Cake Mix Cookies

This super easy recipe has been a family favorite for years.  You can make it with any cake mix, and I think I've tried them all!  I think my favorite has been butter pecan.  I recently made a batch of strawberry with vanilla frosting, by request from my coworkers.

Ingredients:

1 packaged cake mix, any flavor

1/3 c. oil

2 eggs

Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  You may use an electric mixer if you prefer, but I generally mix by hand with a wooden spoon.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Bake 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, flatten slightly.  Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes (my cookie scoop makes slightly larger cookies, adjust times accordingly).

Frost cooled cookies with canned frosting, if desired.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com recently and it baked up into a moist and delicious treat!  I like to have muffins on hand to heat up in the mornings so I actually baked some of mine in a muffin pan and then just poured the rest of the batter into a normal loaf pan (adjusting the cook times accordingly and checking them often).

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 c vegetable oil

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 c white sugar (I substituted one c with Splenda)

2 c shredded zucchini

3 c all-purpose flour (I used 1 c all-purpose, 1 c whole wheat, and 1/2 c oatmeal)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 T ground cinnamon

1 pint fresh blueberries

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.

2.  In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Fold in the zucchini.  Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.

3.  Bake 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool 20 minutes in pans, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Crepes

While vacationing in Paris earlier this year, I fell in love with crepes.  I ate them every chance I got and, lucky for me, you can find them just about anywhere in Paris.  There are crepe stands on the street, they are on restaurant menus, and there are dozens of creperies that serve nothing but crepes.  My favorite was Nutella and banana, but I tried all different types.  You can even have crepes as a meal, as they don't limit the fillings to just sweets.  Before leaving Paris, I swore that I was going to learn how to make this delicious treat and recreate them at home.  And today, I did just that.  :)

I found this recipe in my trusty Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.  I mangled my first attempt, but after giving it another go, I was a pro by the time I finished the batch.  In fact, once I got the hang of it, I discovered they're nearly impossible to mess up.  I was busy doing other things so I left them in the pan for varying amounts of time and none burned or were dark at all.  In fact, the longer I let them cook, the easier they were to remove from the pan.

I didn't have any bananas here, so I made mine with Nutella and served them with fresh strawberries on the side and they were pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Even Johnathon gave them his approval.

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. milk

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 T cooking oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1.  In a medium mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, flour, oil, and salt; beat until combined (if you've never seen crepes made, don't expect this to look like pancake batter, it's going to be very thin).

2.  Heat a lightly (very lightly) greased 6-inch skillet; remove from heat.  Spoon in 2 tablespoons batter; lift and tilt skillet to spread batter.  Return to heat (the recipe doesn't specify, but I found that a relatively high temperature worked best); brown on one side only.

Makes 18 crepes.  To store prepared crepes, layer cooled crepes with sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container; freeze for up to 4 months.  Thaw at room temperature 1 hour before using.