Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating umami. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Sue is hosting and she's given us the prompt of making recipes with umami. Then she shared this link to help guide our umami explorations: Getting to Know Umami Powerhouses . Here's the #SundayFunday umami line-up... Chorizo Chickpea Tomato Pasta  by Food Lust People Love Easy Vegan Pad Thai by Cook with Renu Fried Chicken Wings - Korean Style  by Sneha's Recipe  Patatas Bravas  by Mayuri's Jikoni Steaks with Gouda Sauce  by Amy's Cooking Adventures Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad  by A Day in the Life on the Farm Umami Bomb Tomato Sauce  by Making Miracles Umami from the Sea: Sea Palm-Kale Salad and Uni Handrolls by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Umami I was already pret...

Welcome to Day Three of #CranberryWeek, hosted by Caroline's Cooking and A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures . We'll be sharing cranberry-inspired creations all week long in celebration of national cranberry day.  Search #CranberryWeek to keep up to date and follow the #CranberryWeek Pinterest board for more cranberry inspiration. But first, see all the other cranberry recipes being shared today: Braised Short Ribs with Hoisin-Cranberry Sauce and Asian Coleslaw from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Cranberry & Cornbread Stuffed Pork Chops from Books n' Cooks Cranberry Borscht from Palatable Pastime Cranberry Glazed Pork Loin from Sew You Think You Can Cook Cranberry Lemon Curd Tart (No Bake, GF) from Caroline’s Cooking Cranberry London Broil from Cindy's Recipes and Writings Cranberry Mustard from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures Cranberry Smoothie from The Chef Next Door Cranberry Vanilla Bean Donuts from Hostess At Heart Grilled Brie with Cran...

Every time we have ribs for dinner, we chuckle about this story. D was about three-years-old at the time, riding in the cart with me at the grocery store. He asked me about the rack of ribs in the cart, pointing, "Mommy, what are those?"  Ribs , I answered.  His chubby fingers went to his side and he declared, "These are my ribs!"  Yes, that's true.  Horror contorted his little face and he whispered, pointing into my shopping cart, "Whose ribs are those?!?"  Not a person's , I assured him.  "Then who?" he demanded. He knew meat came from a living animal. But, I suppose, ribs were a little too recognizable. Now he loves ribs, but we still tell that story every time they're on our table. The marinade on these ribs were inspired by the flavors in some of our favorite Vietnamese dishes. Well, it has a lot of Asian-inspired flavors. It was tasty! Ingredients 1 medium shallot, finely chopped 2 lemongra...

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: Picnic & BBQ. I was excited to be assigned to The Spiffy Cookie , written by Erin. I've been reading Erin's blog for awhile. She's even taken part in a few online multi-day, multi-blogger events I've organized; and she's one of the hosting bloggers for our year-long project:  The Book Club Cookbook Cooking Project . So, I was excited to get to explore her blog more. I have a funny story. I recently saw one of my local friends bragging about the best chocolate chip cookies ever on social media. And it was one of Erin's recipes. I was so tickled to see my blogging life intersecting with my actual life. I told Jenn, "Not only is she a Spiffy Cookie, but she's a Smart Cookie!" Erin has a PhD in Microbiology.  More importantly for m...

It's time for Group B's April 2015  Secret Recipe Club   reveal. This month I was assigned to  The Vanderbilt Wife , a blog written by Jessie. We used to be in Group A together, so I've been reading her blog for quite awhile. It was a treat for her to show up in my roster! Jessie, a mom to three cute kiddos, started Vanderbilt Wife in 2006 as a way to make herself write more regularly. She shares: "Professionally, I was a copy editor for three and a half years. I am a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and social media manager. ...I write twice a week for ParentLife Online and am a recipe editor for HomeLife and ParentLife magazines." She actually helped get one of my recipes published in their Christmas cookie issue: Kruidnoten (in HomeLife Magazine) . There were quite a few recipes of Jessie's that intrigued me, including her Cucumber and Radish Salad , Lemony Vegetable Quinoa Salad , French Lemon Yogurt Cake , and Her Honey Parmesan Pork Roas...

For this month's  Food'N'Flix ,  we watched, or rewatched as the case may be,  A Christmas Story.  Heather, at  girlichef , is the brain behind this fun event and our hostess this month. Click to see  Heathers's invitation . This post contains an affiliate link for the DVD at the bottom.  I have to admit that I've never seen this movie. Heather was blown away by that admission: "WHAT!? This is a childhood classic, I thought everybody had seen it ;). Look forward to seeing what you make, Cam!" Okay. Here we go... On the Screen... From what I read, this film is based in part on a collection of short story memoirs by satirist Jean Shepherd entitled In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash . True to its satire roots, one reason A Christmas Story is so comical: even its most ridiculously outrageous moments feel grounded in reality. You might have gushed - and cringed -, while watching, "Eeek! That happened to me!" Although the film'...

For the second week of my Eat a Rainbow class, the theme was orange. One of our dishes was a Thai Carrot Salad. They shredded, they chopped, they destemmed, they chopped some more, they measured, and they whisked. Great job, guys! Ingredients 6 C shredded carrots 1 T freshly chopped cilantro 1 T freshly chopped mint 1 C chopped peanuts (we used roasted, unsalted peanuts) 1/4 C rice vinegar 2 organic limes 1 organic orange 3 T pure maple syrup 1/2 t red chili pepper flakes Procedure Juice the limes. Zest the orange, then juice it. Place the first four ingredients - carrots, cilantro, mint, and peanuts - in a large mixing bowl. Place the remaining ingredients in a mason jar. Shake the dressing ingredients to form an emulsion. Pour the dressing over the carrot mixture and toss to coat. Let marinate for as long as you can...at least 15 to 20 minutes. We didn't have that much time, but it was still tasty. Also, some of the kids liked...

Heather of  girlichef  is hosting this month's  Food'N'Flix . This month, we had a choice - we could watch either Kung Fu Panda or Kung Fu Panda 2 .  Click to see Heather's  invitation .  Not only did we watch the movies in the theatre - possibly more than once! - but we own the discs. So, when we headed to Lake Tahoe for Spring Break, we brought both movies and I told the boys I needed help picking a dish. We watched both movies again while snuggled up in front of the fireplace last week. Then we cooked these this week. D voted for bean buns; but when he said he would try to stick 40 buns in his mouth like Po, I vetoed that idea. R asked for radishes. Just plain radishes. I explained that wasn't really post-worthy, but that I would get him radishes. Since inner peace plays a huge role in saving the world in Kung Fu Panda 2 - and Spring peas are all around - I decided to made some Inner Peas Dumplings! Get it? from http://kungfupanda.wikia....

This salad isn't so much "summery" in its ingredients, but it is refreshingly crisp and cool.  Slice radishes, Tokyo market turnips, and carrots into thin coins. 1 C rice vinegar 1 C water 2 T organic raw sugar Whisk all ingredients together. Pour over thinly sliced veggies. Sprinkle with pink Himalaya salt. Let soak for at least 30 minutes.

I received a bunch of Tokyo market turnips in my CSA box this week and decided to make a chilled salad with it. Jake said, "I don't think I've ever liked turnips, but this is really good." I agree! And I love how easy it is. 1 C rice vinegar 1 C water 2 T honey Whisk all ingredients together. Pour over thinly sliced Tokyo market turnips. Sprinkle with pink Himalaya salt. Let soak for at least 30 minutes.

Agro-dolce , in Italian, literally translates to 'sour-sweet' and this is recipe that I learned when I was in Rome, cooking cippolini onions this way. I figured the mixture of the honey and vinegar would counter the strong flavor of the black Spanish radishes. I was right! This was a delcious side dish or condiment tonight...and all you need: whatever you want to cook agro-dolce , some butter, olive oil, vinegar, water, honey, salt, and an herb of your choice. Scrub and slice the black radishes; slice cleaned leeks into coins. Cook the radishes and leeks with a pat of butter and a splash of olive oil until they begin to brown. Deglaze the pan with rice vinegar. Add water and continue to simmer until the radishes are fork tender. Season with pink Himalaya salt and fresh chopped dill. Stir in honey. I served this with steamed forbidden rice and a beer-poached salmon with shitake mushrooms and asparagus.