Saturday Brunch

Amanda and I hosted a Stampin'Up Party and Brunch this morning for 18 friends. Stampin' Up is a company that sells rubber stamps, papers, inks, embellishments, and tools for making wonderfully creative greeting cards, scrapbook pages, and other nifty projects. Hosting a party at our house always involves days of cleaning to make our generally cluttered and chaotic home "company presentable" ~ which in my mind, should be the normal state of things, but that is another blog. And since we were out of the house yesterday from 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM, we stayed up late last night cooking for our brunch. I really do enjoy entertaining, so this was actually enjoyable work...fitting it in around the rest of "life" is what makes it a wee bit stressful. But I'm not complaining because the morning was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Our brunch spread consisted of a bowl of cut up cantaloupe and strawberries, banana nut bread, apple muffins, creamy strawberry crepes, ham & swiss quiche, broccoli cheddar quiche, and apple crisp, along with juices, tea, and coffee.
Here are some of the recipes:

CREAMY STRAWBERRY CREPES
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3 Tbl. melted butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

1 (8 oz) pkg lite cream cheese
1 1/4 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1 Tbl.lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

4 cups sliced strawberries, lightly sweetened

Place eggs, milk, water, melted butter, flour, and salt in blender; blend until smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour in about 3 Tbls. of batter all at once ( I used a 1/4 cup measure, and filled it about 3/4 full ). Immediately tip and rotate the pan to spread the batter into a circle, as thin as possible. Don't worry if it isn't exactly round! Flip the crepe with a spatula when the edges begin to brown and the batter looks set. Cook the other side about 30 seconds. Stack finished crepes on a plate with wax paper in between.

Blend the cream cheese, confectioners sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream.

To serve, fill each crepe with a large spoonful ( about 1/3 cup ) of cream cheese filling and a scoop of strawberries. Roll up and top some more strawberries and a swirl of sweetened whipped cream. YUM!!!!!!

BROCCOLI CHEDDAR QUICHE
2 Tbl. butter
1 onion, minced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs, well beaten
1 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbl. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in large skillet; add onion, garlic, and chopped broccoli. Cook slowly, stirring often, until vegetables are soft. Spoon into unbaked pie shell. Cover with shredded cheddar. Set aside. Combine eggs and milk in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in melted butter. Pour egg mixture over broccoli and cheese mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until center has set.


APPLE CRISP
10 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples
1 cup white sugar
1 Tbl. all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup apple juice

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large mixing bowl, toss apples with the sugar, 1 Tbl. flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour into a 13x9 baking dish. Pour apple juice over all.
In another bowl, combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar & cinnamon. Stir in the melted butter. Crumble evenly over the top of the apple mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.