Crepes

Crepes are the quintessential celebration food in the Devine household. We love to do them on any occasion that we can think of, even just a family breakfast on saturday morning! And now Micah loves to make them with my mom just about every weekend! And they never get old! They really are to die for!

Ingredients:

5 eggs

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

4 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp melted butter

Instructions:

Put the wet ingredients into the blender and blend for 10 seconds. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until smooth. Fry in a pan using about a 1/3 cup of batter for each crepe, depending on the desired size. Pour the batter into a buttered pan that has been heated over medium high heat and swirl the pan until the batter spreads to fill the bottom of the pan. These cook very quickly and you don’t want them to brown. Watch closely and in a few seconds flip the crepe and let cook another 5 seconds. Transfer to a plate and repeat this process until all your crepes are made. Place the desired filling down the crepe and roll it.

I like to serve these with fresh fruit and homemade maple syrup (recipe below). But you can also do nutella and bananas or strawberries! Basically, you just can't go wrong with crepes!

MAPLE SYRUP:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 1/4 cup water

2 tsp Mapeleine (you can usually find this in any store- it is in a little bottle near the vanilla)

1 Tbsp butter, optional

Boil sugars and water for 5 minutes, make sure the sugar is dissolved and not grainy, and then add the Mapeleine and butter.

Vegetables, Cooked Three Ways

These are vegetables cooked three ways! Three different vegetables, three different cooking methods. But all equally delicious! Every so often when I have vegetables that I need to use before they go bad, I will just make a dinner full of different types of vegetables, cooked in different ways, so there is still a lot of variety, textures and flavors in the meal. Here is an example of one of those evenings!

So, here are the different methods that I think show off these vegetables at their best!

Parmesan Asparagus

Ingredients:

~Asparagus

~Butter

~Parmesan Cheese

~Salt & Pepper

Fill a saute pan with an inch or so of water, add the Asparagus and steam for a few minutes. Then, drain the water out, and add a little butter. Then saute with the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper for a minute or two. The parmesan cheese melts onto the asparagus, it is so amazing! It is by far my favorite way to eat asparagus and it is so fast and easy! You will never prepare it another way again! It is that good, and the kiddos love it with the parmesan- especially if you let them add it in the pan!

Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients:

~Broccoli

~Olive Oil

~Herbs de Provence

~Salt & Pepper

Place the broccoli on a cookie sheet, drizzle olive oil over the top and add salt and pepper and sprinkle on the Herbs de Provence. Then, roast them in the oven at 400 degrees for around 15 or 20 minutes. This is my most favorite way to eat broccoli, it transforms a pretty average vegetable into a delicious treat!

Brown Sugared Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

~Butternut squash, cubed

~Butter

~Brown Sugar

~Salt & Pepper

~chopped pecans, optional

Place the butternut squash on a cookie sheet and rub them with a little butter and brown sugar. Add a little salt and pepper. Then, bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until they are tender and caramelized. And if you want a little extra treat, sprinkle on some chopped pecans when there is about 5 minutes left. This recipe is more of a dessert than anything, I think that this is how they were meant to be prepared! The are gooey, caramelized perfection!

Fat Emma Cookies

These delicious Fat Emma cookies have been in our family for years! They are similar to sugar cookies, except they are a little fluffier or "fatter" and they have an extra delicious flavor because they are made with buttermilk. Plus, they are way easier because you don't have to roll them out and cut them and then roll them out again! You just roll them into little balls like other cookies. They are a perfectly delicious cookie! Even ask Micah...

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the softened butter with the sugar in a mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time beating well between each one.

Mix the dry ingredients together and add half of them to the sugar- butter mixture beating until the flour is no longer visible. Then alternate adding half of the buttermilk and beat just until smooth. The next step is to add the rest of the flour mixture and beat just until mixed in. Then add the rest of the buttermilk and beat until smooth. (If you beat them too much they will get tough.)

The dough will be sticky. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour, until it is stiff. Roll the dough into balls that are one inch in diameter. Drop them onto a greased cookie sheet and flatten them slightly.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, but don't brown, if you bake them too long they will dry out.

Let the cookies cool completely and then frost them with buttercream frosting.

Buttercream Frosting:

1 – 1 lb. box Powdered Sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cube softened butter

Place all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and beat them for 2 minutes. For a thinner consistency add a little more milk.

Enjoy!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts...Trust me on this one!

I absolutely LOVE brussels sprouts, but there is one catch...they must be prepared this way and this way alone! I don't like them if they are prepared any other way. If they are prepared this way though, than I feel like they are such a treat. Like chocolate...I know, I know, but it is true. And Mitch LOVES them also! Sometimes for dinner, I make only brussels sprouts and we just go to town! Just try them, they are so good prepared this way!

INGREDIENTS:

~Brussels Sprouts

~Olive Oil to drizzle

~Salt and Pepper to taste

~Herbs de Provence

~Balsamic Vinegar to lightly drizzle

So, I peel the outside layer off and then cut them in half and lay them on a cookie sheet. Then I drizzle olive oil all over them and add salt and pepper and sprinkle on the Herbs de Provence. (My favorite dried herb mixture!)

Then roast them in the oven at 400 degrees for around 20 minutes. Just check them by poking them with a fork to see if the middle is soft.

Finally, when you take them out and lightly drizzle them with Balsamic Vinegar...Heaven!!!