Food with friends is always better

SPRING BREAK!!!


For me that meant a lot of sleeping, tv watching, reading, and baking.


But above everything else, it meant seeing friends that I don't get to see for most of the year. I journeyed down to Gettysburg, PA on this last break and got the chance to spend time with two of my closest and dearest friends.


On Friday night, we decided to cook dinner for ourselves and several other friends. After tossing out several ideas about what to make, we decided on a spinach and artichoke dip and a large salad.


So we headed to the grocery store to purchase all of our favorite fresh salad ingredients, as well as the many cheeses need for the dip. After deciding on a strawberry based salad, we splurged on anything and everything that sounded good in the salad (like avocados, yum!). This in addition two the two cans of artichokes (which are apparently expensive!) meant we ended up spending in the ballpark of $50 foor one dinner. Oops.


Oh well, we set to work! The dip was easy. Directions: 1) throw everything into a bowl and mix together 2) bake. So simple.

After that was looking deliciously unhealthy, we popped it in the oven and started chopping away at our vegetables. After combining our delicious array of healthy ingredients we ended up with a wonderfully fresh salad. We topped it off with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing; it was delicious!

The dip took forever to bake to our satisfaction, so by the time we took it out of the oven, our dinner guests attacked it with pita chips.

The five of us almost finished the whole pan of dip, and both bags of pita chips. We were very satisfied with the outcome.

Plus, food is always better when you can share it with friends.

Spinach Artichoke Dip:

1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed, drained and coarsely chopped

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, grated

1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated

1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded

I like some color in my dinner.

I volunteered to make dinner for my family last night. I had been wanting to try making vegetarian chili, and this seemed like a wonderful opportunity to do that with only a little bit of judgement.


I perused my pinterest for a side to go along with the chili, and got the idea for little open-faced avocado sandwiches.


With that in mind, I set to work. I started with the vegetables for the chili.


Chopping the vegetables was tedious, but sautéing them was a lot of fun. LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY COLORS!

When the vegetables were nice and squishy I added pretty much everything else, brought it to a boil, and left it to simmer for 20ish minutes. Less vibrant now, but still pretty colorful.

So as that was simmering (simmer is a fun word), I made my little sandwiches. Pretty easy: bread, hummus, mashed avocado, and tomatoes on top. I was quite happy with them though. And look at the bright colors. Making me happy.

And finally I retrieved the chili from the stove and called the fam in to eat it.

And it was actually a big hit! Either that or my family was just sparing my feelings. Hmm... 


Well I thought it was good at least. 


Chili Recipe:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, chopped
1 (19 ounce) can kidney beans with liquid
1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil

Crepes are Hard.

I knew going into this that the crepes would not be easy to make. But in my desperate attempt to fulfill my francophile desire for French classiness, I decided it was worth a shot.


They started out easy enough. Eggs, flour milk, oil, and a pinch of salt, all into a food processor.

How much is a pinch anyway? I never really know. This was either a pinch or a dash. Or a smidgen. Or a sprinkle. Whatever, I got the salt in there.

Stirred them all together for this nice batter which is essentially a runny version of pancake batter. Wonderful. I popped it in the fridge like they recommended, but i don't know what good it did, the ingredients were all cold anyway, and the batter was just as runny when I took it out.


Time to get down to business. Try number one, I just sort of dove in head first. I poured about a cup into the frying pan, and flipped it over pancake style. I ended up with a thin, blob-shaped pancake as a result.

Alright, try number 2. I used a little more batter this time, and I am now starting to appreciate that the first one stayed together when i flipped it.

Try number 3 was perhaps the worse. I didn't use enough oil and the heat was too low, which meant they stuck all over the place, and the batter started to boil before it was cooked. Whoops.


I was then left with a stack of still-delicious-but-aesthetically-unpleasing crepes.

Poor reject crepes...

Ok final try here. After my third time of washing the frying pan of crepe remains and burnt oil, I returned it to the stove for one final time. I poured the remained of the batter, waited for it to brown and flipped it with my newly discovered crepe-flipping skills. By some miracle of the crepe gods, it stayed in one piece!

At this point I am victory dancing around the kitchen while my family in snacking on crepes 1-3.


Time to make it classy and delicious.

I called my sister in at this point to split the delicious banana-nutella crepe with me. The orange garnish was her idea.

And voila! Ate it up with some white tea. Delicious!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1.2 teaspoon vegetable oil
Filling: Nutella and bananas