Oven-Roasted Salmon with Chili and Olive Oil

For the last year or so, this dinner has been on our menu almost weekly. It makes each and every one of us happy, the kids included. Considering how finicky they can be when it comes to their food, I hold this fact with pride... My Kids Love Salmon!

Oven-Roasted Salmon with Chili and Olive Oil

1 side wild-caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Chili Powder
Coarse Salt
Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Drizzle Olive oil on roasting pan or cookie sheet. Place salmon skin side down on the olive oil. Drizzle more oil over the salmon, then season with coarse salt, chili powder, and black pepper.

Roast for 25-35 minutes, or until the salmon flakes when pulled apart with a fork.

We like to eat our salmon with steamed brown rice and some of my home-canned green beans.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (Dairy-Free)

Well, my dears, it is that lovely time of year again. Everywhere we turn its Pumpkin-this and Pumpkin-that, mouth-watering yummy-ness just waiting for us to pounce. To help keep our waistlines and pocketbook in check, I came up with this favorite after-school treat.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

One 13.5 ounce can Unsweetened Organic Coconut Milk (my favorite is Native Forest)
Half of a 15 ounce can plain Organic Pumpkin (I like Farmer's Market brand)
Two 16 ounce tumblers of crushed ice
1/3 cup Real Maple Syrup (or sweetener of your choosing; sweeten to your taste)
1 heaping teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon Ground Ginger

Blend until smooth. Sip through a glass straw... Yum.

And, if you feel like changing things up a little, throw in a handful of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (to keep it dairy-free; if you don't have to avoid dairy, then by all means use whatever mini chips you prefer). Pumpkin and Chocolate are a match that could have only been made in Heaven.

Spiced Peach Shortcake

You know you need another reason to eat some of those delicious Summer peaches that are ripe right now, don't you? And all the better if those amazingly tartandsweetatthesametime stone fruits are presented in an old-fashioned way.

Add a little dollop of cinnamon whipped cream to the top of a slice of this perfectly moist dessert cake and you'll be instantly transported to your Grandmother's back porch swing on the most quintessential Summer evening of your life.

Spiced Peach Shortcake

2 just-right Peaches, sliced into 16ths
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Sugar
1 ¾ tsp. Baking Powder
pinch of Salt
6 Tbspn. Butter
¾ cup Milk
Cinnamon
Raw Sugar crystals

Preheat oven to 400. Grease and flour an 8-inch round cake pan.

Stir flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl until combined. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour the milk over the flour mixture. Toss with a fork just until blended. Do not over mix.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Smooth top. Arrange peaches over batter in circular pattern. Sprinkle with cinnamon and raw sugar.

Bake at 400 until wooden pick inserted into center of cake is withdrawn clean and top is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool 15 minutes.

Invert cake onto plate. Return to upright position on wire rack. Cool until serving time.

This cake is quite possibly even more delicious with pear slices on top. I might try it with blueberries next. I have also made this cake without fruit on top (just the sugar in the raw), and served it with strawberries and cream. It makes the BEST shortcake ever. The cake shown in these photos was a recipe and a half baked in a 10 inch pan.

If you aren't drooling by now, there is something very wrong and you need to go see a psyciatrist immediately.

Pork Carnitas with Fresh Pineapple and Cilantro

Finding dinner recipes that don't include gluten, dairy or eggs really isn't that hard. But finding dinner recipes that meet the criteria and also appeal to the limited taste buds of a certain 7 year old, now that's another story.

Enter this recipe for Pork Carnitas, and my own added variation of grilled corn tortillas, brown rice, fresh pineapple and cilantro... Yum!

The pork takes a total of about 5 hours to prepare, but the rest of the ingredients are so simple it really makes up for the added effort of scheduling your day around cooking meat.

Even though he didn't eat the cilantro and ate all the other parts separately, I still consider it a win-win combo.

Let me know if you try it, and how you like it!

Chai Fireball Whiskey Tea

A few days ago I came across a yummy looking recipe on Pinterest. I had none of the specific ingredients on hand, but figured it, like all other recipes I encounter, was more a rule of thumb that could be tweaked, than a law that had to be followed to the letter.

So I did.

Yesterday, on a no-school day, as I sat in a cold house waiting for our chimney guy to fix a leak, I knew it was time to  give it a try.

I didn't have the called-for tea, but I did have some bags of Stash decaf Chai Tea. And as I reached for the bottle of Bourbon in the pantry, my eyes spotted Fireball, just sitting there innocently minding its own business.

But of course!

Tea bag and hot water in the pot and a generous splash of whiskey into my teacup...

Pour in the steeped tea...

 sip... yum.

I still want to give that other recipe a try, but for now, I have the means to stay completely warmed through.

Sausage Quiche with Red Potato Crust

Lately, our girls have been laying eggs like crazy. We're gathering 6 or 8 each and every day without fail. Crazy amazing to be able to have a complete dinner at your beck and call any day of the week.

Crazy crazy to have so many eggs they take up an entire section of your refrigerator and you're forced to eat them much more often than your children would like. Almost everyone agreed that this night, dinner was great. Fifty percent is almost everyone, isn't it? Some days I'd prefer that my kiddo's taste in food didn't count at all.

Some days I'm Mean Mama and make them choke down every last bite of whatever happens to taste like poison to them, even though it is amazing and delicious and nutritious and everything that is good  on a plate.

Slice up some red potatoes, super thin, and arrange them, overlapping, around the sides and completely covering the bottom of a pie dish. If you're using Pyrex or metal, you should oil or grease the pan. I like to use my stoneware dish for this meal, which requires no greasing whatsoever.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, which is just long enough to get some yummy sausage browned up. I really like Isernio's Chicken Italian Sausage. Talk about good on a plate.

Scatter the browned sausage over the lightly-baked potato crust, then cover with a generous amount of sharp cheddar cheese. I'm partial to Tillamook brand. But then I'm an Oregonian, and Tillamook brand is everywhere here, and almost local, being just a weensie bit outside the 100-mile diet zone.

Scramble up a dozen eggs with salt and pepper and a couple glugs of milk. Pour the egg mixture over the cheesy pile of sausage.

Bake in the 375 oven for about 45 minutes, depending on how generous your glugs of milk were and how hot your oven cooks. I probably added on another 10 minutes total, because my center was a bit too jiggly for my taste.

Slice and eat... yum!

Rustic Supper

Step 1: Pick a pile of assorted organic/in-season veggies from your garden.

Step 2: Wash, trim, and otherwise prep veggies, then roughly chop them into irregular chunks.

Step 3: Scatter veggie chunks in a large roasting pan or deep-sided cooking sheet.

Step 4: Drizzle with a healthy dose of olive oil, coarse salt and cracked pepper.

Step 5: Add about a cup of water, then cover well with tinfoil.

Step 6: Cook in a 450 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Step 7: Remove foil. Add chunks of pre-cooked sausage and additional tender veggies.

Step 8: Cook for 15 minutes, flip sausages, then cook for 15 minutes more.

Step 9: Scoop onto your plate and savor the most perfect dinner you could possibly imagine.

A Very Chocolatey Zucchini Cake

There are already a million other recipes on the web for Chocolate Zucchini Cake. Probably a few more in your recipe boxes too. So I don't expect you to drop everything, thinking my recipe is in any way the best out there. But it is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I started with this one, making changes to suit my taste.

Much more cocoa, for one. If I'm going to eat chocolate, its gotta be r e a l l y chocolatey. So chocolatey that the flavor lingers on my tastebuds for an eternity after the last crumb has been swallowed.

I'll never claim to be the end-all expert on baking or chocolate, but if your current version of this recipe is somewhat lacking, you might want to give mine a try.

A Very Chocolatey Buttermilk Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups grated zucchini, skin left on, but seeds removed
dark chocolate chunks, to taste

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a bundt or angel-food cake pan.

Cream together the butter, oil, and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla.

All at once, add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until just combined. Fold in the grated zucchini.

Pour batter into prepared pan, then sprinkle the top liberally with the dark chocolate chunks. I suppose you could use milk chocolate if you prefer, but in my opinion, the darker the chocolate, the better.

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched by your finger (or your preferred method of testing for done-ness).

Let cool slightly, then slice and serve. We like a dab of cream cheese frosting or vanilla ice cream with ours, but this cake can also stand easily on its own, with a frosty glass of milk, or steaming mug of coffee.

Enjoy!

Wildflower Meadows, Paella, and the Farmboy

Sorry for the late post today. A morning playdate and afternoon chores have turned my regular schedule on its head. No matter... its good to be upside-down every so often. Good for the circulation.

In answer to some of your easier questions...

How did you develop that beautiful wildflower meadow?
Sadly for you, (since it means I have no tried and true tips to give you) but gladly for us, we have done absolutely nothing other than a couple of mow jobs each year to maintain/develop our meadow. The flowers (Oxeye Daisies, Red Clover, and Catsear) are all invasive species originating in other countries, but are now wide-spread weeds in our area. Not that I'm complaining too much, since I adore that field, but I wonder what native flowers would be growing in our meadow if the intruders hadn't been introduced to American soil?

My best advice for developing your own meadow, based on reading I've done in the past, is to gather or purchase seed from native wildflowers to sow in the Fall or Spring. You could also have the soil tested to see if it is lacking in any vital nutrients and check with your local community college to see if they have an expert on local native plants; we've found that our community college is a great resource when it comes to valuable information for taking care of our bit of forest.

 (Another wildflower meadow wallpaper for you... click, save, and enjoy!)

When do you expect to release "Baby, its Cold Outside"?
Beginning of September! I'm hoping to have an additional Christmas-y design ready to release at the same time, so stay tuned, and get those red and green threads ready!

Is cooking Paella over coals important? 
And have you tweaked your recipe now that you've tried it a few times?
No... cooking the Paella over coals is only important if you're using a giant pan that is way too big to fit on your stove top. I purchased a pan specifically sized to fit on my round grill, because we wanted Paella night to be an event, rather than just regular old dinner cooked in the kitchen. There are a bajillion variations of traditional Paella, and plenty of recipes online that are specifically geared for smaller batch cooking in the kitchen.

The only tweaking I've done to the version posted here is the addition of Paprika, which is a perfect flavor compliment to the Saffron, in my opinion. I don't generally measure spices, but a generous sprinkling over the surface, when adding the salt and pepper seems to be just right.

The last time I prepared Paella was just a few weeks ago, and one of our dinner guests eats a Kosher diet, so I left the sausages out, and it was still fabulous. Wanna see?

Which also covers the request to see more photos of me with my hunky husband. (wink) Generally speaking, he is not a fan of getting his picture taken, and since I'm usually behind the camera, you won't often see us together and smiling at the same time. But I'll do my level best to showcase our faces a little more often. Perhaps some self-portraits or the First-Grader's camera will do.

Making Hamburger Buns

This past weekend, I ate what was perhaps the best burger of my life. Which reminded me that I still haven't shared my bun recipe with you. Which got me thinking about how fabulous you all are, and that you certainly deserve to have me follow through when I make promises. So here we are, and I know what you're going to eat this weekend...

Trust me on this one.

First, make the buns. You need to start at least 2 hours in advance of dinner. Or at least that's how long it takes me and my bread machine to get them made. If you don't have a bread machine and enjoy doing the kneading by hand, more power to you! I like to knead too, but find that I'm much more likely to go with home-made if I can rely on my machine now and then. Besides, this recipe has butter in it, and I haven't quite mastered the ability to knead butter into flour.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
1 cup warm water
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tbspn. sugar
3 tsp. active dry yeast

Add ingredients to your bread machine hopper in the order they are listed. Turn to the dough setting, and press start. In about an hour and a half, the dough will be ready to handle.

Roll the dough out of the pan onto a floured board. Divide into 8 equal pieces. Form round balls out of each piece, setting them onto an oiled or greased cookie sheet, giving them room to grow. Let them rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes, or until they have doubled in size.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool, then slice and start assembling your toppings.

 If you want to duplicate my epiphany from last weekend, make your patties following my go-to late Summer recipe, which was inspired by my exuberantly growing Dill. While the buns and burgers are cooking, caramelize a sliced Walla-Walla sweet onion on your stovetop, preferably in a cast iron pan with lots of butter.

Assemble your burger, placing your toppings on the bottom bun in this order: yellow mustard, burger patty with melted cheese, sliced dill pickles, sliced avocado, and a generous pile of caramelized onions.

Make sure you have a napkin handy, and eat slow! You're going to wish you had room for seconds.

Raspberry Dutch Baby

I know... here I am, blogging about food again. But for Heaven's sake, stop the presses! Put down whatever you have in your hands and rush to your nearest Farmer's Market. Buy up all of their remaining Raspberries, because you are going to want to try a bite of this perfection:

 We are at the tail end of our Summer Raspberry crop. Yesterday, as I picked, I found myself alternating between extreme happiness that I could gain back about 8 hours a week, and such sadness over losing the fresh flavor of just-picked Raspberries, which happen to be my all-time favorite of the Berry Cousins.

Glancing down, and seeing the paltry collection of end-of-season misfits, I decided to do something extraordinary with them. Well, at the time, I thought it was pretty run-of-the-mill, just a re-mix of a family classic.

But one bite was all it took to let me know that I had been oh, so wrong. There is nothing ordinary about creamy, fluffy, tart and sweet, all mingled together in a puddle of buttery goodness.

Raspberry Dutch Baby

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups white flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
8 eggs
raspberries, preferably fresh (but if you only have frozen, and as long as they aren't stuck together and you can sprinkle them over the top of the batter, then go right ahead) I used a full pound and a half, because that is exactly how much my bushes had to give.

Put the big ol' piece of butter in the pan of your choice (I use my 12 inch cast iron skillet, but you could use a baking dish too). Place the dish in your oven and preheat to 400.

Whisk together the milk, flour, salt and ginger until it is as smooth as you can get it. Don't worry about a smattering of small lumps. Add the eggs and whisk until fully combined.

Once the oven is hot and the butter in the pan is completely melted, remove the pan, swirl the butter around to coat all surfaces. there will still be a generous amount of liquid gold in your pan. I suppose you could pour the extra out, but what would Julia say?

Pour your egg batter into your pan, then generously sprinkle those berries over the entire surface.

Pop your pan back in the oven and wait for 20-30 minutes, or until the center is cooked through. Serve with a drizzle of local honey and nothing more.

You can thank me later.

Triumph!

For the last almost-13 years, the whitening of my husband's dingy undershirts has eluded me. I considered myself to be a partial failure in the world of laundresses. Socks, undies, and those darn tees, never quite white, never staying pristine for long.

I blamed it on our water, on my home-made laundry soap, on poor quality bleach, on a lifestyle that closely involves dirt and sweat, then I finally threw up my hands and blamed it on myself.

With yet another stack of beyond-wearing undershirts ready to be cut up for rags, I was grumbling to myself a few days ago. I mentioned the shirts to my Mother in Law and she said that she always had the same problem. Then my Mom told me that she never struggled with undershirts, but her bed sheets were permanently stained. The culprit? Body oil, we all assumed.

I started to think that perhaps I wasn't a failed laundress after all. Perhaps the odds were just stacked against me from the start. I married a hard-working man who sweats and gets dirty, and those undershirts are just collateral damage.

Then, I stumbled upon an image on Pinterest of a pile of dingy, stained whites that looked identical to my pile. And along with the image were instructions for a cure. I was skeptical. I had already tried everything. But there was that pile, and it was going to be cut up anyway, so it couldn't hurt to try, right?

I didn't even take a "before" picture. That tells you how skeptical I was.

Wanna know something?

IT WORKED!!!

 Fortunately, I found one lonely undershirt that had escaped my sweep, so I could take a picture to prove to you at long last, that I have conquered the evil villain Laundry.

Here's what I did:

Set the washer to the hottest setting. Put in the pile of offending whites. Added 1 regular scoop of laundry soap, 1/2 cup of Borax, and 1 cup of powdered dishwasher detergent. Let the laundry soak for 2 or 3 hours. Washed again, this time with laundry soap and bleach. Ta da!

Happy dance in the laundry room! Pinterest, I think I love you.

Blueberry Dutch Baby

Its whats for dinner. Mmm hm.

These photos are from last week, but it was such a hit with the kids AND the Daddy that I'll be pulling it out again tonight.

We have had a blitz family weekend, and I am wiped out this morning. Can't imagine cooking anything for dinner any more involved than a few eggs, whisked together with milk and flour, and cooked in a generous amount of butter to make a plate of perfection. Add some blueberries, and it transcends good to become something truly stunning.

blitz  n.  \blits\
   1. a heavy aerial bombardment
   2. an intense campaign
   3. in football, a sudden charge upon the quarterback

Starting around 10 am Friday morning and not letting up until last night around 9 pm, we had gathering after gathering of Twist family members. Our celebration was in honor of the Farmboy's Aunt and Uncle, who were in town visiting for the first time since our 4 year old was about 3 months old.

I think I probably took about three thousand pictures over the course of the last few days, aided by a new lens that I am pretty excited about. But that's a story for another day. And the photos of the family weekend will have to wait until at least tomorrow (can you stand the suspense???).

Blueberry Dutch Baby

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups white flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
8 eggs
blueberries, frozen or fresh

Put the big ol' piece of butter in the pan of your choice (I use my 12 inch cast iron skillet, but you could use a baking dish too). Place the dish in your oven and preheat to 425.

Whisk together the milk, flour, salt and nutmeg until it is as smooth as you can get it. Don't worry about a smattering of small lumps. Add the eggs and whisk until fully combined.

Once the oven is hot and the butter in the pan is completely melted, remove the pan, swirl the butter around to coat all surfaces. there will still be a generous amount of liquid gold in your pan. I suppose you could pour the extra out, but what would Julia say?

Add your blueberries to the bottom of the pan. I can't tell you how many berries I used. I have a ton of them frozen from last summer, and I dumped in enough to nearly cover the bottom of the pan.

Drizzle your egg batter over the blueberries. If you dump it all in the middle, it will push the berries to the outside edges and you'll have a giant berry-less void in the middle of your pan. But drizzle it carefully and methodically until you are finished and every single bite will burst with antioxidants flavor.

Pop your pan back in the oven and wait for 20-30 minutes, or until the center is cooked through. Serve with a drizzle of local honey or some powdered sugar and lemon juice. Oh yes!

P.S. Did anyone see the smile? I know. I just can't seem to escape them. Please tell me I'm not alone.