Forget the Beauty! I want the baked Cheese...!

This weekend/Monday evening were heavy on the cooking and the walking. The highlight of the walking portion was our stunted visit to the Guggenheim. Meandering through the park we found ourselves at the museum, and pondered heading in for a visit. I asked: "what do you think they have in there?" --wondering if it was a permanent collection, modern art, a whole mix of pieces etc-- SG thought for a second and said " I think its like...art". Ha. Yes, art indeed. We went in, realized its was $18 a person, stood in the lobby for a hot second and then left. I guess that "like...art" will have to wait to be seen another day. We headed over to the Natural History Museum, which is suggested donation, and I have no shame...

Now onto the cooking portion of this post. This first endeavor I stole from my sister MM-- she had it at some fancy restaurant, loved it, and manged to recreate it at home. Its sooooo delicious.  

Ricotta Spread

Ingredients:

Ricotta

Honey

Sea Salt

Pepper

Mix ricotta, honey, fresh ground pepper and a little sea salt, all to taste, and throw it on some toasted baguette. 

This simple mixture of yummy ingredients creates light, fluffy, ever so slightly sweet spread that is absolutely a-mazing. I don't think I make it quite as good as MM, but its close!

Trader Joe's Baguette!

The second go was CBC's Crepe Recipe. I talked a big game about being able to make crepes, but was secretly apprehensive about my ability to pull off this delicate process. After a slightly bumpy start,  in which my batter was literally bumpy and I realized that the crepe "flipper" that the man at Sur La Table sold us was actually a crepe "ripper" -- things were off and running. So running in fact that I took pics of the beginning, not the actual product. Which were freaking delicious if I do say so myself. 

Again, as long as you don't panic, and are willing to throw about $40 bucks at the pan acquisition, they are pretty easy. The trick is to remember that you are not making pancakes-- keep it thin, so that the crepe can pretty much cook through without even turning it. You turn it at the end to brown the second side, but its pretty much done-zo at this point. I pop mine in the oven as I finish them to keep them warm for bulk consumption. Here is the recipe, in all caps, courtesy of CBC:

CREPES

INGREDIENTS:

2 EGGS

I EGG YOKE

2 T. MELTED BUTTER

1/2 t.  VANILLA

I/2 CUP OF SIFTED FLOUR

1/4 t. SALT

1 t. SUGAR

2/3 CUP OF MILK

BEAT EGGS GENTLY

ADD BUTTER,  MILK,  VANILLA AND MIX TOGETHER

IN ANOTHER BOWL

MIX FLOUR SALT SUGAR TOGETHER

ADD TO EGG MIXTURE AND BLEND UNTIL SMOOOOOOOTH

COOK OVER MEDIUM/LOW HEAT, PRE-HEAT PAN 

We had a bunch of fillings, including: the remaining ricotta spread, sauteed mushrooms, basil, eggs, tomato, Parmesan, powdered sugar and a few more I have forgotten.

To round out the weekend I made the feta-pumpkin muffins, which actually turned out to be feta-squash due to the limited Trader Joe's selection. Along with the winter veggie switcheroo, I made a few additional changes. I substituted whole wheat flour, left out the sunflower seeds, and used "southern greens" medley instead of spinach. They came out great, but I would suggest using a little extra of everything except the squash, more cilantro, more feta, more pepper, and something to give it a little kick-- maybe a little paprika...? What herb would be good here? They are a little bland. My herb knowledge is non-existent. 

That's all that's fit to print.