The plate that remained after eating our crepes was visually stunning. Those blueberries were blue. Blue enough to stain our mouths and teeth a hilarious hue and avoid going out in public  for a few hours. This dish is best eaten at home. I was flipping through the cookbook Tyler’s Ultimate last week – which proves I have turned into my mom, since I now read cookbooks – and couldn’t stop thinking about these crepes. I decided to make them after church on Sunday, preparing the batter before we left (it has to sit for an hour in the fridge – perfect!) and putting the rest of the recipe together when we got home. I followed tyler’s recipe pretty closely, although I would probably make some changes next time around – I’ll go in to that at the end of the post. To see some images from my afternoon making crepes go here, and take a look at the recipe Tyler wrote:

Lemon Ricotta Crepes with Blueberries + Bananas

Crepes

• 1 1/3c flour
• 1 pinch salk
• 1 3/4c milk
• 2 lg eggs
• 9 T butter, melted

Filling

• 15oz ricotta cheese
• finely grated zest of one lemon
• 1/4c confectioners’ sugar
• 1 egg

Blueberry Sauce

• 1T butter
• appx 3c blueberries
• 1/2c sugar
• 1t cornstarch
• juice of 1 lemon

2 ripe bananas

1. in a blender combine the flour, salt, milk and eggs and blend until smooth. pour in butter and blend to incorporate, making sure there are no lumps in the batter then put in the fridge for 1 hr.

2. put an 8″ crepe pan or non stick skillet over medium heat and brush with melted butter. Pour 1/4c batter and swirl to coat bottom of pan (ideally with crepes the thinner the better). Cook for 30-45 seconds until batter just sets + flip to other side for 30 more seconds. Slide crepe on to plate and cover with clean towel to keep from drying out. start cranking out the crepes!

3. make the filling by combining all filling ingredients in a bowl + stirring, then get your assembly station ready to put everything together

4. Preheat oven to 400. Put a crepe on a cutting board, spoon 1/2c cheese filling on lower third of crepe. Fold the bottom up, the two sides in, and then roll to make a package. When your crepes are all made, brown them a minute each side in a skillet to help seal the edges and add a little crisp. (you could probably skip that part if you wanted). Put all crepes in a baking dish, pop in the over and bake 10min to allow the filling to firm.

5. Make the blueberry sauce while crepes are cooking. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over med-high heat 3-5 min. To serve, put 2 crepes on each plate, cover with blueberry sauce and add a slice of fresh banana to each. enjoy! then look in the mirror and laugh at your blue mouth.

Now, a few notes. This recipe has multiple steps but one thing I like most is that you can easily do some – or all – of the prep ahead of time. I found that I preferred less ricotta than what was recommended, and would probably have added a little lemon curd to the mixture to add a bit more flavor… or spoon some jam or nutella in to the crepes when assembling. We’re really going all out with these, so might as well. Crepes take a while to master if you have never made them, but don’t get discouraged the first 2-3 crepes are usually pretty rough until you figure out a method of pouring + swirling that works. If you’re feeling adventurous and indulgent I hope you get the chance to try these + enjoy!

Biscotti. It’s enough like a cookie that you want to eat more, but not so much that you feel guilty about eating 3 or 5. Yes, five. They’re small, ok? And nuts are healthy. Anyways I have been making biscotti occasionally for a few years, and decided to try a new recipe this time rather than my old standby. I found that biscotti falls into one of two categories: with butter and without, and since I had traditionally made it with I decided to try without (plus then I really didn’t need to feel bad about the 5 pieces each day). I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and just made a few adjustments (like almonds instead of hazelnuts) and it was a success. They really are super easy to make and I could get used to having them around all the time… I think Matt could too.

They are a perfect reason to stop and have another cup of coffee, which I am drinking more of these days especially with the class I’m teaching. Yes, for the past month and a half I have also been teaching graphic design I. I have been learning first hand that teaching is a lot of work and have gained even more respect for my mom who taught 20+ years in the Detroit School System along with all the other teachers out there. I only teach one class twice a week for two hours, and I have no idea what I would do all day every day. September was pretty rough trying to balance the second busiest month of weddings with teaching, but I feel like things have started to turn around. Reaching the half way point in the semester has helped, as has the fact that I feel like the class is actually learning something and it’s evident in their work. I really do enjoy it, and look forward to seeing their final projects and the progress they make through the semester. I might even make some biscotti to share with them.

It really is one of my favorite seasons. The time when basil grows like wildfire and fills the room with it’s smell as soon as you chop it up and start to make pesto. It is easily combined into dishes and it’s no surprise that it’s the base for our weekly pizzas this time of year. Last night we had a few friends over in addition to my cousin who is visiting from New Mexico and the pesto pizza was a hit. There’s nothing like sharing good food and I love how it brings people together and makes you feel like home. I’ve posted my reliable pizza dough recipe previously and you can find it here, but I thought I would share some pesto tips for those of you who have never tried. I kid you not, it is one of the easiest things to make. Also, you really don’t have to use quantities and can add as much or little of each item as you like. Here are the key players (in my book) and a few relative estimates to get you going:

• basil (2 cups)
• garlic (3cloves)
• olive oil (4T)
• pine nuts / walnuts (1/3c)
• parmigiano reggiano (1/4c)

there are a few different ways to combine – either in a food processor or other device – or you can rough chop everything by hand for a more rustic and uneven texture. The secret to pesto is of course making as much if it as you can in season and saving it for the winter. You can do so by freezing it in ice cube trays for easy portioning – or you can put it in a canning jar and include some extra olive oil to cover and store in the fridge. go make some pesto before it’s too late!

Fresh peas are one of my favorite summer vegetables. It wasn’t until last year that I discovered how delicious they are from the vine, and now I’m hooked. I waited all winter for a chance to go picking and last week Matt and I went. Yes, last week when it was 90+ degrees and you didn’t want to get out of the house, Matt and I thought it would be a good idea to bake in the sun while picking veggies. We could have planned that better, but it was nothing a little ice cream couldn’t fix.

While we shelled and froze most of them to use this winter, I wanted to use some of the peas in a delicious summer recipe. Something must have been in the water because I couldn’t stop thinking about egg salad and knew peas would be the perfect addition. This is the first time I’ve made egg salad, and probably only the 4th or 5th time I’ve eaten it, so I went in without many preconceived notions. I didn’t have bread, I didn’t have mayo, but I had fresh peas and local eggs (can’t wait until our chickens start laying) and I went to work.

I started by shelling some peas! Just a handful until I had a bowl of about 1 1/2 cups…

I love making pita bread and it’s super easy so I decided it would be the perfect holder for the salad. The pita bread recipe I use with much success is listed here but I’ll include it below as well. One of the tricks is baking it on a pizza stone, and while I typically use an oven to bake the bread this time I used the grill to keep the house a bit cooler.

• 1 teaspoon dry yeast
• 2 1/2 cups warm water (approximately 105 degrees F)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• About 4 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a large bread bowl. Stir to dissolve. Add whole wheat flour, one cup at a time, then 1 cup white flour. Stir 100 times (one minute) in the same direction to activate the gluten in the flour. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes or as long as 2 hours.

Sprinkle salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add white flour, one cup at a time. When the dough is too stiff to stir, turn it out onto a lightly floured bread board and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Return the dough to a lightly oiled bread bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least double in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Gently punch down. Dough can be made ahead to this point and then stored, covered, in the refrigerator for 5 days or less.

Place large baking stone on a rack in the bottom third of your oven or on the grill and preheat to 450 degrees. Roll out a small piece of dough to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and around 1/4 inch thick.

Bake 2-3 at a time directly on stone. Bake each bread for 3 or 4 minutes, until the bread has gone into a full “balloon” or until it is starting to turn lightly golden, whichever happens first – no need to flip it over. Remove from stone and cool on rack + enjoy.

If you read this blog you probably know Matt and I like to cook, and we like to make things from scratch even if we end up eating an hour later than planned. I’m not a big fan of mayonnaise at all… but when I make it from scratch it’s another story. It’s nothing like the jar that sits for years on a shelf. I used a recipe from joy of cooking that’s similar to this one over at food network. It’s basically egg yolks, lemon juice, oil, vinegar and s+p. Our mayo didn’t emulsify correctly to as thick as it should have been, possibly because of the heat and humidity, but it did the job.

I hard boiled some eggs, cooled them, peeled them and chopped them.

Then combined the chopped eggs, peas + mayo. More salt and pepper to taste.. and if I was going to do it again I would probably include a little chopped red onion, bacon, or celery – whatever you like. Then I simply spooned the salad into the fresh pita and voila! Summer lunch.

Besides the fact that I thought the recipe would work with the current ingredients in my kitchen, it also was relatively fast and easy which is always a bonus in the summer. Gnudi as I’ve discovered are similar to gnocchi but instead of using potato we use ricotta. Here is the round up of ingredients I used in my recipe:

gnudi:

• 1 lb whole milk ricotta
• 1 large egg
• 1 T melted butter
• 1c all purpose flour + more
• 1/4c freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
• dash of freshly grated nutmeg
• lemon zest

sauce:

• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 lb mushrooms (14oz or so)
• extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
• 3 T butter
• thyme

to make the gnudi:

in a large bowl combine the ricotta, egg, butter, nutmeg, lemon zest  + parmigiano. Sprinkle 1 c of flour over mixture and fold it in. Dust the dough lightly with flour and shape into a ball, then move to a floured work surface and roll into a rope.

I found that more flour was definitely needed to keep from sticking and I made a few smaller balls which i then rolled out to a rope size so that they were more manageable. At this point bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and work on the rest of the ingredients

asparagus + mushrooms:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over med/high and add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are lightly browned and liquid is evaporated, 10 to 12 min. About halfway through cooking the mushrooms, add asparagus and continue to cook. Add garlic and leaves from sprig of fresh thyme (i didn’t have that so I used dried…) and stir over low heat for a minute. Add 1/2 cup water and butter to pan and raise heat and stir until melted. Season with salt

bring it all together:

when salted water is boiling, add gnudi and cook for 4-6 minutes until tender and cooked through. Drain and add to skillet (with all veg still in there) and stir gently to coat with sauce. Cook for 1-2 min in skillet and then serve with some fresh grated Parmigiano on top!

not that difficult, right? It was a bit harder to bring my camera in to the kitchen and document the process, but I took a few pictures which I’m sure you’ll appreciate. Enjoy this quick recipe and don’t be afraid to make it your own!

Where we currently live we were lucky enough to inherit a patch of asparagus in our backyard. All of the rain we’ve been getting has really been making it grow, which is reason enough to keep me from complaining about rain. We are enjoying it while it’s in season which adds an element of anticipation when you eat that way. Of course, before we ate it I had to take a picture because it looks so darn good!

I love photography, and while it tries to take over my life, I don’t let it. In my other life I help coach a cross-country and track team – I’m just an assistant coach and well it’s really my husband that’s the coach – I’m a part of the team nonetheless and love it. The practices, the running the rain, the long weekends and early morning wakeups for bus trips to meets – okay sometimes those things wear on you, but they are worth it when you have a great group of people, which we do.

Running is one of those things I’ve never been able to give up – and I know what you’re thinking, that either you don’t like to run and you think I’m crazy or you are right there with me. I not one of those completely self motivated runners that keeps a strict schedule and gets up at 5 for morning runs – sometimes I wish I could be. For me, running has always been more about the team. I’ve met some of my best friends in high school and college through running and have learned more about life, myself, and God through the process than possibly anything else.

So, last week we had the culmination of the cross country season with the national meet. You can see the setting of the race above – and despite rain every other day were were there, it didn’t rain on race day. It’s always exciting to head to nationals and at this point the hard work and training is over and it’s time to lay it all out and race. You can read more about how our team did here. We flew across the country to Portland Oregon to stay just across the river in Vancouver Washington where the race was held.

We had a great time and were even able to enjoy the area and explore Portland a bit. It’s been said that Portland is for foodies, and its true. From the coffee to the food carts there is something tasty and delicious waiting around ever corner. I’m going to be heading out there again in June for Marianne + Jimmy’s wedding and yes, I can’t wait to go back to a few places and explore some new ones.

A few of the highlights on this trip are the classics: Stumptown Coffee and Voodoo Doughnuts. Both of these places are legends for a reason. The coffee is to pure, so handmade and authentic at Stumptown, you might just be ashamed you ever ordered a peppermint white chocolate mocha. Seriously, sweet drinks have nothing on a cappuccino from Stumptown. I fear that I would easily gain 10 lbs living in Portland because I would become addicted to the doughnuts at Voodoo. Seriously, I’m not usually a doughnut person, but that’s probably because most doughnuts are not fresh and homemade like these. After deciphering the names to figure out what treat they described our group settled on each getting something different and sharing bites of each. It was so worth it and I don’t think you can go wrong with any doughnut – they are all so perfectly light and delicious… well you see where I’m going. Okay, so I promise I’ll have some self control, can we move out there?

Doing something you love as a job is wonderful, but there always comes a time when it feels more like work and less like what you love. Personal projects and working in other mediums help keep you fresh, inspired, and loving what you do. Maybe it’s all of the blueberries I’ve been picking, but lately I’ve been turning to cooking as a creative outlet. I kind of can’t help it with all of the food in season, and of course I love to eat good food. I made this photography related by taking a few pictures, and if you like to cook or you like scones you need to try these out because they are seriously delicious! Not all recipes should be made regularly, and this recipe is one of them. If you’ve made scones you know it takes some heavy duty ingredients to make them so good (I’m talking about butter, heavy cream, etc…). So invite some friends over or share with neighbors so you don’t eat all of them yourself. This is only my third time making them – originally I made raspberry scones and followed this recipe – but I’ve since adapted it for blueberry scones and it goes like this:

here you can see all my ingredients ready for mixing. dry ingredients (flour, lemon zest, salt, baking soda + sugar), grated butter, cream + sour cream, and additions (blueberries, cream cheese + chocolate chips)

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 sticks), frozen whole  (freeze your grater too)
2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen)
1/2 cup whole milk/heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for work surface
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt
zest of one lemon
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 c cream cheese

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove half of wrapper from stick of frozen butter, and quickly grate stick on large holes of box grater. (the more frozen the better)

2. Whisk together milk and sour cream in medium bowl; refrigerate until needed. Whisk flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in medium bowl. Add frozen butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated.

3. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; fold with spatula until just combined. With rubber spatula, transfer dough to liberally floured work surface. Dust surface of dough with flour; with floured hands, knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together in ragged ball, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. (It really comes together once you knead, before that it’s like a crumbly pile)

4. Roll dough into approximate 12-inch square. Fold dough into thirds like a business letter, using bench scraper or metal spatula to release dough if it sticks to countertop. Lift short ends of dough and fold into thirds again to form approximate 4-inch square. Transfer dough to plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in freezer 5 minutes.

5. Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll into approximate 12-inch square again. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese (as much as you want) on dough and add blueberries and chocolate chips evenly on top; press down so they are slightly embedded in dough. Using bench scraper or thin metal spatula, loosen dough from work surface. Roll dough, pressing to form tight log. Lay seam-side down and press log into 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown!

before baking… and after. you can see most of them unrolled a bit and look kinda crazy. that’s okay they still taste good.

my one perfect scone! hope you enjoyed and try them for yourself, they are so easy especially if you get your ingredients ready before hand and then just combine. In other news I know you guys like this tablecloth (I do too!) but I think I need an alternate. I want to add to my collection so give me some suggestions – interesting patterns + colors are a must!

If you haven’t had it fresh, you’ve never had it. That’s what I told my sister on the phone as I talked to her about the peas I picked this week. I was familiar with berries (and would say the same is true for them) but it was my first time with peas. I was excited which was good since the raspberries we came to pick didn’t have the best showing…. but the peas were ripe! As I picked I couldn’t help but start to dream up a recipe to use them.

Now, I really like to cook. I’m no Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart – and I some ways I don’t aspire to be – but I love to make good food and of course eat it. I also have been a recipe follower for the majority of my cooking life. I didn’t really have the background to experiment successfully but with several years under my belt I stood in the field of peas and imagined a fresh and creamy pasta dish. I decided to go for this recipe that was brewing in my head, and see what I could make. I documented it in case it was successful and was thrilled when it was. Plus it took about 15 minutes to make and I’m not even kidding… and just writing about it makes me hungry.

While not everyone will want – or be able to – head out to a farm and pick fresh peas of your own, since they are in season you can most likely find them at the farmers market or grocery store (but I would still recommend a field trip to pick some of your own – plus free samples!). I didn’t really measure all of the ingredients to a T but have estimated them for you and encourage your own improvisation.

Fresh Pasta with Spinach + Peas:

1/2 box spaghetti (is that a valid measuring term?)

3/4c fresh peas

1 1/2c fresh spinach (somewhat packed into cups)

2/3c heavy cream

1/2c grated 4 cheese blend (asiago/parmesan/fontina/provolone – from Wegmans)

olive oil

salt + pepper

1. bring water to a boil, cook pasta like you normally would until al dente. Drain, reserving 1c of the water in a cup and put past back in pot (I added a dash of the pasta water to the pot – it has lots of starch and helps the cream thicken).
2. put fresh peas in reserved pasta water for appx 1 min (since the water is still boiling hot, it will cook them quickly but not that much keeping them really fresh)
3. drain peas and add to pot, along with spinach, most of the cheese, heavy cream, 1-2T olive oil, salt + pepper to taste. Stir and combine well, let sit for a few minutes to thicken and allow spinach to wilt.
4. Serve + add a little cheese on top!

yum! Can it get any easier? if you try this let me know and I hope it’s as delicious as mine was!

It was the weekend but that didn’t matter. The snow trapped us in and soon time blurred together and you couldn’t remember what day it was. We spent time outside and braved the weather so there was reason for a delicious snack. Does anyone else do that – go outside, or have a good workout and then really reward yourself with a treat? I know I’m starting to sound really simple, it’s basically what we do for our dog – she loves treats, but it’s true. This time we decided to whip up some homemade pretzels – and they were so delicious I had to share them with you. I hadn’t made homemade pretzels since grade school, and I have never made them like this – good ol’ Alton Brown always has a few cooking tricks up his sleeve that make things delicious. They were super simple, and the recipe can be found at food network. We made two versions- a salty and sweet, and I have to say the sweet came in a definite second place to the salty. It was a last minute decision to throw cinnamon and sugar on them and I think there’s a better way to make a sweet version. We spiced up some cider to go along with it and it was the perfect winter treat!