Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month Jane from  Always Ravenous  is hosting the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers for a fun look at California food and wine pairings. She's calling the theme: Tasting California: Cookbook Tour paired with California Wines. Initially she wanted us to work with  What’s Gaby Cooking: Eat What You Want: 125 Recipes for Real Life  by Gaby Dalkin, but the book isn't released until next month; in any case, you can read Jane's invitation post:  here .  My official event post will be coming out later this week, but I decided to do some bonus California pours. And I had a 2018 Castle Rock Rosé of Pinot Noir from Monterey County in the fridge. I decided to make an Indian-spiced fried chicken. I'll get to that in a bit. In the Glass At just over $10 a bottle, this wine easily qualifies as an everyday sipper. It boasts a beautiful salmon color. Additionally, its herbal aroma and medium body make it an incredibly satisfying pour. The texture was smoo...

I have a prolific Meyer lemon tree just outside my back door. And when I received the Better Zester from  KitchenIQ *  as a sponsor gift for #FreshTastyValentines, I knew that I had to do something with Meyer lemon zest for the event. I did make a great vinaigrette that I will share soon, but I decided to share another sweet treat. It's not too sweet and it is completely unique. On that "unique" note, I have to admit that this wasn't a hit with all three of my valentines. Jake said the ginger and matcha competed on your palate (okay, those weren't his exact words, but that was the gist of his critique); R said that it was too dry; and D actually liked them. So, next time, I might use honey instead of ginger syrup and I'll add more coconut oil to make them more moist. But, D and I thought these were fine as is. So, I'm sharing them.   Ingredients makes 8 to 10 truffles 1/2 C ground almonds (or use almond meal) 1/2 C ground coconut (or use co...

Ingredients For the Cheese 1 C raw cashews, soaked overnight and drained juice of 1 lemon, approximately 1/3 C 1/3 C water 1 T organic coconut oil 1 t raw apple cider vinegar dash of salt For the Pesto 1  C fresh basil leaves, torn 2 garlic cloves 1/3 C raw pistachio nuts olive oil, as needed 1 t salt To assemble 1 to 2 T sliced tomatoes confit or sun-dried tomatoes To serve 1 T chopped hazelnuts vegan crackers Procedure In a blender, or food processor, blend all of the pesto ingredient together until you have a thick paste. Line a ramekin with plastic wrap. In a blender, or food processor, blend all of the cheese ingredients together until smooth. Spoon part of the mixture into the prepared ramekin. Spoon in a layer of pesto. Lay sliced tomatoes on top of the pesto. Top with remaining cheese. Refrigerate, or freeze, until set. Mine took several hours. To serve, invert the cheese onto a serving platter. T...

We are no longer doing our dairy-free experiment. Thank goodness! While Jake was trying it out, I did discover that making homemade nut milk is so easy and much better than store bought nut milk; I also realized that I can give up any food except for cheese.  There is no good dairy-free substitute for cheese. Sorry, vegan friends. Your soy, nut, et al cheeses are awful. Trust me, I spent a lot of money, trying every single brand during Jake's one month experiment. Awful, I tell you. If I had to give up dairy for allergy reasons, I would survive. Somehow. But I would be unhappy. Since dairy-free was just an experiment, the day it ended, I ran to the Cheese Shop and bought five different kinds of cheese! Still, I do play with baking dairy-free. This morning, I made dairy-free pumpkin muffins. Here's how the conversation at our breakfast table went this morning... R: What's for breakfast, Mommy? C: Pumpkin muffins, figs, and kale smoothies. R: Hooray, M...

This weekend we had a birthday party dinner - under the redwoods - for my husband. He's finally 40! Because we were camping, I decided that I wasn't going to lug a birthday cake to the woods. I have done that. It's not as easy as you would think. But the boys both insisted that Daddy needed something to hold his candles. Really?!? I decided to bake some candle-holding brownies. And I wanted to use the coconut flour I received from Morning Pep .* A friend asked, after seeing this photo: how many people does it take to light all of Jake's candles?! A lot, apparently. And there weren't even forty candles. There were only 36 in the box. Whoops. Ingredients makes two 8" round pans 2/3 C coconut oil 1 C cocoa powder 12 eggs 1 C coconut sugar 1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk) pinch of salt splash of pure vanilla extract 1 C coconut flour (I used  Morning Pep ) 1/2 C chocolate chips (I used  Pacari Chocolate * ) Pr...

Can this really be the first time I'm posting with this group?? It might be. I love the idea behind the Crazy Ingredient Challenge, hosted by Dawn of Spatulas on Parade ; it's akin to the Improv Cooking Challenge that I joined a couple of months ago. We are assigned two ingredients to cook and create. So, here goes... April's Crazy Ingredient Challenge = cardamom and parsnips I wanted to experiment with some almond flour I need to review and opted to make a Spiced Parsnip Cake with Cardamom-Cashew Butter instead of frosting. And this cake uses no sugar and no butter; it's sweetened with honey and moistened with coconut oil. This was a hit! Ingredients Spiced Parsnip Cake 2 C almond flour (I used Morning Pep * ) 1 t baking soda 1 t ground cardamom 1 C grated parsnip 2 eggs 1/2 C coconut oil, softened 1/2 C local honey 1 t pure vanilla extract Cardamon-Cashew Butter 1 C raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours 1/4 C local ...

from the kitchen of Kathey H. A couple of days ago a friend of mine from high school posted some photos on social media of "ridiculously sweet, but delicious" salted caramel pretzel brownies...and said that they were the anti-Camilla dessert. I didn't understand exactly what she meant until she said that that the caramel was ice cream topping from a jar/bottle and brownies from a box. Okay. So I accepted her challenge to make a from-scratch version. I made a salted pretzel crust, topped it with a ricotta-chocolate brownie, and drizzled it with homemade caramel. Needless to say: there were lots of steps involved in this dessert, but it was worth it. Rich, decadent chocolate-y goodness! If you plan to try this, please read all the way through the recipe as my ingredient lists are divided into the different layers' elements. Would love to hear how yours turn out. Ingredients for the salted pretzel crust 1-1/2 C pretzels, crushed (I used the Ever...

I saw somewhere a recipe for a sweet focaccia. Novel idea. My focaccie are always savory. Since I didn't bookmark the recipe, I decided to wing it and make some sweet focaccie for a Saturday picnic after a day of fossil-hunting. Sweet Focaccia Dough 2 C warm water 1 T active dry yeast 1 T raw organic honey  5 C flour, plus additional for kneading 1/4 C coconut oil 1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil Combine the warm water, yeast and honey in a small bowl. Let the yeast bloom for 10-15 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and the olive oil with the yeast mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. Continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes until it becomes smooth and soft. Sprinkle with more flour if the dough is really sticky. Coat the inside of the bowl lightly with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl and turn to coat. Cover it with a dish towel and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at leas...

Whenever we got to the Mexican market, the boys beg and plead for to get conchas .   Yeasty, sweet, and colorful. I see the appeal. And I've always had it on my list of to-makes. Whenever I have the urge to make something Mexican, I usually go to Girlichef's blog ; it's an incredible resource and a constant source of inspiration for me. I started with her recipe: here . I adapted - to my detriment - because my topping wasn't quite right*, but it was still delicious! Conchas  (Mexican Sweet Rolls) Adapted from Girlichef's recipe post Dough 1 T active dry yeast 1/2 C warm water 1/2 C warm milk 1/3 C organic granulated sugar 1/3 C coconut oil 1 egg 4 C white whole wheat flour dash of ground nutmeg dash of ground cardamom Topping 1/2 C butter, softened 2/3 C organic powdered sugar 1 C white whole wheat flour 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder In a large mixing bowl stir together yeast and warm water, let bloom for five m...

The lesson this morning: don't be afraid to improvise. I had a zucchini from my High Ground Organics CSA box and most of the ingredients for my usual zucchini bread, but I had to wing it on some parts. It turned out perfectly risen and delicious nonetheless. Just keep your proportions of wet to dry as constant as you can. 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C chestnut flour 1 C raw turbinado sugar 1 t sea salt 1 T + 1 t baking soda 1 t ground cinnamon 1 t ground nutmeg 1/2 t ground ginger 1/2 t ground cardamom 1 C organic sour cream 2 eggs 3 T olive oil 2 T coconut oil 2 T chia seeds 1 T unsulphered molasses 1-1/2 C grated zucchini Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together all wet ingredients. Mix all dry ingredients. Mix until just moistened. Spoon into a prepared pan. Bake until golden brown - about 45 minutes - and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

I came across a jar of organic coconut oil at Trader Joe's and thought I'd give it a try. What I didn't realize was that I should have melted the oil to use it as I would any other oil. Instead I used it as a solid fat, more like a butter. It was no less tasty, but it was harder to manipulate. Next time. First I halved, deseeded, and roasted a butternut squash. Then I created a squash puree to use in the breads. 1 ½ C organic brown sugar 1 t ground cinnamon 1 t ground nutmeg ½ t ground ginger ½ t ground cardamom 2 eggs ¼ t baking powder 1 2/3 C flour 1 t baking soda ½ C (melted) coconut oil ¾ t smoked sea salt ½ C organic yogurt 1 C butternut squash puree Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Put in greased mini loaf pans or muffin tin. Bake at 325 degrees for 75-90 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.