Culinary Adventures with Camilla

As we ended Day 16 of our shelter-in-place order, I rummaged through my cabinets for inspiration to bake cookies. I came across two bags of Pinole Azul from Rancho Gordo , which is a ground, spiced blue corn flour used to make Atole. I decided that it could substitute for ground nuts since I didn't have any. If you don't have any Pinole Azul, feel free to use masa harina in its place. Just add in some extra cinnamon. I also found a jar of Blackberry Lemon Summer Jam from Happy Girl Kitchen Co . What I love about thumbprint cookies is their flexibility. You can use any kind of jam or jelly; and you can get that added texture with anything from ground nuts to a coarser grind of flour. Be creative. It's the perfect #ShelterinPlace recipe that allows you to rummage through your cabinets and still make a delicious cookie! Ingredients  makes approximately 30 cookies 3/4 C butter, at room temperature 3/4 C organic granulated sugar 2 eggs 2 C flour 1/2 C Pinole ...

Every now and then,  Happy Girl Kitchen  opens up their doors after-hours for a Community Night where you go, lend a helping hand, and earn a delicious dinner. They had crates upon crates upon crates of delicious carmine plums from Thomas Farm in Aptos. So, we met up with friends to help HGK make their delicious plum jam. You know it's a great night when your face hurts from smiling so much...and you're covered in plum juice. I'm not going to divulge the measurements because the recipe is TOP SECRET. See! But I will tell you what we did. STEP ONE: Pit the plums. No gadget. No knife. Just clean hands!   Here's one full tub... STEP TWO: Weigh the plums. STEP THREE: Add in the sugar.   STEP FOUR: Pour in lemon juice, then mash everything together. At that point, the kids were tired and hungry. So we stopped and feasted on rice, lentils with summer squash, kale with quinoa and cheese, and bread with butte...

Last year I saw a flyer for pickle-making at Happy Girl Kitchen for New Year's Eve and, on a whim, we went. Click to read about that adventure:  here ! And because we loved it so much, we decided to add it to our New Year's Eve 2014 festivities. This year the boys knew exactly what they were doing... Grab clean jars. Chop...  Chop...  And chop some more! Add in your spices and seasonings... Pour in the brine, adding sugar, if you want a sweet pickle... Then let it water process for 15 minutes. Thanks, Luis, for your help. Many people have New Year's Eve traditions. I'm glad to have this one as part of ours. Now we just have to wait two weeks to crack into these jars. That will be the toughest part of our 2014 pickles. We have a couple of mixed jars with Brussels sprouts, cabbage, beets, and carrots. And I did one with Buddha's hand and onion slices.

Tonight, Dylan, who I have now re-dubbed 'Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf' instead of Kitchen Elf 2, and I were finally able to attend a Community Night at Happy Girl Kitchen . They open up their kitchen, put you to work on whatever they need done (tonight we helped make pickled jalapenos), ply you with kombucha on tap or hot tea, and send you out the door with some delicious eats (think tomato-barley soup and bread with butter and gruyere). The kid has some mad knife skillz now! Here's what Dylan had to say about the experience: "Today I did pickling jalapenos at Happy Girl Kitchen. I learned that what makes jalapenos spicy are actually the seeds, not the pepper. Today I cut jalapenos, stuffed them in a jar, and poured brine over them. I also learned how to cut a different way - instead of moving your hand with the knife, you move the thing that you're cutting. And when you cut, you need to cut small slices so that they fit better in the jar. You should try...