Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Not sure if it's because the first of my close friends just turned fifty, or what, but  Excuse Me While I Disappear: Tales of Midlife Mayhem by  Laurie Notaro landed on my reading list and I happily indulged. I'll admit that, despite her being a New York Times bestselling author, I was completely unfamiliar with her. Now I have avidly lined up her entire collection, including: There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble , The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life , Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood , and It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy . On the Page Notaro's commentary is biting, irreverent, and hilarious. Just read a few clips: "Aren’t you proud that you know how to use a dial phone? That you lived a whole, full life without a digital device in your pocket? You remember who Gillig...

  Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating fruit. Well, desserts made with fruit. 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 Sneha of Sneha's Recipe is hosting and she's given us the prompt of making desserts with fruit. Here's the line-up of what the #SundayFunday bloggers are making... Lemon Cheesecake with Lemon Curd Topping From  Amy's Cooking Adventures  Lattice-Topped Apple Pie From Culinary Adventures with Camilla Cherry Pie Bars From Making Miracles Mango & Vanilla Panna Cotta From Mayuri's Jikoni Blackberry Lemon Bars From Karen's Kitchen Stories Strawberry Fool with Meringue Topper/Base From Sid's Sea Palm Cooking  Fruit & Chocolate Trifle From Sneha's Recipe Boozy Nectarine Crumble From Food Lust People Love Banana Enchiladas From A Day in the Life on ...

In January, Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  kicked off her new group: Soup Saturday Swappers. And I am hosting our May theme which is Fruit Soups. I shared: "I am intrigued by soups made from fruits. In Iceland, they make Bláberjasúpa (blueberry soup); in Denmark, they make Abrikossuppe (Apricot Soup) and Rabarbersuppe Med Vin (Rhubarb Wine Soup). You could make gazpacho with watermelon! Would love to see what this group creates. If fruits seem too off-the-wall for you, I would consider tomatoes and squash fruit as well!" When I first picked this, I had seen these ice bowls made with petals suspended in the frozen water and thought: Those would look beautiful with a magenta soup in them. Well, I still think that, but I ran out of time. So my "Beetroot and Apple Soup in Flowered Bowls" just became "Beetroot and Apple Soup." I'll try those bowls eventually...just not in the last month of school. Ingredients 3 large organic red...

Happy #MexicanRecipes Let’s have a fiesta of Cinco de Mayo inspired recipes all week long! Mango and Peach Margarita from A Day in the Life on the Farm Cheese Enchiladas Rojas from Palatable Pastime Mexican Fruit Salad by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Zippy Tortilla Chips from Jolene's Recipe Journal Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas from Frugal Pantry Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers from The Chef Next Door Check back each and every day for new recipes by following along with the hashtag #MexicanRecipes on social media. Are you a food blogger interested in posting within our blogging community? Find out more by joining us online: Holiday Fun with Our Blog Friends. This almost isn't a recipe, but I love it for its ease and its flexibility. I have made versions with melons and version with apples. Whatever you use, just make sure the fruit is ripe! Ingredients fresh fruits, thinly sliced or julienned (I opted for pineapples and carrots) salt c...

When you can just look longingly at your Friday evening cheese board because of your Whole30 Adventure , you curse loudly in your head and   just eat the fruits. Along with the Cowgirl Creamery's Devil's Gulch cheese and Norwegian Gjetost, I plated slices of regular and gluten-free bread, pichuberries, and red currants. It's been a long time since I first tried pichuberries, so I'll remind my readers of them. You might see them sold as 'golden berries' or 'Incan ground cherries.' What is a pichuberry? you ask. It's a Peruvian fruit known as aguaymanto or Inca berry. It looks like a small, golden tomatillo; it's about the size of a large marble. R's assessment: it tastes like a mix between a star fruit and a tomato. He's right. From my reading...the pichuberry has almost 20 times the vitamin C as an orange and could be known as an anti-diabetic fruit. They reduce sugar levels in the blood and stimulating hormon...

When D and I were at Whole Foods this evening getting spices for his school project (click to read about that: here ), I came across a container of Pichuberries. Since I had never seen those before, I put it on our shopping cart immediately. Meet the pichuberry! What is a pichuberry? It's a Peruvian fruit known as aguaymanto or Inca berry. It looks like a small, golden tomatillo; it's about the size of a large marble. R's assessment: it tastes like a mix between a star fruit and a tomato. He's right. From my reading...the pichuberry has almost 20 times the vitamin C as an orange and could be known as an anti-diabetic fruit. They reduce sugar levels in the blood and stimulating hormones that secrete insulin in diabetic patients. We will definitely be buying these again. They were tasty!

When we received the invitation for Anna's 40th birthday party, the boys were dancing around the house: "We're going to La Balena, we're going to La Balena!" Then I told them that we needed to bring a potluck item and Dylan announced that he was going to make it. What are you going to make? I asked. "Whatever looks good that day." Oh, you are soooo my child. So, yesterday was the day and we were at the market. He spied some plump berries and decided on a fruit salad...with mint...and cardamom. Okay! He washed, he sliced, he tossed, and he garnished with bee pollen to make Anna's birthday fruit salad. This is so easy, I almost loathe to call it a recipe. But it is repeatable and it is delicious. Fill the bowl with whatever fruit you want to use. Dylan used strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes. Dress it with 1 T honey, 2 t vanilla, a dash of ground cardamom, and 2 T of chopped fresh mint. Toss and sprinkle with bee pollen for...

I meant to make this as dessert when we had our Cooking Around the World: Malawi, Part I dinner, but we were all full. So, I opted to make this for breakfast today. Dessert for breakfast, you say?!? I know. But it has milk, orange juice, and bananas. Sounds breakfast-y to me. This is a classic dessert soup made with bananas that originates from Malawi, adapted by me because, as you know, I can't follow a recipe to save my life! Serves 4. 3 C organic whole milk juice from one orange 2 T honey 2 T cornstarch cinnamon and raw turbinado sugar for garnish 3 bananas In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the milk, orange juice, honey, and cornstarch. As it heats, the soup will begin to thicken. Cook till desired thickness; ours was still pretty liquidy. Float slices of bananas in your soup and garnish with cinnamon and raw sugar. Well, this wraps our tabletop travel to Malawi. We tried Roasted Mbatata, Cabbage Ndiwo, and now this Banana Soup...

Years ago when the movie Madagascar  first came out, my then toddler had a pair of shoes with the characters on them. Here he is! You can almost make out Alex the Lion's mane, right? He was so proud of those shoes and was trying to show them off to his Aunt Pia and Aunt Jenn when we were having a picnic with them. 'Ma-ga-gar!' he announced, pointing at his shoe. What, Sweetheart? they both asked.  'Ma-ga-gar!' he said louder, inching closer and lifting up his foot. I'm not quite sure how long this exchange went on; I think I must have been occupied with Riley somewhere. By the time I got back, Dylan had Pia's face in his hands and he was saying it louder...as if the problem was his volume...with his foot up in the air: 'Ma-ga-gar!!' She looked at me and apologized, "Cam, we have no idea what he's trying to say, but he's very enthusiastic about something. What is he trying to tell us?" Dyn, what are you trying to say to Au...

In the style of the refreshing fruit salads you can pick up at the puestos de frutas all over Mexico, I decided to make a Mexican fruit salad for our family's Mexican Christmas feast. It's hardly a recipe, but it is delicious! Fruits, thinly sliced or julienned (I opted for pineapples and carrots) salt chili powder lemon juice pomegranate arils for garnish Arrange the fruits on your serving platter, season with salt and chili powder. Drizzle with lemon juice. Garnish with pomegranate. Enjoy.

This hardly merits a recipe, but I wanted to share my mini-chefs' creativity for this BOOtiful Fruit Salad with Goolish (sic) Grapes and Scary Berrys (sic). Happy Halloween! The boys argued about whether they would put mint in with the fruit. Riley said, "Not everyone likes fresh herbs in their fruit salad." Dylan argued that it was his class party and he liked mint! And in they went. blackberries raspberries strawberries black grapes 1 C chopped fresh mint

Om Mani Padme Hum click here to read more about this Tibetan mantra I was inspired to make a plum galette this morning with the bounty of plums from the Mobley's tree and the simple yeast dough recipe from the monks at the Tassajara Mountain Zen Center that was published in the Monterey County Weekly this week. Riley wanted to hull some strawberries, with his gadget . So, we ended up with one strawberry galette and one plum galette. Om Mani Padme Hum ... cooking is my happy place. I doubled the recipe and then made some adaptations because the dough seemed far too wet.  Here's my recipe for the dough: 1/2 C warm water 2 t active dry yeast 2 pinches of organic granulated sugar 3-1/2 C white whole wheat flour 1 t pink Himalaya salt 2 large eggs 6 T soft butter Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Let bloom for 10 minutes. Add 3 C flour, 2 room temperature eggs, salt, and buter. Beat with a wooden spoon until you...