Cinnamon honey butter

Ever since me and Louis first ate at Texas Roadhouse Louis has raved about their bread and butter, he also always makes sure to ask for extra when we are leaving so he can snack on it at home. He always askes me to make the butter they serve with the bread so he could have some at home to eat with what ever he wants. I think it's pretty self explanatory what is in the butter so I made a jar full of it the other day as a little surprise for him, and yes the way to Louis's heart is definitely through his stomach. 

2 sticks of butter (softened)

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1/4 cup honey

1-2 tbsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the softened butter until fluffy.

Add in the sugar, honey, cinnamon and vanilla. You can add more or less of the cinnamon depending on your preference, we love cinnamon at our house I added 2 tbsps so you can really taste the cinnamon in the butter. 

Mix together until fully incorporated. 

Place in a jar and store in fridge. 

Fluffy pancakes

My son Jowell absolutely loves pancakes, on my birthday last year I woke up to him asking me to make him pancakes (moms never have a day off). I use to use box mixes, but two things about using a box mix that I didn't like were that 1. They use different chemicals and a bunch of extra ingredients so that the mix has a longer self life 2. With a kid that loves pancakes as much as mine the cost can add up if you are always buying box mixes. So I had to search for a recipe that I could easily whip up at home, that is versatile enough for me to add extra ingredients depending in what Jowell wanted added in and that had a nice texture to it. I found a recipe on Pinterest (of course because you know I live on that site) that was simple enough and I always have all the ingredients it needs. I did change a few things from the recipe like no using melted butter and adding one more tbsp of sugar but you can always look to the original recipe. 

2 eggs

1 cup milk 

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

*if you want chai spiced pancakes add:

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 ground cloves

1/4 cardamom or nutmeg

In a bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar (also add the other spices if you are making chai spiced pancakes) and mix together, set aside.

In another bowl whip together eggs and milk until foamy (I used a hand mixer).

Mix in the dry ingredients, make sure not to over mix the batter, there should still be a few lumps in the mix (you can add any extra ingredients such as blueberries, chocolate chips etc.)

Let the batter rest for a few minutes so it can thicken a but. I poured my batter into a large measuring cup with a spout so I could easily pour the batter into the pan with no mess.

While the batter is resting heat a pan on medium low heat, it will be ready when you can sprinkle some water in the pan and it bubbles and evaporates right away.

Lightly grease the pan and pour the batter into the pan.

Flip the pancake when bubbles start to form and pop.

Let cook on the other side for a few minutes and the pancake starts to puff up.

Serve with a pat of Cinnamon honey butter and some syrup. 

Herbed Crepes stuffed with cheesy eggs and breakfast potatoes

It has been a little difficult for me to keep up with posting on the blog, there has just been so much going on. I have so many pictures I need to edit and recipes I need to type out but between the boys, the holiday and getting sick I haven't had the time to take a minute and just type out a post. This will be the first one since last Monday...as my sister says I am very dedicated to crepe Monday. Don't worry though I should be able to post up a few more recipe in the next few days just make sure to check back once in a while to see if I updated the blog.

The only reason I'm so dedicated to crepe Monday is because Louis always looks forward to my crepe creations. I was originally going to make Piña Colada crepes (I'll save that for next week) but Louis had asked if I could make some of the ham we had sitting in the fridge. So I started thinking about breakfast burritos. I wanted to spice up the crepe a bit and add some herbs to up the flavor factor. Scrambled eggs was a must and I had two bags full of potatoes plus they went hand in hand. 

Herbed crepes

2 eggs

2 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cups water

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp fresh minced chives

1/2 tsp dill

1/2 tsp parsley

1 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients into a bowl, the batter should be thin and runny. 

Heat a pan on medium heat, lightly grease with nonstick cooking spray and spread 1/4 cup of the batter along the bottom of the pan. Once the sides of the crepe start to loosen from the sides of the pan flip the crepe and let cook for another minute. Remove from pan and place on plate.

Breakfast potatoes and ham

3 cups diced potatoes

1 cup of cubed ham

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp season salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Place the potatoes and ham in a bowl. Mix seasoning into the potatoes and ham. 

Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a nonstick pan on medium high heat. Once the oil is fully heated place half of the potatoes into the pan, spread the mix along the bottom and let cook, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn.

 It will take about 10 minutes for the potatoes to fully cook, they are done when you can pierce a fork straight through the potato with no resistance. 

Fluffy cheesy scrambled eggs

10 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Salt and pepper

In a bowl crack 10 eggs. 

whisk until the eggs become pale in color (I used a hand mixer because I don't have much arm strength).

 Next add in the milk and whisk for another 2 minutes to add as much air into the eggs as possible. 

In a pan add the 2 tbsp of butter, heat the pan on low-medium heat until the butter starts to bubble. 

Pour the eggs into the pan and let the eggs cook for a minute, add in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. 

Now using a spatula slowly start scraping the bottom of the pan.

Keep scraping the bottom and sides until all of the eggs are cooked. 

Take the crepe and spoon in some of the potato mixture and place some scrambled eggs on top, fold the crepe over and sprinkle with some cheese and minced chives.

Lemon Ricotta crepes with Blueberry Sauce

This past weekend we had family over at my parents for Easter. We always have such a blast when ever they visit and by the end of the weekend I am always stuffed to the brim with delicious food that my parents make. We had lamb, turkey, stuffing, a delicious tiramisu (my cousin Bianca made), Flan de Coco and a carrot cake. All the food was amazing and after we got home I knocked out with a food coma. I didn't wake up until the early afternoon since Louis woke up early and was taking care of Jowell and Lennox was still asleep by the time I woke up. I didn't want to skip making crepes even though it was already the afternoon so I decided to make them for brunch. I had ricotta cheese in the fridge because I was planning on making cannoli bites for the weekend but didn't have time and a carton of blueberries that surprisingly my son did not devour. With the warm air and sunny sky I wanted to make something that went along with how I felt bright and happy. 

Start off by making the crepes using this recipe.

Lemon Ricotta filling:

2 cups whole ricotta (strained) 

1/2 cup powdered sugar

The zest from 2 lemons

The juice of 2 lemons

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together the ricotta, sugar and vanilla extract. Add in the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Blueberry sauce:

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 cup of blueberries

In a sauce pan add the water, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Sprinkle in the cornstarch making sure to whisk while adding so it doesn't clump together (I ended up straining the mix because i had a few lumps of cornstarch that wouldn't dissolve). Bring mix to a boil and whisk until the mixture thicken a bit. Add in the blueberries and lower the heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until some of the blueberries start to burst open. 

Add the lemon ricotta inside of the crepe, fold over and top with blueberry sauce. 

Simple Sesame Chicken

Louis is constantly trying to get me to go to the Chinese buffet. If we lived next to one I could bet that he would eat there everyday if he had the chance. I on the other hand like Chinese food but I'm not as crazy over it like Louis is, I also hate the added MSG that most restaurants add to their food. One of my most favorite dishes is sesame chicken, I don't know what it is about it but it's always between that and beef with broccoli that are my go to dish. The only problem with eating out is 1. It's not the healthiest choice 2. You don't exactly know every ingredient they use 3. It can get quite expensive if you do it a lot. So I figured why not try my hand at making some sesame chicken at home for us, plus it would save us from spending extra money we could be saving for our little backyard wedding this summer (oh yea did I forget to mention that? Don't worry there will be more details in upcoming posts). I finally found a very simple and tasty recipe to use on the BudgetBytes website. 

Chicken: 

3 skinless boneless chicken breast

2 eggs

4 tbsp corn starch

1/4 tsp salt and pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Rinse off your chicken breast and cut into cubes, it should come out to about 3 cups. In a bowl combine the eggs, cornstarch, salt and pepper. 

Toss your chicken in the mixture making sure to fully coat each piece. 

In a large pan pour in the vegetable oil and turn stove to medium high to heat. Once the oil is hot place the chicken in carefully making sure that each piece of chicken is separated.

Once the chicken is semi browned on one side flip and cook on the other sides until the chicken is fully cooked. 

Place chicken on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any extra oil. I had to do this in 3 batches. 

Sauce: 

4 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)

2 tbsp water 

1 tbsp sesame seeds

3 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

3 cloves of garlic minced

4 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp corn starch

Sesame seeds for garnishing

Chopped green onions for garnishing

In a small bowl add all the ingredients except the green onions.

 A little tip is to peel skin of the ginger by scraping it off with a spoon and grating the ginger in a cheese grater using the smallest holes. Mix all the ingredients together and set the bowl aside.

After all the chicken is cooked lower the heat and add all the chicken back to the pan, pour the sauce over the chicken. It will immediately start to thicken once it hits the heat of the pan, mix the chicken around and make sure each piece is fully coated.

Turn the heat off and serve over brown rice, sprinkle with some extra sesame seeds and some green onions. One thing I will say is I wish I would have doubled the recipe for the sauce because that is really my favorite part, next time I'll do it.