Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This is a sponsored post written by me in conjunction with the October #Winophiles event. Wine samples were provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. This month the French Winophiles are exploring the wines of Lirac. And  Rhône Valley Vineyards and Teuwen Communications graciously provided some of the bloggers with samples.* If you're reading this early enough, jump on Twitter and follow the hashtags #Winophiles, #rhonevalleyvineyards, #lirac, or #liracwines. We'll be live on Saturday, October 20th at 8am Pacific time. Or you can peruse the stream at your leisure anytime by searching for those tags. Lirac Lirac, named for the village, is a wine-growing Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) that sits in the low hills along the Rhône river in the southern Rhône region of France. Vineyards have been cultivated there since the Roman times almost two millennia ago and by the 1500s the wines were lauded by the French royal courts for their...

Here we are at the October Soup Saturday Swappers event. Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  started this event and each and every month, I get a new array of soup recipes to put in my to-try pile. I love all the fun themes this group picks to explore. This month, Colleen of  Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice  is hosting as we explore stews. It's definitely turning colder and darker. So, I'm grateful to have new recipes to try. Colleen wrote: "Think true comfort food! What is the rich creamy stew which you turn to first when you are in need of a little pick me up?" An InLinkz Link-up Soganli Tavuk Yahnisi Turkish Chicken Stew Ingredients 4 boneless and skinless chicken thighs, cubed 2 organic white onions, peeled and thinly sliced 2 T butter 1 T olive oil 1½ C tomato sauce 2 T flour 1½ C chicken broth ½ t freshly ground black pepper 1 t ground cumin 1 t ground cinnamon ½ t gro...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf Long Meadow Ranch, one of the  #MerlotMe   event sponsors. Complimentary wine was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. So, here's a funny story. When I received ten bottles of Merlot from different #MerlotMe sponsors, I put a few in my easy-to-grab wine rack, a few in the wine racks down the side of my bookshelf, and a few I hadn't unpacked from their shipping boxes yet. Yikes. When I saw a post from another #WinePW blogger that featured this wine, I commented that I needed to track down a bottle for myself. Then I was moving wine around this week and found this bottle. Oh, my goodness! Well, I didn't have to work too hard to track down a bottle, I suppose; there was one in my living room. The Ranch Long Meadow Ranch, in Napa Valley, is owned by the Halls - Ted, Laddie, and Christopher. And they have integrated each element to wor...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of  Melissa's Produce . I received complimentary product for the purpose of review and recipe development, but all opinions are honest and they are my own.  This page may contain affiliate links. You can read more about this #FreakyFruitsFriday challenge in my Spicy Prawn and Freaky Fruits Noodle Salad  recipe post from last Friday. But the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf could not be swayed from his idea of roasting a whole fish with the blood oranges. Okay, fine. Before I get to our recipe, though, please see the list of the other creations today... Cast Iron Blood Orange Chicken Thighs by Amy at House of Nash Eats Chocolate Cupcakes with Dragonfruit Frosting by Heather at Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks Cinnamon Pancakes with Blood Orange Syrup by Terri at Our Good Life Dragon Fruit & Papaya Pico de Gallo by Colleen at Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice Freaky Blood Orange...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf Peju Winery, one of the  #MerlotMe   event sponsors. Complimentary wine was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. As a food blogger, a huge number of our meals are photo ready and paired with wine. But not always. Sometimes, I'm sitting in a hotel, eating cold leftover Chinese food from lunch, and drinking wine from a plastic cup. At least it was good wine! We had spent nearly twelve hours at a robotics competition. The robot was broken.  The boys were working on the code for the following day. I just wanted to take a shower and read a book. But I was grateful for the bottle of Merlot that Peju Winery had sent me for #MerlotMe. Though this is a California winery, it was completely new to me. And I was happy to make its acquaintance. Peju was started by Tony and Herta Peju in the early 80s with a laser focus on b...

A friend sent me a link to this Seafood Month Challenge levied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Read about the challenge  here . I'm always up for a cooking challenge! What luck that my CSF (community-supported fishery)  Real Good Fish  share this week was freshly caught black cod also called sablefish. This black cod was caught by fisherman Daniel Deyerle on the FV Sea Harvest II with a Bottom Set Long Line off of Moss Landing. Black cod caught this way is a 'best choice' according to  Seafood Watch . I decided to poach the black cod in a lemon-tahini sauce and serve it atop squid ink pasta. The peanut gallery wanted cheese, cheese, and more cheese on top. So I pulled out a wedge of Grana Padano and they went to town. Luckily I had a glut of lemons that the boys had just picked from my parents' tree for a Lemon Meringue Tart I made for a friend's dad last weekend. I served this slightly tart pasta with grilled zucchini and poured a Greco ...

I love the Fantastical Food Fight coordinated by Sarah of  Fantastical Sharing of Recipes . For more information about the event, click  here . I almost didn't participate this month because Jake and I have been reducing our carb intake and pasta is one of those that was easy to cut out. But, seriously, how could I resist?!?! So, I threw some beef in the Dutch oven and went to work. This was a fantastic lunch break today. I love the flexibility of this preparation. Today I used red wine because, well, because we're in the middle of #MerlotMe month and I have a lot of partially consumed bottles of wine. But you can use more broth, white wine, and even cranberry juice if you wish. And, I know, this isn't really about the pasta...it's about the sauce. Oh, well. No one eats pasta plain, do they?! The Pasta Food Fight An InLinkz Link-up Ragu vs. Sugo...and a Performance Artist in Rome Covered in Pasta I've heard these terms used interc...