My Trip to Seattle with the Girard's Culinary Collective

I know you've all been anxiously awaiting news of my recent trip to Seattle for the International Food Bloggers Conference, and now that I have photographic proof that I caught a salmon in the fish toss at Pike Place Market, I'm ready to share!

Of course, being a food related trip, I've posted all about it over on my food blog. And being a might-as-well-kill-two-birds-with-one-stone kind of gal, I'm going to send you over there to read all about it. In a nutshell, it was AMAZING!

First there was this fabulous dinner at Miller's Guild. I ate geoduck people! Google it. You'll be impressed. Not so much by the geoduck as by the fact that I ate it.

And then I got to be a fishmonger at Pike Place Market. We even learned how to fillet salmon.

And finally, I had a great time at lunch and exploring Seattle with a fantastic group of folks. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

To make it easy, here are a link to all of the posts:

• A Seattle Culinary Experience and Peach Melba with Rosemary Mascarpone
• Fishmonger for a Day and Mango Salmon Salad
• Matt's in the Market and New Blogger Friends

P.S. I'm giving away an awesome slow cooker right now too, so you might want to head over and enter that contest! Seriously, my favorite slow cooker ever!

My Favorite Recipes from 2013

Ladies and gentlemen (hi dad!) I give you my favorite recipes from 2013. I know a top 10 is sort of the traditional way to make a list. But my list has fifteen. Because really, which one of these delicious dishes was I going to leave out?

And yes, I know I haven't been around here much lately. My food blog has kind of taken off and kept me busy. For example, I just started a gig with Marzetti Foods, and I have to make videos. Of myself. Doing kitchen things. I waiver daily hourly between excitement and embarrassment.

Things do occasionally happen around here though, and it's really important to me to catalog it all. In fact, I just ordered our 2013 blog book. Once Jan. 1 rolls around, my kids wait anxiously for it to arrive. It sort of turns a personal blog into a family treasure.

And now, on with the recipes!

Blackberry Sour Cream Pie

Creamy Chicken Picasso

Fresh Corn Salsa

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken

Crispy Garlic Rosemary Smashed Potatoes

Honey Ginger Roasted Carrots

Lemon Blondies with Lemon Glaze

Make Ahead Quiche

Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas

Slow Cooker Pork Chili Verde

Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches (Slow Cooker)

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

No-Bake 15 Minute Thin Mints

Toasted Meatball Subs

A Week of Thanksgiving Sides

I just thought y'all might like to know that I've got a Thanksgiving Side-dish-apalooza going on over at my food blog this week. I'm sharing two side dishes every day! And yes, I've made and eaten them all.  Which is why I haven't gotten much blogging done over here. Because I've been stuffing myself with stuffing people!

Speaking of stuffing, you'll find plenty of it, along with cranberries, vegetables, mashed potatoes (I just can't put these in the same category as vegetables, since they're loaded with butter and cream cheese), and even quinoa!

How about some pumpkin cornbread? Yep, we've got that too!

Seriously, who needs a turkey? I might just fill my Thanksgiving table with all of my favorite side dishes. That would pretty much be stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy.

It would be Thanksgiving heaven!

Two Ingredient S'mores

Friends, today I have a handy little s'more making trick to share with you.  All you need are some marshmallows and a package of those chocolate covered striped shortbread cookies.  And some fire.  A long stick or a wire hanger, etc. is also recommended--for marshmallow toasting purposes.

Once your marshmallow is nice and toasty, you just sandwich it in between a couple of cookies.

Of course, this doesn't taste exactly like a traditional s'more, but it's pretty darn tasty. And it's much easier to make and eat.  So if you're going to be doing a lot of s'moreing this summer, I highly recommend giving it a try.

So, to sum up. Marshmallows. Chocolate striped shortbread cookies. Roasting stick. Fire. S'mores!

P.S.  You can also use chocolate covered graham crackers.  I'm just partial to stripes.

FOOD TRUCKERY

Last week the elementary school threw a little playground shin-dig, complete with music, bouncy castles and food trucks.  And I've got to tell you, I was pretty excited about the food trucks.

Can you guess what I thought when I saw this truck pull into the parking lot?

 

 

There's money in that banana truck!

 

If you don't get it, you need to hurry and get caught up on all previous seasons of Arrested Development before the new season (all 15 episodes) is available on Netflix this Sunday.  Turns out, it wasn't a frozen banana truck as I had hoped.  It sold some kind of organic, all-natural, fruit ice cream stuff made from bananas.  But based on the prices, there was definitely money in it!

 

I bought dinner from this Korean food truck.  I  immediately wondered, upon receiving my food, how I had never come across this mobile eatery of goodness before.

 

 

 Umami.  Which roughly translates from Japanese as "pleasant, savory taste."  I believe it translates more exactly as "I must have more of those Thai nachos and Korean tacos now!"  Let's just say that since last Thursday, I may have been stalking the Umami Mobile Asian Eatery.  If you consider checking Facebook updates and driving around town hunting them down "stalking."

 

Tonight, I was finally able to procure my second helping of Thai nachos, so my Memorial Day long weekend is off to a fabulous start!

 

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend too, and may all your food truck dreams come true!

 

 

ORANGE CREAMSICLE ROLLS

Did you know you can make cinnamon (or some other fabulous flavor) rolls out of a cake mix?  Well, you can!  You just add some yeast and water and a bunch of flour.  And oh my sharks in heaven!  Are they ever delicious!  And they stay nice and soft for days longer than your my traditional homemade cinnamon rolls.  I'm sure it has something to do with preservatives in the cake mix, but trust me, after one bite, you won't care what's in these things!

If you're anything like me, you've already formulated a long list of all the different flavors of cinnamon rolls you could make using cake mix......chocolate, chocolate orange, red velvet, strawberry.....I guess technically they wouldn't all be cinnamon rolls, but you know what I mean.

The first cake mix roll creation I conjured up was Orange Creamsicle Rolls, made from the new Pillsbury orange creamsicle cake mix.  You can find the recipe on my food blog, where you'll also have the chance to win a $50 Visa gift card!  Because who doesn't like to win money?

But even if you don't win, you'll have the recipe for these amazing rolls, which will make you feel like a winner! 

As long as you don't eat too many.....

Z is for ZITI

Ziti is a long, thick tube shaped pasta that is broken into pieces before cooking. Most of the ziti that you buy in the store is already broken into short (2-inch or so) segments. Ziti gets its name from the word zita which means a young woman who is about to become a bride, or "little girl." In parts of Italy, it is traditional to serve baked ziti at weddings.

 

So, if you happen know any Italian girls who are getting married soon, here's a delicious recipe for Baked Ziti.

 

 

Y is for YEAST

Did you know there are over 1,500 species of yeast?  Yes, species.  Because yeast is alive, after all.  Yeast is actually a single-celled fungus used most often in making beer and bread.  I don't know anything about making beer, so I'll discuss yeast more in terms of making bread.  Although I should probably note than in the 19th century, bread bakers obtained their yeast from beer brewers.

I also don't know much about chemistry, but basically,  yeast converts the fermentable sugars in bread dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol, and that's what makes your bread rise.  If you've ever wondered what the difference is between the various forms of yeast used in baking, here's a rundown.

Active dry yeast is probably the most commonly available type of yeast.  It consists of coarse oblong granules, with live yeast cells encapsulated in a thick jacket of dry, dead cells with some growth medium. Typically, active dry yeast must first be proofed or rehydrated. Active dry yeast can be stored at room temperature for up to a year, and frozen for more than a decade.

 

Instant yeast is similar to active dry yeast, but has smaller granules with much higher percentages of live cells. It doesn't keep as well as active dry yeast, but also doesn't require rehydration.  Instant yeast generally has a small amount of ascorbic acid added as a preservative.

Rapid-rise yeast is a variety of dried yeast that is of a smaller granular size, so it dissolves faster in dough.  It also produces more carbon dioxide, which results in faster rising.   Rapid-rise yeast is often marketed specifically for use in bread machines.

These Chewy Pretzel Bites are at the top of my list of favorite yeast bread recipes. 

Just take my advice and make a double batch.

X is for.....

Nothing you've ever heard of.  At least when it comes to food and cooking.  When I googled "foods that start with X" I learned this: "typically, foods that start with the letter X are among the less known foods."

Of course, there is Xantham Gum.  Although I'm not sure that qualifies as a food.  If you read labels, you've probably come across it once or twice.  It's usually somewhere between red dye #7 and partially hydrogenated oil.  Typically it's used as a thickening agent in things like salad dressings.  It's also used in cosmetics.  Ewwww!

This will make you feel even better.  The name comes from Xanthomonas campestris, which is the strain of bacteria used during the fermentation process.  It's the same bacterium that causes black rot to form on broccoli, cauliflower and other leafy vegetables, creating a slimy substance which acts as a natural stabilizer.

These leafy greens do not contain Xantham Gum.

 

And I'm thinking they might be best without salad dressing.

W is for WAFFLES

Considering how much I enjoy waffles, I don't make them very often.  Maybe because I'm just not in the mood when the alarm goes off at 5:15 am.  And goodness knows there's no time to whip them up before the oldest leaves the house at 5:45.

And of course, whenever we stay in a hotel that has a waffle maker at the breakfast bar, it's too busy.  Or I'm too impatient.

Here's a surprising waffle fact: the "Belgian waffle" does not exist in Belgium. They're a North American creation.  I say the Belgians are missing out.

Here are a few other tasty looking waffles.

{Nutella Waffles}

 

{Churro Waffles}

 

Well, okay.....maybe it is time to break out the waffle iron.  We actually have a waffle food truck in town.  It's called the Waffle Lab.  I can't convince anyone in the family to eat there.  My husband is afraid of food trucks.  He thinks they're unsanitary--and now he's scared the children.  Yes, these are the same people who ate snow ice cream just last week.  But they won't eat waffles from a truck.

 

I guess if I want waffles anytime soon, I'll have to make them myself.

U is for UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

In all my years of cooking and baking, I've never actually made an upside-down cake.  Unless you count bundt cake, which is technically baked upside down. 

The most well-known type of upside-down cake is the pineapple upside down cake.  And if I ever do make one, I think I'll try this recipe from Paula Deen.  It contains 2 total cups of butter, in case you were wondering.

Upside-down cakes originated in the era when cakes where made in skillets on a stove top.  Placing the fruit on the bottom of the skillet helped to caramelize it.  Of course, before the pineapple upside-down cake came along, someone had to invent pineapple rings.  Enter Jim Dole, who begin manufacturing canned pineapple in 1901.

In 1925, Jim Dole's Hawaiian Pineapple Company sponsored a pineapple recipe contest.  They received over 2,500 entries for pineapple upside-down cake.  The company ran an ad about all those pineapple upside-down cakes and the pineapple upside-down cake became a 1920's food trend.  Jim Dole also sold a lot of pineapple.

Just this week I spotted an upside-down cake by David Lebovitz on Pinterest.  You can put any kind of fruit you want in there.  I'm thinking peaches would be heavenly.  And it's even baked in a cast iron skillet.  I can't wait to try it!

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

T is for TACOS

Honestly, I'm so sick of talking about food at this point, tacos don't even sound appetizing.  But still, I must ask the age-old taco question.  Hard shell or soft shell?

I say soft shell.  My husband says hard shell.  Which means when I make tacos, we have both kinds.  Actually, we disagree about tacos on many levels.  He likes a traditional ground beef filling, while I prefer chicken, pork or fish.  Come to think of it, I don't bother making tacos very often, because by the time I provide the variety of shells, meats and toppings to make everybody happy, I might as well open a taco truck.

If I did open a taco truck, I would serve these Walking Tacos, courtesy of Picky Palate. 

You just put all your taco stuff right in the bag with the Fritos.  Genius!  And no dishes to wash afterwards. 

These Taco Salad Dippers are also a fun twist on a regular taco.  Even though I'm normally a soft taco gal, something about scooping up my taco filling with tiny little tortilla chip bowls makes it all taste so much better.

The taco has been around for a long time. Anthropologists have discovered evidence that the indigenous people living in the lake region of the Valley of Mexico ate tacos filled with small fish. During the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented the first taco feast enjoyed by Europeans, a meal that was arranged by the infamous Hernán Cortés.

Seriously? He hosted the first European taco feast and all people talk about is how he destroyed the Aztec Empire.

How come that never gets mentioned in the textbooks?

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

S is for SLOW COOKER

I love my slow cooker.  I love how it just sits there on my counter, slowly cooking away while I go about the day's business.  I love how it has dinner ready for me when I get home from church on Sunday afternoon.  I love how it doesn't heat the house up too much during hot weather. 

If only someone would invent a slow cooker with arms.  One that could do the grocery shopping and put the ingredients for dinner into it's own non-stick, removable dish, it would be my very best friend in the world.  Kind of like that robot vacuum, only it would fix beef stew.  And be self-cleaning, of course.

But until then, I'll have to continue adding the ingredients to the slow cooker myself.  And making my husband clean it. 

Here are some of my favorite slow cooker recipes.

{Pineapple Green Chile Pork Tacos}

 

{Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup}

 

{Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin}

 

{Slow Cooker Pork Chili Verde}

 

 

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

R is for RASPBERRY

It's my favorite berry.  Hands down.  No other berry even comes close in my opinion.  Even the beloved strawberry is a distant second as far as I'm concerned. 

Have you ever wondered what each of those individual parts of the raspberry were called?  Me neither.  But FYI, they're called drupelets.  A single raspberry is made up of about 100 drupelets, each of which consists of a juicy pulp and a single central seed.  Who knows?  Perhaps that seemingly useless information will come in handy in some sort of trivia contest one day.

Anywhoo.....it's this drupelet-style structure that contributes to the raspberry's nutritional value.  All of those little drupelets make the raspberry more fibrous.  In fact, raspberries contain up to 20% fiber  per total weight--one of the highest known ratios in whole foods.  Raspberries are also a fabulous source of vitamin C, containing 30 mg per 1 cup serving, or about 50% of your daily value.

Unfortunately, most of my favorite raspberry recipes don't really enhance their nutritional value.  But I prefer to think about how the raspberry can enhance the nutritional value of things like chocolate and cake.  It's a glass half-full kind of thing.

Take these Raspberry Mousse Pie Bars, for example.  Without the raspberries, they would have no nutritional value whatsoever.

So next time you sit down to eat a carton of your favorite ice cream or an entire bag of Chili Cheese Fritos, just throw a big old handful of raspberries in there to cancel out some of the fat and calories.....keeping in mind that the FDA has not evaluated the accuracy of these claims.

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

Q is for QUINOA

If you haven't heard of quinoa yet, let me introduce you.

Quinoa was first domesticated by the Incas around 3000 years ago. It is a species of goosefoot, and not a true grain, although it is most often treated as a grain in cooking and baking.  Biologically, it's more closely related to beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds.  Which, if you ask me, are not the tastiest foods known to mankind.  Although I am being kind of judgmental about tumbleweeds, as I have never eaten those.

Quinoa, on the other hand, is delicious.  Unless you ask my husband, who ranks it right up there with beets and tumbleweeds on the list of foods he would rather not consume.  And by "not consume" I mean he would rather eat dirt.  But since quinoa is super healthy, I don't feel the least bit guilty about eating every last Cheesy Quinoa Cake myself.

Quinoa is very high in protein and fiber, and is often referred to as a "superfood."  It is also a gluten-free and a good source of calcium.  The most commonly available types of quinoa are white, red, and black.

Quinoa has become so popular in the United States and other countries where it is not typically grown that between 2006 and early 2013 quinoa crop prices have tripled.  And this has raised some concerns about food security in countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, where the inflated price of quinoa disrupts local access to food supplies. 

Okay, that does make me feel a little guilty about the quinoa cakes.  So as popular and healthy as quinoa is, maybe we should consider consuming it in moderation.

You could always add tumbleweeds to your diet in place of quinoa every once in awhile.  I presume they're also high in fiber.

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

P is for PIE

I thought about choosing pork for the letter P.  I hope no one is disappointed that I went with pie.  Because it means we'll have to discuss bacon some other time. 

I love pie, but I don't make it very often.  I think it has a reputation for being difficult.  And sometimes, it is.  Really, I think it's the crust that intimidates people.  Which is why I usually by a frozen pie crust.  Or make a graham cracker crust.  Those aren't quite as scary.

If you do want to make a pie crust from scratch, I highly recommend Grandma's Secret Pie Crust.

No, it wasn't my grandma's recipe.  But thankfully someone let the cat out of the bag, because this pie crust has never failed me.  It just so happens that I googled "tips for a good pie crust" and found 10 suggestions by Land O' Lakes that agree completely with what grandma had to say.  Their tips include the following:

• Use the least amount of water possible, just enough to make the pie crust hold together. The recipe usually gives a range for the amount of water – start with the least amount.
• If the recipe does not call for it, add an egg yolk. This adds more fat, as well as natural lecithin, which makes the dough pliable and easier to handle.
• If the recipe does not call for it, add some acid, about 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. Acid interferes with the elasticity of the gluten and makes the crust more tender.

Time magazine has published a fascinating story about pie.  It's the kind of hard-hitting journalism that I highly recommend reading.  A few things that may surprise you.....

• Historians trace pie's initial origins to the Greeks, who are thought to be the originators of the pastry shell.
• There was no pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving.
• Apple pie actually originated in England.

I'm not terribly partial when it comes to pie--fruit, chicken-pot or otherwise.  Although the very best pies, in my opinion, tend to be cream pies.  Here are three of my favorites:

{German Sweet Chocolate Pie}

 

{Peanut Butter Pie}

 

{White Chocolate Mousse Cherry Pie}

 

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

O is for OLIVE OIL

Olive oil, and the olive tree itself, have a fascinating and sometimes uncertain history.  Many people believe that cultivation of olive trees for oil first occurred about 6000 years ago near modern day Syria and Palestine.

From there the olive tree moved west to Cyprus, Crete, and Egypt.  By the 6th century B.C. olive trees could be found in Tunis, Tripoli, Sicily, and southern Italy.  Today olive trees can even be found in Australia, China, the Unites States and Argentina.  These trees are probably derived from a cross between different species and bear little resemblance to their ancestors.

The best olive oil you can buy is extra virgin olive oil.  To qualify as “extra virgin," olive oil must pass both an official chemical test in a laboratory and a sensory evaluation by a trained tasting panel recognized by the International Olive Council.  The oil must be found free from defects while exhibiting some fruitiness.

I do almost 100% of my cooking with olive oil.  And let me tell you, my good cholesterol is off the charts!  Olive oil is an excellent source of monounsaturated fats (those are the good kind), including Omega 3 fatty acids.  High quality extra virgin olive oil has a very high smoke point (410 degrees Fahrenheit) which makes it great for cooking and frying just about anything.

When storing olive oil, limit its exposure to heat, light, and air.  Otherwise the valuable nutrients in the oil may begin to oxidize, which may also effect the flavor of the oil. Look for olive oil packaged in opaque or tinted glass bottles.  Do not store olive oil in plastic containers, because the oil can leach harmful substances from the plastic.  Store olive oil in a cool, dark place, but keep a small container on the kitchen counter so it's easily accessible during cooking.  Don't store olive oil next to the stove--it gets a little too warm there.

Olive oil is also useful for skin care.  I've even used it to shine my stainless steel appliances.  If you're looking for a more traditional application, my favorite recipe using olive oil is this homemade pizza dough.

To learn more about olive oil, visit The Olive Oil Times.

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.

N is for NUTELLA

I admit it.  I'm nuts for Nutella!  I have been known to eat it with a spoon, but I prefer to put it into cookies and cakes and such.  Do you have any idea what kinds of baked goodness you can create with that little jar of chocolate hazelnut spread?

Nutella is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero  (you know, the folks who make Ferrero Rocher chocolates) and was introduced on world way back in 1963.

My kids like to put it on toast or in their sandwiches.  Peanut butter and Nutella.  Banana and Nutella.  Peanut butter, banana and Nutella.  Marshmallow fluff and Nutella.  They're all good!  Our youngest takes a Nutella and jelly sandwich to school in his lunch quite often. That way he can sit by his friend with a peanut allergy. 

A two-tablespoon serving of Nutella contains 200 calories and 11 grams of fat (3.5 of which are saturated).  It also contains 21 grams of sugar.  A typical chocolate and nut candy bar has 250 to 300 calories and 12 to 16 grams of fat.  Which might be why Ferrero was sued last year for claiming that Nutella was part of a healthy breakfast.  Whatever!  They only said it was "part" of a healthy breakfast.  Not the main part.

But I will make no attempts to deceive you about the health benefits of these Nutella recipes.  They are very, very unhealthy.  And very, very delicious! 

 

{Nutella Gooey Butter Cake}

 

{Nutella Magic Bars}

from Roxana's Home Baking

 

{Nutella Cupcakes}

from Chef in Training

 

{Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies}

 

*This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge--working my way through the alphabet in a culinary fashion.  All this month I'll be sharing A-Z posts featuring recipes, cooking and baking tips and thoughts on food in general.  From apples to ziti, I'll be covering it all during the month of April.