More from the fridge

It's so nice that this challenge started on the weekend.  We're home and generally do much more cooking then on weekdays.  Weekdays we are boring; you'll see.

I had to get fancy for breakfast.  Months ago I saw this recipe on-line and swooned.  I even promised my husband I'd make it for his breakfast the following Saturday.  I did get the ingredients, but something happened.  I have no memory of what things took making a nice breakfast's place, but something did and the recipe never got made.  Then, I promptly forgot about it.  A few days ago, I was reminded "whatever happened to those crepes?"  Whatever indeed.  So, I fixed that and made the crepes.

They were quite tasty, but they got quite browned on the bottom waiting for the egg to cook and then the cheese to melt.  I fixed that with a lid.  Just add the egg and slap a lid on the pan.  The egg will set much quicker and if you add the lid again after adding the cheese it will melt more quickly too.

We found that the recipe made far more crepes than advertised.  We have 13 crepes in the fridge now.  I thought we were supposed to be using things up?  Oh well.  I'll consider it a head start on a future dinner.

Found in the cheese drawer was not one but two packages of fresh mozzarella with due dates coming up.  Remember that Costco problem we have?  So, lunch must be pizza to help use that cheese up before it's too late.  In the freezer was pizza dough from Peter Reinhart's book American Pie and even a bag of pizza sauce.  We took advantage of a hot oven to also make a batch of molasses cookies.  It seemed the perfect choice for the start of fall cookie season.  What?  You didn't know there was a fall cookie season?

After all that food we weren't terribly hungry for dinner.  Rummaging in the fridge led us to the makings for some really tasty panini.  There were ciabatta rolls from Costco, pesto and roasted red peppers that had been made from earlier CSA deliveries, a grilled chicken breast, and to top them off some of the swiss cheese left from breakfast.  A salad of beets, fennel and a honey tangerine was served on the side.

Sunday, October 4

Breakfast:

Ham, cheese and egg crepes

Sliced strawberries - CSA delivery

Lunch:

Pizza while watching football (the 49'ers won!)

Molasses cookies

Dinner:

Grilled chicken panini

Beet, fennel and tangerine salad

Molasses Cookies

These are spicy and chewy cookies.  I think the recipe came off a molasses bottle originally, but I got it from my typing teacher in High School.  Makes 3 dozen cookies.

1 C sugar

3/4 C shortening

1 egg

1/4 C molasses

2 C flour

2 t baking soda

1 t ground nutmeg

2 t cinnamon

1 t allspice

1 t cloves

Cream together sugar and shortening.  Add in egg and molasses and beat until well combined.

Stir together dry ingredients and add slowly to creamed mixture.

Scoop dough into tablespoon sized balls and roll into additional granulated sugar.  Place on ungreased baking sheet at bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.  Let cool on pan before moving to a rack.

Printable recipe:molasses_cookies.pdf

-- marcella