Cooking

I have always loved cooking. Something about it just makes me happy. The fact that I can make people smile by taking the time to make wholesome delicious meals, is amazing. So tonight for dinner, I made a chicken pasta primavera and crepes.

The journey to dinner was a long and rather interesting one. I couldn't sleep last night so I ended up looking at hundreds of recipes for what I wanted to make tonight and I figured I'd make a pasta dish and I was hoping to make flan, but I couldn't find the appropriate dishes for it in time, so I settled on crepes.

I walked to the grocery store, got the necessary ingredients, walked back home and crashed. By that point I had been up for 23 hours straight and I needed sleep before I could possibly take on cooking. I started the dinner and it turned out amazing! Without futher ado, here are the recipes I used.




Chicken Pasta Primavera

4 Tbs olive oil
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
½ cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt to taste
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 lb pasta, cooked to package directions (whole wheat angel hair pasta works amazingly!)
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add broccoli, onion, garlic and carrot. Stir frequently, until broccoli is crisp and tender (about 10 min.)

2. Stir in chicken, salt and tomatoes. Heat for 3 minutes or until chicken is heated.

3. Spoon chicken mixture over drained pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve hot.

Crepes

2 large eggs 
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter, for coating the pan (optional - I just use a non-stick pan and they come out fine)

1. In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the
crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
2. Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.

3. Cut up whatever fruit is in season, use whip cream, nutella, or whatever else sounds good and place inside then fold over and enjoy!

I hope you all try out these recipes and truly enjoy them :)