Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes

I bought a HUGE box of strawberries on Saturday and developed a craving for strawberry crepes last night. I found this recipe online and it was delicious! They were actually very easy. We did have a crepe maker that helped to make them a bit easier, but you can do them without that. We only had three of us eating these and so were able to keep up with the demand as they were made, but you may want to consider just making a bunch ahead of time and keeping them in a warm oven or something.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes

Topping:

1 1/2 C. sugar

1 1/2 C. strawberries -- crushed (I just cut them into small chunks and smashed them slightly)

Filling:

1 C. strawberries -- washed and sliced

8 Oz. softened cream cheese

1/4 C. powdered sugar

Crepes:

4 eggs

1 1/3 C. milk

2 Tbsp. oil

1 C. flour

Topping: Stir sugar and berries together and heat in a saucepan until boiling. Reduce heat and cook 10 minutes stirring constantly. (I didn't have to stir constantly, it did fine).

Filling: Blend powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in berries.

Crepes: Beat eggs slightly, add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. Pour a few tablespoons into a hot skillet, tilting to spread evenly. Brown lightly on both sides.If you have a crepe maker that will work better. It took us a few tries to get used to the crepe maker. We had to hold it in the batter for a few seconds to get them thick enough. You only have to cook them on one side though and they are usually thinner than you can get them in a pan, but thick enough to do the job.

Put desired amount of filling in the crepe and roll up. Top with sauce and whipped topping. Overall, this was pretty sweet. You could go without the sauce, but it did taste better altogether. I'm sure you could experiment with various types of fillings as well to mix it up.

Picture of rainbow jello salad

Since Kristy shared the recipe I thought I would add a picture from when I made the rainbow jello salad last year. I did it in a bundt pan and to get the bottom layer (top when assembling, bottom when unmolded) to be thick enough I had to use two boxes of the same flavor I think.

Rainbow Layered Jello

This is really yummy.  It is a bit time intensive and you might find skeptics about mixing the different flavors of Jello, but it is actually quite good.  It is not hard, but you have to plan ahead because there are so many layers to set up.  Good luck!

Layered Jello 

*5 or 6 small boxes of various colors of Jello (i.e Grape, Cherry, Orange, Lime, Lemon)

*Boiling water

*1/3 C Sour Cream per box of Jello

 Dissolve one box of Jello in 1 C boiling water.  Add 1/3 C sour cream to ½ C  Jello mixture.  Place in Jello mold or 9 x 13 glass pan.  Make sure it covers the whole bottom of pan.  Allow to set in the fridge for 20 – 30 minutes.  When it is set add 3 TBLS cold water to remaining Jello and pour over the top of the first layer.  Pour carefully or you will mess up the first layer.  Continue with different colors of Jello until complete.  Top with a layer of Whip Cream Topping. 

You can also use colors to support a theme (i.e. alternated red and green for Christmas or purple and orange for Halloween. You could even do the same flavor, but alternating layers of normal and sour cream...say red for Valentines Day).

Shout out to the Money Saving Mom

I found this blog through my recent coupon obsession.  Let me just say she is the COOLEST!  Go here to see her latest project.  She is getting ready to have a baby and is stocking her freezer so she won't have to cook for MONTHS after the baby is born.  What a cool idea!  On top of that there are links to a lot of other great baking recipes.  I'm a seriously a fan of this gal and hope one day I can be as awesome as she is.  Check it out.  Let me know if there are any recipes we ought to post on here.  I will definetly be poking around so stay tuned!

REALLY easy and yummy Breadsticks

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but ours has been cold and SNOWY lately.  With that for inspiration I have been making soup lately.  Wanted to point out that there are some very yummy soups posted on this site.  You can check them out here.  Most recently I have tried the Cheddar and Soda Soup, the White Bean Chicken Chili and the Meatball and Gnocchi Soup.  LOVED them all!  Try them out and REVIEW them if you do!  Even though they were posted a while ago, any reviews are greatly appreciated.  So with soup on the brain I have been making these DELICIOUS breadsticks.  Seriously...the easiest things in the world!  Good luck!

Breadsticks:

1 TBLS Yeast

1 1/2 C Warm Water

2 TBLS Honey or Sugar

Mix together and let get bubbly. 

Add:

4 C flour

3/4 tsp salt

Knead together, grease Pan.  Grease or flour counter top, roll out dough in a rectangle shape (about 1/2 inch thick).  Cut in strips, twist and place on cookie sheet or pan.  Coat with melted butter (lately I've been dipping the whole strip into butter before I twist it up...)  Sprinkle with garlic salt, parmesan cheese and Italian Seasoning (I normally just use garlic salt, but sometimes add the others).  Let rise.  Cook at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  

This takes about 5 minutes to put together, 15 minutes or so to rise and then cook time.  Done in 40 minutes or the time it takes to make a meal.  My own kids and my daycare kids eat these up like crazy.  If you have a big family you'll want to double or triple the recipe.  We ate a whole batch between 5 of us tonight and I certainly could have had more.  I've also made this with half whole wheat and it is still really good (this is actually what I did for the daycare kids most recently...they still loved it).  The dough is a bit harder to work and takes longer to knead together.  You will love these if you try them.  They are REALLY good, but I also love that I don't have to wait for them like you normally do with breadsticks, yet they are homemade.