June and July cooking

It's so hard for me to get in the kitchen during summer. The days are too long and hot. Luckily we had an unusual two week spell of clouds, so I made a few attempts in the kitchen. Enjoy!



Time to put my crepe griddle to work! It came with an assortment of crepe-making accessories.

The spinner, used to fan the batter over the entire griddle, is fun to use, but difficult. It spreads the batter so thin it cooks almost before you can complete the circle.

I prefer my crepes a little thicker anyway. The flipper is a nice wooden paddle.

Crepes au citron.



On another night we tried a new ingrediant: pasillo peppers. They're deep waxy green peppers with a bit of heat and a smokey flavor.

I used the peppers to make these vegetarian burritos.

Beef stroganoff. I was not pleased with this. Maybe the years of having stroganoff made with campbell's "cream of" has jaded my opinion of what the texture should be. This was made with sour cream. I should have made a roux to help smooth the cream and milk in the heat. It was kind of gritty and loose.

I had some leftover fresh fruit. Instead of smoothies (my typical way to use of fruit) I dried it in my food dehydrator. Then I put them in bran muffins. From left to right: mango, strawberry, and nectarine.

Avanza groceries! The best place to find Mexican ingrediants at cheap prices (and a whole isle of Virgin Mary candles!). These key limes were gorgeous: bright green, large, smooth healthy skin, and 30 for $1.00!

Large plump tomatillos were on sale too. I bought some not knowing what to do with them. After a quick consultation with Bittman I decided to make salsa verde.

Success!

Beef fajitas with grilled peppers (only $1 a pound, incredible!) and onions, avocados (50 cents each!) on freshly made flour tortillas. Seriously, they were warm when I bought them ($1 for a pack of 12).

I've been lusting for a mini-muffin tin for months now. I finally caved. These are mini key lime tarts. Just before serving at our film rehearsal I topped them and took more pictures, but those are on Brian's camera. I'll post them later. Anyway, these little beauties are all the same flavor, I just didn't remember to dye them green until I had already filled a few tins.

More mini muffins! These are blueberry with sugar crystals on top. They are the perfect popping size.