Icy Violet's Kitchen

Fruit Pizza

2015-10-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well, geez. All these strawberries and grapes look a bit out of season now, don't they?

Every once in a while I think, man, I should have a blog.

Then I remember that I do have one.

Here's the truth: it's a stressful time right now.

We're facing a move and an uncertain employment future.

I have a limited number of evenings, after the children have gone to bed, when I don't have to make a grocery list, send semi-important e-mails, or deal with the kids waking up.

Lately I've been spending them on cross-stitching, binge-watching Friends, and the occasional foreign romance.

Eases the stress.

But I AM still cooking, and I DO still want to share it.

So here is a fruit pizza! Easy and yummy, just a few weeks behind.

Fruit Pizza

Easy peasy!

Your favorite pizza dough (I like this one)
8 oz cream cheese
powdered sugar to taste (I was doing a breakfast pizza, so I used about 1/2 cup. A dessert pizza would call for more)
Fruits of choice

Bake your crust! Mix your sugar and cheese and spread! Slice and top with fruit!

Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

2015-10-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hola! I am still here.

J'existe.

It's been a busy, crazy fall. Also, do you ever make a big plan to sit down and do something you're supposed to do, and then...

...just cross-stitch and binge-watch Friends instead?

CROSS-STITCHING! It's coming back. I can feel it.

I'm doing a street scene of a French flower shop(pe).

Between cross-stitching, I've also been making carrot cupcakes on an industrial scale.

Commissioned by the community-service committee in my church, I produced 150 cupcakes for an anniversary celebration.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would!

It's a bee theme, because service. Keeps us busy. Like bees. You know?

Bizzy.

Mmmm carrot cupcakes!

Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

makes 24 - 36 (it's a big recipe!)

6 cups grated carrots
enough amaretto or apple juice to cover carrots
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisins
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

The night before, place raisins in bowl and cover with amaretto or apple-juice. Allow to sit overnight.

The day of preparation, in a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 60 minutes, then stir in raisins.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and stir into the wet mixture until absorbed. Finally stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts, if using. Pour evenly into cupcake pans, filling about 2/3 full.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until cupcakes test done with a toothpick. Cool for ten minutes before removing from pans.

Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon milk
pinch salt

Beat butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar together until well-combined, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, honey, milk and salt and beat until incorporated, about 1 more minute.

Caprese Grilled Cheese

2015-09-12T21:41:00.001-07:00

WILL IT GRILLED CHEESE?

It will.

End of summer, still cleaning the last of the basil and the sugar-sweet tomatoes out of my garden (and my neighbor's [she said I could! I swear!]).

Gardens are kind of sad in September. Everything's a little dry, a little cold. The growth has stopped.

I have been replacing harvested vegetables with flowers. Zinnias, sunflowers, marigolds, and lately chrysanthemums.

Cheers me up.

It's not so bad. Halloween comin', cooler weather. Hoodies and cardigans and woolly caps.

Yeah, I guess that will be all right.

Caprese Grilled Cheese
These flavors are the kind you never get tired of. Add some sourdough bread, you've got yourself a ~~stew~~ sandwich.

Makes 2 sandwiches

4 slices sourdough bread
1/4 cup butter (or so, for buttering bread)
2 oz mozzarella cheese. sliced (or to taste)
10 fresh basil leaves
15 cherry tomatoes (or other fresh tomato varieties)
balsamic vinegar, to taste

Heat a small pan over medium-high heat. Butter one side each of two slices of bread. Place one slice of bread in the pan. Top with 5 basil leaves, 1 oz sliced cheese, and 15 or so cherry tomatoes. It's okay if some of the tomatoes spill out, they can grill in the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Turn heat down to medium. Flip, cover, and cook another minute or so. Remove from pan to cutting board, drizzle hot sandwich with small amount of balsamic vinegar (a little goes a long way here). Slice in half and serve. Repeat with second sandwich.

Peach Lavender Jam and etc.

2015-09-05T22:00:00.003-07:00

The canning madness really hit me hard this year.

I'm not sure why. Maybe because my mom gifted me this awesome book last Christmas.

Maybe because we'll be moving soon and I wanted to get the last and best out of Oregon's summer produce.

Maybe because we don't know where we'll be moving to and I'd rather stress about canning than the potentially life-altering catastrophes ahead.

Just kidding, it'll be totally fine. Everything is fine! Everything will be fine.

Right?

Man, I wish I was canning something RIGHT NOW.

*Ahem* So anyway. Here's what I did!

Whole grain mustard and Mediterranean tomatoes.

In the back are my amaretto peaches. Why did they all float up to the top like that???

A close-up on the star anise at the bottom of my pear butter.

Pickled garlic, peach salsa.

More tomatoes and raspberry vanilla bean jam. I like how you can see the little oregano leaves in the tomatoes.

Pickles, wild Oregon grape jam, and my personal favorite and least photogenic, peach lavender jam.

The peach lavender is truly phenomenal jam.

Peach Lavender Jam
adapted from Southern Living's Little Jars, Big Flavors

Makes 7 (1/2) pint jars

2 1/2 lbs fresh peaches
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (1 3/4 oz) package powdered pectin
2 tablespoons lavender buds
5 cups sugar

Bring large pot to a boil, sterilize jars therein for 10 minutes. Put rings and lids in heatproof bowl, ladle boiling water on top.

While jars are boiling, peel peaches, remove pits and coarsely chop. Mash with a potato masher until evenly crushed. Measure 4 cups crushed peaches into a 6-qt pot. Stir in lemon juice, pectin and lavender. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring often. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add sugar and return to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute again, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, let foam settle (about 1 minute). Skim off and discard any foam.

Fill, seal, and process jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Be sure to clean off jar rims before putting on lids.

Remove jars from water and allow to stand at room temperature 24 hours. To check seals, remove the bands and press down on the center of each lid. If the lid doesn't move, the jar is sealed. If the lid depresses and pops up again, the jar is not sealed and contents will need to be refrigerated right away. Store properly sealed jars in a cool, dark place up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.

Chocolate Dipped Waffles

2015-08-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

Phew, sorry about that. All that canning.

ALL THAT CANNING. I canned it all.

There will be a post shortly featuring my library of canned goods.

For now however I give you chocolate waffles.

I love waffles. They are so versatile. Savory(ish) with chicken, waffle sandwiches, just plain old waffles with butter and syrup.

Can't go wrong!

In France waffles have a unique spin - they aren't breakfast or dinner, but a snack.

Des gaufres, often dipped in chocolate and/or sprinkled with crispy pearl sugar are widely available.

You can buy them pre-wrapped in the supermarche, about the same quality as your average Ho Ho (okay, maybe a little better).

You can get them in a patisserie with lovingly caramelized sugar baked in.

It's something I've been wanting to re-create for a long time. But for a few years, try as I might, I just couldn't get waffles right.

They always came out...floppy.

Floppy waffles may occur naturally with aging, but I wasn't ready to give in to them just yet.

Anyway, long story short, the mighty Google has finally led me to this pearl (sugar) of a recipe.

The chocolate shell was my own creation.

The smiles on my kids' faces? I'm taking credit for that as well.

Chocolate Dipped Waffles

The recipe that saved me here was the Waffle of Insane Greatness. Where did it originate? Who created it? I don't know! You can find it on all the big food sites *now*, but I salute the chef who created it. And named it. That name is a winner.

3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate shell:
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons coconut oil

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together. Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.

Cook on waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions. Couldn't be easier!

For chocolate coating, heat chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a double boiler. When melted and completely combined, remove from heat. Dip waffle quarters quickly, let dry on wax paper. Mangez.

Canning Hiatus - Where does it end?

2015-08-19T20:53:00.002-07:00

Canning canning canning canning canning canning canning canning canning.

I am canning everything!

Don't come to my house. I WILL CAN YOU.

Sorry I've been gone so long - I am preserving everything that doesn't crawl away first. It's becoming compulsive.

Here's what I've done - raspberry vanilla jam. Amaretto cling peaches. Habanero peach salsa (somebody gave me a 20 lb box of peaches...this is part of the problem). Peach lavender jam. Cinnamon pickles.

Here's what I'm going to do - pickled garlic. Heirloom tomatoes. Peach butter (using up all the peaches, there will be enough left over for a pie on the weekend). And then maybe a break?

Pics to come. Apologies in order. It's all COMING.

Space Aliens Birthday Cake (Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache)

2015-08-08T21:37:00.003-07:00

Argh, summer! So busy.

It's been swimming lessons time for the kids, and they make it intense. An hour a day, 4 days a week for two weeks!

It's always fine once we're there, but getting the swim bag packed every day and two kids plus self to the pool is just...consuming.

Once I got everything there except my own swimsuit. Oops.

The up-side is, once you're in for swim lessons they let you stay all day.

Nothing wrong with that!

Another great thing about summer is, my son's birthday is inside of it.

A July birthday! The lucky guy.

Me, I'm a January girl. Ugh, miserable. Usually I like to pretend January doesn't even exist.

He wanted a space-aliens party this year and I MAY have overdone it, with the papier-mache solar system and the internet-ordered aliens party plates.

But the cake was the most fun of all.

He won't hear of any cake flavor other than chocolate, so it's chocolate. With chocolate frosting and chocolate ganache inside (I'm all about the ganache lately).

Little man is four. I can hardly believe it. The time, it flies.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache Filling

2 cups white sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup hot chocolate (unsweetened, if you can get it)

Preheat oven to 350, grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt. You don't need a stand mixer, just a great big spoon. Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and hot cocoa.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For frosting, make this recipe (use milk instead of champagne, or use champagne...also add 1/2 c of cocoa powder)!

For ganache, make this recipe!

Spread it all around and enjoy.

Sunflowers Cake (Yellow Cake with Chocolate Ganache)

2015-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, sometimes I make cakes.

I have been known to plan them in great detail. Usually while exercising.

I've found a good way to plan an original cake is to think one or two weeks ahead of where you're at, seasonally. 24th of July? Think late August.

Late August? Boom. Sunflowers.

A yellow cake with a chocolate ganache - yellow like the day, chocolate like the night. The equinox is coming, you know.

Is it a little brown around the edges? Yes.

Don't think I'm not grumpy about it.

But the thick, chocolate ganache was perfect.

The flowers were fun - I was going for Van Gogh.

I like some texture on a cake, you know?

Summertime. The livin' is still easy.

BUT FOR HOW MUCH LONGER?

Sunflowers Cake (Yellow Cake with Chocolate Ganache)
(yellow cake recipe based on Joy the Baker)

For the cake:
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups milk

Butter and flour a 13x9 cake pan. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside. Measure out milk, add vanilla extract. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between additions.

Add flour mixture, alternating with milk mixture, in 3 additions (so 2 additions of milk). Stop beaters and finish combining with large wooden spoon.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan, smooth with spatula. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes. Test with toothpick in center for doneness.

Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then dump onto cake board. Finish cooling.

Slice down the middle, as evenly as possible.

For ganache:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Bring cream to a simmer on stove. Place chocolate in heatproof bowl. Pour simmering cream over chocolate and stir until combined. Will be runny - let sit until desired consistency is reached (process can be speeded by putting in refrigerator, but keep a careful eye on it...it can stiffen up quickly).

For frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter*
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk

Combine powdered sugar and butter and beat for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and milk and beat for a minute more. Color as desired.

*for a stiffer, less melty frosting (easier to decorate with), replace 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup shortening

Dairy-Free Breakfast Nachos

2015-07-18T21:59:00.003-07:00

You can have nachos for breakfast - why not?

Here's the thing, too. These don't have cheese in them.

I'm keeping it quiet, because cheese is one of my oldest and dearest friends. And I don't want to hurt its feelings.

But you know, some foods have enough stuff going on that they just don't need cheese.

Shh! Hear me out.

Mexican food, with its lime, its cilantro, its salsa, its guac, its raw white onion. Leave the cheese off, you won't even notice.

Observe that the most authentic Mexican food at most only uses a sprinkling of queso cotija. It's a condiment, a light sprinkling.

In the summer I like my dishes light (if you can call something with guacamole and a fried egg on it light).

But please don't tell cheese - we have a scheduled rendezvous coming soon, and I wouldn't want things to get awkward.

Dairy-Free Breakfast Nachos

some chips
a egg
salsa
chopped white onion
1 can black beans
cilantro, torn
guacamole
lime juice

The nice thing about nachos is you really can make them to taste. I created the guacamole here by mashing up avocado, lime juice and salt (about 1/2 lime and a generous pinch of salt per avocado). Put it together how you like, fry an egg and put it on top. Ta da! Breakfast.

Cocoa Beans.

2015-07-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Food is good.

Food is so good.

I recently went a day without.

Longer than a day, even. 36 hours. I was aiming for 48.

Why? Lots of reasons.

We are in a precarious life-stage and fasting helps me think clearly.

I've had a recent resurgence of a health issue that makes certain delicious and beloved food groups off-limits (sugar, bread, dairy). Makes me want to pout and throw the towel in on all food.

Mireille says it's good for you.

But in those last hours, somewhere between the headache and the full-body weakness I thought, 'Why am I doing this again?'

My kid drew a face in the nib bowl with his finger and said, 'look mom it's me made out of chocolate!'

So I had some potato chips. And, like the return of the Nile flooding the farmland of Egypt, all my faculties were back again.

Food is good. It just is. All food is. Vegetables and fats and meats and cheese and fruit, sweet, fresh fruit. Just get the best quality you can and trust your body.

Don't let anyone tell you any different.

I am experimenting with bean-to-bar chocolate now. It's quite a process. The beans need to be fermented, roasted, hulled, cracked (that's where these pictures are at), and processed. Squished down and their fat/juice squeezed out of them (delicious cocoa butter), then added back until you get the flavor and texture you want.

I think I'm going to like mine rough.

More on this project to come. It will be good news, the remainder of my quickly evaporating, fast-induced intuition is telling me so.

Things I've Done in the Summertime or, What Happened to the Melba Toast?

2015-07-08T22:11:00.001-07:00

So hot. So sweaty. So love.

I just got back from a vacation to home, to home. To my mother's house.

I was tooootally gonna blog while I was there. Totally was.

Now I'm back in Oregon with just bits and pieces of a beautiful trip on my camera. Places I went, things I did.

Things I made and things I ate with my family and my friends.

Sometimes we just stayed home, in the house I grew up in.

A meat plate with lamb ham. Part of a 14 course dinner I threw for friends.

I was totally going to blog that.

Some kind of racoon attack, maybe?

One hard, one soft, and one blue. Those are the rules.

Cloudy meringues that were later filled with peaches and cream.

I was super going to take a picture of that.

A cold beet soup with yogurt and pumpkin seeds.

This is the sort of classy crowd I hang around with. And that is a homemade ginger ale taking center stage.

Happy 4th, happy friends, happy heat, happy summer!

King Estate Winery

2015-06-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

The summer is upon me.

I cannot cook. I can only travel to places and have others cook for me.

Behold! The King Estate Winery.

Nestled in the Oregon hills, overlooking miles of quiet farmland. The only thing we could hear looking out was the swish of the wind.

Lavender to attract bees. Bees to make grapes. Grapes to make...well, you get it.

Bzz bzz. Lean in for the lovely smell but don't snuff up a bee!

The sky was perfectly cloudless. The sun was bright, fine and hot.

Bushy grapevines growing little bebe fruits.

Smell of hay and green things and lavender.

You can only play soccer at wineries. Other sports are BANNED.

There's something romantic here...

The bloom is off the rose and on my baby's head.

Oak casks from France. I guess French oak makes the best casks.

Rooms for chilling, swirling, and fermenting.

A large cooling tank - did you know wine heats up as it ferments? I didn't.

Now the best part - lunch! Truffle fries.

The menu changes frequently, we ordered a house-cured charcuterie plate.

Gorgonzola, dry salami, with crudites, crackers and mustard.

This was my favorite combination - gorgonzola and candied apricot on a seeded cracker.

Goodbye, beautiful sun-kissed winery! I'll see you in my dreams!

Strawberry Maple Floats

2015-06-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

OMG strawberries!

I love eating seasonally because I love how nature is like nope, nope, nope, YEP! And then floods you with something delicious. And you gorge and gorge and gorge on it because once it's gone you won't see it again for a whole year.

Like everything does, it starts on the farm.

Little baby berries peeking through green leaves.

Fields and flowers and a cloudless sky.

That barn was full of bunnies. Baby likes bunnies.

My kid are enthusiastic strawberry pickers, but inevitably derailed by the 'eat all you want in the fields' rule. They contributed about 2 cups of berries.

So I bought a flat to supplement.

Now...what to make with 24 cups of strawberries?

Like I even had to wonder! Jam, shortcake and hand pies for starters.

But first, something to take the heat off after a day in the fields.

Strawberry maple floats!

It's easy. It's foamy. And it tastes like the sweetest part of the most fragrant strawberry you've ever had.

It's even healthy! Sweetened with maple, the ice cream is homemade with coconut cream in place of whipped (of course you could 100% use normal).

To strawberry season!

Strawberry Maple Floats
Makes 2 cups

2 cups water
2 cups fresh strawberries (frozen will also do in a pinch)
Juice of half a lemon
Handful fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup maple syrup
Soda water
Vanilla ice cream

First, make the syrup. Bring the water, strawberries, mint, maple and lemon to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Strain out mint leaves, lemon (I squeezed it out then just threw the whole thing in there), and strawberry pulp. Mush the strawberry pulp through the strainer to get as much berry goodness as possible.

Return syrup to a boil, reduce to a simmer and leave for 20 minutes or until reduced by half. You should have about 2 cups of syrup.

To assemble floats:
Put desired amount of ice cream in glass. Pour about a thumb's depth of syrup on top. Add soda water until foamy and luscious. Glug glug glug.

Silver Falls State Park and a Big Fat Hamburger

2015-06-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

The goal this summer is to camp. A lot. Every other week (if we can pull it off)!

Last week we went to Silver Falls State Park. I'm finding that State Parks are often hidden little gems. Far less traffic than a national park, and every bit as beautiful.

If somewhat less grand. Which can be a good thing, you know?

Notice the artfully graffiti'd 'uh oh' at the top

Silver Falls is a beautiful park with ten plus waterfalls all accessible via short hikes.

There was a paved swimming spot for kids, a well-equipped campground (flushers, is what I'm talking about here) and a playground here and there.

Very family friendly. Which means a lot these days.

Not badly equipped for food either! Well, ok this didn't come from the park itself but from the small but scrappy town of Strayton, Oregon.

Just outside the town.

We visited Kelly at her cafe twice - once going into the park, and once leaving it.

A lot of beef was eaten.

Worth it.

Within the park it was salmonberry season.

Sometimes I think if I had to choose a place to go wild (like Thoreau/Cheryl Strayed/My Side of the Mountain Wild), it would have to be the northwest.

Berries berries everywhere and all of them to eat!

The flowers (unfortunately not pictured here) are this bizarre fuschia color.

I wish I'd brought a container, get me some salmonberries for salmonberry jam.

The taste starts sweet and then goes tart. The color is orange as can be.

Meanwhile, on the forest floor...

Silver Falls = enthusiastically recommended! Something for everyone, and salmonberries* all over the place.

*Presence of salmonberries not guaranteed after next week

Joy Tea

2015-06-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

I like herbs. I dabble in herbs.

Have you ever dabbled?

I made a cough syrup once. I THINK it helped, or was it a coincidence?

It smelled great.

I've been making my own hand salves too, maybe I'll get around to posting about that here some time.

It's not so hard.

Pretty little plants, pretty little flowers. They make me feel happy.

This tea is called Joy Tea by its creator, herbalist Rosemary Gladstar.

Such colors! Such scents and flavors!

But the true test of an herbal experiment: did it live up to its name? Did I feel joyful afterwards?

I submit that I did.

My kids drank it too, and for tea without milk and honey that is a big win.

Joy Tea
taken from Rosemary Gladstar

2 parts* chamomile
3 parts lemon balm
1 part hawthorne berries and/or blossoms
2 parts hibiscus flowers
2 parts rose petals (unsprayed)
1/8 part lavender flowers
1/8 part cardamom pods, chopped

This is a sun tea, ie one better made by submersing herbs in cold water and leaving in the sun to steep for a few hours than boiling on the stove. To prepare place 4 - 6 tablespooons per quart of water in sealable container (mason jars!). Place in direct sunshine. Let sit for several hours or overnight. Strain and enjoy cold.

*I used 1/4 cup as my 'part' definition, which made just over 2 cups of tea mix. Lots of tea! J'approve.

Carrot Zucchini Muffins with Balsamic Buttercream

2015-05-30T22:26:00.001-07:00

So here is what it looks like at our house.

Pizza, pizza. Crepes, fresh garden peas, otter pops.

Stir fry! Pizza. Rice and beans.

I can't say I am walking a tightrope between feeding my family healthy food and treats because there is no middle ground.

We wobble wildly from one end to the other. A fried egg, a boiled one, a meringue buttercream! It still has eggs in it.

I'm not sure if I'm raising my children to be good eaters or not, depending on how you understand that phrase.

These muffins are a middle ground.

The crumb is dense and hearty, the frosting is just a light touch of indulgence.

Gather around me children and eat your veggies!

Also! May I announce the winner of last week's giveaway! My good friend Mary - you are the best! Expect your tiny embroidery very soon. Thanks to those who entered.

Carrot Zucchini Muffins with Balsamic Buttercream

adapted from Beyond the Olive

Makes 12

For the muffins:

3 eggs

3/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cups grated carrot

3/4 cup grated zucchini

3/4 cup white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

a teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

For the balsamic buttercream:

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin pan.

Mix together (by hand is fine) eggs, olive oil, sugar, carrot and zucchini. In a separate bowl whisk together flours, baking soda, spices and salt.

Dump dry ingredients into wet and beat together until well mixed.

Fill muffin papers 3/4 cup full. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Done when toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Vegan Sweet Potato Guacamole Tacos

2015-05-27T22:06:00.001-07:00

Mmmm, summer. Is it summer yet?

The sweet peas are vining but not blooming yet.

The basil is planted and so proud of its four little leaves.

The store has apricots AND cherries, at prices I can actually afford!

It must be summer soon.

In the summer I don't like to eat meat much. With the substantial exception of the occasional barbecue hamburger.

(There is something primal and pagan about summer barbecue. We must partake of the fruits of the bonfire.)

But, outside of that ritual, I love to dabble in the veggies and the florals that the season presents.

Here we have sweet potato, roasted until soft, sweet, and slightly charred.

Avocado, mashed up with lime and salt to make the simplest and, to my mind, best kind of guacamole.

The kind that tastes like avocadoes, just a little enhanced.

Beans and fat green onions (from the garden!) and sweet red onions.

And check out this tofu cheese I made at home - super easy! I made it!

I normally prefer my tacos simple: meat, onion, salsa and lime. Oh and cilantro. But the divergent flavors in this dish harmonized so nicely.

To veggies!

*Don't forget, I am still hosting a giveaway! To enter, leave a comment on my previous post.

Vegan Sweet Potato Guacamole Tacos

2 sweet potatoes
olive oil
1 can black beans, rinsed and warmed with a pinch of salt and pepper
4 avocadoes
2 limes, quartered
1 block extra-firm tofu
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 tablespoon white vinegar
salt and pepper
tortillas (about 12, I prefer corn [moistened and pan-warmed] but flour works too)
green onions, sliced
1 red onion, diced

Preheat oven to 400F.

Wash, peel and chop sweet potatoes into about 1" squares. Toss with olive oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30 minutes, or until slightly charred and very soft when pierced with a fork.

To make vegan cheese: heat skillet over medium high heat, slick with olive oil (about 3 tablespoons). Crumble in tofu block, stir in mustard, salt and pepper. Saute until texture dry and crumbly; pour in vinegar, stir in, remove from heat.

To make guacamole: Remove avocados from peels, mash with the juice of one of the limes. Add in 1 pinch of salt for each avocado, about 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste). Mix all up together.

Warm your tortillas by moistening them with a few drops of water and then heating them in a pan over medium heat until soft and steaming.

To assemble tacos: layer with sweet potato, black beans, and tofu cheese. Top with guacamole, green onion slices and red onion. Mangez.

Missed Opportunities and a Giveaway

2015-05-23T21:41:00.001-07:00

Eat at the Creswell Bakery!

I love blogging about food.

I get so excited about it, sometimes I have false starts. And my camera fills up with these photos of almost-posts.

Canneles de Bordeaux - small, tasty, eggy pastries that got a bit...overcooked.

Food that never got made, or food that got made but didn't turn out.

Food that got made and turned out but got eaten before I took pictures.

Last Year's Fruit Crisp - made of all my leftover frozen fruit from last year's harvest.

Restaurants and travels I super meant to blog but somehow didn't come out with the full picture I wanted.

I have a pig full of plans on my wall every day. Translating those plans to table to blog is a journey that only works out some of the time.

That's black heirloom poppin' corn right there.

But you know what? You live and learn and eat and cook and blog another day.

Look at this cool thing! My brilliant, embroidery-minded friend made this thing.

She used to sell them and like things on Etsy, but has since shuttered her shop.

Too bad for her and the world, but good for me because that means this is one of a kind.

I mean, they TASTED good.

Well, it's two of a kind because she made me two and I am keeping one.

This other one I am giving away to one of you kindly readers!

How is it that the only pictures I got of this delicious dessert were when it was unattractively dusted with flour?

Leave a comment on this blog and let me know what your greatest kitchen swing-and-miss is or was. A week from today I will pick a winner and then, pow!

This will be in your mailbox. The real thing.

Raspberry Balsamic Macarons

2015-05-18T22:50:00.002-07:00

Ah French macarons, bane of home cooks and professionals alike.

I have seen many a subpar macaron for sale, even at the big boy's places.

The thing about macarons is that they require....

CONFIDENCE.

You have to believe in them! You have to believe in those little feet, in that cakey center! (the ruffly bit at the bottom is called the foot).

You have to believe that they will rise.

RISE! Like the glorious sun in the morning.

Mine are a little flat. This is because, afraid of overbeating them, I underbeat them.

Confidence.

But! Have you ever tried balsamic on sweet? How about right next to fresh?

Reduce it down, down with a little bit of honey until it is thick as melted chocolate.

Strew it over the tops of your beautiful babies and their little flat feet.

Crunch it up and wow! Sweet and fresh and sour and crunch and smoosh and a delicate buttercream together.

Glorious.

Next time: bigger feet.

Next time: twice as many.

You may have noticed that there is a new button on my blog. That little fella there in the corner lets you know that I (I!) am now a content contributer for The Daily Meal. Hooray! That's a real thing! I conjured up these little cookies in response to a weekly recipe challenge they issued, giving you one ingredient to play with. This week it was raspberries, sponsored by Driscoll's berries. Driscoll's berries! Go buy some berries! Follow them @driscollsberry #raspberrydessert. Eat them fresh or, better yet, stick them in a buttercream.

(Hey I forgot to include the raaaaaaspberry puree joke! I was singing it all day, just like Prince. Ha! I AM JUST LIKE PRINCE)

Raspberry Balsamic Macarons
Makes 24

Age your egg whites! Did you know you're supposed to do that when making macarons? Two or three days before baking, put your egg whites (about 3) in a glass dish in the refrigerator. The night before baking, take them out and leave them on the counter overnight. They won't go bad, I swear. This makes a huge difference in getting successful macarons.

For the cookies:
180 grams almond meal (I prefer grams for macarons, since imprecise measurements can be the difference between life and death here)
240 grams powdered sugar
140 grams egg whites, aged
A large pinch powdered egg whites (so much for precision!)
A medium pinch sea salt

In a large bowl combine almond meal, powdered sugar, and sea salt. Combine the egg whites with the egg white powder in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until stiff peaks form.

Add the meringue to the almond meal mixture and beat by hand until a shiny, ribbony mass forms. Don't be afraid! Get it right! A good way to test it is to make a small peak in the batter. Does it stand stiff? Beat it more. Does it immediately disappear? You've gone too far! Does it slowly sink back into and meld with the batter? That's it.

Pipe small rounds onto sheet pans lined with a silpat and let them air dry for 45 minutes to an hour. The tops should be dry when touched with your finger. If you live in a wet place, turn on the ceiling fan (Oregon, I'm looking at you). When the drying time is almost up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When drying time is up and oven is preheated, turn oven down to 300 degrees and bake cookies for about 15 minutes, rotating sheet pans halfway through for even cooking. Try not to have a heart attack as you open the oven and look for feet.

Let them cool.

For the buttercream:
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup water
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks butter, cubed and softened
Pinch of salt
1 cup Driscoll's raspberries

First, mash up the raspberries with a fork, making a chunky puree.

Now start beating the egg whites. You want to get them to where they are just forming soft peaks. In the meantime, combine the white sugar and the water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Let it heat until it reaches 235 degrees fahrenheit. Immediately remove from heat and pour in a slow stream into eggwhites while still mixing.

Now add in the butter cubes, one at a time and mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and the pinch of salt. The mixture may look curdled, but just keep beating it. It will come together and turn fluffy and lovely just like you want.

Once you find the texture of buttercream you like, turn off mixer and stir in about 1/3 cup of raspberry puree by hand (more or less to taste, but don't add too much it will make the mixture separate again).

Pipe buttercream onto cookie halves, sandwich together with other cookie halves.

For the balsamic reduction:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey

Simmer your vinegar and honey together in a small saucepan until about 1/4 cup of it is left. The texture should be syrupy. Can be made several hours or even days before cookies and stored in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before using as it will harden when cold.

Golden Milk

2015-05-11T22:45:00.002-07:00

There is a thin and permeable line between cooking for health and cooking for pleasure.

There is a massive overlap between eating well and feeling well.

Lately my little kitchen experiments have started to spill out of the sustenance realm and into the realm of medicine and healing.

Homemade cough medicine! Body butters and salves! St. John's wort steeping in oil on the windowsill, turning it red.

This is the kind of fun I've been having.

This little wonder straddles that line between food and medicine, between health and pleasure.

I'd seen recipes for golden milk on blogs before, mainly from Indian cooks. It is supposed to bring warmth and vitality, restore emotional balance, and work against inflammation of all kinds.

Warm and sweet and spicy and soothing.

It helps that I won a whole pound of high-class turmeric on the internet a few months ago.

Winning is awesome!

What am I going to do with all of this turmeric??

Maybe this.

I'm from a long line of auto-immune afflicted folks with various manifestations of it. Mine is the skin rash, eczema. It comes and goes, but mostly just stays.

I have tried everything over the years and have little hope for a cure any time soon. Some things work for a while, then stop working, for whatever reason.

But I made this for myself today and you know what? A particularly bad outbreak I was having on my hand is already fading.

So maybe I have a little hope, at least.

Golden Milk
adapted from Rosemary Gladstar

1/4 c turmeric powder
Almond milk (cow's or coconut are fine too!)
Honey

First, make a turmeric base by combining turmeric powder with 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until mixture becomes a thick paste. Cool it and store in the refrigerator - this paste will make many servings of golden milk!

To make milk: Combine 1 teaspoon turmeric paste with 1 cup milk and honey to taste (I used about 1 tablespoon) in a saucepan, heat until steaming. Put mixture in blender, blend until frothy.

This can also be drunk cold or at room temperature, whatever your preference.

Easter Egg Radishes and 7-Minute Mac & Cheese

2015-05-06T22:22:00.002-07:00

It's Easter Egg radishes this year. Can you guess why they call them that?

The first thing out of my little garden. We pulled up the last of them today, eating with salt and vinegar. The kids will eat them if I cut off the colored skin - they are convinced the 'spice' of the radish is in the red skin. Suckers.

This dish is a result of having a broken car and no groceries.

This dish is a result of a half-memory I have from years ago of eating delicious, deconstructed macaroni and cheese from a $5 noodle joint while on break from my college cashier job.

This dish is delicious.

Here is a kid. He approves this message.

7-Minute Mac & Cheese

1 cup noodles

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 - 1/2 cup shredded cheese

splash of cream (milk will do in a pinch)

salt and pepper to taste

Cook your noodles according to package instructions. Mine required cooking for 7 minutes.

Drain noodles, stir in butter. This is the only stirring you will do. Put down the spoon!

Put noodles in dish. Splash in cream to taste, just a bit, just enough to wet them.

Sprinkle with cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Consume with gusto.

I'll be grading your gusto on an A - F scale so don't let me down.

My Extracts

2015-05-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

Pour some vodka on it!

That's the new motto at my house.

It started with a homemade vanilla - fun to do, handy.

And while vanilla beans are spendy, in the end you get way more bang for your buck doing it this way than buying those little 2 oz vanilla bottles from the store for $7 a pop.

I HAVE FOUR CUPS OF VANILLA IN MY PANTRY RIGHT NOW!

Quelle richesse.

Of course, if you can make vanilla extract then it stands to reason you can make other extracts.

Almond extract!

This one takes a little longer to age, supposedly about 3 months to really acquire that amandine fragrance.

But it's getting cloudy already, and it's a good start.

And now it's really gone too far, because that third one is lilac extract.

That's right, I picked some (unsprayed) lilac flowers from a bush. Soaked them to get rid of the bugs. Stuck them in a jar.

And poured some vodka on it.

The color has changed from, well, lilac, to a sort of copper. The smell is pretty extraordinary.

Future vodka goals: Mint extract. Cocoa bean. Rose! Hazelnut?

Sky's the limit, people!

Extracts

Pour some vodka on it. Cap, put in dark place. Leave until smells like the thing you are trying to extract.

Almond Mousse Cupcakes

2015-04-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

In a bit of a funk, lately.

We're on the edge of a big transition, but the future is unknown.

Having a hard time putting energy into things, including blogging. And etc.

I have so much good stuff up my sleeve though, and when I start it I always think "I can't WAIT to blog this!"

Then I look at my camera a week later and I took three pictures of the process, only two of which are any good, and no pics of the finished product.

Because I already ate it.

All of it.

Oh well. These are the last 3 of 24 almond mousse cupcakes I made for a baby shower. The theme was nautical.

The starfish were marzipan.

Almond Mousse Cupcakes
Makes 24

For the marzipan starfish (from Emeril):
8 ounces almond paste
1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
4 tablespoons corn syrup

For the cakes:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

For the almond mousse (also from Emeril, the man knows his almonds):
5 oz almonds, lightly toasted and cooled
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons warm water
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons amaretto liqueur
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting:
2 sticks butter, softened
3 - 3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons almond extract

Make the marzipan starfish in advance. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat up the almond paste with 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar. Mix until it is incorporated. Add the remaining sugar and beat until incorporated also. Add the corn syrup and combine well. Mixture will still be crumbly, but should hold together if pressed. Turn the mixture out onto a clean surface and knead until it comes together. If it becomes too sticky, add more confectioner's sugar. You should have a smooth dough, which you can then shape as you like. Top with raw sugar for texture.

Make the almond mousse in advance as well. Blend the almonds and 2 tablespoons of the confectioner's sugar into a paste in a food processor. Beat the cream and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar together until soft peaks form. Meanwhile, in the top of a double boiler combine corn syrup and water and whisk until smooth. Add egg yolks and amaretto; place over the top of a simmering pan and beat with an electric mixer until very thick and ribbons form. Continue to beat until cool. Add in the vanilla and whipped cream and fold together. Finally, fold in the reserved almond paste. Chill at least 4 hours.

Day of, make your cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350, line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Beat your butter and sugar together about 3 minutes. Add your eggs, beating well between each addition, about 1 minute. Combine buttermilk and almond extract in separate bowl (I just use a measuring cup). Combine flour, powder and salt in a separate container. Add to mixer in batches, switching back and forth between dry ingredients and wet (I usually do 3 batches dry, 2 batches wet). Once all are added turn off mixer and finish mixing by hand.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes, testing for doneness with a toothpick.

Finally, make frosting. Beat confectioner's sugar and butter together for 3 minutes. Add almond extract and food coloring (I used 2 dabs blue gel and one dab green). Add in milk. Beat one minute more.

Assembly: Fill cupcakes with mousse, piping it into the center. Frost. Place a starfish on top. Ta da!

Wedding Cake

2015-04-17T21:18:00.001-07:00

Spring weddings are always risky.

Rain? No rain? Is it good luck or just ironic?

The flowers, though.

The nice thing about making wedding cakes is that you get to go to the PARTY. Yes, those are cream puff kebabs.

I only accept payment in cream puff kebabs.

Fish Sticks

2015-03-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking.

Fish sticks? you're thinking. Fish sticks?

Where's the pizzazz?

Well I'll tell you what, busters. The pizzazz is feeding my family something easy and healthy that they will actually eat.

That's the trifecta.

And honestly, humble as they are, these were completely delicious. Crispy panko, smooth cod, tart tartar (is that why they call it that??) sauce. A few naked cukes on the side.

The pizzazz is there. This dish is just too much of a lady to call attention to it. (Fish sticks be a lady tonight)

Fish Sticks
adapted from a fish

2 lbs cod
2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
1/2 cup flour (or more as needed)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350.

Stir your bread crumbs, salt, paprika and lemon pepper together. Beat your eggs in a shallow dish. Chop your cod into sticks.

Dip sticks into flour, then egg, then roll in bread crumbs to coat. Place on baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes, flipping once during cooking. Serve with lemon and tartar sauce!

Tartar Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
6 tablespoons chopped capers
10 tablespoons chopped dill pickles
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Stir all ingredients together, chill until using.