Thank you Julia

I really love Julia Child.  I love watching the old French Chef series and reading her cookbooks. She's delightfully witty and practical as well.   Over the Easter season I thought I'd share one of my recipes for ham filled crepes.  I was inspired by Julia on this one.  

Why the ham?  Well we order a 1/2 hog along with our 1/2 cow every year and one of the things that comes with a hog is a whole ham, cut in 1/2.  So I've had to be creative with leftover ham over the past years.  My original recipe called for chicken so its an easy switch.

But first you must make the crepes. If you haven't attempted this you must.  Really the batter is very easy and takes less than 5 min to prepare.  It must sit for at least 1 hour if not more.  I use Alton Brown's recipe from  Good Eats. It's never failed me and works for both savory and sweet crepes.  In the true fashion of Julia if you mess up a few crepes, which you will, just save them for ice cream sundaes or no one will notice if they are under a bechamel sauce either.  So don't worry.

There are a few ugly crepes on the side.

The next step is to make a bechamel sauce.  I like to use 4 T butter, 4 T flour to 3 cups milk.  Again if you don't have this multi-purpose sauce in your repertoire just look it up.  You can use it with anything.

Now make the filling. I like to add mushrooms and red pepper.  Really you are just sautéing ham and the vegetables and a few spices incuding a few tablespoons of sherry.   I like to add 1/2 of the bechamel sauce to the ham and warm though.

Next fill the crepes with the ham filling and roll up the crepe and put in a lightly greased 13X 9 " pyrex pan, or something similar.  I pour the rest of the sauce over the crepes and top with a handful of cheese. (Now you see why if you crepe are not beautiful it doesn't matter.)  I like to bake it for about 20 minutes at 350-375 degrees.

As for the wine? My house white will do, but a white burgundy to keep all things French would also be lovely.

A filled crepe

ready to go in the oven.

Bon Appétit,

Beth 

Desserts for Charity

Sometimes I just like to cook, but I know I don't always want or need to eat the desserts or quick breads I just made.  A few years ago my daughter discovered that our local community meal provider needed desserts cooked for them.  So we started making a batch of cookies here and there and delivering them the next day for the community meal.  I really like this idea; I/we are taking care of God's people in an anonymous way.  Also who doesn't like a home made dessert.  This weekend my son needed to do a service project for school so I suggested that we make cookies for Loaves and Fishes. It allowed the two of us to enjoy some time together and got my son into the kitchen.  All of these are good things.   We made the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, probably my favorite recipe of chocolate chip cookies.  So nothing fancy just off the back of the bag.   I encourage you to find a shelter or community meal that would like some homemade delights. 

As a side note our local organization also takes excess vegetables from my garden and meat donations from our 1/2 cow.  This way I know food is not going to waste and continues to feed members in need in our community.  

Cookies for Loaves and Fishes

Bon Apétit!
Beth 

Signature Scent

Since this blog is about playing.... think about playing around with perfume.  There is nothing more elegant than having a signature scent.  I have 2 which I wear almost everyday.   My classic has always been Chanel 5.  To me this scent just personifies elegance of a bygone era.  I love old school things.  However I recently added Trish McEvoy 6 into my collection.  It has a crisp clean fragrance that is still elegant yet modern.  I always choose my perfume by what I'm wearing and the weather.  I think there is just something about finishing a look by a bit of perfume. Just a dab on your inner wrists and behind the ears and your ready to go.  

However if you get board of the same thing play around with some new perfumes.  Especially during the Christmas season there are some great deals with smaller bottles or roller ball perfumes.  These are also nice when you are traveling.  

A plus,

Beth 

Tuesday's Thoughts of Simple Pleasures

This past weekend and surrounding days have been very busy for me due to parent-teacher conferences and traveling club sports.  However in this business I've been able to enjoy a few simple things.  This weekend I spent in Milwaukee and one of the things I really enjoy there is Kopp's custard.  They serve 4 flavors total (vanilla, chocolate, and 2 other flavors of the day). I also enjoyed time with my son.

Bark in the Dark at Kopp's.

Another joy this weekend was Sunday dinner.  Yes as I've said before it gives me great pleasure to cook for my family,especially on a day when I don't have to rush.  This Sunday we even better because I pulled out the BGE.  The snow finally melted and I could be on our patio without boots. Dinner was grilled ham from our 1/2 pig, spoon bread, biscuits and roasted asparagus.

Still some snow, but all ready for grilling.

With the melting of the snow I also was able to run outside in the morning and walk our dog after school.  I've also our kitchen french doors open to let in fresh air.  Another favorite.. a change of heavy winter clothes for  lighter springier choices.

I encourage you to enjoy some of the simple things in your busy schedule.  It will make a crazy day seem just a little more enjoyable.

A plus,

Beth