amazon is offering Neo Soul: Taking Soul Food to a Whole 'Nutha Level for only $2.90 with FREE shipping if you spend over $25.

"From the grandson of Harlem's queen of soul food, Sylvia Woods, comes a revolution in cooking down-home foods that taste as good as you remember but with less fat, salt, and calories. Lindsey Williams knows soul food. He grew up in the kitchen of his grandmother's restaurant, Sylvia's, where he mastered the art of soul-food cooking. But a lifetime of biscuits, coleslaw, corn bread, and fried chicken took its toll. When the scale tipped 400 pounds, Lindsey knew it was time to make some changes. The result is Neo Soul, a new kind of cooking that brings all the flavors to the plate but slashes the fat and calories.

Now, this paperback edition contains even more delicious soul-food recipes, alongside favorites like Grandma's Roasted Turkey, Lenzo's Trout Stuffed with Collard Greens, Okra Gumbo, Neo Sweet Potato Pie, and Blueberry Buckle. With food this tasty, no one will miss the fat."

SEE MORE OF TODAY'S BEST DEALS @ eShopperForum

Cricut Imagine Versus Cricut Expression

I have never owned a Cricut product.  I am looking at purchasing either the Cricut Imagine or the Cricut Expression.  I would like to have a machine so that we can make homemade cards.  I thought we would all enjoy making homemae cards instead of spending a fortune on buying them.  I am really not sure which one to buy.  I do know they will be coming out with the Expression 2 in April.  I've researched both machines and know the pros and cons of each.  However, I still can't make a decision.  I didn't know if any of you had any thoughts that might just help me.  Thanks.

10 Meditations on Microwave Popcorn

1. Microwave popcorn must be one of the "most often banned from being cooked in the office break room" items. Its smell is so distinctive, so lingering, so pervasive, and so annoyingly artificial.

2. I remember the early days of microwave popcorn, back in the 1980s. Those were the early days of "ranch flavor," too. Some marketing genius combined the two: you microwaved your popcorn, then tore open a little foil packet of ranch seasoning and poured it into the bag. It always clumped, but it tasted divine (if you were ten).

3. Microwave popcorn's texture seemed weird to me, compared to "normal" popcorn. Now I have been eating the fake stuff for so long that if I make a batch of real popcorn - by pouring kernels into a pan and cooking it on the stove - its texture seems weird to me.

Microwave popcorn has become "the normal kind."

4. About once a year I buy a box of Fat Free Low Salt microwave popcorn, thinking that "This time I will change my ways and eat healthy!" After all, popcorn is a whole grain. And we should all be eating more whole grains. (n.b. this is the same excuse I use for eating rice pudding made of brown rice.)

But fat free low salt microwave popcorn tastes awful, and squeaks against your teeth, and every time I finish the box I am relieved to buy a box of non-diet popcorn.

5. I eat microwave popcorn for dinner more often than any grown adult should.

6. My favorite is Pop Secret Homestyle. Some day they will stop making it, and I will be sad.

7. They make a grocery store knock-off version of every microwave popcorn except Pop Secret Homestyle. Why? Because the universe is a cruel and fickle place, my friends.

8. Popcorn Lung was all the rage in the news a few years ago. I do find it disquieting that one of my favorite snacks can be deadly if you inhale too many of its fumes. But that doesn't stop me buying and eating it.

9. Alton Brown swears that you can make your own microwave popcorn by putting popcorn kernels into a brown paper bag, stapling it shut, and microwaving it. I have tried this six ways from Sunday and never got it to work properly.

When I used staples, the paper scorched around them and gave the popcorn a bad flavor. When I didn't use staples the bag didn't stay shut, no matter how tightly I curled up the top. If the bag doesn't stay shut, the heat isn't retained, and the kernels don't pop.

In my "best" batch, about 1/3rd of the kernels popped (leaving 2/3rds scorched and unpopped). And the popcorn was rubbery. I gave up and went back to the terrible mass market chemical laden overprocessed stuff. (a.k.a. Pop Secret Homestyle.)

10. The final step of the instructions on the bag of Pop Secret Homestyle is "Pour into a bowl and enjoy." Whenever I read that I think, "How optimistic of them." Then I eat it right out of the bag, just like everyone else in the world.

Photo credit: Flickr/infilmity

Exploding Water

You may, at some time, have received a chain email about the dangers of boiling water in the microwave. But unlike pretty much every single chain email ever sent in the entire history of the internet, this one is actually true. 

We think of "boiling water" as "water that is bubbling a lot." But the bubbling action is just a secondary effect. Water hits the boiling stage at 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit).

Typically when this happens, the hottest part (in a pan on the stove, this would be the bottom) starts turning to gas. The gas bubbles up to the surface, cooling the water slightly as it does so. 

If for some reason the bubbles don't form, the water doesn't turn to a gas, but it can still keep on heating up. When a fluid gets heated beyond its boiling point without turning to gas, it is said to be a "superheated fluid."

Let's back up and look at those bubbles again. In the same way that raindrops and snowflakes form around particles of dust, bubbles in boiling water form around particles, too. If the water is extremely clean, and the container is also extremely clean, it is possible that the bubbles will not be able to form.

Bubbles form around what is called "nucleation sites." You may be familiar with this term if you have seen the Mythbusters episode about Diet Coke and Mentos. The Mythbusters crew found that it's the nucleation sites - the microscopic pits - on the surface of the Mentos candy which allows the bubbles to form. 

In the case of dropping a Mentos candy into a Diet Coke, the candy has so many nucleation sites that the bubbles form extremely quickly, and with exceptional volume. To such an extent that to us viewing the action in normal time, it appears to be an explosion. It isn't really - it's just the normal process of soda foaming around an object - but faster and more vigorously than usual.

The same thing can happen if you boil water in the microwave.

Boiling water needs nucleation sites to form bubbles. If the water is very clean, and your cup is very clean (cleaner than mine tend to be!) AND you microwave the water for a very long time, you can accidentally create a superheated fluid.

Then you drop a teabag into it, or even just tap the sides slightly, and the same thing happens as when you drop a Mentos candy into a Diet Coke. Except instead of a fun (if sticky) soda explosion, you have an explosion of boiling water.

As you might expect, this is extremely serious. In fact, many people report this having happened to them. It can cause second and third degree burns to your face and hands, a trip to the emergency room, and even skin grafts in particularly severe cases.

Luckily, the answer to this problem is simple: always put something into your water before you boil it. Whether it's a chopstick, a wooden spoon, a wooden stir stick, or a (staple-free) teabag, the object will provide nucleation sites - and prevent your boiling water from exploding all over your hands. 

Photo credit: Flickr/Sterlic

Cooking Strengths and Weaknesses Plus Some Important Cooking Questions

For the record, I do know that I am a much worse cook than a lot of people and as I wrote about HERE, I love eating food made by people who can cook. Since I haven’t been cooking much lately, I’ve decided to do a little self-reflection on my strengths and weaknesses as a cook when compared to everyday average American amateur. (Please note that I am not comparing myself to the foodies who absolutely terrify me—you know who you are.)

My cooking weaknesses:  I don’t have that scrappy ability to look through the fridge and pull together a meal out of nothing at all. Every single thing I bake is a little misshapen and my spatula skills haven’t reached the pro level yet. (OK, I’ll be completely honest—my spatula skills probably come in at a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10.) I don’t like to cook with more than two burners on at one time and even that is a stretch. (I recently learned the hard way the usefulness of baking soda in putting out small  fires on the stove.) I don’t always listen to El Chef, even when he is right.

My cooking strengths: There aren’t all that many. I no longer think that adding tuna fish to Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is gourmet dining (although I do eat the occasional cheese and pickle snack.) I am newly converted to organic food and nine times out of ten will pay an extra dollar to eat healthier food. I understand the value of a good cookbook and try to follow the recipes if I have the right ingredients.

As I said, the list of my cooking weaknesses is quite a bit shorter than my list of cooking strengths. Here are a few specific questions that I need answers for.

1.  If you only have one timer in your kitchen, how do you remember how long to cook food on multiple burners?

2.      What kind of reasonably-priced frying pan is best for making pancakes and what is the optimum heat for pancakes?

3.     What is the best cookbook for easy, healthy, and fast meals for one or two people? (Due to fears of a Bridget Jones nature, I’m not yet cooking for ten or more people.)

4.     What is the most important specialty kitchen utensil that every kitchen needs?

5.     What is the best brand of stacking tupperware?

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