Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of  LorAnn Oils and Dixie Crystals . I received complimentary product for the purpose of review and recipe development for #BrunchWeek, but all opinions are honest and they are my own.  This page may contain affiliate links. When I was in college, there was a c afé just across the street from the Anthropology department where my Mayan Archaeology lecture was held at 5 in the evening. Since most of my classes were early, I was dragging by 5 and always ran over to buy a coffee before class.  By that point, I was fully embracing the Turkish proverb:  “Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.”  I didn't go for frilly coffee drinks with lots of flavors, whipped cream, and a chocolate drizzle!  But I was intrigued by the colorful bottles of syrups that lined the back wall of the entire  c afé  and, sometimes, I would buy an Italian soda instead of a coffee. ...

Today we are celebrating National Coffee Cake Day with the Festive Foodies under the guidance of my friend Wendy at  A Day in the Life on the Farm . This event has been a series of mishaps for me. First, I missed the deadline to enter a title, but Wendy let me slide; I picked a strawberry coffee cake. Then, I had some strawberry-eating gremlins in my house...I might need to put a sticky note on things in the fridge: Do NOT eat!! And I was pressed for time as R is out of town for a robotics competition and I'm prepping for us to join him on Friday. Thankfully I had some steamed, peeled chestnuts in the pantry and I always have nuts in the house. 'Nutty Coffee Cake' it is! Phew... This nutty cake has a cookie-like crumble topping and lots of rich flavor. It's easy to make and tastes delicious the second day. Yes, I did serve it for breakfast with unsweetened coffee whipped cream. Don't judge! Before we get to my offering, here are... All the Coffee ...

I'll be honest: this was made as an after-thought for one of my best friend's birthday dinners. D was spicing the meatballs and I realized that I wanted them to be a little bit more fancy.  T oum , I declared! "What's toum?" Garlic deliciousness. "Daddy doesn't like garlic that much. His inner vampire gets upset." Too bad! Help me peel these cloves, please. "All of those?!? Daddy really isn't going to be happy." Yes, all of them. "That's a lot of garlic." When we served this with the meatballs, Pia called it "garlic frosting." I love it! That's my kinda frosting. Emulsification Tips When I posted the photo, a friend commented that he was looking forward to my tips as the one time he tried, he lost the emulsification. Okay. Got it. Tips. Hmmm... There are definitely some things I do to ensure success as much as possible. It's important to make sure that everything is dry. Even...

This afternoon I bought fresh edible flowers from  MEarth . Fresh calendula has always reminded me of a summer sunset on the beach. So, in keeping with that, I made a salad in shades of red, orange, and yellow.   Ingredients 2 to 3 roasted beets, sliced into wedges (this post explains how to roast beets ) 2 to 3 ripe tomatoes, sliced into wedges petals from 2 to 3 calendula blossoms + a full blossom or two for garnish 1/4 C apple cider vinegar 3/4 C olive oil 1 T ginger syrup freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper also needed: mason jar with lid Procedure Place calendula petals in the bottom of the mason jar.  Pour in vinegar, olive oil, and ginger syrup. Tighten the lid on the jar. Shake to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  To assemble, place wedges of beets and tomatoes in a serving bowl. Drizzle a generous amount of vinaigrette over the top. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper, if desired. G...

If you know nothing else about vinaigrettes, remember this: the magic ratio of oil to vinegar is 3 to 1. As long as you know that, you won't need to consult a vinaigrette recipe ever again. Just remember three parts oil to one part vinegar and you'll be all right. If you get them backwards and do three parts vinegar to one part oil, your puckered mouth will ensure you don't make that mistake a second time!  I had a bit of extra Olallieberry-Orange Jam that didn't fit into my jars, so I decided to make a salad dressing with it... 2 T olallieberry jam 1 part pinot grigio vinegar 3 parts olive oil freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 2 T fresh oregano, torn into pieces I put that all into a mason jar and shook, shook, shook, and shook some more to make a temporary emulsion. You'll see this tonight on an olallieberry-topped salad.