Crepe Cake

adopted from martha stewart (click to go to original)

Lemon Crepe Cake

Ingredients

·         3/4 cup all-purpose flour

·         1/2 cup sugar

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1 1/4 cups whole milk, room temperature

·         3 large eggs, room temperature

·         1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

·         6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, melted, plus more, melted, for pan

·         Lemon Curd Mousse

·         1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped

Directions

1.     Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually pour milk mixture into flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Whisk in butter. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

2.     Lightly coat a 6-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into center. Swirl to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.

3.     Slide crepe onto an overturned plate. Repeat with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed, and stacking crepes. Let cool.

4.     Place 1 crepe on a flat serving dish. Spread about 1/4 cup lemon mousse onto crepe. Top with 1 crepe. Continue layering crepes and mousse. (Use 15 crepes, ending with a crepe on top.) Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

5.     Top crepe cake with whipped cream.

Lemon Mousse

Ingredients

·         1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)

·         1 tablespoon cold water

·         4 large eggs plus 6 large yolks

·         1 cup sugar

·         1 and 1/3 cup lemon juice

·         6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

·         1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Directions

1.     Sprinkle gelatin over water; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.

2.     Whisk together eggs and yolks in a heavy small saucepan. Whisk in sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium-low heat, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 8 to 10 minutes.

3.     Remove pan from heat; add gelatin, stirring constantly, until gelatin dissolves and mixture is slightly cool. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, stirring after each addition, until smooth.

4.     Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to remove as much curd as possible; discard any undissolved bits of gelatin and egg. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours or overnight. Stir curd, and gently fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Stir before using.

Also made the same cake with a nutella mousse for Leslie's birthday! It was delicious. 


Hope you enjoy!!!


Linked up with: Not Just a House Wife, Ginger Snap Crafts

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Ain't she cute :)

How to align photos in blogger!!

Click here are the instructions as to how to make the photos line up all nice and not be randomly strewn across your blog :)

I recently created a new blog and have transferred this post to the new blog. Simply click here to check it out.

My Kind of Coffee...

I don't even like the taste of coffee, but man do I love the atmosphere at coffee shops. And I like coffee, just  the coffee that you can't actually taste the coffee. Like caramel mocha things. You know the things with more milk, caramel, chocolate, and whipped cream than actual coffee.

I love having coffee with friends, especially on cold winter days, but someone I rarely have coffee with is my husband. And he LOVES coffee. So the other morning, Kenny and I went down to the sweet little coffee shop (Ella's) and had ourselves some coffee. And a breakfast sandwich, which was delicious!

I love having coffee with my best friend. 

And next post I will be showing how to make photos on blogger align so nicely!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Preparing to kick a field goal

I've Been Running

I've decided to run in a race! It is May 12th and I have started training for it already, and according to the training schedule that the race puts out, I am a little behind, but not to worry.

I have only ever run in one race and it was a 5k. I did okay for not doing anything to prepare for the race. (I signed up because my friend was putting it on, not because I actually wanted to run 3.1 miles)

But this time will have to different. I can run 3.1 miles on any given day, not super fast, but I don't die from it. 13.1 miles is a whole other story.

13.1 miles is scary do-able, but I don't honestly think I'd make it if I went out today and tried. I have never run more than 4 miles at once. Why haven't I run more than 4 miles? Why would I. There has never been much incentive.

No one has ever told me I had to. No one has paid me to. No one has ever challenged me to.

But ever since I've started training for the race, my body has embraced running. I wake up thinking about when I'll get to run next. My body is happier and tighter. For the first time in my life, I've enjoyed running.

Please ask me how it's going because we all know I'll need some major accountability :)

Not Technically an Advent Calendar

Every year before Christmas, our Aunt gives us an advent calendar filled with candy. According to Wikipedia "An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas." 

Well, we didn't do that with our advent calendar. Instead, we sat down in our kitchen, with our dog, and proceeded to take turns opening each little surprise :) Apparently we are not big on self-control anticipation :)

Kenny is way more excited about this than he appears to be

Even Izzie was glad we didn't wait :)

Our booty

Then we took turns choosing pieces of candy until everything is parceled off evenly.

And we had an extra beef stick, so Izzie and I shared. It was very reminiscent of Lady and the Tramp, except for the part where they kiss. I just let her have it. I thought she might bite my face off. There is something very intimidating about how a dog looks at you when you are holding meat in your mouth :)

Goals for 2012

1. Pay off our house!!!!!!!! 

I don't think there could ever be enough exclamation marks behind that one!!

2. Cut food budget by 20% by:

    a. Planting a garden                                    b. Getting some Chickens

3. Save $3000 for Europe trip (3-4 week trip to France, England, and Italy!!!)

4. Memorize one verse per week.

    week 1. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility considers others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3

    week 2. not yet memorized

5. Set weekly goals (great idea from Breanne's resolutions)

6. Run a 25k!! which I have already started training for. Today was day 6. 18 miles down :) 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Original Photo

1960's Style

Easy Way to Peel Garlic!!

I love cooking with garlic, but I've always hated peeling it. But then my dear husband informed me that there was a simple solution to peeling garlic.

Step 1: Separate cloves

Step 2: Place flat side of a wide knife on top of clove

Step 3: Whack  knife hard with the palm of your hand. Stay away from sharp part of blade : )

Step 4: Remove skin with ease. Breathe deeply and cook something delicious!!

Enjoy :)

Date Nights In

We like going out for dinner, but more often then not, we stay in. For one thing it's way cheaper and for another, we both love cooking! For under $10 we get a great meal, drinks, and have fun with each other while cooking. Below is a picture of one of our recent meals. Kenny cooked the chicken and I made the green beans and rice. It was delicious, and this meal cost about $5, which is way better than $20-30 tab after eating out. At least it is for us. We rarely eat out without gift cards because we would much rather save our money and go on vacations!!

**To make great tasting rice, I melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a pot and then add 1 cup of rice and coat with the melted butter. Then I add 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup chicken broth to the rice. Once that cooks down, I repeat until the rice is tender. It is the basic recipe for risotto, and you'll never eat plain rice again!