A Jeanne in the Kitchen

I love seeing all the egrets around our lakes. Usually I only see them one at a time, although sometimes I see two or three. But I have been seeing them everyday. I never get tired of seeing them I just love them. I think they are so elegant and graceful. Here are a few hiding up in the trees. They thought I wouldn’t find them, but lucky for me, I did.

Sometimes when things happen, it is just plain old kismet. I had some raspberries in the fridge, and was wondering what to make with them, when lo and behold, I came upon a recipe for Raspberry Orange Crumble muffins. This delicious inspiration came to me from our very own “My Meals Are On Wheels” blogger at https://beatcancer2010.wordpress.com/. Many thanks. Of course I personalized them a bit, and turned them into mini muffins instead, but I followed your recipe for the most part. They were a big hit with everyone.

Raspberry Orange Muffin Tops

The Muffins

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup either sour cream or yogurt – I used yogurt this time

1/2 cup milk

2 TBSP orange zest

2 cups fresh raspberries – you can also use blueberries or blackberries as well

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Spray your muffin tins with cooking spray and/or line them with paper muffin cups.

Just like with most cake batters, mix the dry ingredients together and set aside. Then combine the melted butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add the milk and yogurt and mix again. Next comes the flour mixture, half at a time, and mix in between each addition. Mix just until everything is combined. Normally I would fold in the raspberries at this point, but this time, especially since I was making mini muffins, I did it a little differently. This time, I filled the muffin tins to about 2/3 full and added 1 raspberry in the center of the batter. I ran out of raspberries, so some of the muffins had a blueberry instead. No one noticed the difference, or if they did, they didn’t mention it.

Add a little of the streusel topping on top of each muffin and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and done in the center.

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

6 TBSP melted butter

Mix everything together until it resembles course sand and then top the muffins with a little bit of the streusel topping before baking. For mini muffins, it came out to a little less than 1 tsp per muffin.

Allow the muffins to cool slightly before removing them from the pan. All that is left to do at this point is to enjoy them while you can. They won’t last long. 🙂

Stay happy, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

The ducklings were out swimming again. They look like they have already grown some too. They grow up so quickly. One minute they are the cutest, little, tiny ducklings, and then they are teenagers, and then before you know it, they are ready to fly the coop and off they go to spread their wings. But they are still little and cute right now. This time they were playing in the mud puddles. Just like kids anywhere, they were having so much fun playing in the mud.

You can still have fun and act like a kid, no matter how old you are.

We had all kinds of stuff going on at the ponds today. The egrets were busy making friends on the first pond. One was having a very lively conversation with Mr. Mallard, and then later they were hanging out on the log with Mr. Snapper.

Yesterday I left you with a teaser, and only showed you the sauce for these delicious crepe cannolis. Chicken Crepe Cannoli – Part 1 – The Sauce Today, I bring you the finished product.

There is some question as to whether or not these are called cannolis, cannelonis or even blintzes. The simple answer is – Yes. An Italian friend of mine actually told me, not that long ago, that the term cannoli is normally usually used for desserts, and that canneloni was usually used for savory dishes, however somehow along the line, the term canneloni got shortened to cannoli, which is now the accepted term for both savory and sweet. And as my friend and our very own Dolly, from koolkosherkitchen mentioned, they are also very similar to blintzes. All of these answers would be the correct answer too. What you call them doesn’t really matter much though. In all honesty, the only name that really applies is that of delicious.

I made both the marinara sauce and the batter for the crepes the day before and let them both set in the fridge overnight.

I doubled my recipe for the crepes because I needed to make enough to feed about 15 people.

The Herbed Crepes

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup water

1 cup flour

1/3 tsp salt

2 TBSP melted butter + more to cook them

1 TBSP fresh herbs, chopped fine

Mix everything together, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of a hour and up to about 24 hours.

Once you are ready to make the actual crepes, get a small skillet very hot and add about 1 tsp of butter to the pan before EACH crepe, so they don’t stick to the pan. Add about 1/2 cup of batter to the skillet and immediately roll it around to completely cover the pan with a very thin layer of batter. Cook for about 1- 2 minutes then carefully flip the crepe over and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Repeat until all the batter is used.

You can fill these crepes with anything you like. This time, I used cooked chicken, spinach, mushrooms, garlic and onions that I sauteed all together.

Allow the filling to cool slightly, then start carefully rolling them into the crepes. The crepes are delicate, so a very light tough is needed.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Place the rolled crepes, or blintzes or canneloni or cannoli, or whatever you choose to call them, into a large baking pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Place them side by side. Top them with the sauce and then mozzarella cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the inside temperature is at about 160-165* F.

When we left to go to the party, my tray was full. When we left to return home, it was empty. I think the results speak for themselves. I think they were a huge hit. Coming home with an empty tray and happy tummies are the best compliments a chef can get. I’ll take it. 🙂

Stay happy, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

As I have said many times, I never know who I am going to meet and encounter on my walk-abouts. That is part of makes it so much fun. Today, I was very pleasantly surprised to meet “someone” completely new, and in a location I wasn’t at all prepared for either. I saw a beautiful Merlin, down by the water’s edge. This is my first one. I just love the birds of prey. I think they are just so majestic and beautiful. This one was on the hunt for whatever he could find that tickled his fancy. I was very lucky he gave me a bit of his precious time for a brief photo shoot.

Mr. Merlin even allowed me to get some shots of him in the trees as well.

Stay curious and look at the world through a child’s eye. There is so much to see and it’s all just waiting to be discovered.

We were invited to an Italian themed potluck. I LOVE Italian food. All of it. There are so many wonderful recipes from which to choose. The hard part is narrowing it down to just one thing to bring, especially for a potluck. If I were the one hosting the party, I would make a huge array of fabulous foods. HMMMM! Do I make this or that, or both? Or something else completely? No, I can only bring one. What to make, what to make. These are very tough decisions to make. I had to put a great deal of thought into this.

I decided to make some some cannoli stuffed with chicken, but I made them from herbed crepes instead of from pasta. I did not get any pictures of the finished product once it was all cooked, because we literally took it out of the oven and off we went. However, I have plenty of pictures of the production process.

I started off by making a big pot of marinara sauce. I used about 10 lbs of beautifully delicious heirloom tomatoes that I diced. Aren’t those tomatoes gorgeous?

Then I added about 1/2 cup of olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs, and about 1 1/2 heaping TBSP of garlic. Just like the old Prego commercials used to say about all the flavors from home, “it’s in there”.

I brought it all to a boil on a high heat, then reduced the heat to a simmer and let it cook slowly, for about 2 hours so it thickened a bit and all the flavors could mesh together perfectly. I made sure to stir it every now and then too.

Often times, things with a tomato base taste better the next day, so after it was done I just put it in the fridge to set and brought it back out the next day, when I was ready to put everything together.

I am going to tease you all a bit, and leave it here for now. But have no fear, we will all see how it comes together next time. Stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial.

Barn Swallows are all over the place right now. We always have them, but just like everything else, I seem to be seeing a lot more of them around these days. I love it. I just love their sharp color contrasts of the deep hues and bright blues, mixed with a tinge of rust.

We even have a nest up in our rafters. I haven’t seen any evidence of babies just yet though.

Have a great day Everyone. Stay happy, stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

For the last few years our lives have been turned completely upside down by COVID, COVID, COVID. It dominates everything. With everything your see and read and hear being so bleak, it is hard to imagine that something good could ever come from these horrible times. But something good DID come out of these COVID times. That something good is Temaki Tornado.

Temaki Tornado is food truck that serves street side sushi and rolls around Boulder and the surrounding areas. It was started by two friends and co-workers who worked at a sushi restaurant and they decided to pool their resources and do what they always wanted to do: start [their] own food truck.

This is Tako Bob, the octopus and mascot of Temaki Tornado.

Temaki Tornado is part of a fleet of food trucks operated by the parent company Roaming Hunger. [They] are the culinary community builders who bring together colleagues, friends, family members and strangers through unexpected and joyful moments. The Agency has nearly a decade of experience leveraging [their] propriety data, network and mobile expertise to create unique brand amplification programs designed to inspire action and engagement. From food trucks to mobile DJs to restaurant pop-ups, [they] connect your brand to the right people at the right time.

We discovered Temaki Tornado by accident, when we went for a pint of local brew at Four Noses Brewery with our friends Mike and Lauren. None of us had really eaten, and Four Noses does not have a menu or a kitchen. Instead, they have a selection of different food trucks that come to them throughout the week, offering a wide variety of delicious types of from which to choose. Temaki Tornado was there the night we went. As it turned out, they were just about ready to pack it up for the evening too, and Larry and I just happened to be their last customers. We ordered some sushi rolls and enjoyed them by the firepit. The sushi rolls were very tasty and were a pleasant surprise. We have been very fortunate and have had some very good foods from food trucks all over. We just never know what we are going to find on our adventures.

We all had a pleasant evening and a good time, unwinding after work and starting the weekend off right.

Keep you mind and heart open, and you just never know what good things you will find. Don’t be afraid to try something new or unexpected. Life is full of good surprises. You just have to look for them, and often that means finding them in unexpected places.

If you are interested in the tasty delicacies of Temaki Tornado or want them to come to you, you can contact them at either temakitornado.com, facebook.com/temaki.tornado.5 or at instagram.temaki_tornado. Their truck rolls around a lot and it can roll around to you too.

The other day I told you about about our baby ducklings. Nature Walks – We Have Babies But now we have baby goslings too. Just like the ducklings, these little babies are just adorable. I saw eight with both Mom and Dad. Mom and dad were both so proud of their babies.

She is one proud momma, as she should be. Here babies are just so darn cute.