Crepes with Seitan, Mushrooms and Spinach in a Cream Sauce

This was my first attempt at making crepes. I had the help of the Maxim Crepe Maker - a very nifty gadget!  The manual for the crepe maker includes this basic batter recipe, which i used:

Basic Batter

They keep for weeks in the freezer, days in the refrigerator.
Batter can be used immediately. However, an hour or two standing
time will produce slightly more tender crepes. Or, refrigerate batter
up to three days for use as needed.
 

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

 Place ingredients in blender container in the order given. Blend 30 seconds, stop and stir down sides. Blend 30-60 seconds until smooth. Or, mix in bowl with wire whisk or mixer, first combining flour and eggs, adding liquid gradually. Beat until smooth; add other ingredients. Makes about 16 crepes.

                                      

The first few crepes!  The gadget works by heating a nonstick round surface which is dipped into the batter for a few seconds to evenly coat and then it is flipped over and set flat.  A light indicator lets you know when its done (along with browning and curling edges) and then you hold it upside down and the crepe falls right off onto the plate.  I only had 2 stick to the surface and I just used a spatula to help it along.

 The Filling! 

Seitan, Mushrooms and Spinach in a Cream Sauce

Everything is approximate.  I created this on the fly using what I had on hand.

1/4 of a sweet yellow onion, chopped

8oz. Seitan (wheat gluten "fake meat"), chopped

8oz. Mushrooms, coarsely chopped

a couple handfuls of spinach, coarsely chopped

1T olive oil

2T butter

1 garlic clove, minced

1-2 T Dry Vermouth

1-2T flour

1/4 C Half and Half

Worcestershire Sauce, or to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Coat a frying pan over medium heat with olive oil and half the butter.  Sautee the onion for a few minutes then add Seitan, stirring often. Cook until Seitan starts to brown.  Add mushrooms, the rest of the butter, garlic, and dry vermouth.  Cook until the mushrooms shrink and release their juices.  Push the food to one side so the liquid collects on the other side and mix the flour into this well, creating a roux.  Next, add the half and half and mix it well, then mix it back with the food until everything is coated.  Add the spinach and stir often until it is just softened (you don't want to overcook spinach).  Adjust flavor with Worcestershire, salt and pepper.

 

I smeared a little bit of Chinese-style chili sauce on top, but any chili one likes will probably taste good.
 (yes, I'm talking about Tapatio..)

Ahh, the sweet taste of success!!

Decoupage - The Flower Box

 I started with an old box and an image from an old book on Bulbs.

 

 The box top had been painted white long ago.  I added a new coat.

 I am going to use the box for storing my silverware (the good stuff).

 I decided to give the whole box a white wash with paint.

 Then, I used about 10 coats of Mod Podge over several days to adhere and coat the image to the box.

 

The Finished Product!

Crafting: My first knot necklace!

I started this two years ago after I bought a book on Celtic knotwork.  Life got in the way of finishing it, but I finally did it tonight!

Jane of all Trades: Paleontologist

One of the things that I do is paleontology.  It is what I'm currently getting paid to do.  These are photos from an excavation that took place in 2007 where we found a Giant Ground Sloth in Irvine approximately 20' below the modern surface.

That's me in the middle.  We are mapping the exposed bones in the ground using a 1 x 1 meter square grid and sketching it onto a large piece of paper also on a grid.  (The sloth is obviously supervising).  This became the company Christmas card for that year.

 This is a picture from the OC Weekly about the story.  There I am on the left, mapping.

 This Ground Sloth had a lot of ribs!

We found a good chunk of the skull here, with a few teeth.

 This is what happens when a piece of large equipment scrapes over a fossil.  This used to be a leg or arm bone, i believe.  It is quite common for one or two bones to be hit by machinery... unfortunate, but it is part of the reason we found the animal at all!

  These are some backbones (vertebrae).

Up close view of a tooth.

Jane Says:

Sometimes I feel real bad about life, sometimes I suffer inside to the point where I can understand how people want to die.  But sometimes, I feel like I haven't suffered enough.  I haven't hit bottom yet.

So I drink too much and I engage in reckless behavior...I challenge danger and spit in his face - taunting, hoping he'll hit me back, hard, knocking me to the ground all bloody and broken.  I make bad choices and I let in the wrong people.  I keep myself hidden away so no one can find me. 

I've made all the wrong decisions and yet, here I am.  And I'm still alive.

Poems from Jane's Diary:

12/2/09
A heart of glass within a wall of stone;
I offer the sledge hammer freely.
Deconstruction.
Each stone is regrown from my tears.






2/14/11
So many thoughts, so little time.
But are they worth writing down?
By the time I pick up a pen, they are barely a memory.
Feelings are fleeting, changing like ocean waves.
To write them is futile.
Ideas are nice, but are any of mine original?
I don't believe in beliefs today.

2/5/11
A hopeless romantic,
I fall in love each day.
Alas, I am left heartsick...
and drink the pain away.

Happy F-ing New Year.

I am not making "resolutions".  I am going to keep it real.  This is how it feels on the cusp of 2011:

I feel like a giant black hole opened up and swallowed my apartment, I have an internet cable to connect with the world at large, a cell phone for emergencies, but...THAT'S IT.

I am wondering how to respond to people who keep saying, "You don't have a TV?" and looking at me like I'm from the moon. Worse yet is the ones who don't understand my lack of microwave oven.  I interpret many of their looks as pity; if they had a spare they would totally give me one.  But for the most part (and I'm going to say 95 % of the time) I don't need such things. I have pans that I heat up leftovers in.  I have a toaster oven and a proper oven to melt things if I need to.  I have a sketchy coffee maker that works whenever the Hell it feels like it.

When everyone looks at me like I'm crazy for NOT having the microwave and the TV... I think about the following:
-I'd still have to wash microwaveable dishes
-a lot of things taste like dog poo after microwaving (at least texture wise)
-TV rots your brain.  The adverts alone are reason to avoid it.
-not only that, but most of what i see on TV is unintelligible crap.

Now, there are some good reasons for having these appliances.  I do not think people should go out and set fire to their units.

But TV noise shouldn't replace thoughts and dialog in a household.  And Microwaves shouldn't replace the home cooked meal.

They make things more convenient, yes.  They can help. But, in my opinion, should not replace the standards of life: Sunday dinner cooked from scratch by Grandma or Mother's baked goods. Experiencing life for one's self or reading the words of someone whom you admire.

Obviously, not everyone is an adventurer. Not everyone is a great cook.  But I would bet money that everyone has some memory of a person connected with a food or experience that changed their life.

Food is life, people.  Live it well.  And TV....is not life.  It just reflects a picture back of what someone else wants you to see about life.  Ignore that.  Be true.  Be real.