Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I hosted this month's  Food'N'Flix  and I chose  The Lunchbox*.  You can read my invitation:  here .  Unlike most of the films I've selected for the group, I had never actually watched this movie. But I'm so glad I did!  The group shared recipes for everything from a mango cocktail to curries and, even, the paratha  that serve as the "envelopes" for the correspondence between Ila and Saajan. On Our Plates... I am sharing The Lunchbox- inspired dishes in order that I received them from the bloggers. What a delicious looking Smörgåsbord of Indian food! I can't wait to try these dishes. Kimberly of Coffee and Casseroles made Mistaken Identity Wings . I love that, even though she has been a vegetarian since 2001, she whipped up these wings in a honey garlic sauce for her mom. Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm poured a Mango Cooler   made with a mango paste that she says resembles marmalade in texture and would be fa...

The  Secret Recipe Club  has a fun, themed - fifth Monday - event that blurs the lines between the groups. You can be assigned to any other participating blogger in groups A through D. Our theme this month: Leprechaun & Bunnies. We've been tasked to focus on foods for St. Patrick's Day (corned beef hash, anything green, etc.) and Easter (carrot cake, spring dishes, etc.) since March has both holidays this year! I was assigned to  Making Miracles , a blog written by Rebekah. Now, even though we've never met in real life, I feel as if Rebekah and I are good friends. We've been in the same cooking circles for awhile and she has taken part in every multi-blogger event I've coordinated in the past two years. So, I was excited to be assigned to dig deeper into her creations. Initially I leaned towards the "bunnies" part of this assignment, considering our St. Patrick's Day dinner is remarkably the same every year. Corned Beef. Cabbage. And Iris...

For this Sunday Supper we are celebrating pies! Definition of a Pie Before I decided on what I wanted to share, I looked at my previous pie posts and chuckled at this conversation from a few years ago when we were discussing: What makes a pie a pie? Sensibly, my Precise Kitchen Elf said, "A pie has no frosting." True . My Love declared, "It's the crust." Okay . And my sweet, Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf asserted, "A pie has a crust...and is low to the ground." Huh . "You know, a cake can be tall; a pie is short." Employing all three of those criteria - no frosting, a crust, and low to the ground - a galette can qualify as a pie. So can a tart, right? Our host for this event is Erica from   The Crumby Cupcake   and she seems to embrace a loose definition of a pie, too. She wrote: " Shortcrust, puff pastry, two-crust, one-crust, crumb crusts, with all sorts of fillings from fruit or nuts, to cheese or meat. Or mak...

Earlier this month, I reviewed Culinary Tea . It's been inspiring me ever since. For a quick dinner this week, I adapted the Tung Ting Shrimp recipe since I didn't have any Tung Ting tea or spinach. My green tea and baby arugula version was tasty and simple. I will definitely be making this again soon. Ingredients 5 T tea, I used Jeju Island green tea 5 C water, divided into 4 C + 1 C 1 t sea salt 1 to 2 lbs shrimp, cleaned and peeled (I left the tail on) 1/4 C rice wine 1/4 C gin (I prefer Hendricks) 1/2 C rice vinegar 4 to 5 garlic gloves, peeled and minced 2 T fresh ginger, minced 1 T fresh lemongrass, minced 1 T toasted sesame oil 1 T fish sauce 4 C baby arugula 1 T black sesame seeds Procedure Place 1 T tea leaves in a bowl. Heat water to steaming (just before it boils) and pour 1 C water over the tea leaves and let steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Strain out the leaves and reserve the tea. Place remaining 4 T tea leaves in a large bowl ...

As another entree for the blueberry baby shower last weekend, I made Blueberry Chutney-Glazed Chicken Thighs. So easy. Ingredients makes a dozen 12 organic, bone-in chicken thighs 6 cloves garlic, crushed 1-1/2 t ground cardamom 1-1/2 t ground paprika 1 t ground ginger 1 t ground coriander 1 T ground cumin 1 t ground turmeric 1 t freshly ground sea salt 1 t freshly ground black pepper olive oil red wine blueberry chutney (my recipe here ) Procedure Place chicken thighs in a lidded container where they can lay flat in a single layer. Add the remaining ingredients and rub the spices into the meat. Drizzle with olive oil and red wine. Cover the container. Refrigerate overnight. Remove chicken from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you want to start cooking. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place chicken in a baking dish. Drizzle with more olive oil. Roast in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, or until chicken is browned and crisp and...

I wasn't sure I would share this for the  Foodie Reads 2016 Challenge , but when my (little) foodies read this book, cuddled on the couch, giggling to themselves multiple times, I changed my mind. They are both in middle school; they read novels and textbooks. But they read this board book until I took it away to wrap it as a baby shower gift. We all have smaller foodies in our lives, right? Maybe they are our kids, our grandkids, our nieces, nephews, or just good friends. And we all have opinions about our food.  Yummy Yucky  by Leslie Patricelli* illustrates the differences between those two adjectives in a charming way. "Spaghetti is yummy. Worms are yucky." "Blueberries are yummy. Blue crayons are yucky." I remember a time in my life when I didn't read anything other than board books. I didn't have the energy to read for myself. But I read to the boys constantly. I'm glad those days are done and that they read constantly ...

Inspired by the Quinoa & White Bean Salad I made with my Sun Basket ingredients earlier this month for #FreshTastyValentines, I decided to create a version for my friend's blueberry-themed baby shower. This salad teems with flavor and different textures. Another bonus, it was a great vegan entree for our one vegan friend in attendance. Ingredients serves 12 2 C rainbow quinoa 2 C navy beans, drained and rinsed 1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced olive oil 1 C dried blueberries 2 T fresh cilantro 1/2 t smoked paprika pinch ground sumac freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper arugula lemon vinaigrette (recipe below) 1/2 C fresh blueberries for garnish zest from 1 organic lemon for garnish Lemon Vinaigrette ½ C freshly squeezed lemon juice ⅓ C olive oil ¼ C balsamic vinegar 1 T whole grain mustard 2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced 2 T organic maple syrup freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper Procedure Quinoa Cook till ligh...

I am hosting this month's  Food'N'Flix  and I picked  The Lunchbox*.  You can read my invitation: here .  Unlike most of the films I've selected for the group, I had never actually watched this movie. But I read about it; and the premise seemed interesting. On the Screen... Every day in Mumbai, dabba wallahs  pick-up (from home kitchens) and hand deliver (mainly to offices) a quarter of a million hot meals all across the city. It's an intricate network that requires Swiss precision timing and numerous handoffs from  dabba wallah  to  dabba wallah . As the title suggests, the movie revolves around a lunchbox, specifically a glitch in the lunchbox system. Despite what the  dabba wallah insists when Ila confronts him with the error; he insists that they never make mistakes, citing that even Harvard studied their system. Regardless there has been an error and the lunches that Ila, a neglected housewife, is making and packin...

I'm on Orphan-detail today for the  Secret Recipe Club  - for someone in Group D - and I am  so  excited about having been introduced to Nicola of  Lemon and Cheese . What a lovely blog! One of the reasons I always volunteer to help out an SRC orphan is to meet new foodie bloggers. And Nicola is definitely one to follow. She's a London-based librarian and you can almost tell that from her recipe index. It's organized by ingredient and cross-referenced by categories, both broad and specific.  She shares that she tends to " stick to simple cookery, with lovely fresh ingredients as well as a few helpful freezer items!"  She's a prolific cook, so it was hard to decide. For instance, she has nearly twenty gratin recipes and thirty sausage recipes!  I was immediately drawn to her Merguez, Egg, and Yoghurt as a hearty brunch or even dinner. Her Guatemalan Green Chicken Stew looked quick and delicious. I was eyeing her Hake Bobotie because ...

When a friend was hosting a blueberry potluck brunch - the theme is based on what our pregnant friend and her husband are calling their soon-to-be-born baby, Blueberry, since they aren't sharing his real name just yet - and I, naturally, applied it to my brunch dishes. I wanted to serve Salmon en Papillote and decided that pickled blueberries would pair nicely with that. Done. I've made pickled blueberries before. But I wanted to change it up as the onions were a little too piquant for my tastes. So, in this version, I softened the onions before putting them together with the blueberries. Ingredients 1 red onion, thinly sliced splash of olive oil 1 C rice vinegar 1 C apple cider vinegar 1/3 C organic granulated sugar 1 t sea salt 1 cinnamon stick 1 t pink peppercorns 6 juniper berries 2 bay leaves 2 pints organic blueberries Procedure In a small skillet cook the onions in a splash of olive oil until they are softened and trans...