Crepe Recipe and Book Excerpt by Cardeno C.

Happy Monday! For today’s blog post, I’m going to share an excerpt and a recipe. He Completes Me is a story about Zach, who hasn’t felt like he’s had a family since his father died when he was a child, and Aaron, who comes from a big family, has created a family with Zach’s relatives, and wants nothing more than to make his own family with Zach. There’s a scene in the book where Zach and Aaron cook breakfast at Zach’s brother’s house. I’ll share a bit of the scene and then my crepe recipe. I hope you enjoy both!
He Completes Me by Cardeno C. - Excerpt http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2237
“I’ll get the milk and strawberries out of the fridge. Do you want me to make the crepe batter, or should I sauté the spinach and onions?”I walked over to the fridge and got the stuff out. “And don’t fucking say you’re doing both. We’re making breakfast together. It’ll take half the time and then we’ll both get to relax and hang out.”Aaron opened his mouth to object, but before he could say a word, I walked over to him, pulled his head down, and covered his lips with mine. He had an egg in one hand, but he took the other and rested it on the small of my back. I parted my mouth to let his tongue in and sucked on it. When we finally separated, I whispered to him, “Don’t argue with me about this, Aaron, or you’ll have to give me a spanking when we get home.”His eyes were glazed, and he panted out a response.“I think you have that threat backward.”I waggled my eyebrows at him. “No, I don’t. Why shouldn’t I get a little bonus if you choose not to behave? Come to think of it, maybe you should spank me either way.”He laughed.“I’ll make the batter, you make the filling.”“That’s more like it.” I kissed his cheek. Then I rinsed the spinach and looked through the cabinets for a cutting board.“There’s a narrow cabinet below and to the right of the sink. That’s where they keep the cutting board. The knives are in the block next to the stove. And the frying pan is in the deep drawer next to it.”I got everything out and diced the onion. Aaron was stirring the batter and then got a crepe pan out of a drawer. We worked together in companionable silence. While we were standing next to each other in front of the stove, Aaron making crepes and me sautéing onions, I nudged him with my hip. He looked down at me, and I smiled.“This is nice, Aaron.”He sighed, smiled at me and, in a wistful voice, said, “Yeah, it is. It’s the best. I love you, Zach.”
Crepe RecipeYou can make these the night before to save time. Just mix together all the ingredients except the butter (add the butter before cooking).

Batter:
Sift together dry ingredients:

· 2 cup flour
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 4 tablespoon sugar

Beat together wet ingredients:

· 4 eggs
· 2 cup whole milk
· Just shy of 2/3 cup water
· 6 tablespoon butter+ extra for pan
· 2 teaspoon vanilla

Slowly whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well incorporated and smooth. Pour some batter into a pitcher or glass measuring cup so it’s easy to pour into your crepe pan.

Heat pan on med-high with a little butter. Pour a small amount of batter (approximately two tablespoons), tilt the pan and rotate back and forth to make a thin layer all around. When the edges are cooked and the center has dried, loosen the edges and flip the crepe quickly. Cook the second side for a short time, just until done, and then remove from pan. Keep on makin’ more crepes.

Savory Filling:
Sauté onions in a little oil until they’re translucent. Add spinach and cover. When spinach is completely wilted, stir it with onions and add garlic. Put the spinach/onion sauté in a crepe and top with goat cheese or feta cheese.

Sweet Filling:
Slice bananas and strawberries. Spread Nutella and/or peanut butter on crepe and add a scoop of the strawberry/banana mix.