Mocha Crepe Cake!

I saw this recipe and just had to share! I love crepes. I love cake. It's a match made in heaven!

Mocha crêpe cake from Home Life 
Serves about 10
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes (plus 30 minutes resting and 3 hours chilling time)

4 eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
2 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
Melted butter, to grease
Filling
200g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup (160ml) thin cream
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly brewed espresso
Mocha sauce
200g dark chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) thin cream
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly brewed espresso
2 tbs coffee liqueur
2 tbs brown sugar

1. Combine the eggs and flour in a medium bowl. Gradually add milk, while continually stirring, until well combined and mixture is smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and stir to combine. Set aside for 30 minutes to rest.
2. Heat a 15cm non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush with melted butter. Pour in enough batter to coat the base of the pan. Cook for 1 minute or until lightly golden and just set. Use a spatula to turn and cook for a further 30 seconds or until golden. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter, reheating and greasing pan between batches.
3. To make filling, place chocolate, cream and coffee in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Use a metal spoon to stir for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until mixture cools and thickens.
4. Line a 20cm springform pan with plastic wrap. Place a crêpe in the pan. Spread with a little fi ling. Continue layering with crêpes and filling, finishing with a crêpe. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 3 hours or until chilled and set.
5. To make the mocha sauce, combine the chocolate, cream, coffee, liqueur and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir for 5 minutes or until sauce is smooth.
6. Turn the cake onto a clean surface. Use a sharp knife to cut into wedges. Place on serving plates and drizzle with hot sauce.

Photography: Steve Brown  Stylign: Jane Hann

Turkey Burgers that ended in tears

Like I mentioned before, moving to a brand new place without friends or family around in hard. It sucks. And it's tough when you have one friend, and that friend is also your husband. The guilt that wells up when relying on him, but trying not to rely solely on him for human interaction.

Last week was pretty bad.

My husband likes keeping active and on Saturdays usually plays basketball in the morning and has a flag football game later in the morning or early afternoon. I've met all his flag football friends and they are fun people. They've welcomed me to Dallas and are a cool bunch of people.

I think there's something that happens when you are all alone. You have too much time to think. To much time to contemplate. And too much time to lay blame where blame need not be laid. Seriously.

That Saturday, my husband called me to let me know that he was heading over to the bar to hang out with his football buddies. And I, having a grand plan of cooking lunch for us, said okay, but didn't really mean it. I was upset. I was upset because he was messing up my plans and didn't even know he was doing anything to make me angry. It's so easy to be unreasonable.

Well, I proceeded with my lunch plans, now for just one, and cooked anyway.

These were from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. I think I may have over-seasoned the turkey, but they were still good nonetheless. My husband missed out.

I don't know why women like to punish their men by trying to make them guess how they feel. But we do it. We all do it. And the plain honest truth is that men probably don't even notice. Like, not even a little. I've learned that speaking is better than stewing in silence. Trying to make your husband/boyfriend/significant other guess what's wrong with you isn't fun. It usually ends in tears and unflattering, incomprehensible blubbering. Or maybe that's just me.

Talk. It's better than grunting angrily.

Why Cooking and I are not quite friends

I think my disinterest in cooking started when I was in 5th grade. I had to bring a dish to school that represented the country we were doing a report on. I vaguely remember that I had chosen Greece. And I was pretty sure that the dish I had picked out to make wasn't exactly Greek. Like all of Toula's relatives from My Big Fat Greek Wedding would chastise me about it not being Greek.

But why did that kill my interest in cooking? Because it didn't turn out right.

I remember growing up in France and baking Gateau au Yaourt (yogurt cake). It was a kid's recipe that someone had written out for me with little pictures. Or at least that's what I recall. I loved making that cake and also enjoyed devouring it.

The extent of my time in the kitchen usually was around baking. Baking wasn't scary. Baking also resulted in delicious results.

So when I took to trying to make the dish for my 5th grade class and it didn't come out like the picture, I was discouraged. I didn't understand why it didn't work.

My next stint in the kitchen was when I was in 8th grade and we were having a mock Seder meal during Passover. I went to a Catholic school and it was interesting learning about matzoh. I volunteered to bring deviled eggs. I don't remember why that was part of the meal, but it was. And I was pretty sure I didn't even like deviled eggs, so I added all kinds of cayenne pepper and paprika. Apparently everyone liked them. Of course, I wouldn't know because I never tried them.

Pretty much since then, I've been uninterested in getting my hands dirty in the kitchen. I got through college on dorm fodder and frozen food. Even when I was studying abroad in France, and cooked for myself, I hardly made anything from scratch. I delighted in things of convenience. And French produce and food just tastes that much fresher. I'm thinking they are not down with the preservatives.

So now I find myself married and needing to feed myself and my husband. We've done the frozen food thing. We've done the eating out thing. I'm over frozen food and eating out adds up in dollars and calories. And so all signs are pointing to home cooking. Which I'm finally interested in!

Since getting engaged, my interest in cooking has blossomed. While I haven't taken on too many recipes, I'm taking baby steps to cooking. I don't want to frustrate myself to the point where I don't want to do it anymore. I'm a grownup now and we don't have a cook.

Here's my first "from scratch" success: My mom's spaghetti sauce.

Dear Cooking,

Will you be my friend? I promise to learn.

I think we could be great friends.

Love,
Me

Today I made cupcakes.

I love cupcakes. Well, cake in general. They are quite possibly my favorite kind of carb.

Today seemed like a good day for cupcakes. I know that it's not the most beneficial type of food for my diet or change to healthier eating (I really need to learn to eat more vegetables). But when you work from home, you can get bored when there is a lull in the workload. And there's never a good reason not to make cupcakes. At least for me.

Granted, these cupcakes are from a box. But I give myself kudos for rolling up my proverbial sleeves and getting in the kitchen. Not that the kitchen scares me, but we're still acquaintances, hopefully on the road to someday being BFFs. I hope.

Still, I think it's a win in the cooking book.

Slow Cooker Chili: Dry Beans vs. Canned Beans

There is a difference, folks. I learned this the hard way when setting out on a cooking adventure last week. I was pretty excited to check out a recipe from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook and whip something up. I mean, that's the point of the cookbook, right? America's Test Kitchen, where all the recipes have been tried and tried again, that anyone should be able to do it?

Well, yes.

Except if you misread the ingredient list.

And buy the wrong ingredient.

I was busy in the kitchen, chopping, sauteing, reading the recipe. I even washed the beans. I knew I had to do that in some shape or form. I even left them in a bowl to soak. After I had put some of the other ingredients together, I thought it would be a good idea to just drain the water from the soaking beans. I didn't give it a second thought.

I poured all the ingredients into the slow cooker and set it to cook. I skimmed the recipe again for a sign as to when the beans should be added. I read that it said during the last hour of cooking. That didn't seem right for hard beans to only cook in an hour.

That's when I noticed.

The recipe said two 15-ounce CANS of red kidney beans.

I read it as two 15-ounce BAGS of red kidney beans.

Big difference.

So a couple of hours into the cooking time, I decided that if I had to cook these beans from their mostly dry state, I better add them in now. Hopefully by the end of the cooking time they should be alright. I let it cook for another two hours. When I checked the beans, they were still crunchy.

That's when I twittered my problem.

And called my mom.

And my aunt.

I'm relieved to report that after what must have been six to eight hours of slow cooking, the chili came out well. I was happy that the turkey meat I used didn't disintegrate into nothingness. I'm glad I didn't totally screw it up.

Note to self: read the instructions. CAREFULLY.