Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Did you see the Hopped Up Pretzel Bites I shared for this month's #FoodieExtravaganza? My family's reaction: "Mommy, these are great, but yours are a little deformed." Thanks. Well, I did a better job with my pretzel dogs, using some of the leftover pretzel dough. As soon as I put a plate of these on the table, all of my boys swarmed around it like lions at a kill. I've seen a ton of recipes for pretzels made with beer. But I decided to make mine with real  Cascade hops from my friends Shelby and Dave . I did drink the beer with my pretzel dog though. Have you ever seen hops? They are so delicate; it's hard to imagine how much of a flavor punch they add to things. I loved the look of the pretzel dogs with hops blossoms in the dough. Ingredients 1-1/2 C warm water 1 T active dry yeast 2 T organic granulated sugar 2 Cascade hops blossoms, broken up into petals 4 C all-purpose flour + more for kneading 1/2 C dark rye flour 1/2 C baking so...

Welcome to the  Foodie Extravaganza !  v. October 2014 = a Pretzel Par-tay We are a group of bloggers who love to blog about food!  Each month we will decide on an all-famous National Monthly Food Holiday in which we will base our recipes around. This month the ingredient is  pretzels  with an optional ingredient of  caramel .  Yes, October is National Pretzel Month along with a whole array of other delightful things!! Get excited!! We hope you all enjoy our delicious pretzel treats this month and come back to see what we bring for you next month.  If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza .  We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out  HERE . Here's what the whole gang made... Apple Cinnamon...

I'll admit that I didn't intend to make a hot sauce with hops . I was just making a sauce with my pepper bounty from our High Ground Organics CSA . Then I got the bag of Cascade hops from the Lamberts . And, instead of using other herbs, I decided to turn the hot sauce into a hoppy affair. This really packs a punch, a bitter and delicious punch. Ingredients 1 pound fresh peppers (I had Padròns and banana peppers) 3 whole garlic cloves 1 T grey fleur de sel 1 1/2 C white vinegar Procedure Wash and dry your pepper. Lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roast for 40 minutes - until the peppers are shriveled and golden. Once roasted, pull the stems from the peppers. Combine the peppers, garlic cloves, and salt in a blender. Blend for a few pulses. Once the ingredients are roughly combined, drizzle in the vinegar. Blend till smooth. Transfer sauce to a mason jar and allow to sit in the pantry; th...

I discovered this dish -  Pa amb Tomaquet  - during our Cooking Around the World Adventure - when we traveled by tabletop to Andorra . Tonight I modified the recipe to make  Pa amb Tomaquet with Hops. My cooking obsession with the Cascade Hops from the Lamberts continues. But this is not simply gratuitous hops addition; you can really taste the hops. And it is fabulous...and fun. Ingredients slices of bread garlic cloves - to match the number of pieces of bread +  2 cloves 2 C cherry tomatoes, sliced into wedges olive oil fleur de sel freshly ground pepper 2 Cascade hops blossoms, pulled apart Procedure Toast the bread slices in an oven. In the meantime mince 2 cloves of garlic and place them in a small mixing bowl. Stir in the cherry tomato wedges and hops blossom petals. Drizzle in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. To assemble...rub each piece of bread with a clove of garlic. Top with the tomato mixtu...

I know that some people are very fastidious about their caramel. If I were making candy, I would have pulled my candy thermometer out of the drawer, but for sauce...I'm more fast and loose. I decided to try to make a hop-infused salted caramel. I think next time I'll use more hops. Because the hoppy profile wasn't too strong, I left the petals in. If it were stronger, I might have strained them out. Ingredients 1 C organic raw turbinado sugar 1/4 C water 2 hop blossoms, pulled apart (I used some Cascade hops from the Lamberts ) 3/4 C organic heavy cream 3 1/2 T butter 1 t gray fleur de sel (whatever you use, make sure it has a fine flake) Procedure In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and hop blossoms over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Once all of the crystals are dissolved, turn up the heat and bring to a boil, without stirring. If needed, use a wet pastry brush to wash down any crystals along the side of the p...

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...

I've been thinking about cooking with hops since my beer crawl with The Beer Geeks in April. But I needed to figure out how to get my hands on some. Here's how fast it happened. Last night my friend Shelby posted several photos on social media, captioning it: The beer is brewing, and the hops are ripe for picking! So, I asked if I could have 1/2 C. No response. This morning she asked, " If I have hops for you, what would you make?" I sent a couple of links of things that interested me - from hops ice cream to hops bernaise over roasted salmon - and Shelby said that her husband agreed to relinquish one of his pouches because she was excited to see what I would make. So, thanks to the incredible generosity of the Lamberts, I now have some hops. I have to say, it felt a little bit funny being handed a ziploc bag of dried green buds. Let the hops cooking mayhem begin!