Dinner and Dessert Crepes!

If I was ever held at gunpoint and told I had to choose between eating sweet or savory crepes for the rest of my life, I'm not confident I could do so. Luckily, that hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, I will continue to indulge in both, preferably in the same day.

Crepes are so simple and easy to make, arguably easier than pancakes. I made the batter for these french crepes the night ahead. According to Alton Brown, whose recipe I found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/crepes-recipe/index.html, letting the batter sit in the fridge for anywhere between one and 48 hours helps the bubbles subside and minimizes tearing of the crepes while cooking, though I have used batter right away before and my crepes turned out fine.

This really is a quick meal, I made it on a weeknight. Pouring and flipping all those crepes though, requires the most active time. But you can be cooking the filling at the same time, which for savory crepes is basically meat and/or cheese and/or vegetables, and for sweet is basically fruit and/or dairy and/or sauce/sugar/syrup.

I used up some mushrooms I bought in bulk quantity from Costco for the dinner crepes, along with leftover dolce gorgonzola and garlic. Crepes really have a unique texture, they are so thin and spongy! They can be rolled, folded, or layered flat with the filling, to kind of make a crepe cake.

I had strawberries that needed to be used up (also from Costco) and sliced and simmered those with some fresh lemon juice and sugar for dessert, complemented by a dollop of vanilla yogurt and a dash of powdered sugar.

BL(ea)Ts: BLTs with fried Egg and Avocado

Bacon. Everybody loves it. I do too, but only as of late (gasp! I know).

I wasn't fed it much as a kid by my health-nut mother, who despite that fact, is a good cook and taught me much of my appreciation for food. I was irrationally afraid of it's fat content in high school. After that, the texture made me squeamish. But I always loved the way it smells. And recently, I have been falling in love with how it tastes.

This may have been the second or third BLT I have ever eaten. It was the first I've ever made. As I ate it, I could have sworn I'd died and gone to heaven.

The not-so-secret strategy I discovered online (thank you Mr.BaconPants) really tied the BLT together... or rather wove it together. The Bacon Weave.

It is as fun as it looks to assemble, you can have as many rows of bacon as you want. Keep in mind though, it does shrink significantly while it cooks, so start out with an area bigger than your bread. I baked it at 375 for about 20 minutes total, checking occasionally and flipping once.

Meanwhile, I prepped the lettuce, tomato, and avocado, and toasted both sides of my bread. (Sourdough is the obvious choice here, in my humble opinion.)

I melted pepperjack AND cheddar on one piece of bread (one half of the sandwich) by sticking it on the oven rack below the bacon for a few minutes, and dressed the other side with my personal ingenious spread/dip creation:

WING SAUCE + GOAT CHEESE

When the bacon was done, I drained it on some paper towels and in the meantime fried up two eggs. Flipping them to make sure the whites were cooked, I kept the yolks runny like I like them. A little S & P, and these babies were ready to be lanced and ooze all over a stacked BLT.

And finally, the moment of truth: the assembly. Really quite a personal moment, the "right" order is a subjective thing. No formula is necessary, though I usually consider the stability of the stack. My stack:

1.) Toast with goat cheese-wing sauce spread

2.) Bacon Weave

3.) Avocado

4.) Tomato

5.) Fried Egg

6.) Butter Lettuce

7.) Toast with melted cheddar/pepprjack

Served it up with a side of pickles/pickled okra!