Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Welcome to  #PumpkinWeek  day 4! One more day. Hosted by Terri from  Love and Confections , nineteen bloggers will be sharing nearly seventy pumpkin-filled recipes over the course of the week. Be sure to come back every day to see all the delicious creations - from muffins to cakes, cocktails, breakfast baked goods, savory pastas and stews, and gluten-free recipes, too. You can also find these great recipes and more on  Love and Confections' #PumpkinWeek Pinterest Board ! #PumpkinWeek day 4 recipes: Pumpkin Almond Croissants  from Love and Confections Pumpkin Cake Pops  from Dizzy Busy and Hungry Pumpkin Carrot Cake  from Making Miracles Pumpkin-Chocolate Babka  from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Pumpkin Cranberry Mini Muffins  from Feeding Big and more Pumpkin Dip  from Gluten Free Crumbley Pumpkin Fudge  from That Skinny Chick Can Bake Pumpkin Pie Martini  from The Redhead Baker Pumpkin Spice Creamer ...

This round  Debra of  Eliot's Eats  selected our April-May selection. Her announcement post is here .  The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week)  by Robin Mather  is our current  Cook the Books   project. And you have plenty of time to join the party, if you wish. Submissions aren't due till June 1st! I just got an early start...because I read it in one sitting. On the Page... I have to admit: I was completely put off by the subtitle:  How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week) . I envisioned a self-absorbed memoir that was more focused on grocery receipts than the actual food. How wrong I was! She mentions her divorce only in the introduction and, while what transpired informs her current situation, it doe...

A couple of weeks ago, I received a delivery of quince from some good friends. I made a big batch of quince butter (see the recipe included in my Quince Butter Thumbprint Cookies ) and a pot of quincesauce - think applesauce, but with quince. I've been stirring the quincesauce into plain yogurt, but I decided to bake them into some spiced cakes one morning. The thing I love about these cakes - besides it not being too sweet - is the fact that I can mix it, pop it in the oven, and crawl back in bed. By the time the aroma permeates the house and wakes everyone up, it's ready to eat! Ingredients 2 C white whole wheat flour 2 t baking powder 1 t baking soda 1 C organic coconut sugar 1 T ground cardamom 1 T ground nutmeg 1 T ground cinnamon 2 eggs 1-1/2 C unsweetened quincesauce 1/2 C olive oil 1/2 C organic plain yogurt 2 T honey pecans for topping, if desired Procedure Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter a baking dish, or - in this case I was bringin...

I served these at my Pickle Bar this weekend and they were a favorite. So simple and so tasty. I think that even some people who were okra-shy ended up liking these! These are ready to eat after 24 hours, but I let mine pickle for 48 hours. They were delicious. Ingredients 2 C organic okra 1/2 C white vinegar 1/4 C apple cider vinegar 3/4 C water 3 T organic blonde coconut sugar 1 T salt (I used some large-grained  Monterey Bay Garlic Sea Salt ) 3 cloves minced garlic Procedure Blanche the okra quickly. I place the okra in a medium saucepan, cover them with water, and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and drain immediately. Place all of the other ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a boil and, then, simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Pour the liquid over the top of the okra. Let come to room temperature. Seal the jars and refrigerate until ready to eat. These will keep for approximately 2 weeks. Let come to room temperature before serving....

These are easy to make and showcase the late summer's bounty of peppers. I had a few  Corno di Toro  peppers from my  High Ground Organics  CSA and some mini sweet bell peppers. You'll see this jar on my pickle bar this weekend. Ingredients 3/4 C white vinegar 3/4 C water 3 T organic coconut sugar 1 T salt (I used some large-grained Monterey Bay Garlic Sea Salt ) 3 cloves black garlic (click to read an intro to black garlic ) 2 C sliced peppers Procedure Place all of the ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Bring everything to a boil. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Spoon the peppers into a sterilized jar. Pour the liquid over the top of the peppers. Seal the jars and refrigerate until ready to eat. These will keep for approximately 2 weeks. Let come to room temperature before serving.

My hop-cooking adventure continues - I am blogging these out of order. Sorry! - with these hop-infused mini bundt cakes. Think happy bundts, but with hops instead of, well, something else altogether. Ingredients 1 C butter (2 sticks) 3 hops blossoms 4 large eggs 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 C organic coconut sugar 1 T ginger syrup 1-1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder 2 t organic chocolate extract 1/2 C white whole wheat flour Procedure Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter your baking dishes; this made 3 small bundt cakes. In a skillet, melt the butter. Pull the hop blossoms apart and stir them into the butter. Let steep for 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl add eggs, both sugars, ginger syrup, unsweetened cocoa powder, chocolate extract, and hop-infused butter. Mix to combine. Add flour and stir till just moistened. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick method. When it's done, remove to a rac...

Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz  is hosting this month's  Food'N'Flix , picking one I'd never seen before: Bridesmaids .  Click to see Evelyne's  invitation . I'll just be honest: I am woefully lacking in the sense-of-humor department. So, definitely take my comments with a grain of salt...maybe a whole salt pig full of salt! While I thought this movie would be funny, at least amusing, it was vulgar and predictable. Think scatalogical and juvenile. I won't spend too much time on the movie because my mom always told me to keep my mouth shut if I didn't have anything nice to say. Good advice, by the way. I'll just say that I considered something Parisian for the bridal shower Helen wanted to throw or Brazilian for the ill-fated lunch during dress-shopping day. But, in the end, I decided to make something that honored a scene that bordered on touching - the scene with the bag of carrots. If you've seen the movie, I hope you know what I'm t...

It's time for Group B's  Secret Recipe Club   May  reveal .  This month I was assigned to Secrets from the Cookie Princess , a blog written by Colleen. When she writes that she's " a little obsessed", she means it. She started her blog in 2010 when she began her annual holiday baking spree that consisted of creating 163 dozen cookies from over 2 dozen recipes to share with friends and family as Christmas gifts. Now she bakes not just for Christmas, but any holiday, birthday, or just because. Her Holiday Baking Total made me chuckle. She is obsessed! 2013: 119.5 dozen cookies and still working on the truffles and fudge! 2012: 117.5 dozen cookies and 30 mini loaves. 2011: 137 dozen cookies, plus bars, candy, etc. 2010: 147.5 dozen cookies 2009: 133 dozen cookies 2008: 151.5 dozen cookies plus candy 2007: 131 dozen cookies plus candy While I probably should have made cookies, given the name of my secret blog, I really, really, re...

While I'm working on a story, the subject invades every aspect of my life - from the jewelry I'm wearing to the books I'm reading. So, beer has been on my mind. I got my hands on The Craft Beer Cookbook by Jacquelyn Dodd and started making a grocery list. I started with her Porter-Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw. Her recipe called for 6 cloves of garlic; my attitude - if 6 is good, 10 is better! And she used pork shoulder; I had pork loin roast. Ingredients 2-3 pound pork loin roast 10 cloves of garlic, peeled 2 T sea salt 2 T organic coconut sugar 1 t freshly ground black pepper 1 t smoked paprika 2 t ground coffee 1/2 t chili powder 2 T olive oil 1 bottle porter beer 1 C organic chicken broth Procedure Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, pierce the roast, making ten 2" holes evenly spaced throughout the meat. Push a peeled clove of garlic into each hole until the garlic is no longer visible. ...

I always knew that I was going to have Jake grill lamb lollipops for our Easter table. It's a family favorite! We've made Garlic-Salt Lamb Lollipops   and  Rose-y Lamb Lollipops with a Morello Cherry Glaze for instance. But at the last minute, and after I had already done all of my grocery shopping for Easter, I discovered black garlic . Or, more accurately, I finally had the gumption to pick some up. So, I headed out to the store and picked up three cloves. Thanks, girlichef , for the nudge. Black garlic doesn't taste like garlic at all. It's sweeter, molasses-like but with a little bit more tang. This was delicious! Ingredients 2 heads of black garlic, peeled and divided 3 T ground coffee 1 T coarse sea salt 1 T smoke paprika 1 T organic coconut sugar 1 T freshly ground pepper 1/2 t ground coriander olive oil 1 C shitake mushrooms, sliced fleur de sel Procedure Mash one head of black garlic with a mortar and pestle till a chunky paste...

I was having a serious dessert craving last night and realized that I had no butter and no flour. I had my CSA goodies from High Ground Organics and that was about it. Then it hit me. With some lemon, some eggs, some sugar, and some olive oil, you can make a mouth-puckering pudding. And it takes less than 10 minutes. Woohoo. Craving averted. Ingredients 3 whole eggs, room temperature 1/2 C organic coconut sugar (this renders the final pudding a sort of mustard color; for a true yellow, use granulated sugar, I just didn't have any) 1/2 C freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (Thanks, Marsalisi Organic Farms !) 1/2 t pure vanilla extract 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil Procedure Place all ingredients into a double boiler or bowl set over gently simmering water on the stove. Whisk until it thickens into a pudding or custard consistency. We are ours warm with some  High Ground Organics   strawberries on the side!

Ingredients  For the Crust 1-1/2 C flour (I used more of the complimentary  Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour I had received from the sponsors of this year's #BrunchWeek) 1/2 C Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal Flour* 1/2 C softened butter 1/2 C organic, coconut sugar 1/4 C olive oil 1 T cold water 2 pinches of fleur de sel *another complimentary product I received with which I am now completely enamored For the Filling 4 organic Meyer lemons 1/2 C organic powdered sugar 2 T honey (I used a local pine honey) 8 T butter 8 large egg yolks dark chocolate Procedure For the Filling Juice the lemons. Combine the juice, powdered sugar, honey and butter. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile beat the yolks. Add 1/3 of the boiling liquid to the beaten yolks then add the mixture back into the boiling liquid. Continue beating over medium heat until it thickens. Be careful not to let the curd boil or it will scramble. Pour the curd into a bowl and press plas...

I've candied lemons many, many times...but I've never candied them in honey. I decided to give it a shot for a honey-themed baby shower. Easy! Ingredients 1 C water 1/2 C organic coconut sugar 4 T honey (I used a local pine honey) 6 organic Meyer lemons, thinly sliced Procedure Place the water, honey, and coconut sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved. Lay the slices in the syrup so that they are all flat and all submerged. Simmer until the rind is softened and translucent in places. Approximately 5-7 minutes. Remove from the syrup with a slotted spoon and set aside. You'll see these on an appetizer for the Meant to BEE baby shower brunch . Delish.

After a full day of adventuring, our 10-year-old informed us that we had to have a cake for our anniversary. Jake just looked at me and shrugged. So, I looked at what I had brought with us to the cabin in the snow and made this dessert. Thanks to Bob's Red Mill for the Whole Wheat Pastry Flour; they sent me a complimentary bag for participating in an upcoming brunch event - #BrunchWeek! I loved it and will definitely be using it more often. Taskmaster Dyn was pleased. Fourteen years. Happy anniversary, my Love. Ingredients 2 C organic coconut sugar 1¾ C Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour ¾ C unsweetened cocoa powder 1 ½ t baking soda 1 ½ t baking powder 1 t fleur de sel 2 eggs 1 C organic milk ½ C olive oil 2 T red wine 1 C boiling water 1 C chocolate chunks Procedure Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking dish with parchment paper and butter. I used two 8” round pans. In a large mixing bowl, stir together coconut sugar, whole wheat p...

I made these for my Spice it Up! class this afternoon. Strangely, the sage isn't as strong as I anticipated. It's a  delicate, subtle flavor. Jake liked it when he tasted it last night. We'll see what the kiddos think today. 10 T butter 1/2 C organic coconut sugar + some for rolling 2 t pure vanilla extract 1 T honey 2 T fresh chopped sage 1 egg, beaten 1-3/4 C white whole wheat flour Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in honey until well combined. Beat in the egg, then carefully fold in the flour and sage. Roll the dough into a long cylinder. Flatten the cylinder into a circular or rectangular shape, pressing coconut sugar into the edges. Put the dough in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour, until the dough is firm enough to slice. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough widthwise into 1/4" slices and place, slightly apart, on the baking sheets. Sprinkle with more sugar, if desired, and b...