CREPE

Crepes are a classic!

But you can also JAM ON IT.
Here is a basic crepes recipe that will work fine. If you have a teflon frying pan, you really can’t go wrong.

EASY Crepes Recipe:
3 eggs
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons corn oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
Whisk the eggs, add the oil, salt, and milk
then mix in the flour until you have a batter with the consistency of heavy cream.
Put the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour.
In the mean time you can prepare a filling!

Here’s how to make the Crepe batter:

he filling is not from any cookbook so it’s named “Crepes A La RecipeStand.com” and it’s very tasty indeed!
You could call it Crepes with Chicken, Peppers, and Asparagus too, if you like.

Here is the filling:

2 chicken breasts, diced

1 clove garlic, minced or crushed in garlic crusher

2 tablespoons minced onion

approximately 1/3 cup flour (for dredging)

1 yellow pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

Put the minced chicken, garlic, & onion in a bowl to marinate for an hour or so.

Dredge the chicken in flour

Fry the dredged chicken on medium high – turning so brown on both sides.

Add about 1/3 cup chicken broth or water with salt and turn to low.

Add the minced peppers.

Cook on low for about 10 minutes.
Check out the video to see how to Make the filling, cook the crepes, and assemble the crepes:

The aim of this website is to provide you with a broad range of recipes representing all cultures and dietary regimens: you will find carb-free meals, hot steamy pasta recipes, fish, fowl, and vegetarian. We hope the site has something for everyone.

Looking for an easy way to wash sticky pots?

Guess what – if you just fill that pot up with some COLD water right after you are finished cooking, you will see one of the miracles of science: the starch detaches itself from the pot!

That’s right, just fill up your ricey, noodley, or other starchy, gunky pot with nothing but cold water (as soon as possible after finishing cooking), wait about 5 or 10 minutes (better still, let the pot sit while you eat your dinner!), and your cleanup will be not much more involved than a quick rinse.

This is THE BEST way to wash sticky pots that have been used for cooking STARCHY foods.

Greasy food… next!

Dumplings (for Stew or Soup)

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk

Mix dry ingredients together.

Beat the egg in a separate bowl and add the milk.

Stir into dry ingredients.

Drop the dumpling dough by tablespoonful onto your gently boiling thickened stew.

Cook, covered 15 minutes, turning dumplings every few minutes with a spoon.

Serve with minced parsley as a garnish if desired.

FAST Meal Planning 101

If you don’t already have a bunch of super-fast recipes in your cooking repertoire, it’s time to get some!

Young families with children who swear they are starving to DEATH can be pretty aggravating as you scramble to boil or fry as fast as you can! Let’s face it, we can’t live on TV dinners, so let’s make the best of the whole situation and come up with a strategy for the dinner scrum: have a PLAN.

Redundant and obvious, and even ridiculous as it may seem, that is where you start — just THINKING about the chore ahead of time and writing it down, is the key to avoiding the work-week-dinner-scrum. Minutes — which seem like hours when you are exhausted from work and the kids are whining – can be shaved off the decision-making and execution time during the week, if you just take a few (nice, calm) minutes on the weekend or during the week AFTER dinner to SIMPLY MAKE A WEEKLY MEAL PLAN.

Supporting your meal plan is your grocery shopping list — your plan is all in vain if you don’t have the ingredients handy! Adding a grocery-run to your work-day can make a day go from tiring to exasperating. All the other (exasperated) people who had NO PLAN are in that lineup with you, wishing they had THOUGHT AHEAD.

Here is a sample meal plan and grocery list (at the risk of seeming low-brow, several of these include frozen ingredients or comprise frozen, canned, or bottled convenience foods from the supermarket. This is the real world, it’s OK if you don’t cook ‘from scratch’ EVERY day):

This upcoming week’s meal plan:

1. Monday – Spaghetti Bolognese & Side-Salad
2. Tuesday – Chicken Stir-Fry
3. Wednesday – Fish or Chicken  Nuggets & Peas & Rice
4. Thursday – Cheese Tortellini & Side-Salad
5. Friday – Pimped-Out Frozen Pizzas & Popcorn & Some Videos!

This weekend’s grocery shopping list (buy or MAKE SURE you have ingredients on hand):

• spaghetti
• parmesan cheese
• ground beef
• mushrooms
• green peppers
• onions
• garlic
• pasta sauce (always buy more bottles of this than you think you’ll need – you can store unopened bottles on the shelf)
• bag-salad (you can jazz it up with olives, etc)
• bottled salad dressing
• boneless, skinless chicken breasts (EASY to deal with for stir-frying etc.)
• pre-cut stir-fry vegetables (or separately broccoli & carrots, etc. if they don’t have pre-cut at your store)
• frozen fish fingers or chicken nuggets
• rice
• cheese tortellini
• frozen peas
• microwave popcorn
• frozen pizzas
• sliced meats, artichoke hearts, anchovies, capers, smoked salmon… whatever people in your family like on their pimped-out pizzas)
• SORRY – the videos, you have to rent on FRIDAY!

PREP WORK

On the weekend, when things are less frantic, is a perfect time to do some prep. work. As mundane as it may sound, pre-chopping some frequently-used foods will save you a lot of agony during the week after a hard day of work.

Just try this!

THIS weekend, DEDICATE some space in your refrigerator to a few plastic containers to be filled with the following (you will LOVE-LOVE-LOVE this if you just try it):

• 1/2 cup – peeled garlic cloves (if you have a garlic press, otherwise, pre-chop the garlic too, and keep it in the plastic container  – but GET A GARLIC PRESS!)
• 1 cup – finely chopped onion
• 2 – green peppers, finely chopped
• 1 cup – chopped fresh tomato
• [these are just a start - whatever you use frequently, start dedicating a tupperware to!]

Although it’s not much to look at (we were a little horrified to see it up-close-and-personal on the home page!), it’s a delicious & satisfying meal, best enjoyed with any kind of side salad, a glass of red wine, perhaps,  and if you really don’t care about carbs, some garlic bread is always fabulous.

• 1 lb. – lean ground beef
• 5 (or more!) – big mushrooms, sliced
• 1 – onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves (or more!) – Garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. – extra virgin olive Oil
• 1 – medium sized jar of (Ragu is best!) pasta sauce
• 4 servings – dry spaghetti
• 1-2 – tbsp. salt
• Parmesan Cheese – at the table

1. Arrive home in a rush – Start by boiling water for the spaghetti.
2. As soon as water reaches rolling boil, throw in a teaspoon or 2 of salt
3. Brown ground beef well, over a medium-high heat for a few minutes, breaking up with spoon as it cooks.
4. Drain excess fat if any.
5. Add oil, mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook with the beef for a few minutes or until onion is tender.Blend in pasta sauce. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, over medium heat, until your spaghetti is cooked.
6. Drain spaghetti.
7. Divide spaghetti between serving bowls, top with pasta sauce, and each person can sprinkle with Parmesan to taste.