Labor Day Camping Round-up

Labor Day! Camping! You’re camping, right? I went camping last weekend (because I have other very important plans this weekend). So here are some of my insta-photos from that camping trip, plus a lil’ camp-food round up for ya!

…Oh, what are my very important plans, you ask? Well…since you asked…OMG you guys. Deathcab is playing Transatlanticism in full at Bumbershoot!!! AAHH! I’ve actually never been to Bumbershoot… I’m not a big music-festival fan. I mean, I like music. I like festivals. But, the crowds and stuff. I don’t know. I just don’t know. Wait… I’m not even sure I like festivals.

Anyway, Transatlanticism!!! Are you dying yet!? I am. That album was the soundtrack of my freshman year in college (which was 10 years ago…I’m old now). The. Soundtrack. Aside from Get Low—which I’m embarrassed to admit was my dance-party JAM that year (to the windows, to the walls!)—the most defining moments of my first two years of college include Ben Gibbard.

I’m not even kidding. Evan and I broke up to a song from that album two days after we first started dating. Tiny Vessels. How emo, right? Is emo even a thing anymore? And the Transatlanticism tour is the first show we ever went to together. At the Showbox. My friend V and I wore matching outfits to that show, which is kind of weird, right? So anyway, I’m going with Evan and his twinsie Mark. It’s going to be epic. We might cry. All 3 of us. I can’t wait. I’m freaking out a little.

Ok. Camping. GO!

• This video and Camp Cobbler from Happy Yolks kills me (in a good way).
• There’s some serious gourmet action happening with these 16 camping dinners from Sunset Magazine.
• I wish I knew about these camp-fire burritos last weekend!
• Retro camping photos are the best, check out this retro-camp-coffee cake.
• Forget everything above, and just make foil-packet dinners (which I call Girl Scout Packets, from my days at Girl Scout Camp). Need ideas? Here are 50 of ‘em.
• Sweet Paul’s bread on a stick… bread on one stick, hot dog on the other. Ammiright?
• I assume that Portland chefs know a thing or two about camping. Also… paella.

PS. If you make s’mores, please put berries in them. Fresh picked huckleberries if you can.

Baja-Maui Zucchini Tacos

Ok, I know the name for these tacos is a bit confusing. What's a Baja-Maui zucchini taco, you ask? 

Well… the Baja comes from Baja-style fish tacos. You know, battered/breaded fish tacos with creamy white sauce and cool, crunchy cabbage. So good! That's basically what these are. Except, instead of fish, they're filled with zucchini. Maui-style zucchini! When Evan and I went to Maui a million years ago, we had this awesome fried zucchini at a fish stand. It was coconutty and crunchy, breaded in panko, coconut, and black sesame seeds. 

I decided to recreate that delicious zucchini (but baked, instead of fried), and throw 'er in a Baja-style taco with tangy white sauce. Meatless Monday, at your service. Also guys and gals, this is a great way to use up those loads of zucchini you have on your hands. Not that I would ever complain about loads of zucchini (um, hello… gimme that goodness!), but I've heard you… you lucky jerks with your overflowing gardens. 

Get on these tacos, ASAP! 

Baja-Maui Zucchini Tacos

Makes 4-6 tacos

4 small-medium sized zucchini

1 cup flour

1 cup panko

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut milk

Salt & Pepper

Baja White Sauce (recipe below)

Shredded cabbage

Sliced green onions

Corn tortillas
lime wedges

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Cut zucchini in half, then cut lengthwise in quarters. 

Set up your breading station:

Plate #1: Flour, salt, pepper

Plate #2: panko, coconut, sesame seeds

Plate #3: eggs and coconut milk, whisked together until mixed

To bread, first coat zucchini stick in flour, then egg, then panko mix. It's best to do just one at a time, to avoid making a big messy breading clump. 

Arrange zucchini on baking sheet, with a little bit of space between each one. Salt breaded zucchini. Bake for around 15 minutes, until panko is crispy and golden, and zucchini is cooked but not soggy. 

To assemble: Heat corn tortillas, and fill with cabbage, zucchini, sauce, and green onions. Serve with lime wedges. 

Baja White Sauce

1/3 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon mayonnaise 

Juice from 1 lime

1 tablespoon coconut milk

Hot sauce (like Tapatio) 

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Salt & Pepper

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth, add more hot sauce or coconut milk, to taste. 

Road Trippin: Lake Shasta

Weekend before last, Amanda, Evan, and I road-tripped from Seattle to Lake Shasta, in northern California. We drove through Oregon's Willamette Valley wine country, and stopped at Ankeny winery… home to a super old cemetary and crazy red-eyed emu. We met up in Cali with Mel's side of the fam, for a little houseboat reunion.


Lake Shasta (or Shasta Lake, both work), is one of the most beautiful places ever. We had unbelievable sunsets each night, and the light is constantly changing, making the water glisten and sparkle at certain times, and turn a deep, dark greenish blue at others. And the red-orange shorelines contrast with the water, mountains, and trees beyond like you wouldn't believe. It's really a photographer's playground out there.  Not to mention we made a few friends, including a giant bald eagle that swooped down right next to us (and almost hauled off my little cousin!). We did a ton swimming and floating, ate and drank, and played a whole lot of Barbies (again, little cousin). Here are a few of my favorite shots from the winery and the lake. 

Raspberry Blueberry Muffins

Fall is just around the corner, and I love it and hate it. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to long, sunny, cloudless summer days. To tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes are supposed to taste. To flip flops and tank tops. I actually love fall, a lot… but it's short, and just around the corner from fall, is winter and spring. Seattle winters and springs mean nothing but grey skies and rain.

I'm really excited for fall cooking—chili and pumpkin everything—but I don't want to wish away the sun too soon. Stop it with the candy corn, grocery stores, it's still summer! It's only August! I'm trying to soak up the last of this beautiful summer, and eat as much summer produce as I can. Tomatoes, berries, corn, zucchini, peaches…on everything, all the time. 

Use up your fresh summer raspberries and blueberries in these muffins (ps. they're so ripe and good right now!) but don't let fall or winter stop you…in a few months, you can still make them, but with frozen berries. This is the pretty much the basic muffin recipe from Fannie Farmer, which Mel made (with huckleberries) my entire life. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing, but I've seriously never had a muffin I like more than these, flavor and texture. They taste like my childhood. And like summer. And, they're super duper easy. 

PS. Cut open a hot muffin and slather on some butter… trust me, you won't regret it. There's no other way.

Raspberry Blueberry Muffins

Adapted slightly from Fannie Farmer

Makes 12

2 cups all purpose flour 

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 (overflowing) fresh raspberries

1/2 cup (overflowing) fresh blueberries

Course turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375, and grease 12 muffin tins. 

Reserve 1/4 cup of the flour, and toss with the berries. Whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add egg, milk, and butter. Stir until flour is damp and everything is just combined, but don't over mix. Lumps are ok! Gently stir in the flour coated berries. Fill muffin tins, sprinkle with course sugar, and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Hatch Chile Rellenos

Some like it hot.

And some run to the kitchen to ice their flaming lips and cry like little babies and soak their burning hot hands/faces/mouths in olive oil and ice cream and butter and baking soda.

Guys… I’ll admit it, I’m not a major heat seeker. I mean, I’m a 2 star kinda gal. But really, these peppers were hot. Blazing, blistering, freakin’ hot.

So, everyone knows that Hatch Chiles from New Mexico are like, the bees knees, right? Well, when I saw that Whole Foods had fresh NM Hatch Chiles, I went a little crazy with excitement. I love a good (mild-to-medium) green chile. And Amanda’s boyfriend Pete’s family lives in NM and has a chile farm (ranch?) for crying out loud. With visions of chile rellenos dancing in my head, I tweeted Whole Foods to find out which store had the goods, then sent Amanda to pick up our loot.

Well, unknowingly, Amanda selected peppers from the HOT side of the bin… not the mild-to-medium side. So we made these super beautiful chile rellenos—stuffed peppers that even Pete’s peck-of-pepper-picking (er, growing) mom would be proud of—took a bite, and… holy effing hell. HOOOboy.

Oh. My. Bejeezus. those peppers were hot. I think only 2 in the whole batch were edible! Yowza! Amanda’s hands were on fire from peeling the peppers, my lips felt like they were melting off my face from ONE FREAKING BITE!

The two not-hots that made it into Amanda’s basket were actually really, really delicious. So, you should definitely make this recipe. Tasty green chile peppers wrapped around melty jack cheese, battered and fried up all golden… it’s a winner. But make sure you choose from the mild bin. Or have sour cream/ice/ice cream/fire extinguishers on hand.

Good luck.

Chile Rellenos

Adapted from this recipe 

There are a few steps involved, so be sure to read through the whole recipe before getting started!

10 large whole green chiles, with stems

1 lb jack cheese, cut into strips

1 cup flour                        

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder           

1/2 teaspoon salt                    

1 cup milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Oil for frying       

Optional for serving:

Cotija cheese

Sour cream

Red or green chile sauce     

First, you need to blister the peppers and remove the skin: Roast the peppers, either on the grill, under the broiler, or on a gas burner, turning occasionally, until blackened and blistered on all sides.

Put hot blistered peppers in a paper bag, and roll tightly to seal. Let the chiles steam until cool, about 15 minutes. Gently scrape away and discard the skins, slit the peppers open lengthwise on one side (below the stem), and gently remove the seeds.

While the peppers are steaming in the bag, prepare your batter: Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Stir in eggs and milk until smooth.

To assemble and cook: Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium-high heat. Fill peeled peppers with cheese strips, being careful not to rip pepper, and roll closed. Dip in batter. Fry, turning once, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Lemon Cake with Blackberry Buttercream

I made this cake, and it's delicious, and you should probably make it too. It's also really pretty. My blackberry frosting turned out bright pink (that's all the berries, no food coloring here!), which would be SO CUTE at a girl's baby shower. But I didn't make it for a baby shower, I made it for Amanda's birthday, which was also SO CUTE. 


Guys, I wish I could tell you more about this cake right now, or about how the decoration job on this is "rustic" because I'm super impatient with frosting things (cut out sugar cookies are the worst), but really, I'm a little busy. Catching up on episodes of Parenthood in preparation for season 5. OMG. I laugh. I cry. Every single episode of that show is an emotional roller coaster. I'm out of control. 


Ok, now I just talked about baby showers, Parenthood, and emotional roller coasters in one blog post. Don't get the wrong idea, folks… I know what you were thinking. You and your filthy minds. 




Just make this cake already! 

Lemon Cake with Blackberry Buttercream

Cake

Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/2 cups  all purpose flour (or 2.5 cups plus 2.5 tablespoons cake flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup milk

1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour two 8X2 inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour. 

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.

In a large bowl (I used stand mixer) beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Turn speed to low and mix in eggs and yolks, one at a time, scrape down bowl. Mix in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Alternately mix in flour mixture and milk (scraping down bowl each time) beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.

Divide batter between pans and smooth the tops. Bake until cakes start to pull away from sides of pans, about 32 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes, then run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack.

While cakes are baking, bring remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, lower heat, add lemon slices, and simmer for 25 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer lemon slices to a sheet of waxed-paper. Stir remaining 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice into syrup.

Using a toothpick, poke holes in warm cakes on rack. Brush with lemon syrup. Let cool completely before frosting. Decorate with candied lemon slices and fresh blackberries, and drizzle any a bit of remaining lemons syrup over berries. 

Frosting

Adapted slightly from this recipe


1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature


4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup blackberry puree (from about 1 cup of loosely measured blackberries--see below for puree directions)


1 tsp vanilla extract


pinch salt


Puree the blackberries in a small food processor or with immersion blender. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, using a rubber spatula to press the juice and puree through. 

In a large bowl (I used electric mixture with paddle attachment) cream the butter at medium speed for 1 minute. Reduce speed to low, and (carefully, so you it doesn't go flying everywhere) add in the powdered sugar and pinch of salt. Mix until combined, then add the vanilla and blackberry puree. Increase speed to medium, and beat until smooth. 

It might look a bit separated at first, keep beating. If it's too runny, just add a bit more sugar, and likewise, if it's too stiff, add a bit of liquid (either a splash of milk or puree some more blackberries).